My Next IL2 Video: Black Friday, III.JG54....

[GrauGeist]

Now that we have some great shots of the radio code letters on the Spits, they can be easily scaled.

I see some workable pilot photos...so it looks like we may be having some pilots skinned for this project, too!

Hey BP, thanks for posting the skin, it's appreciated. The cool part about Dan's vids, is that everyone digs up info about a particular battle, and we cross-check all the details and the skins made from our info have an extremely high degree of research and accuracy.

And they look cool

 

[lesofprimus]

As for the pilot skins Dave, we're gonna need atleast Weiss, Ungar and Haanes'....

Any of the others is icing on the cake.... It will all be low level, so no O2 masks on their faces....

Havin real probs with the video secion where Weiss plus 3 get bounced by the 10 Norweigan Spits.... Damn game AI gives me fits sometimes....

Ill get it right tho...

 

[rochie]

ok here's what i've found hope they help.

if any of you need the full size pics pm me an e-mail address

 

[lesofprimus]

Great stuff Karl, should come in handy.....

 

[rochie]

Weiss's mugshot

 

[wheelsup_cavu]

I haven't looked but Lowengrin has some RAF and Luftwaffe pilot skins.
They might be in there ?

Lowengrin.com: Downloads / IL2 Pilot Photos/Skins


Wheels

 

[GrauGeist]

Thanks...but we've been making our own for a few reasons...

One, is there's never any issues as to "who made this, they want credit, etc" and "he said, she said, etc"...which, as you know, does happen out there more often than not...

Another reason, is that we have a HUGE amount of accurate resources at our disposal, and we can be just about as dead-on as it can possible get!

 

[lesofprimus]

Hell fu*kin yea.........

 

[wheelsup_cavu]

Looking forward to seeing them in the vid then.


Wheels

 

[GrauGeist]

Looking forward to seeing them in the vid then.


Wheels

You see the last vid, about Burt Marshall and his boys?

That was one uber-badass vid with some serious historical research! Just reading the research thread alone could be used as a reference.

Matter of fact, when I formed up and reviewed the B-24s I was skinnin', I realized that was the first time since WWII that those bombers had been seen together.

I know that might sound stupid to some people, but it just struck me with a real sense of responsability to "get it right", know what I mean?

The cool thing about these vids, is that it involves the whole community and pulls in resources from all over the globe.

 

[beaupower32]

Great work guys, keep it up. Cant wait to see some screenies of the skins and the finished product.

 

[wheelsup_cavu]

You see the last vid, about Burt Marshall and his boys?

That was one uber-badass vid with some serious historical research! Just reading the research thread alone could be used as a reference.

Matter of fact, when I formed up and reviewed the B-24s I was skinnin', I realized that was the first time since WWII that those bombers had been seen together.

I know that might sound stupid to some people, but it just struck me with a real sense of responsability to "get it right", know what I mean?

The cool thing about these vids, is that it involves the whole community and pulls in resources from all over the globe.

I haven't seen it yet.
I'll have to look through the threads and find it.


It is a bit awe inspiring when you think about how many people around the world are reading your posts and watching your work.


Wheels

 

[GrauGeist]

I haven't seen it yet.
I'll have to look through the threads and find it.

It's definately a "must-see" vid, because it's both a historical video, and a tribute to drgondog's father, Maj. Bert Marshall, USAAF 354thFS, 355th FG.

If you want to check out the research thread to see how it was researched and put together, go here: http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/il-2-sturmovik-pilots-lounge/my-new-il2-video-research-thread-16825.html
By the way, my screenshots look kind of crappy, because I was testing on my legacy gamer using FB and not '46...

If you want to see the video (it's also linked on the last page of the research thread) directly, click here: http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/attachments/aviation-videos/93364d1242691140-new-il2-video-whom-bell-tolls-354-final.wmv

It is a bit awe inspiring when you think about how many people around the world are reading your posts and watching your work.

Wheels

No pressure there, huh?

Actually, I hadn't really thought about that. The one thing that I am aware of, though, is how much help from folks all over the world goes into these efforts. Pretty dang impressive, if you think about it.

Making skins has it's difficulty factor, but not nearly as hard as the actual movie making. Creating a "simple" 4:30 vid takes tons of "mini-missions", hours of stick time and countless hours editing.

And that's all after the tireless research, trying to find all the details, comparing notes and then finally sitting down and making it all happen...

Lotta stuff goes on behind that big curtain!

 

[lesofprimus]

And a few grey hairs lemme tell ya....

So far Im up to 16 different mini-missions to get the action and scenes right, and havent even gotten to the big end scene yet....

 

[wheelsup_cavu]

Thanks for the link GG.
It's going to take at least a couple of nights to get through that thread.


Wheels

 

[lesofprimus]

Yea I got a bunch of videos in there, kinda surprised u havent watched them yet....

 

[Njaco]

Dan, haven't got any skins but I have the book "To Win The Winter Sky" which devotes a whole chapter to this day....

A few excerpts for atmosphere if needed......

"the III Gruppe were ordered to proceed to the Osnabruck-Rheine are at low altitde in succesive Staffel strength waves to intercept British fighters....Hptm. Weiss followed his orders and commanded that the squadrons take off one hour apart....As Weiss had feared the first in line, the 9 Staffel under Lt. Wlli Heilmann, was savagely ambushed as it approached Rheine by Spitfire IXs of RCAF 411 Squadron.... Six German pilots were almost immediately killed and a number of others were forced to bail out...Leading his group back to the scene of the destruction of 9 Staffel, Weiss spied a large formation of Spitfires from 331 and 401 Squadrons. This time, having the advantage of altitude, his D-9s dove on the British planes. A wild dogfight ensued over Lingen in which the tables turned. Presently, Typhoons of 168 and 439 Squadrons arrived on the scene. 439 Squadron shot down one Fw 190 which was likely the A-8 of Uffz. Wolfgang Miebach of III./JG 6 who fell in Holland near Oldenzaal. In spite of losing two Typhoon flight commanders in 168's first engagement, the British with superior numbers now had the upper hand....The 11 Staffel was also drawn into the fray. The D-9 of Ofw Wilhelm Philipp fell west of Nordhorn. Philipp was able to bail out of his burning "yellow 4".....Two others were not so lucky: Fw. Kreisel and Uffz. Rupp were killed. The rest, including Weiss and his wingman, Oblt. Bellaire, were hunted down by Tempests of 56 Squadron west of Rheine in a repeat of the destruction of the previous wave. The sad fate of Hptm. Weiss is recounted by the testimoney of Fw. Fritz Ungar, the only survivor: "....At 10:45am while in quadrant HP at 1500 meters, we made contact with enemy Typhoons and Thunderbolts. In several minutes of combat, several aircraft were shot down. I myself shot down a Typhoon. After this battle, at about 10:50 I saw 2 Fw 190D-9s flying north at low altitude. I was alone, and attached myself to them. A fourth Fw 190D-9 joined us and we all flew on in a generally northern direction. The Schwarmfuhrer was Hptm. Weiss; I did not recognize the other two. I flew in the far right position. We were in quadrant GP-3 when three aircraft were observed approaching from directly behind us. I watched them closely. At about 200 meters distance, the left-most plane banked to the right in order to place itself behind me. At that point I made a positive identification of it as a Spitfire. Immediately Hptm. Weiss and the two others broke sharply to the right. I continued to fly straight ahead at minimum altitude, since if I had broken right I would have flown right through the core of fire of the turning Spitfire. I was followed briefly, but was soon able to shake it off."

There is more including an interesting story about Dortemann from 12./JG 54 that day.

Hope this helps.

 

[Soren]

First off let me start by saying that I absolutely love your IL2 vids Les, they're great pieces of work and I enjoy watching them very much. And it has actually inspired me abit to come with some ideas for you

Seeing hundreds of bombers (I know you can't show that many in the simulator, but you get what I mean) flying in close formation was undoubtedly an awe inspiring sight. And when these formations entered German territory all hell soon started to break loose, in an unprecented manner. Flak shells going off left and right, LW fighters making passes with tracers whistling by all over the place, bombers breaking up or exploding mid air, men in parachutes etc etc. And I believe that sort of scene needs something like this running in the background (Just like the big buck movies do it ):

The background music:
Monolith by X-Ray Dog 1:09 min = Could be used as background music for when the German pilots spot the ominous looking formation of bombers.
Imminent Domination by X-Ray Dog 2:13 min = Could be used as background music as the German interceptors approach the bomber stream and maybe also for some of the actual fighting.
Introduce a little Anarchy by Hans Zimmer 3:43 min = Could be used for most of the fighting

Anyway regardless of what music you choose to use I will keep watching your vids and undoubtedly also enjoy them as I have all the ones you made so far, and hopefully this has only provided you with further inspiration Keep up the good work mate!

 

[lesofprimus]

Appreciate it Soren, when AI get the chance Ill check em out....

Chris, thanks for the additional info... Ive seen it before and it is at odds with the version the Axel Urbanke tells in the Dora-9 book..... Theres even a difference in the Yellow number Philipp flew....

Seein as Urbankes book is newer and utilizes more recent data and info, Im gonna go that direction, with some alterations....

 

[lesofprimus]

Pretty good stuff Soren, not really my bag, but u never know...

Thanks again..