How many here are "long-timers".

[NoBaddy]

Hiya Bman!!!!

Glad to see you're still around. I vaguely remember that con...and my $250 phone bill after the weekend.

[fuzeman]

I srtartedAH  in 8/2001 and flew AW beforre that for a few years. Cam over to AH with The *Specialists when EA fubared Aw
no idea on the percent of old timers
<<-- check the registered date

[Octavius]

I did the free AW through AOL in the mid 90s... with a mouse.  Then I stumbled on Aces High in an advert in PC Gamer (mag or website, don't remember) just after beta.  I flew as 'maz' in Tour 3 and switched to 'octavius' sometime around Tour 12.

[Vipermann]

Started in AW on GENIE and flew a couple months.  Then picked it up again when AOL had it free.  Moved to Gamestorm, then moved to WWiionline when EA stopped AW.

Moved into AH after 2 or 3 months of WWiionline, been here ever since, hardly ever fly anymore though.

Viper

[brule2]

I started when Air Warrior was free on aol took break after AH was out for few months then got back in last year.


            Auld

[Brooke]

Howdy, B-Man!

I sent you a PM on the video you made for the AW convention in LA -- yep, I've still got it and will send you a copy.

I watched that thing so many times.  What a great video!  Many thanks!

There's also a snippet of an interview in it with a P-38 fighter pilot, George Chandler.  I got to meet him a couple of months ago in Seattle.  Here is one of the several interesting stories he told.

He was based at Munda, flying P-38's.  Among others, he participated in the US invasion of Bouganville, flying cover during the invasion.

After the war, he was travelling and was in a hotel lobby waiting around.  He saw another guy in the lobby who looked about the right age to have been in WWII and struck up a conversation with the guy, eventually asking him if he had been in the war.  The guy said that he had been in the army in the Pacific.  George asked him where in the Pacific, and the guy talked about how he had been in some of the island invasions including the one at Bouganville.  He went on to talk about it, including the following part.  

The guy had been on a troop ship, which was bringing in thousands of troops for the invasion.  The ship and its decks were packed with men.  As the ship moved in closer to the island, two Zeros with bombs came diving down on the ship.  He was on deck and could see the Zeros clearly, diving right on target for the ship.  He figured he and the rest of the folks on the ship were doomed when a P-38 came screaming in from nowhere at fantastic speed.  It caught each Zero quickly in turn from behind during its dive and blasted both out of the sky before they released their bombs.  He said, "I don't know who that guy was in the P-38, but I sure wish I could meet him."

George said, "You just did."

[xNOVAx]

I started AH tour 35 as Nuke33..  I came over from Warbirds, but before that I played Air Warrior 1 on AOL when it was free..

Does that make me a long-timer?  

[AquaShrimp]

I have been playing on and off since AH1 beta.  Heres a few neat things I remember:

-B17s having no guns.

-The crazy canyon in the original beta map.

-P47s accidentally having 16 guns the first day they were introduced.

-Not being able to figure how to make a GV move forward.

-Thinking how strange and different the flight model of Aces High 2 was.

-Flying in historical events, and being impressed at their magnitude and scale.

But I do get burned out on Aces High relatively easy now.  I can't play it for 10 years straight.  But its good to start fresh every now and again.

[SD67]

Tour 68 <=n00b:lol

I just checked my stats from that tour. MAN I sucked!
194 kills to 763 deaths

[Sharrk]

Geez...started Fighter Ops when free on AOL mid 1990's, then AW also free on AOL, followed it when it moved and played it till it died in 2001.  Had a couple of handles in these games. Thought the world was determined to stop me playin these games at the time.
 

Been on AH since 2001 for tour 21-22 I think, change name to "Keyes", then back to Sharrk...

Been on a while now and dont plan on goin anywhere else for a bit

[b-man]

Haha, no doubt, NB, was good times!

Brooke, that's awesome, thanks much for sending me a copy!! Thought that vid was longgg gone.

That's an awesome story. I think I recall who you are talking about, is George Chandler the one in the video who talks about racing to get his plane back in fighting trim after getting jumped, not being quick enough, losing some wingmen & getting choked-up? I remember getting teary-eyed watching it.

--)-B-Man-----

[Gritz]

Not to be confused with 'Grits' (I'm prettier).

Started with Air Warrior on AOL in '96.  Was pretty much there for the duration.  Made the move to Aces High when it first came out, but have battled with MMO addiction off and on since then.  Came back last month (free) after many years away from the stick, and pretty much got my bellybutton shot off non-stop (and had a blast!).  Hoping to resubscribe in the coming weeks/months, and maybe even eventually stop padding so many peoples scores.

Have many many fond memories of my brothers from The 33rd Strike Group and our longtime rivals; Shillelagh Squadron ("The Shills!") from Air Warrior.  Man, those were the days.  

heh, I also always get a chuckle thinkin' back to the Air Warrior Pac FR arena, when I finally took the training wheels off, and how many endless endless times The Musketeers kicked my Pony flyin' can up and down that place (particularly Dragon and Rapier).  But it was great!  Man, I learned alot from those guys.   Wherever you are.

[Vadjan-Sama]

Been on AH since 2002, tour 25 first ID: Javier changed ID to 201Javie, 201AJGD and can't remember the other 2, now Vadjan

I have been here for a good time and plan to stay more. ^^

[Brooke]

Originally posted by b-man
That's an awesome story. I think I recall who you are talking about, is George Chandler the one in the video who talks about racing to get his plane back in fighting trim . . . .

Yep, that's George Chandler.  The plane was one of the bombers in the group that his squadron was escorting.

[alskahawk]

Been interested in aviation every since I can remember. Flew in a PBY and float planes in Alaska. My childhood interest in aviation turned into a career as an adult.  
 Started flying sims with my first computer a comodore 64. My first online flight experiance was with the original airwarrior. Only logged on like twice maybe 3 times.
  That was in the early ninety's. Got addicted to Red Baron, the original. Offline at first then online. AW on AOL around 94. Played all AW versions until it died. Tried AH, Warbirds didn't like either one. Took a break for a few years.
  Started flying again earlier in the year on Warbirds. Still didn't like it. At suggestion of Alskn I tried AH. Even though my skills have deteriorated I like it. So you all stuck with me!:O