Dev Blog #372: Flying Circus Development Updates

[kraut1]

18 minutes ago, Sandmarken said:

Someone good with the surface editor coud probably make a ww1 project for the normandy map. 

I think for very late September-November 1918 missions, when the front had moved away from the total static 1916-spring 1918 front area, it would be sufficient just to exchange the surfaces of the big 1944 airfields with concrete runways by deleting the whole surfaces and copying whole existing grass - airfields to the location.

Same could be done for 1940 BoF / BoB. 

[ACG_Bussard]

True, the Super Zeppelin is practically crying for an north-eastward expansion of the Normandy map 😁

 

Edited Saturday at 12:52 PM by ACG_Bussard

[Enceladus828]

I’ve already suggested it to Jaegermeister and he seemed interested.

[JG4_Moltke1871]

In addition, there will be combat missions to raid airship bases and missions to repel such raids. 
I really hope the rear of the map can be used for strikes in deep enemy territory, like this example of strikes No. 55 squadron, as long the map provides these targets.

Attacking some of these Zeppelin bases will have surely „to Hell and back“ character 🙂

 

Also German Bomber raids depart in the rear and attack the rear of Belgium and France (Paris) would be very welcome.

 

By the way, I really enjoyed the transfer flight from Alquines to Ochey in the Handley Page Career 😜

 

[Luftschiff]

19 hours ago, Tonester said:

Impressive!…no great surprise though given what they have already created for us. i know less than bugger all about these

machines and cant help but wonder how they werent relatively easy to shoot down being such a big target? Would it just be a

matter of one bullet on target and lights out?…or were they a bit tougher than that?

They're not as easy to bring down as most people think - unless you mean a direct hit by an anti aircraft cannon.
As mentioned in the text the primary defense was that airships can fly far above the operational ceiling of most aircraft, and even when the could be reached, climbing to that height would take so long that interception was impossible unless the aeroplane was already in the right time and place when airships were spotted. Performance of aircraft was also VERY poor at those altitudes. Similar to the issues faced by the japanese against the B-29.

As for bullets -  to be very brief a steel core bullet would either harmlessly strike framing or pass right through, making a tiny hole in one of 19 individual gas cells. These cells can be patched by crew mid flight and together contain just shy of two million cubic feet of gas. Needless to say it takes a great many holes and some time before loss of lift becomes a critical problem. Machine guns were considered ineffective against Zeppelins. Incendiary bullets made this MUCH more dangerous but even then the hydrogen needs to mix with oxygen in some quantity before an explosion can occur. 

Now, slightly inclement WEATHER on the other hand...😬

[CB77Don246]

Thanks and I have just ditched WOFF after so many problems running it so I have only FC for my WW1 FLING looking forward more power to FC.

[ACG_Bussard]

3 hours ago, JG4_Moltke1871 said:

In addition, there will be combat missions to raid airship bases and missions to repel such raids. 
I really hope the rear of the map can be used for strikes in deep enemy territory, like this example of strikes No. 55 squadron, as long the map provides these targets.

Attacking some of these Zeppelin bases will have surely „to Hell and back“ character 🙂

 

Great idea to bring also a reworked Rhineland map with an extenstion into the south-west into play. When we do scare them away?  

Edited Saturday at 08:06 PM by ACG_Bussard

[ACG_Bussard]

1 hour ago, Luftschiff said:

As for bullets -  to be very brief a steel core bullet would either harmlessly strike framing or pass right through, making a tiny hole in one of 19 individual gas cells. These cells can be patched by crew mid flight and together contain just shy of two million cubic feet of gas. Needless to say it takes a great many holes and some time before loss of lift becomes a critical problem. Machine guns were considered ineffective against Zeppelins. Incendiary bullets made this MUCH more dangerous but even then the hydrogen needs to mix with oxygen in some quantity before an explosion can occur. 
 

 

All they needed was a bovine appendix! Done! 🤭

[Luftschiff]

2 minutes ago, ACG_Bussard said:

 

All they needed was a bovine appendix! Done! 🤭

Thousands! 😄
Your cows are now a strategic resource.

[JG4_Moltke1871]

2 hours ago, ACG_Bussard said:

 

Great idea to bring also a reworked Rhineland map with an extenstion into the south-west into play. When we do scare them away?  

Just combine the Western Front with Normandy and Rheinland while the Rheinland Map gets some little little expansions to the black forest in the south and to Nordholz ( or maybe Jütland 😜) in the North, don’t forget include London to the Normandy Map.

Shouldn’t be that much effort and it opens the gate for  Dreadnought collector vessels😅😅

 

(nobody takes this post too seriously, please 😜)

[Rjel]

On 9/5/2025 at 6:10 PM, BlitzPig_EL said:

Can't wait to engage one with a Mustang.

 

My first thought too. 

[bycomet]

Can't wait to see a crashing Zeppelin.

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

I doubt it would look that spectacular 😉

[Jackfraser24]

54 minutes ago, bycomet said:

Can't wait to see a crashing Zeppelin.

Imagine getting hit by a blimp? 

 

"It kills over one Americans every year!"

Edited yesterday at 07:13 AM by Jackfraser24

[ST_Catchov]

Target practice.

 

 

[giftgruen]

On 9/6/2025 at 3:14 AM, Enceladus828 said:

 

With all due respect to the developers and Ugra Media if the Zeppelin is the last FC aircraft (at least for a long time) then I got to wonder why this was picked when some long requested planes like the BE2c, Caudron G.IV, Albatross C.I, Rumpler C.V and even fan favourites like the Felixstowe were omitted? Is making one of those take longer than the Zeppelin? Sure, the Zeppelin is a cool aircraft and I'll have fun flying my Sopwith Pup and SPAD VII against it, it's just that one of those 5 would have been the better option for the final FC aircraft.

 

True.

 

While it may be funny to hunt a Zeppelin, there are bigger issues in FC that should have been addressed more urgent.

FM Revisions ( Albatros, SE5 ), early 2-seaters and a usable AI, to name some topics which imho are way way more important than Zeppelins.

 

However. Thanks to the Devs.

 

Edited 22 hours ago by giftgruen

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

1 hour ago, giftgruen said:

 

True.

 

While it may be funny to hunt a Zeppelin, there are bigger issues in FC that should have been addressed more urgent.

FM Revisions ( Albatros, SE5 ), early 2-seaters and a usable AI, to name some topics which imho are way way more important than Zeppelins.

 

However. Thanks to the Devs.

 

Plus more engine power for Dr.1 ,our FC version is castrated version of ROF last patch but Camel is not...

[Crashbangwallop]

England was not the only part of Britain affected by Zeppelin raids.

 

In Scotland, April 1916, an attack on the naval docks at Rosyth ended up as a raid across Edinburgh and Leith – resulting in about twenty fatalities and some damage. The maps in the linked article track the airship as it twisted and turned over Edinburgh (with surprisingly tight curves)

 

https://threadinburgh.scot/2022/09/23/the-thread-about-the-zeppelin-air-raid-that-terrorised-edinburgh-and-leith-in-1916-and-left-14-dead-and-24-wounded/

 

The personal tragedy and shock apart, I loved the response of blank shots from the Castle's One O' Clock gun...

[=69.GIAP=VLADI]

8 hours ago, Crashbangwallop said:

England was not the only part of Britain affected by Zeppelin raids.

 

In Scotland, April 1916, an attack on the naval docks at Rosyth ended up as a raid across Edinburgh and Leith – resulting in about twenty fatalities and some damage. The maps in the linked article track the airship as it twisted and turned over Edinburgh (with surprisingly tight curves)

 

https://threadinburgh.scot/2022/09/23/the-thread-about-the-zeppelin-air-raid-that-terrorised-edinburgh-and-leith-in-1916-and-left-14-dead-and-24-wounded/

 

The personal tragedy and shock apart, I loved the response of blank shots from the Castle's One O' Clock gun...

Good read, thanks. Very interesting!

[ST_Catchov]

9 hours ago, Crashbangwallop said:

England was not the only part of Britain affected by Zeppelin raids.

 

True. But when we say an England/Channel map is needed it naturally includes Scotland because Scotland is part of England innit like Wales and stuff.

[MDzmitry]

7 часов назад, ST_Catchov сказал:

is part of England innit like Wales and stuff.

This is a common mistake with the naming.

England is a specific region,the South-Eastern part of the United Kingdom with its capital being London. 

England doesn't own Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, instead they make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 

Great Britain in the meantime consists of England, Wales, Scotland.

[Jackfraser24]

28 minutes ago, MDzmitry said:

This is a common mistake with the naming.

England is a specific region,the South-Eastern part of the United Kingdom with its capital being London. 

England doesn't own Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, instead they make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 

Great Britain in the meantime consists of England, Wales, Scotland.

Good to know. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Jackfraser24

[Zooropa_Fly]

'Great Britain' as it is, is composed of England, Scotland, Wales, and N. Ireland.

And a bit misleading to call England the SE part of GB I think.

 

And that rascal Catchov was being a bit tongue in cheek !

Referring to the fact that the entirety of the UK is often simply called 'England', usually to the disgust of us Scots.. the Welsh.. and the Irish.

 

S!