Captain Boniface "Bon" King was strolling around the shiny new Spad VII painted in a fetching light grey colour that had been ferried to the Squadron 2 days ago & as commander of C Flight had been allocated to him to replace his venerable & much loved old DH-2.
He admired the sleek yet rugged lines of the small French designed fighter & was pleased to see it was fitted with a synchronised Vickers machine gun instead of a Lewis that required a frequent drum change during combat. He also had been told that the new larger drums for the existing Lewis guns had been delivered to the Armaments Store.
His reverie was broken when he hears his Sgt Clerk calling to him loudly. "Sir!, Sir! HQ on the phone for you."
Striding to the Flight Office he picked up the phone. "King here!" "Ah King, good man. We have a little job for your 2 seater crews"
Seems the jolly Hun has constructed a rather cunning tunnel alongside those Bridges 2 Sqd destroyed last week. We had no idea how they were able to keep supplies & ammo reaching their front line troops until some Frog spy managed to wrinkle it out of a German General.
Trouble is we dont know which Bridge it has been constructed alongside so we want your chaps to go & bomb those Bridges again.
Now there are no AA batteries as they dont want to give their secret away. Now to try to mask our intentions we want your chaps to pretend they are on a regular recon flight & drop their bombs from high altitude!"
" Well Sir that might just be a bit of a problem as my lads have not practised High Level Bombing so I really cant guarantee results"
"King just tell them its damn important & do their very best. Dont drop all their "eggs" at the one time so thay can maximise their opportunity"
"Right oh Sir! I will get the chaps briefed & I will act as escort first thing in the morning!"
C Flight 2 seater crews were called to the Flight Hut & Bon briefed them on the mission.
"Right you blokes, listen up! HQ have a curly one for us. Its not extremely dangerous, well no more than usual but we need to do some high level bombing on those bridges 2 Sqd destroyed last week" A collective groan came from the 2 Pilots & Observers in the meeting
Now Mr Rothwell you & Mr Moggeridge are experienced with the 1 1/2 strutter & Ralph & Lionel you blokes made a name for yourselves in that action with the Zep not to mention the 'gongs" you both received so you will fly the FE2b again. I will accompany you in the new Spad & make sure you get those new larger Lewis drums. They might just come in handy.
After going through the detail of the mission especially about not dropping all their bombs on the first run they dispersed to be ready for an early morning flight.
Next morning as they approached the River Ancre they saw the destruction that had been caused by the previous attack.
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They closed on the targets & as arranged the Strutter & the Fee turned towards different Bridges to maximise their manoeuvring.
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Meanwhile on the other side of the lines Oblt Harry Von Bukard led the morning patrol with Hans Wessel in another of the new Albatross D.II's & Kurt Walz in his grey Halberstadt.
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Off in the distance he noticed the three British aircraft & assumed they were on the usual recon flight that the Tommies continuously flew over the German lines. However he was puzzled by the strange looking scout in the middle of the formation painted in a striking light grey colour instead of the familiar CDL or khaki brown finish.
Roderick Rothwell had begun his first bombing run at the Southern most bridge but cursed as his Observer did not allow for the fall of the bomb from high altitude.
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At the same time the FE's crew were approaching their bridge when out of the clouds flew Von Bukard's D.II
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The Aircraft exchanged shots & Ralph swore as Lionel's gun jambed! (note: in the photo I had put the Jamb token on the wrong plane!)
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Perhaps put off by the German attack & the closeness of the enemy aircraft the Fee could only score a partial hit on the Target.
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Bon meanwhile had flown between the two bombers & exchanged fire with the grey Halberstadt in a frontal attack.
Both pilots scored hits but the German's bullets had caused smoke to issue from the engine cowling of the Spad & Bon hoped it had not caused any serious damage.
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As the Strutter turned away from the bridge it came under attack from Hans Wessell's Albatross & Roderick felt a sharp stinging pain in his upper left thigh.
He had been hit by one of the German's bullets that had penetrated the cockpit area.
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As the Strutter continued its turn back towards the Bridge, Charles Moggeridge the Observer got a telling burst into the Mercedes engine of the Albatross which immediately lost power.
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Then as the Strutter completed its turn Rothwell targeted the Albatross & saw the Pilot flinch in the cockpit, He had wounded him!
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The fight between Bon & Walz's Halberstadt continued with both pilots performing Immleman's but with no one gaining an advantage.
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As the FE2b flew away from the bridge it had an opportunity to shoot at the Halberstadt but caused no great damage.
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The Sopwith Strutter was able to get another good burst into the Albatross that was being hampered by both a damaged engine & wounded pilot & now Chas Moggeridge saw flames issue from the engine of the badly damaged German plane!
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The Fee took an opportunistic shot at the Halberstadt but the Lewis jambed again! Perhaps the new larger drums were not yet working correctly?
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Having cleared the Jam the Fee now had a great opportunity to shoot at the stricken D.II as it made a run for home passing between the Fee & Bon's Spad which had long ago stopped smoking to his relief.
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The Strutter now commenced its bombing run on the far bridge on which the Fee had caused a partial hit.
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Wessel's Albatross continued to be damaged as the fire slowly ate at the Ply fuselage & Hans prayed he would be able to slow its spread by continuing to manoeuvre.
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As Charles Moggeridge lined up on the Bridge he came under attack from Kurt Walz's Halberstadt but he kept his eye on the Target & was rewarded by a direct hit.
"Thank the Lord!" exclaimed Chas. "This high level bombing is for the birds"
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As the Strutter flew on the Halberstadt & Chas now exchanged shots but the German plane suffered a jamb.
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Bon had now been able to manoeuvre into position to give Von Bukard's D.II a good burst at close range.
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Wessel's Albatross continued to burn & finally the German Aircraft could not stay aloft & it crashed landed in behind the German lines where a badly burnt Wessel managed to extract himself from the wreck & was given aid by German soldiers & whisked away to an Aid station.
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As the FE 2b flew back along the river it exchanged shots with Von Bukard's Albatross which was now badly damaged but he persisted to try to destroy the British Bombers before they could destroy the Germans secret supply tunnel however his guns jambed!
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Taking advantage of the German pilots plight Bon raked the Albatross only to have his guns jamb as well.
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Von Bukard persisted & when he had cleared his jamb he exchanged shots with the Strutter which was now returning to 52 sqds aerodrome having exhausted its bomb load.
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Bon had followed Von Bukard until he too had cleared the Vickers belt jamb & now put the finishing touch to the German's aircraft which spun down to a heavy crash landing in German lines.
With their bombs exhausted the British Bombers returned to their base accompanied by Bon's Spad but concerned they had not preformed to their expectations & would have to await the outcome of their efforts. However they were buoyed by the fact that two German Aircraft had been destroyed.
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Mission Notes
I made the Bombers play one Stall card each turn on the way to the Targets to allow for the bomb load.
I flew Bon's Spad & all others were AI controlled until the Bombing runs.
Even taking control from AI for the Bomb runs it was a darn hard job to try to hit the Targets. In the end I only managed one Direct Hit on the Northern Bridge which had suffered a partial earlier. The Southern Bridge which was the first bridge attacked had a partial hit but the centre bridge had no hits at all near the target. Only one attack was made on it & the Bomb hit the bank some inch & a half away from the Bridge. At the end of the Mission I rolled for which Bridge had the secret tunnel & rolled for the First Bridge which only had a partial so the Mission was a failure!
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There was some satisfaction with both Bon King & Chas Moggeridge getting a Kill each.
Incidently this AAR was my 50th combining WW1 & WW2 AAR's !
THE BUTCHERS BILL
Capt "Bon" King Spad VII
RTB/ 1 Kill-Von Bukard
3 damage points
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FE 2b
Pilot Ralph Medium DSO
Observer Lionel Rare DSO
RTB 1 Partial Hit
3 damage points
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Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter
Pilot Roderick Rothwell
RTB/Wounded
Rolled 6 - 1 wounded =5 + 3 RTB = 8
Rolled 1 = miss 1 scenario
Observer Charles Moggeridge
RTB-1 Kill Wessels
Strutter 9 damage points
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German Crews
Ltn Kurt Walz Grey Halberstadt
RTB
5 damage points
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Oblt Harry Von Bukard--Alb D.II
Shot Down- Friendly Territory
Rolled 7 -1 shot down = 6 injured
rolled 1 = miss 1 scenario
15 damage points
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Ltn Hans Wessel Alb D.II
Shotdown/Flamer-Friendly Territory
Rolled 6 -2 Flamer =4- 1 wounded=3
Seriously injured
Rolled 5=miss 5 scenarios
16 damage points
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In conclusion I must say that was a most enjoyable game to play & I wish my fellow Pilots better luck than I had with the Bombing.
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