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Thread: Malta 1940. A strange encounter. (Bulldogs)

  1. #1

    Default Malta 1940. A strange encounter. (Bulldogs)

    Primo Tenente Baldavino Agnoli was happy to be on a mission so far away from the marauding Hurricanes and Fulmars based on the Island of Malta. This recon down the bay of Naples was far from their usual haunts. Moreover with nine tenths cloud at only 2000 feet it was unlikely that any other aircraft was even airborne today. Having spotted no enemy shipping, he turned for home, and as he neared what he calculated was the coast, dropped below the cloud base for a moment to spot for any island landmarks.


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    Quite unbeknown to the Tenante, flying on an interception course just below the cloud base was the Maryland piloted by Flt. Lt. Ron von Bleyswick (late of the Royal Dutch Air force) with his crew of P.O. Richard (****) Richardson, and Flt. Sgt. Neil McFadden.


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    Von Bleyswick could not believe his luck as the SM29 materialised like a ghost from the cloud bank some 1,000 feet ahead of him, and crossing his bow.
    Climbing steadily, and turning slightly to port he closed with the SM, expecting to receive a reception from the rear gunner with every passing second.
    Not wanting to lose a sitter, as soon as he came within range, von Bleyswick let loose with everything that he had.
    The first rounds were very telling piercing the fuselage, and incapacitating the rear gunner immediately.


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    Agnoli reacted instinctively to the unexpected attack. Throwing his aircraft into a turn towards his attacker, he caused the closing Maryland to overshoot in its turn. Von Bleyswick thus missed the chance for a speedy kill at close range.

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    He did however spot that the return fire from the SM had ceased.
    Emboldened by this, Ron cut his speed in order to allow the SM of Agnoli to come within his steepening turning circle.


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    In a few seconds, he was again in position to pump more rounds into the hapless Italian aircraft.


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    In order to try and shake off his tormentor, and praying that he could make it before his aircraft succumbed, Baldavino headed for the nearest cloud still under a withering fire from the Maryland.


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    As he saw his enemy enter the safety of the clouds, von Bleyswick made a fateful decision.


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    Rather than play hide and seek within the clouds, he decided to skirt around the Cumulous and try to spot the SM as it headed for the coast and safety.


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    With great skill he caught Agnoli as he emerged from clouds for the second time that day,
    Once more his guns did execution upon the Machetti.

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    Unfortunately as he closed in for the kill, once more fate deprived him of his victory. His shots missed by a fraction as Agnoli jinked his SM in desperation.


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    There was no escape this time, however, and with the co pilot still valiantly trying to patch up the rear gunner's wounds, no return fire was possible.


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    This time at very close range indeed Ron, disabled the steering mechanism of the Marchetti and fragments of tail plane actually hit the Maryland.


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    As more shots went home Baldavino was running out of options, so he once again stalled, forcing the Maryland to sheer off or collide with the already mangled tail of the SM.


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    Ron swung back onto course, and got off another short burst before Agnoli once again took refuge in the clouds, but this time return fire did come from the rear of the SM.


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    The Co pilot had given up on the wounded gunner and taken the defence into his own hands.


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    Von Bleyswick followed him into the cloud, sure in the knowledge that having doled out so much damage to the SM once they emerged one more good burst would finish the fight.


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    As he emerged, Ron received an unpleasant surprise. The SM had banked and from its new heading the co pilot raked the Maryland, setting its starboard engine on fire.


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    Feathering the engine and turning off the fuel supply, Ron put another good burst into the SM and was gratified to see Baldavino jettison his Torpedo in an attempt to get away from the now slower Maryland.


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    As the SM turned away, and Ron opened up on the fleeing SM.



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    The substitute gunner accomplished the impossible, and hit the second engine of the Maryland which within seconds exploded in a sea of flaming aviation fuel.


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    Van Bleyswick only just had time to instruct his crew to bale out,


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    before the now totally unstable Maryland plummeted into the bay of Naples and vanished beneath the waves. Of von Bleyswick himself, nothing was to be seen.


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    Wiping more than one bead of sweat from his brow, Agnoli breathed a sigh of relief, crossed himself, and with his wounded crewman now attended to, flew his battered Machetti homeward.
    Despite being so close to the Italian coast, it was an FAA Sunderland which sopotted the downed Maryland crew.

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    Butcher's bill.

    The Bulldogs.


    148 Sq. Luqa.
    Flt Lt Ron von Bleyswick. FLM EXP S.
    PO. **** Richardson. " " "
    Flt. Sgt. Neil McFadden. " " "




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    Regia Aeronautica.

    Squadriglia 192.

    Primo Tenente Baldavino Agnoli RTB. One crewman wounded. One victory.


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    As you can see from this AAR my hero Ron van Bleyswick was not as successful as his real life counterpart even though right up until the end it looked as though the action would be a piece of cake.

    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  2. #2

    Unhappy

    Talk about the fortunes of War! I thought the Maryland had the Italian plane dead to rights & then the impossible happened!
    Hope your brave Duchman & crew survive!

  3. #3

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by gully_raker View Post
    Talk about the fortunes of War! I thought the Maryland had the Italian plane dead to rights & then the impossible happened!
    Hope your brave Duchman & crew survive!
    So do I Baz. Otherwise I have no pilot or crew for my other Maryland.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  4. #4

    Default

    Stotties to follow....sorry rolls.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  5. #5

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Skafloc View Post
    Stotties to follow....sorry rolls.
    Sod the rolls, just send the Stotties Neil.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  6. #6

    Default

    PO Rchardson and Flt Sgt McFAdden were glad to see the Sunderland land near them. As the side door opened the crewman smiled and said "Well aint you lot lucky we were just on our way home after mining the east part of Naples Bay when we saw your little fracas and then you go and get yourselves shot down. Skipper says you owe him a crate too". With no more ado the downed crewmen were helped from the dinghy and pulled into the Sunderland. Flt Sgt McFadden turned round and started to say a little prayer for their own skipper who had gone down with the Maryland that crashed so near to where they were picked up. As he opened his eyes he was astonished to see the surface of the sea broken by a cascade of bubbles, then a dark shadow then a mop of hair and a yellow life preserver. "It's the skipper, he's made it" said McFadden. "Help me pull him in". His equally astonished crewmate helped him get their skipper on board the Sunderland. "He's unconscious Neil, alive but unconscious". "Well aint that a welcome Christmas present, he's lucky you said a prayer otherwise he'd have been left". The Sunderland crewman closed the door, gave the thumbs up to his own skipper who opened the throttle and headed for home.

    Flt Lt Ron von Bleyswick. FLM EXP S.
    rolled: 6-2(EXP)-1(Sea) = 3 = Bailed out WIA
    http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4747925/
    WIA rolled: 3 = out of action for 1 scenario.
    http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4747926/
    See you on the Dark Side......

  7. #7

    Default

    Hope these stotties were to your liking Rob.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  8. #8

    Default

    What an amazing and excellent AAR, Rob.
    You caught me completely in the wave of the story and I did not anticipate the ending at all.
    REP is due.

  9. #9

    Default

    I did not really expect it either Quim.
    When the rear gunner copped it at the start of the action I was wondering if the balance of the scenario was all to pot. I have always used the house rule for my aircrew that the same rule applies to the pilot and Gunners. Ist hit wounded, second hors de combat. in this case I took a bit of licence as I felt having the co pilot ministering to the gunner would make for more interest.
    There was no way that I expected the result to be other than a repeat of the actual historical action until that very last chit. if either of those two blanks from the Maryland at the end had been a hit it would have been the SM in the drink instead.
    Just a good job that Sunderland was about to pick up the pieces.
    It is quite funny that my chaps keep getting rescued but Allied planes are going down like flies.
    This was pretty typical of the Malta situation throughout. Tons of aircraft lost lots of pilots rescued.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  10. #10

    Default

    Good AAR. I liked it

  11. #11

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Skafloc View Post
    Hope these stotties were to your liking Rob.
    Those particular Stotties were wonderful, complete with pease pudding in this case. I never expected to see young von Bleyswick again, and as he is actually named after my cousin from Holland, I would be sorry to see him go from the story so early.
    Thanks for the roll, and the superb postscript to the mission.
    I will try to get the next scenario for the attack on the Illustrious done for the end of the month. Hope you have lots of Axis Stukas and Torpedo bombers for this one.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  12. #12

    Default

    Heinkels, JU88's, Stukas et al.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  13. #13

    Default

    Replacement Maryland:
    rolled: 3 = in time for the next battle
    http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4748011/

    Replacement crew:
    rolled:6 = roll a 2nd dice
    http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4748012/
    2nd roll:
    rolled: 6 = Pilot Ace with ace ability sniper + hard as nails
    http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4748016/

    Flt Ldr Horatio P. Kyte
    PO George Harrison
    Flt Sgt R Star
    See you on the Dark Side......

  14. #14

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Skafloc View Post
    Replacement Maryland:
    rolled: 3 = in time for the next battle
    http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4748011/

    Replacement crew:
    rolled:6 = roll a 2nd dice
    http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4748012/
    2nd roll:
    rolled: 6 = Pilot Ace with ace ability sniper + hard as nails
    http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4748016/

    Flt Ldr Horatio P. Kyte
    PO George Harrison
    Flt Sgt R Star
    Thanks Neil.
    They will make a fine trio, just a pity they were not a quartet from Liverpool.
    Could have joined ENSA.
    Kyte.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  15. #15

    Default

    I thought Lennon and McCartney might make a good duo in a Beaufighter?
    See you on the Dark Side......

  16. #16

    Default

    That is a great AAR and some great photographs. The cloud effects work very well.

    I didn't see that ending coming at all.

  17. #17

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Skafloc View Post
    I thought Lennon and McCartney might make a good duo in a Beaufighter?
    Hang onto that idea because I'm going to need some new crews as other aircraft arrive, and I do now have two Beaufighters for Malta.
    They could join Perry and Statham.
    Or you could use them in the Pacific against that Japanese Ace. Yoko Ono.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  18. #18

    Default

    Wrong way round it's Oh-no Yoko.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  19. #19

    Default

    Coo, Coo, Cuchoo.

    Quote Originally Posted by Skafloc View Post
    Wrong way round it's Oh-no Yoko.
    Hi Skafloc san.
    In that case my neat Air Gunner will be Peter Best, with his pilot Brian Epstein. They can crew the Walrus.

    Rob.
    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 12-27-2014 at 15:47.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  20. #20

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Flying Officer Kyte View Post
    I did not really expect it either Quim.
    When the rear gunner copped it at the start of the action I was wondering if the balance of the scenario was all to pot. I have always used the house rule for my aircrew that the same rule applies to the pilot and Gunners. Ist hit wounded, second hors de combat. in this case I took a bit of licence as I felt having the co pilot ministering to the gunner would make for more interest.
    There was no way that I expected the result to be other than a repeat of the actual historical action until that very last chit. if either of those two blanks from the Maryland at the end had been a hit it would have been the SM in the drink instead.
    Just a good job that Sunderland was about to pick up the pieces.
    It is quite funny that my chaps keep getting rescued but Allied planes are going down like flies.
    This was pretty typical of the Malta situation throughout. Tons of aircraft lost lots of pilots rescued.
    Rob.
    But the best yet is how realistic you create your scenarios. This one was awesome in its simplicity.

  21. #21

    Default

    Really the fall of the cards dictates the action. I just add the fluff.
    As they say truth is stranger than fiction. The cards do not lie.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."



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