In General, What is Everyone Doing?

[Richard T. Eger]

Dear Bronc,

Before 2004, the very thing you worry about was a constant occurrence. The server Ruy used limited the number of postings in a forum such that, about every 5-6 weeks, that great bit of info would go off to never never land. I believe one of our members has actually saved the records from before 2004. As for myself, with Ruy's permission, I transferred reference material to my Luftwaffe Archives Group (LWAG - www.lwag.com) website.

In 2004, Ruy was able to find a server service without the entry number limitation. So, everything you see here dates back to then. I also found it generally unnecessary, due to the changed circumstances, to do much further transferring to the LWAG site.

Both sites are still active today. I presume that TOCH! is protected with backups.

The bigger question is what happens to either site when the administrators are no longer around.

Finally, in regard to the refined decorum found on both sites, this was not at all by accident. If you go back some 10 years you would have found some doozie of flame wars on TOCH!. With constant pressure from Ruy and the membership, these were eventually extinguished. As for the LWAG site, the rules were set in stone at the start, so flame wars never developed and hopefully never will, as these can be a big headache for a site administrator.

Regards,
Richard

[Mikkel Plannthin]

It all started with an Airfix Spitfire model and many years later a visit to the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum in Southern England. Here, to my surprise, I encountered a Spitfire replica with a Danish flag on the side of the fuselage and a list of Danish volunteer pilots in RAF. This was at the time, 12-14 years ago news for me.

I started researching for the construction of a model of a 'Danish' Spitfire. I have been researching ever since...

A few years later I participated in a conference (with other members of this forum) at which the idea of using a database-driven approach of storing and sharing my research developed. This eventually led to my website danishww2pilots.dk, and en route to invaluable help from this and other forums. Some of this was specific pieces of information, some generel tips on reseach issues, archives etc.

And 'suddenly' I find myself being asked questions within my niche... As I am only an amateur historian, I am trying to find the time to enlighten my countrymen about the Danish contribution to the air war through the website, articles and, hopefully one day, the book projects in my drawer.

Had not happened without help from many here. Thank you!

Mikkel

[fanatyk]

Hi!

Please don't get me wrong... But I am just a Fanatic .

Otherwise I'm a mechanical designer, a freelancer

Regards!
F.

[Oberst]

Still enjoying making skins for my favorite flight sim game, IL2. I took some flak on another website when I said I'm researching for game skins..
"this is not a silly game this is a site for serious researchers". Well I have to say some people dedicated to those flight sims, are some of the
most serious reasearchers I've ever had the pleasure of talking with. Mountains of data.. historical facts in regards to campaigns, colours, flight
data.. mind boggling!

[SES]

Hi,
I guess my interest also started with the Luftwaffe fighter aircraft, but since I am also interested in the history of air warfare it snowballed. I slowly discovered, that much of what had been written up till the 1970 - 1980 time-frame was not quite correct (to put it politely). Photos of late Bf109 were incorrectly captioned and nowhere could a correct description of a Bf109K be found.
Also most writers focused on aircraft types and unit histories, which valuable as they are, do not give a consolidated picture at the operational level.
I got fascinated by the control and reporting system developed by the Luftwaffe and the multitude of radar systems (no radar was not invented by Watson-Watt), and realized that there were still lots of unpublished material out there. This lead to an interest in Luftwaffe fighters command facilities, which seems to have been a totally ignored subject - even amongst the bunker freaks, and an interest in the development of the fighter command organization.
This in turn lead to an interest in all types of Luftwaffe infrastructure. The result was three books and my WEB-site www.gyges.dk
But without the Internet and e-mail and a LOT of help from a very large number of helpful and generous friends I would be as ignorant as I were back in the eighties.
Kind regards
SES

[Richard Mills]

For myself, it is gleaning as much information regarding personnel, units and aircraft directly associated with Luftwaffe documents groupings I have purchased for my collection.

I never cease to be amazed at the level of knowledge which is contained within the membership base here, and I have been able to piece together some very detailed research projects against simple award documents as a result.

Regards Richard.

[stevebrauning]

In general, I build 1/48 scale models of WWII Luftwaffe and RAF aircraft and try to make them as accurate and detailed as possible. My Me262 collection is up to 20 examples, and I started a FW190D and Ta152 collection earlier this year. It's been a bit of frenzy with 4 planes already in the hangar and one in the painting booth. In my research, I try to ID the unit and the operational history in addition to finding the precise paint schemes and markings.

[John Beaman]

SES:

Most interesting web site. Thanks for posting. The subject is certainly one that needs exploring.

Since you have done "after" shots, have you ever considered working with Ramsey at "After The Battle" about a series or a composite book? Might give you a wider readership.

[taitbb]

For me, to date it has been a resource to research information on specific artifacts i have in my collection.
So thank you to everyone in replying to my few questions.

*edit*
I do try and do as much research first as i can myself, my library is slowly growing.

[BGBBGB]

Hello,
Looking at my new Revell 1/32 G-10 Erla and wondering witch individ i will do.

Cheers
Boris