SKFlossy's Story
I initially had absolutely NO INTEREST in flight sims - they were something that Zeb was very much into, but as I couldn't even drive a car at the time, the thought of adding a third dimension was mind- boggling! :-) Then one day in January 1998, Zeb mentioned to me that he thought he might be getting invited into a squad in Air Warrior.... suddenly, I realised there was a lot more to this particular flight sim than I had originally imagined, and was very interested to see exactly what he meant. That night when he went online to fly, I sat next to him and watched as he logged into AW.... he explained everything he did, pointing out the Officers Club, country HQs and the airfields as he went along. Sure enough, Spiff was online and he met up with him, showing me their names in the right-hand column indicating they were both in the same location.
I watched, fascinated, as they flew together and finally Spiff sent Zeb the squad invite.... and laughed as Zeb typed something instead of /accept, with Spiff having to repeat the invite at least twice before Zeb finally got it right!
Every night after that, I kept badgering him to go online even if he didn't really feel like it..... and this went on for about 6 months until he had the bright idea of me starting my own account! But I can't fly planes, I protested! Well, OK, there are vehicles and I could go as a gunner in a bomber.....yeah that would do me, I don't need to be able to fly!
So, I created an account and logged into the game. I wanted a cpid that would be associated with Zeb (short for Zebedee, a character from a cult cartoon series, The Magic Roundabout). He chose that because of the way he kept bounciing back to AW, and also the way he landed his favourite ride, the P38, bouncing all the way down the runway.
I could only think of two other characters in The Magic Roundabout that were female - the main one being Florence, and Ermintrude the cow! I did not want to be named after a cow, so opted for Florence.... now I needed to shorten it to 5 characters of less. Floss was taken. I didn't really fancy Flo, so tried for Flos. So Flos was born and was also invited into the Krait Squadron. I have remained a member of this my primary squad ever since. I soon found that not being able to fly was a bit of a disadvantage, as I often spent lots of time on the ground waiting for a gunner ride when everyone was up in fighters. Sometimes somebody would take pity on me and up a bomber or a 110. Then eventually I was persuaded to have a go at flying. Zeb was a great help, though I never did get the hang of flying fighters.
I decided I needed to specialise in something, and as I was useless in fighters, I would have to try and become proficient in bombers and started flying B17s regularly. I did get reasonably good at bombing, and often went on high-alt bombing raids to the Bz Spit factory, with my new friend, AirRat (Arrt) gunning for me. Between the two of us, we were a mean team! Arrt introduced me to other SkyKnights and I often joined them late at night when there were no Kraits online. I used to enjoy gunning also, and many times would join someone like Denny (SKPappy) as a gunner.
After joining the volunteer staff in AW, I had to patrol all the arenas, and it was then I 'discovered' the RR pilots and found they enjoyed the game just as much as we did in FR.... OK it was a bit wild compared to FR, but it was fun in a different way. I started going in RR when numbers dwindled in FR (the migration to AH hit the FR players the hardest) and joined a bomber squadron, The Black Sheep Bombers. However, they refused to move to AWMV from AW3, so I ended up joining The Hell Gods. The fact I was in 2 squads didn't matter in AW as they were in two separate arenas.
Of course, eventually, AW was closed down and, although I had been playing both for quite a few months, I then moved permanently to AH. Being in two squads in single arena was impossible, so for a while I had to make do with not being a member of the Hell Gods. Then I became a member of the CM Team and was able to start a second account, which I used to fly with my old squadmates until Wax decided to disband and move to Rooks. At the same time, I had been contemplating moving to the Rooks myself as there are so many people I remember from AW flying for the Rooks, especially members of the former Cz Defence Force who were now part of the RJO. I was also in regular contact with AirRat during his time in Iraq and we would reminisce about our times together in AW, making me want to be able to do it all again in AH.
I then made the decision. I moved to Rooks after seeing Alpo on line one day and started to chat to him, and ask if I could fly with the SkyKnights. Yes, anytime, he said.... No, I mean.... well.... would you consider having me as a member? :-)
In any squad I have been a member of, I have always maintained that my *primary* squad is the Kraits, and this has always been understood. As long as the Krait Squadron exists, I will always remain a member, but that does not in any way diminish my enjoyment of being part of the SkyKnights and I will always enjoy being a proud member of this squad.
