Contents:

 
Flawed Beginning
  History Begins
  Early
UOP's

  "The Dr.1 is Porked!"

  SWWISA

  The Last Classic UOP

  To the East!
  Revolution of CdT
  A New Breed of UOP
  Pat Wilson and WFP

  Stachel's Hell's Angels

  The Promised Land

  The End of the Road

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The Last of the Classic Patches

The last of what can be considered part of the Classical Era of UnOfficial Patches is one that was unfortunately, and unfairly, overshadowed by greater developments within the community. WingStrut, already well known for producing the WingStrut 2.2 patch in late 1999 and early 2000, worked for two years to create his next work for Red Baron. It was called 1918 Air War and was one of the most unique and revolutionary patches to date. WingStrut sought to create a UOP that focused solely on 1918, a period of amazing combat and great bloodshed during the war. The patch used only planes that flew during that year, and created the most diverse and richly detailed recreation of that year of any patch seen to date. The plane models were a compromise, using a mix of fully 3D and 2D shapes, along with considerably larger bitmap files to give the patch a crisp, clean look while keeping the frame rate sky high, even on older machines of the day. WingStrut succeeded in creating a patch that reflects the beauty and grace of his artistic touch. Sadly, 1918 Air War was a casualty of being released at the wrong time in history. 1918 Air War was overshadowed by two major developments that also occurred in 2002; the amazing models created by Karel Dooms, affectionately known as Charles de Thielt, and the formation of SWWISA (Society of World War I Sim Artisans). Tragically, WingStrut pulled 1918 Air War from his site just months after its release, and began work outside of Red Baron creating aircraft profiles, which he continues to this day.

   

(The increase in detail is obvious between the 1918 Air War patch and the older Beery 2.0 counterpart.)

 


(Two beautiful examples of WingStrut’s modeling, along with his own terrain, in 1918 Air War)