Gather around youngsters, This is for all the newer guys around here that don’t know the past of dogfight. Im not the oldest playr here so maybe a few older pilots can cover what I miss. Old school players like me love to reminisce and tell the noobs “Back in my day…” lol it makes us feel wise.
This is a look into the past of df.
The good ol days!

I started dogfight back in july 2012. I couldn’t afford the game at first so I redownladed the demo over and over again. If u search, Kestrel, kestrel 1, kestrel1, kestrel 2, those are my original accounts lol. I played for months till I finally got permission to buy the game. Back then, lag didn’t exist, well, at least not at the state it is now. We had few glitches at all when I started.
Wig, skydavis, vampire, kTheo, Bstratchan, Bomer1, DXP, Captain Noushbag, dentinhead, samweb and so many others ruled the air. Back then, there was no dreaded blue max. tons of people were flying as duckwing back then, wig took me to the top of a high mountain (before it was duckwing Mtn behind the german base) and explained what the name ment and who was duckwing. Duckwing was a legendary pilot in the game that served in the military until he lst his legs and arm in an explosion (correct me if im wrong) and had to use a stand tool to play df. His motto was “ I will never Bail” He stayed in a game no matter what, even on his final days when he couldn’t even hold the phone because the paain, he parked and said he was sorry but the pain was too bd that he couldn’t stay, swopcamel stayed with him and prayed and chatted and got him to stay till the end. That guys name is still in lights around here. Also, Only like 5-6 morafs existed back then. Bstratchan was the first ever moraf in df and even won a prize, a df tshirt that says 1st dogfight Marshal of the royal air force (not many called it moraf back then) He was the alpha dog in df for over 8-9months, holding the lead on the leader board. Nobody liked him in red, he was the blue max back then. basic graphics and terrain were standard, no fancy water, moving elevators, masts on the carriers, no jolly roger ( man dark times…) or village, no windows 8 users, it was only Apple and android fighting for air supremacy.

There wasn’t many experienced pilots back then, and the ones that where, u learned their names fast! There was no immunity on the runway, no brake safely. U took off fast or died on the ground. No segregated servers so u where trained on the job on how to fly and survive. A 1-10 KDR back then ment u could hold ur own lol. I should know my kdr was 1-12 my first month and a half. Camping was unheard of back then, since camping is all about points, even though many will deny it. There were tons of new pilot looking to earn points and rank. Planes were cheap back then too, I cant remember but I believe the se5 and albatross dV was only 175 k back then. But points werent exactly easy to earn. Even the zep game was hard to earn points. This was because of the old points system didn’t let u keep ur points if u died. U had to earn the points, role the dice and go to the enemy base and hope u don’t die ( this allowed for more dogfighting and less head on jousting) , or turn tail and land to lock ur points in. If u camped and earned 2000 points then ran out of ammo, guess what, if u couldn’t make it all the way back to ur base, u wasted all ur time and didn’t gain a single point, unless u where lucky enough to parachute to the ground without dieing. I miss that system personally, I think people are able to rank up too fast now, back then It was a true challenge to earn 10 k in a 4 hour df shift. Now an average player can earn enough points to go through all 8 beginner lvls in a single day.

People also goofed off more, there was rarely a fight over stealing a kill, cheating, aimbot accusers, and all that other drama. Everyone was laid back and wanted to play, but have fun while doing it. We would always to to legends bridge and goof off. A 10 minute df mission would turn into an hour long “circus” Flight. GreyGhost actually started the first flying circus back in early 2013 if im not mistaken. The point was to do whatever u wanted, experiment with ur plane, and HAVE FUN. Only rule no shooting. U could practice maneuvers whenever u felt like it but u couldn’t shoot.

There wasn’t a lot of updates back then either. We didn’t get to choose servers. We were sorted out through the machine and put where it wanted us. Switching sides was all luck and hard to do at best. U had to be lightning fast, between leaving game, pressing play, picking plane, and waiting for game to reload, could be no less than 5 sec or u wasn’t getting back into that game at all.

Dogfight was a paradise back then, but we still had glitches, some of the most infamous would be the invisible wall at the top of the west lake and the snipers on the carriers. The Wall was just that, a wall. U couldn’t see it, but u could feel it. If u tried to fly inside the carrier at that point, u would crash into the thickest air u would ever feel. If u where already inside the carrier when it went through the wall, u would be gently pushed up, and almost no wa to turn around fast enough to escape before u where crushed by the top of the deck. It would look as u where floating in the air, but it was the last thing u would ever want to see in the ctc mission. If u where in a tank and u hit it, ur tank just stopped, and if u fired u blew urself up. Now the snipers where both good and bad. Good if he was on ur side, bad if he wasn’t. The glitch was, when u parachuted on the carriers, u stayed there, but u where completely invisible. U had 42 rounds u could pump into landing planes and defend ur boat. I do wish that glitch would come back, but where u could see the person. That glitch forced us to carry bombs to the carriers and bomb parked planes. But it made for interesting battles.
The hangers have also advanced in building style. They used to be small and tent like. U could easily hit 3 with one bomb or shell. Dive bombing was a rare site, People went around the mountains ridge back then. There was very wide ranges of bombing styles, head on, spinning or barrel rolling, Going around, And rarely but still, some dive bombed, it was rare because it took so long to get to 2 k where u where “invisible” until they got closer.

That’s my story of what df was back in the Good ol days. Now yall can see why the experienced players laugh when a noobie complains for not getting but 15k points all day or when people are mad that they get shot down easy. Fly when we flew, we didn’t have all the luxuries of immunity, auto brake safety, buyable points, or any of that. We learned the hard way.
That’s all I have to share for now. If anyone has pics of the OLD OLD df, please post and share. Its nice to go down memory lane every now and then. Im sure some folks would love to c df before it was the game we play today.

Remember that release where the tracer looked like laser beams! I do miss the wall, it was funny when you had your tank on it, i miss the train too. i dont miss invisible snipers on the carriers

Ya duck was a great guy played one handed and typed with pen of some sort in his mouth. He was a sniper with 90 some confirmed kills. He was on a 15 day mission on last day going to get picked up by chopper his spotter tripped an IED he was killed and Jon lost both legs and his left arm. I miss that guy

To...great history. Makes me love the game even more now thanks....

Sorry...tKestrel..

I remember every time I got shot down is lose points, it would always be different amount, couldn't get my head around how the game was scored. Now I find out that you had to get back home to keep points. Makes sense now.gee I lost a huge amount of points back then.
Use to love being the carrier sniper, you'd land on enemy carrier and wait until someone shot you out of plane then walk around and wait till someone spawned and take them out, use to take about 5 shots. There would be a 90 sec timer but if you stepped from main deck to walkway on side it would restart clock.
Ah the good old days.

"His motto was “ I will never Bail” He stayed in a game no matter what, even on his final days when he couldn’t even hold the phone because the pain, he parked and said he was sorry but the pain was too bad that he couldn’t stay, swopcamel stayed with him and prayed and chatted and got him to stay till the end."

Kes...thanks for mentioning this as part of the "Dogfight History"... that motto "I will never bail", was first coined by him on that last game of his....

those games with Duckwing are permanently etched in my mind...one mustnt forget that on the Mountain called Duckwing he LOVED to take tanks up to the top and throw them off the cliff. Duckwing and SkyDavis even got me to do that as well. I was always reluctant cause I tend to play what the mission is but I never had as much fun as those games with SkyDavis and Duckwing.and take soldiers up there....and "clown around" on the mountain. Duckwing wing was chosen because Duckwing loved that mountain....even in other games Dusckwing would go up there just to enjoy the view...

Kes...In your honor I will "unsticky" the forum page on the Duckwing Story so that any who want a full detail can read and enjoy it if they so desire.

thanks for the history lesson tchameleon. it's good for newer pilots like me to hear how things were before i played. it seems that the majority of the complaints are due to newer pilots experimenting with what's possible in the game.
about 6 weeks ago i didn't understand any of the subtleties of the game. i figured screaming down from 2000 feet to bomb a hangar was something that was hard to do. now i understand it for what it is, not giving the defenders a chance to defend. i figured sneaking was smart. why not go around the deathtrap that is the middle? now i see the middle as the place i want to be. racking up kills and getting taught some painful lessons by the red defenders. i didn't think people who hovered over the runway to shoot me down when i'm helpless were being mean. i just figured it was a hard game.
everyone's definition of honor differs, but i don't mind any of the hardships of the game. meanie means or dirty tricks cause me to have to readjust what i'm doing to counter it. i really like this game.

I miss the way the game was back when it was just the red Fokker triplane and the sopwith camel. That was good times.

Hi all,
Wow, what a history. I saw davy fly up on the mountain and land, so i did the same and it is the coolest thing! I wish I could have known duck. Next time i fly ill go up there.
Thanks,
[BACON] ZM

Thank u everyone for liking this thread and commenting.

If any old and experienced df pilots here want to add anything that I may have missed, or pics of the old water, hangers, carriers, terrain, or anything, that would be cool too. Or if u just want to share stories from games in the old df version I'm sure the rookies here would love to hear about them.

Great job kes. I never got to meet the great duckwing but I know all about him. He is the spirit of dog fight. And oh how I miss the old points system you either fought hard of died trying. I wish zup would reinstate it. And I don't know how many times I've hit that wall but all ofy planes are just a little shorter than they used to be. And I don't think anyone liked the star wars tracers. But to all of the folks that made me fight harder I owe you my thanks

I hope all in Dogfight enjoyed me unstickying the Duckwing threads....there are some great pictures and the stories as well about Duckwing....I'm trying to find the write up real life story of my game with Duckwing 2 weeks before he died....if anyone can help me it would be greatly appreciated.

squad of 7 wrote: Sorry...tKestrel..

wait, what ya sry for bud?

|111th|tSwopCaml wrote: I hope all in Dogfight enjoyed me unstickying the Duckwing threads....there are some great pictures and the stories as well about Duckwing....I'm trying to find the write up real life story of my game with Duckwing 2 weeks before he died....if anyone can help me it would be greatly appreciated.

Cool thx swop!

Wow. A little humbling, reading this. Hats off to Duckwing, the spirit pilot of dogfight.

Great thread kes,here's a pic of some old guys having some fun,me parrot roy May and I'm sure wig was there but can't see him,
Still think its a record, for most pilots landed on top of the carrier we got 6 on there lol,that was about a year ago when we used to have fun,and one of the old score board good times.

I finally found a 2 pics of the hangers all those months back. As u can tell from the pics, my take offs back then where the stuff of legend lol.
There where gopher holes on the runway a while back, I still hit them every now and then. Also these pics are very old and already edited for a joke. (Note, the take off wasn't meant to look like that, but I had to post how it looked)

I started back in fall of 2012. I didn't like it berry much because of the point system. I never made any kills or bombed any hangers. I just got killed lol. I think u only got a week or so of playing for free. Then u had to pay $4.99 a month. I decided that it wasn't worth it and deleted the app. I was looking thru my apps in my cloud in January of this year and decided to see if it had changed any. And boy, did it change! I don't remember any of u older players but I do remember being killed alot!
See u in the air,
Reaper 2

Great thread!
Boy I missed alot, I sure do wish I couldve been here from the start. Just to expirence all the changes and grow with the game. In a year this will be the routs of dogfight. New comers will be looking at this like its ancient lol. Well I am glad that I did find the game when I did. This game is like no other. One day what all us new comers have to go through will some day be history as well. So id like to influcene everyone to just take a screen shot every now and then and lock it up for "old times sake" alot of get battles and memories have been shared at there in the air. Some I rememeber and some I wish I could lol.
I miss being a noob though, learning everything, meeting all the "big boys" here in the uper sever. I remember my first match when I got to level 8. Everyone had better planes and rank ive never seen before. In the lower server it wasnt so fast paced. Everyone just kimda goofed off and explored. But man level 8 was a whole nother story. At level 7 I had more kills then deaths and I though I was king of the sky. I get to level 8 and 2 days later I had over 100 more deaths then kills. Took me a long time just to break even. It was hard but fun, I felt like I was welcome here and everyone was always so nice to eachother.
For the longest time though, id fly through the clouds just so u couldnt see me, hoping I could get away. Thats was a great idea but I couldnt figure out why I was being shot down so easily after all my efforts till I discovered u can turn the clouds off in settings -_-
My lest favriot glitch was the one windows 8 users had where they can kill u across the map before u can evem see them. I though it was a "kill 8 hack" sorry to all those I accused for cheating lol. But, my most favriot glits is the "subtank" there is a sweet spot on the north side of the bridge on thewest lake were if u/I get shot down over water and get in a tank I can just go underwater. It appears as if there is no water and there is just a ghost ship hovering but to others they can see u and ur under water.
a story about one of my first matches at level 8 and who inspired me to be where im at today.
I remember being the easy target, the one who couldnt hit crap. The one the was shot down before I can set my aim. I was in a ctc match with 1001, txlawman amd kptnsingh I think and remember my ego just get shreaded to pieces by all these morafs, seemed like there was no hope. I made the remark "man I suck" and someone told me "no u dont, it just takes some practice, youll get it".... and I was like "yeah right" and someone made the statment "if u can shoot down txlawman, ur good enough". I spent have that match going for him. Barley fired at anyone else, but if I could get txlawman, then im good enough. By the end of the match I was killed about 20 times and had no less then 5 kills, but I got txlawman man 2 out of those 5. But the dunnest thing was, after who ever told me if I can get him I was good enough. And after countless attempts to get him, he made the funnest statment and said "man, now look what did" lol idk I just though that was funny amd its one of my most favorite memories.
But, while were here, does anyone remember and know what happened to that one squad, Badazz Thundergodz? And who the owner was? I havent seen them in awhile and id just like to reconnect that piece od history.
well those are some of my stories that I felt like sharing I wish there was more to share but thats all I hot for now.

How about the scavenger hunts from about a year ago? Whiplash did a great job of putting those together. Lots of fun trying to get as many planes as possible on the top of carrier, flying through hangars, landing on zep and the various other challenges. Good times.

O yea, I was a staff member in that. That earned me the name Dodo Bird because I was a rare animal, the last of my kind, doesn't bet more rare than that lol.
Thx for bringing that in BTJ. I almost forgot about it. Does anyone know the link to that thread, and if u do could u post it so everyone can see the crazy stunts and tricks we pulled off.

And can someone find a pic of the first water? I'm sure everyone would love to see the lag less water we grew up flying above.

B U M P