Wow. So many familiar names in the above 60+ pages of posts. Some were before my time, but many were not. Back when I first started flying AW2 on AOL in 1997, I kept sloppy notes (forgive me, I was all of 11-12 years old at the time) of some of the experiences, so maybe I can add a few names that I didn't see already mentioned. In hindsight, they may not have been as critical as others so they may have been lost to history. From those notes, I've cobbled together some highlights:
As stated, I started flying AW2 on AOL back in 1997. I had the game for quite some time and never really understood the whole multiplayer thing but from the first day I successfully joined, I was hooked. Reading the other posts about the bill also brings back a lot of memories. At the time, I believe running AW on AOL was $1.99/hr. My dad gave me free range since I never wanted the latest video game system or anything like that, but those summer months were brutal on the bill and he'd get some sticker shock from time to time.
From the beginning, I was a member of the Bz under the CPID PH-1. If there are any veterans of <AirStrike> or the BlackWidows, they probably remember as the immature, pre-pubescent pain in the butt, mainly because that's what I was at the time. I conned my way into <AirStrike> first through begging and then through exploiting a bug in the AW code that allowed a person to invite random members they'd see in the Officers' Club into their squad and then accept the invitation on their behalf without their knowledge. <AirStrike> had been formed a few months after I established my own squad and the <AS> CO, SPIN*, started poaching my best pilots. Unbeknownst to them, I was "recruiting" them back to my squad for days before they realized the switch had occurred. After this happened multiple times, SPIN* acquiesced and invited me to be part of <AS>.
SPIN*'s XO was AceV* and like SPIN*, he hailed from Great Britain. Both were phenomenal pilots, especially in P-38s. Another memorable pilot was bah9*, who had been part of my squad before moving over to <AS>. Bah9* was able to exploit a bug in the A-26 model that allowed him to flame just about any fighter - Spitfires, Me109s, 190s; to see him fly an A-26 was to see a masterclass in dogfighting (mainly because the physics of the plane were broken!)
SPIN* and AceV* would conduct training seminars away from the RR theatres trying to get all of their squadmates to perfect the P-38. I tried as much as I could to pick up on it, but I was more used to the Spitfire 5 with its 75% cannon ammo. But the fact that they took the time to actually train their pilots, I think, was unusual at the time; I don't know of any other squadron that did that.
Once AW moved to GameStorm, SPIN* and AceV* disbanded <AS> and became Cz. They became prime antagonists on the Cz while EBOLA was over on the Az. I respected EBOLA immensely. He would fly a 190 (if I recall) at about 10-15K, above the fray, looking for serious dogfighters, as if he was Bobby Fischer looking to checkmate a serious contender. He flamed me constantly but those were always worth the challenge.
With SPIN* and AceV* gone and <AS> gone, OHIO* headed up the BlackWidows. When I saw <AS> was gone, I left the Bz to join the Az, but a day or so later, OHIO* saw me in the Officers' Club, told me to get back to the Bz and rejoin him and a number of other <AS> alum (NwBie, Gonz, teufl, DieAz all come to mind.) Looking back, they all deserved medals for having to deal with an annoying teenager like myself; I sure didn't make it easy on 'em.
The big note I have after that was the capture of White Cat, the Az main base. If memory serves, it was BW's designated squad "night" which was actually on a Sunday afternoon. We had a pretty good turnout and we had just captured Grok when someone suggested we attempt to gather as many of the Bz as we can and try to take WC. It hadn't been done before but we did have the strength in numbers. It took about an hour to finally close the base down. We had bombers leaving from Scragg and Monk, flying up to 20K just to avoid the action down below before descending to 11K (just outside of ack ack range) and drop their payloads. It was a real sight to see. I remember taking a 30-second recording of the map at the time and that was when there was a "video library" on AOL you could upload any media to, and I posted it there for posterity.
From there, my CPID changed multiple times due to a spat that occurred with the BWs; my immaturity finally wearing thin on the squad. Ergo, it's possible you flew with me when I was AOD, HAWC, BUFF3, JGI, or a number of other CPIDs that I didn't have written down. Each CPID managed to successfully infiltrate the BWs until I was sniffed out and kicked out again! This ridiculous exercise continued to AH when I rejoined the BWs as KAL007 in the Fall of '03. Upon being kicked out yet again (darn that Vox!) I joined the JBs as JB43 until, and this is the kicker, I was recruited to join the BWs about four months later (they didn't know who JB43 was!) I can't remember what I changed my name to from JB43 but I flew with my old squad for about four months before college and work ended my AH career for more than a decade.
Fun times.
