Hi all

[Wiseman]

my name is Rene, but my callsign is Wiseman for about 30 years now. I am 47 years old. I was infected with the aviation virus by my grandpa (he was a glider pilot in the GDR). He had a lot of books especially about combat aviation and before I actually could read I viewed the pictures in these books with great interest. He also had a lot of model planes and I played with them very carefully.

My first contact with flight simulations was the game "F/A-18 Interceptor" on my Amiga 500. It was nothing more than some polygons on a blue and green screen. "Fighter Bomber", "F-19 Stealth Fighter" and "Tornado" followed. When I changed to an IBM compatible PC I flew "TFX", "F-15E Strike Eagle", "F-14 Fleet Defender", "Gunship 2000" and some more.
At the age of 19, after the wall came down, I tried to become a helo pilot in the German Army (Bundeswehr), but altough my physical and psychological tests were good, they had concerns because of a light distortion of my spine. So, eventually they refused me and this was a big setback for me. After that I only did my basic military service and started a civil life.
But military aviation was still fascinating me. The PC's went to more powerful machines and with that came better flight simulations like Falcon 4.0. These simulations and their sequels and forks (Falcon 4.0: Allied Forces, FreeFalcon) enthralled me for years.
Then came a period, where I hadn't enough time for such complex simulations because other personal things moved into the foreground.

9 years ago I started some first tries with DCS World (I bought the A-10C of Eagle Dynamics, which was a standalone simulator at this time) but my PC was not powerful enough and SSD's were very expensive (so it was a complete stutter party). Some years later, when the prices moved downwards I bought new components and built a PC, which was powerful enough. So I gave DCS World a new chance and from this moment on I was addicted. Altough DCS World has still some disadvantages against Falcon 4.0 (no dynamic campaigns, no complex ATC or AWACS and a very limited AI especially the wingmen) it is an awesome simulation with a lot of capabilities. I upgraded my PC again a few years later and expanded the peripherical equipment (Thrustmaster Warthog) with MFD's (without screens yet), an UFC, a headtracking system and rudder pedals.
This increased my flight experience in DCS vastly.

I hoped I could fly with my equally aviation-enthusiastically younger brother, so I bought another PC and made it to a dedicated DCS server, but he hasn't enough time, altough he has the necessary equipment. We only had two flights together.
So, I started to build complex, partly story-based missions for some of my modules (I have a lot, but unfortunately not enough time to give attention to all of them) to play in single player. But even with this it is sometimes difficult to keep the long time motivation after all these years. The lack of dynamic campaigns, an intelligent AI and a complex ATC is noticeable. Therefore I began to look for a squadron to fly together with real humans. Unfortunately most of the squadrons are US based or don't fly my most favorite module, the AV-8B. So I was glad to find the recruiting announcement of the 1(F) Squadron of RAF Air UK on the DCS forum on last friday. And I was happy to see, there is a working Discord channel. So I declared my wish to join the squadron there. About 60 min. later (after some technical problems with SRS, which were owed to my inexperience with this tool) I was on my introduction flight together with Hendo as leader and Eggball as second wingman. It was a lot of fun and a completely different experience than flying alone or with stupid AI's.
In the debriefing Hendo said my performance during the flight was good enough (I was a little unsatisfied with it because I can do it much better, but ok) and if I wish, he will support my joining to the squadron. Of course I said yes.
Now I am here and looking forward to meet and fly together with all of you.

So, see you in the air!
Wiseman

[Shaggy]

Welcome aboard Wiseman, We in 664 (Apaches) will see you wizzing past above us!

[Flames]

Hello and Welcome amte!

[Sapper]

Welcome to RAFAir Wiseman. I'm sure we'll be flying together soon!