History of the USL.
IN THE BEGINNING - 2007
Back in the Summer of 2007 a pilot named Prince, a charismatic captain in the 334th Eagle Squadron, had a vision of future competition following the collapse of the Ghost Skies tournament. He expressed a league in the same style only with historic battles and ground targets which will force squadrons into all types, to act as a squadron, use bombing techniques and replace the typical Ghost Skies ‘race for height’ at the start of a match. The idea was tabled to command of the 334th and a meeting was held on 11th August 2007 to discuss how things will work. Attendees were all 334th pilots, Seahawk, Eagle, Frenchie, Osprey, Prince, Red, Wild, Hammer, Zemke, Reaper, Baziel, Stryker, Marcphil2 and Marseille. Agreement was made on inviting a selected number of reliable open pit squadrons for the first season and following success the closed pit could be introduced.
The first ever season started in October 2007 with 13 squadrons starting the season. They were:
334th Eagle Squadron, Squadron of Brothers, WingWalkers, Voodoos Vampires, Rogue Saints, Fighting 69th, RCAF_FB, North American Air Dogs, 353rd Fighter Group, Ghost Force, The Flying Circus, Mercenaries Fighting Force and VF-29 Fighter Squadron (VF-29 disqualified in disgrace for cheating)
USL 2007 Champions were the 334th Eagle Squadron, defeating Squadron of Brothers by 4102 points to 2621 points in the final. The season's Top Gun was the man himself, 334th_Prince. (See 334th's winning roster listed in the Champions section)
The USL would never have started without certain members of the 334th Eagle Squadron who put in the many offline man hours and some their own personal money to get the program up and running. The CO at the time was Seahawk, now retired from flying IL2.
Prince was a member of the 334th for over two years and, during that time, achieved a great deal. The East-coaster with the infectious personality, laid back attitude to life, and great sense of humor was very popular with his buddies in the 334th and also an ace pilot to boot. The first USL season servers and website was personally funded by Prince and he also created relationships with sponsors Natural Point and CH Products for prizes for the first 2 seasons. It was a thoroughly professional job and thankfully has continued onwards today. In the first season he won the Top Gun as the 334th beat all to take the title. Just prior the second USL season his greatest fight began when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. His marvelous fighting spirit, positive attitude and the support of his family and friends kept him fighting on and sometimes flying. With great sadness he succumbed to the disease in the Spring of 2009. He will always be remembered in the IL2 community by those that flew with and against him, and those many friends that he made especially within the 334th Eagles. Rest In Peace Tony Principato - 1969 ~ 2009.
Zemke helped to gel everything together for the USL and empower individuals to their tasks. He made a couple of maps for the tournament and fought in key matches as 334th leader. Then a Major in the US Army he had returned from a years tour of Afghanistan before fighting a USL season. In July 2008 he took command of the 334th when Seahawk stood down before signing up for another years tour of Afghanistan starting January 2009, this time as a Lt Col. We all hope his mission is a success and he returns home safely.
Osprey was adjutant of the 334th and is now a USL veteran in his 3rd season with a new squadron, Legio XIII. He performed many tasks to help Prince with the website, making maps, briefings and anything else that Prince required assistance on. When Prince was struck with illness at the start of the second season Osprey too over the running of the USL closed pit with WingWalkers Bard to assist. It was a turbulent season for closed pit but was finished with success in the end. He also was plunged into running of the whole USL following the Wild scandal, without his work then the season would’ve prematurely ended. Osprey left the 334th Eagles in order to pursue his wish to fly full real which the 334th did not offer, and now operates as the liaison for Legio XIII flying in the Closed Pit Eastern division. Osprey also acts as an unofficial advisor to the USL staff and is still called upon for his expertise.
Hammer. A gentleman from Texas. Hammer has been a 334th member for many years and occasionally flies in squadron matches. A self-confessed bombardier he prefers to push the button from altitude rather than pull his stick into his gut. Hammer is a graphic designer by trade and created the original USL logo and gifs for the first website.
2008 - SEASON TWO
USL 2008 winners were Fighting 69th performing a difficult feat, “The Double”, by winning both Closed and Open Pit competitions. In Closed Pit Fighting 69th never lost a match throughout the season and defeated II/JG54 Grunherz in the final by 6666 points to 5745 points. The Closed Pit Top Gun for the season was II/JG54_Emil.
In the Open Pit final HeadHunters, fighting their first USL season, were defeated by Fighting 69th. (See 69th's winning roster listed in the Champions section)
During the 2007 - 2008 season, Osprey stepped up and took the reigns of the USL. As the 2008 season rolled on, Osprey was faced with several challenges that would have made most men run for the hills. First was the tremendous work load of the USL that required constant, daily intervening, mediation, and attention by Osprey, who was already operating with a skeleton crew, secondly, a general discord was building amongst the teams participating over key issues in style of regulation play that couldn't seem to be remedied, and thirdly, what seemed to be the final blow, the grand prizes for the seasons winners had fallen victim to a shipping debacle and were permanently lost. Despite the let downs, and hardships the 2008 season held, Osprey and his staff completed the seasons competition. To this day we are thankful to Osprey for strapping a wounded USL upon his shoulders and seeing it through. By season's end the USL staff, beleaguered and exhausted, retired the USL and it's website in the hopes that one day, others might take the reigns.
2009 - THE RESURRECTION
In June of 2008 the CO of the Rogue Saints Virtual Fighter Wing, [RS]Knapper informed his team that the USL was no more. He reported, after discovering the website had closed , he was able to make contact with Osprey to learn that, unless the USL acquired new administrative ownership, it would not return. This created quite a frenzy within the forum of the Rogue Saints. If the USL didn't return, what effect would that have on our gaming community? It was commented that the USL competitions gave purpose to many squads in our community. It gave them a reason to practice. It's upcoming seasons motivated teams to recruit and train new pilots. The next season always provided hope for making a name for your squad. The WWII flight sim community was already suffering and dwindling from a lack of hope. Their flight simulator that was over 8 years old, with no future expansion in sight, and the expectations of a new simulator constantly dashed by 3 years of release postponements. If there was no more USL, it could truly put our sim community on a slippery slope to being nothing more than a one-on-one dog fight lobby or worse, a ghost town.
So the topic became official... Could the Rogue Saints be the one to pick up the pieces? Should the Rogue Saints be the one to take this responsibility? Did the Rogue Saints have the resources to put behind it? If so, who is going to be the one who tries to rebuild it? The answers were yes, yes, yes, and Lazarus.
In August of 2008, [RS]Lazarus stepped up and volunteered to take on the challenge. Under the counsel of clan CO [RS]Skemos, [RS]Knapper, and [RS]CeJay, the discussions of resurrecting the USL were underway. It wasn't long before the idea of a Board of Directors was brought to the table along with Lazarus' additional idea of open and closed pit commissioners. If Lazarus was going to do this, then he wanted a strong leadership structure in place to insure that the USL would continue long into the future. It was also decided that, if it was to be completely restructured from the ground up, then it would be given a new, stronger name...United Squadrons League Global. Lazarus chose this name because it signified the reach that the competition had. It was global.
In September of 2008, Lazarus purchased USLGlobal.com and the IPB forums and, [RS]Skemos and the Rogue Saints offered resources, servers, and the peace of mind the USLG had a strong future.
Lazarus immediately began meetings with 334th_Zemke to receive additional counsel and insight because of the 344th's experience in the first USL. A five man Board Of Directors was immediately implemented, and Lazarus was introduced to marcphil2, Zemke's choice to represent the 334th on the USLG Board of Directors. It was also decided by Lazarus that he, himself, would not serve on the Board because of his position as Chief Administrator so Skemos sent [RS]CeJay to fill the position.
In late September, Lazarus, marcphil2, and Cejay set out to find two more board members and two Commissioners, all the while, completely rebuilding the rules & regulations from scratch. During this period, McSlash from the Tempest Union and BullDog from NORAD thankfully came into the fold as board members and immediately went to work on the restructuring process.
Lazarus officially opened the doors to the new USL Global on October 12th. There they all sat, in the giant, empty echo of the new forums. They were the only members! It was very unsettling, to say the least! It was time to bring the community back, and the advertising effort began. Lazarus spent day after day advertising the new USL in Hyperlobby, at 1c, at SimHQ, hoping that the WWII flight sim community would give the USL another chance to be a part of their squadrons. The constant effort paid off.....the first team, that wasn't a founding member, signed up! The entire staff screamed hallelujah when, on October 20th, the Head Hunters registered to compete! Shortly after that the forums began to flood. Individual pilots were registering on the forums, teams were registering to compete, and amazingly, donations began coming in form a community that didn't hold a grudge, and was excited to play. Shortly thereafter, II/JG54_Emil graciously stepped in to fill the 5th board position and II/JG54_Zoilus and [RS]SteelHdSlim were appointed as the first closed and open pit Commissioners for the USLG.
By December of 2008 (6 weeks after opening), USL Global registered over 700 members, 25 teams, and acquired Crucial.com as their first commercial sponsor. Thanks to Skemos and the Rogue Saints, USL servers 1 thru 4 were brought on line, and made available for competition reservations. Soon thereafter the honorable CRO_Ante and the CRO team graciously donated their server space and opened the official USL_Euro server so European teams could compete with better ping.
January 2009 - IT'S ALIVE!
On January 12th USLG enjoyed it's inaugural opening day to the 2009 season and 25 teams went to war! The 2009 season was an absolute success, offering two new teams the honor of being called world champions. 2GvShAD, a Russian team new to the USL stormed the scene and became the Closed Pit world Champions flaunting a stupendous 37 and 1 season. Likewise, a brand new team from Croatia called CRO_Squadron devastated USL records with a perfect 38 and 0 season, claiming rights to the title of Open Pit World Champions. During this season USLG enjoyed it's first commercial sponsorship by Crucial.com who supplied high performance Ballistix memory to our top gun high score winners. The 2009 season is over, the lights have been dimmed, and the halls are empty save for the echo of the staff members cleaning up the stadium. 2010 approaches.