Category talk:Off Topic

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Famous Player Campaigns

Motorcycles in WWIIOL!

Look up the word perseverance in the dictionary and there you will find the name of a WWIIOL subscriber, Creed. Motorcyles in WWIIOL is the Holy Grail for Creed and to make this a reality he launched a campaign years ago to push his agenda. Every year he revives his thread and the Rats will play along. A disinformation campaign was launched by Rafter to confuse and muddle the issue. Rafter claims motorcycles were not invented until the Vietnam War and other such nonsense.

Creed's Campaign:

A motorcycle is needed in WWIIOL for many reasons. It would add alot to game play as well. There were tons of motorcycles used by Germany in World War II. Many of them produced by BMW, Zundapp and others. The BMW R75 was probably the most produce motorcycle during WWII. The motorcycle would be used for ground based recon, rescue missions and light infantry support. No one able to ride the motorcycle would have base capping abilities. I see the motorcycle having 3 ridable positions (2 multi-crewable):

1) Driver - Drives and possibly has binos (which would be difficult to use while driving, must stop to use) 2) Crew/MG - Can man the MG and use binos. 3) Rescued Soldier (non-MC) - Rescued pilot, exited tank crew member, etc. Non-regular infantry.

I will take a moment to explain the 3rd position (behind driver). In the future CRS will develop the ability of pilots, tankers, etc. to all be able to exit their vehicles. And odds are these characters would not be able to cap bases. No other types of passengers are possible. This prevents any fears of fast moving base capping by any motorcycle riders. I also see Rescue missions where people could take the motorcycle to any area of a downed pilot (or exited tank crew member/etc), pick them up and return them to a safe base.

Another use for the motorcycle is for recon. Especially for base defense/recon. The motorcycles could scout the perimeter of a base/town much quicker than infantry/tanks/etc. They would not be as good as air based recon but still quite effective. And I imagine chasing Bedfords and mowing them down would be very fun. They could also be used as scouts ahead of advancing columns for recon. However the motorcycle would offer little (basically none) protection from enemy fire.

The best and most common model would be the BMW R75: Engine: 26hp/4400rpm, 2-cyl OHV, 745cc, 4-stroke Bore/Stroke: 78/78 mm Length: 2400mm with sidecar, width: 1730mm with sidecar, height: 1000mm Wheelbase: 1444mm Gearbox: 4 Weight: 410 kg Maximal speed: 92 km/h Range: 340 km Armament: 7.92mm MG 34

When are we gonna get Parachuting Dogs?

Another subscriber by the name of Subotai was famous for his threads calling for the introduction of Parachuting Dogs. The official response on this of course was "No parachuting dogs...ever"

Subotai's Campaign:

During World War II, our British allies were the first to use parachuting pooches with their army's newly formed airborne regiments; their special SAS forces, also used them as well behind enemy's lines in both North Africa and France.

The search and rescue sections of the No. Atlantic Transport Command, U.S. Army Air Corp began its own experimenting in 1942, with the dropping of dogs, their sleds, and a flight surgeon by parachute directly to crash scene in the frozen north; where a quick response could mean the difference in the survival of an injured flier or crew.

The Army parachute dogs wore a coat like harness, lined with sheep skin, developed by the QMC. It was found, that two dogs could be dropped together with a twenty-eight ft. chute, while one could land safely with the regulation twenty-four foot chute. Most of the experimentation was conducted at Fort Nelson, British Columbia, under the direction of a Major Joseph F. Westover. The knowledge that was learnt there, was to enable scout dogs to be used by the U.S. Army Airborne troops in Europe.

The war dog, Jaint de Mortimormey reputedly made more jumps during World War II than any man. Although no training was ever formally adopted for parachuting pooches, they were used quite extensively during the war.

There's a story told about a poor Doberman, who was unceremoniously kicked out the door of a plane, with a special parachute attached to a static line. Part of a special airborne unit, the dog shortly after landing, started to growled, and sure enough, coming over a rise were four germans, who never made it back to the fatherland.

Was World War II the first use of parachuting pooches?

Surprisingly...no...although they weren't part of any formal program or even an unofficial outfit, there were some mascot dogs, like Jeff pictured above, who were parachuting with their masters, as early as 1920, shortly after the Great War. Jeff alone made thirteen jumps, twelve successfully, he was the mascot of the 120th Colorado Air National Guard.