Originally Posted by
Flying Helmut
My take is that the rear gun (or guns) need to be "locked down" in a mid-line location, and then the gunner needs to hunker down, to present a minimal shift of weight during the manoeuvre.
Remember, the weight of a twin Lewis, plus ammo drums, on the Scarf ring of a Biff weigh a great deal, and if these were to swing round the ring from one side of the plane to the other during the manoeuvre, they could throw the aircraft out of balance, and seriously affect the final recovery position of the plane.
I play it that the observer must centre the gun(s) and lock them, them hunker down, in the initial straight; stay down during the reversal; stand back up, unlock the guns and train them on a target on the following straight, being ready to fire on the next card.
I HAVE seen this situation occur at a Convention game: a two-seater firing its rear guns and damaging an enemy, and then playing the reversal card next phase - the plane took the 'A' damage for an illegal manoeuvre, and replaced the reversal card with a straight, so ended up out of position.
In hindsight, I agree that the 'A' damage card was unneccessarily harsh (except as a good DON'T DO IT AGAIN! reminder!
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