Mission 2: Dusk Slaughterhouse
My brothers and I had so much fun, we did 2 more missions today. I doubt this will be the norm however.
The sun was near tree level by the time the lone DH.4 motored over the horizon. Recon pilot Cranston White and his rear gunner, Trevor Hanfield, had completed a routine bombing run on an enemy railroad station just an hour earlier. Cranston snickered. It had been a perfect run. No warning, no AA, no fighters. The train never saw it coming. They had even been fortunate enough to cross paths with a friendly Camel who decided to tag along with them. And Cranston certainly wasn't one to complain about that. Now they were homeward bound; they could even start to see their home base as they crested the last familiar treeline.
Suddenly, tracers blew by Cranston's left wing. He jerked around to look over his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Camel pilot peel off towards the firing. The he saw them. Three Dr.1s flying low so as not to be seen until the last possible second, their blunt noses pointed right at him.
"Trevor!" he yelled. Glancing at his gunner, he was shocked to see that he had fallen asleep!
"TREVOR!!" Cranston dealt him a cuff none too gently. "We've got company!"
Mission Briefing:
Central units involved:
3 Fokker Dr.1s (pilots Georg Steinbecker, Lothor Rudolfs, Willi Heinz)
Allied units involved:
1 Sopwith Camel (pilot William Godfrey)
1 Airco DH.4 (pilot Cranston White, gunner Trevor Hanfield)
1 AA gun
The mission started with 3 Dr.1s bouncing Greyson's 2 planes. My brother Shaw joined in once again to control Steinbecker (yellow Dr.1).
Godfrey dove in on Steinbecker, wounding him and jamming his guns. The DH.4 attempted to turn into the fray.
Then Steinbecker went after the AA while Heinz (black Dr.1) and Lothor (zebra Dr.1) attacked the DH.4 from extremely close quarters. Trevor had woken up by then and landed 10 points of damage on Heinz, wounding him. However that did not stop the 2 Dr.1s from jamming the DH.4's rudder in both directions and jamming the rear gun. Next card, the front gun would also jam.
The DH.4 was helpless; it could only go straight for 3 cards and both its guns were jammed. Seeking revenge for his injury, Heinz relentlessly hammered it until it disintegrated, bursting to pieces on impact with the ground.
In the meantime, Lothor made several strafing attempts on the AA to no avail. First he was wounded and then his plane caught fire. Since he was at altitude 1, Lothor attempted to land his blazing plane, preferring to be captured than fried. As he rolled to a stop, his engine detonated and would have proved fatal had he not already been on the ground. As things were, his plane nosed over and Lothor was severely wounded.
Then Steinbecker's aircraft was totaled in another head on pass with Godfrey. Just before his plane slipped earthward, Steinbecker fired one defiant blast, destroying Godfrey's plane. They hurtled to the earth side-by-side.
The only survivor, Willi Heinz flies away, wounded and with a mere 2 points of damage left.
Debrieifing:
- Central pilot Georg Steinbecker shoots down Sopwith Camel piloted by William Godfrey but is himself shot down in the process; 1 kill confirmation requested; MIA.
- Central pilot Lothor Rudolfs forced to land by AA fire; POW.
- Central pilot Willi Heinz shoots down DH.4 piloted by Cranston White; 1 kill confirmation requested; WIA.
- Allied pilot William Godfrey shoots down Fokker Dr.1 piloted by Georg Steinbecker but is himself shot down in the process; 1 kill confirmation requested; WIA.
- Allied pilot Cranston White shot down by Willi Heinz; KIA.
- Allied gunner Trevor Hanfield; WIA.
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That wasnt a Dogfight! That was a FURBALL!
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