Early Doors Mission 5---The Bigger they come---52 Sqd--gully_raker
Pre mission dice roll for Zeppelin Damage:
Kapitanleutnant Fredrick Karl von Scheilburger was a worried man. A very worried man! Initially all had gone well on the raid with his bombs obviously doing damage to their target.
But then things had started to unravel fast, very fast. The British Home defence Squadrons had descended on them & as the hindmost Zeppelin they had received the worst of the attacks. His beloved airship was down by the tail & the best efforts of his engineers had failed to improve the situation as other cells had also received damage. L33 was loosing height & lagging behind her sister ships. Now a weather front had moved in & was causing the limping airship to swing wildly.
Everything was quite in the C flight office of 52 Squadron. A & B Flights were off on their Recon duties & C flight would not be flying until the next morning. Suddenly the phone jangled & 1st Ltn Boniface King picked it up. "King"? said the Sqd C.O. "Yes Sir replied" Bon.
"Bit of a scatter on old chap" "Seems some of those damn Zeppelin's been causing some havoc over Blighty & one which seems to be in a bit of bother is heading in our direction". "GHQ want two aircraft in the air immediately to try to intercept the bloody thing".
"Now the Hun is sure to have sent out an S.O.S by Morse so you might find an Eindeker or two coming to its aid" "I'll leave you to select the pilots but be quick & good luck!"
Bon quickly made for the Officers Mess where he found 2nd Ltns Ralph Medium & Lionel Rare playing Chess. "Right you blokes" (King was an Australian!) into your flight gear & I will have the FE 2b prepped for you with incendiaries. We have a Zep to try to destroy & I will fly cover for you."
Soon the Fee accompanied by King's DH-2 were airborne & headed towards the co-ordinates he had been given.
Soon they saw the giant airship slipping through the lowering cloud base.
"Looks a bit second hand" called Lionel back to his pilot. "Tails dragging a fair bit!" "Right Ho" yelled Ralph. "Lets see what we can do"
As they approached they could see the Zeppelin pivoting in the wind with the tail swinging.
As they turned into an attacking path they saw Bon King wave & turn off to starboard as he had spotted a Fokker Eindeker approaching from the direction of the Hun lines.
The Fee had approached the Zep from its front starboard quarter which prevented any German gunners being able to fire at them. Lionel saw his bullets hit but there was no sign of smoke or fire.
In the meantime Bon flew towards the Fokker which had come under fire from the AA batteries around a nearby town. Although the fire appeared accurate the German suffered no damage & was able to get hits on Bon's DH-2.
Passing across the nose of the Zep Lionel again scored good hits on the Zeps front gas cell & he saw a rent appear in the fabric & the front of the Zep fell away level with the tail.
The Fokker pilot was still trying to avoid the flak as Bon flew towards the action with the Zeppelin.
The Fee flew around the nose of the Zep & as Lionel reloaded a new drum on to his Lewis gun the German gunners finally got a shot but it passed by without damage. However as the Fee flew on a second burst did minor damage to a wing.
The Fokker was still trying to clear the AA batteries & again had a lucky escape from a very near miss.
Lionel had finally changed the Lewis's drum & in the meantime Bon had also approached the Zep from the front & gave it a good burst into one of the engine nacelles.
However the wildly swinging Zeppelin caught him out & his landing gear crunched against the envelope of the huge machine which showed no sign of damage. Pulling back the stick he now flew above the giant airship. The Fee again shot at the Zeppelin from close range.
While the Fokker was still circling to try to attack the De Haviland he was also trying to avoid the continuous AA Fire from the 3 batteries.
Finally the German pilot's luck ran out & a burst of Flak right in front of his propeller caused good damage to the Fokker & lumps of shrapnel wounded him in both legs.
The Fee flew around the side of the Zeppelin & again gave it a good hosing from close range but this time German gunners also scored hits.
Ralph threw the Fee into an Immleman turn after warning Lionel to hold tight but as he approached the Zeppelin again he came under fire from the German Fokker but perhaps due to the German pilots wounds the shot missed & his gun then jambed!
The FE 2 & the Zep exchanged shots to little effect but the Fee's Lewis jambed on its last shot in the drum & as the Fee turned away to reload another burst from the German gunners caused smoke to billow from the Fee's pusher engine!
The Eindeker passed in front of the FE but it could not fire as Lionel was busy changing the drum.
Meanwhile Bon had caught sight of a second Fokker coming to the aid of the Zeppelin & manoeuvred to get in a shot but it appeared to do little damage.
As the FE again approached the Zep its gyrating caused the Fee to hit the top of the envelope but neither craft suffered damage.
As the British aircraft passed over shots were exchanged but to no great effect.
The British aircraft had been targeting the mid sections of the German Airship after they knew they had destroyed the front gas cell earlier in the battle & now both planes closed in for the Kill!
First Bon & the the FE 2 let fly & exchanged fire with the airship & simultaneously the AA batteries hit the Zeppelin with direct hits.
Suddenly the huge Zeppelin was engulfed in flames as the last gas cell exploded under the combined might of the Allied assault.
The two German Pilots turned for home knowing they still had to avoid the AA batteries so they flew off around the town well out of reach of the guns.
Our two pilots flew towards their home aerodrome waving to each other & rocking their wings to celebrate a most successful mission.
THE BUTCHERS BILL:
Zeppelin L33 Destroyed
Damage as per card. 26 Damage points plus EXPLOSION
As the aircraft moved along the length of the Zeppelin I allocated each set of 4 damage point to the next cell. Some damage points were lost due to causing more than the 4 points in that area.
Ltn Hans Wessels CDL Eindekker:
RTB/ Wounded. 6 damage points
Ltn Wilhelm Schuster Grey Eindeker:
RTB 1 damage point.
1st Ltn Boniface King:
RTB 9 Damage points.
2nd Ltn R. Medium & 2 Ltn L. Rare:
FE 2b. RTB 8 Damage points
Awaiting Flash's decision on who gets the Zeppelin Kill of if it is a three way share?
Incidently I hope I allocated the Cell damage correctly.
I based it on Rob' comments on the Cell chart that 4 Damage destroys a cell.
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Originally Posted by flash
Sorry to lump that on you Dave but I wanted to make sure it was done right!
G'day Rob! Yes the damage the Zep carried into the battle was of great help.
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