My son and I enjoyed a quick duel with our new-to-us Charles Nungesser Nieuport 17 flying against Manfred von Richtofen's Albatros D.II
We'd been looking forward to getting the Nieuport for quite some time, as Nungesser was truly a larger-than-life fighter pilot that my boys have loved learning about.
So it was with great excitement that the first fight began!
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The first pass, Nungesser displays his typical aggression by raking MvR's Albatros from stem to stern.
MvR fires back but does nothing by comparison.
The two great aces circle one another seeking an advantage.
MvR has miscalculated and allowed Nungesser a shot, which flies just wide.
Nungesser grits his teeth and pulls back even harder on the stick, carefully aiming at the German scout. Fighting off a stall, he lets loose a punishing burst with MvR squarely in his sights. A 5 card becomes 6 with the +1 aiming bonus.
MvR manages to elude Nungesser for a few moments but soon enough they are back into another merge. With 10 of his 14 damage points expired, MvR has no margin for error... he pulls into the vertical. So does Nungesser.
MvR's aim is once again poor and he does only superficial damage to the French ace's Nieuport.
Nungesser, nonplussed, delivers the coup d'grace with another powerful burst.
Victorious, the Knight of Death watches as his victim plummets to the earth... little does he realize that MvR, though wounded severely, will manage to successfully land his destroyed aircraft, and live to fight another day.
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