For many pilots one of the most crucial roles in the war was "Balloon Busting" But knocking down a balloon isn't easy (unless your an ace)Attachment 163079, Over the years a number of pilots set about this dangerous task, As we all know some pilots were more successful than others, Pilots like,
Willy Coppens Belgian 35 balloons
Léon Bourjade French 27 balloons
Michel Coiffard French 24 balloons
Maurice Boyau French 21 balloons
Friedrich Ritter von Röth German 20 balloons
Jacques Ehrlich French 18 balloons
Heinrich Gontermann German 18 balloons
Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor South African 16 balloons
Frank Luke American 14 balloons
Karl Schlegel German 14 balloons
Above we have the "Top Ten" of balloon busters, So why are some pilots better than others? So I looked at Willy Coppens, what made him better than the rest, Skill? Most Pilots used 303 calibre or 7.92 mm machine guns, Not our Willy he had fitted to his Hanriot HD1 a larger bore machine gun, the 11 mm Vickers machine gunAttachment 163077 Now is that cheating? I don't think so, After discovering Willy secret, I took to the skies in im my 9me Escadrille machine Attachment 163078 Only to find, that Willy's guns were Class B, Surely this is a mistake on the part of Aresgames? After playing a few solo balloon busting missions, with little success, So I "up-gunned" my Hanriot HD1 to "A" class machines, and my balloon kills came thick and fast, They say cheats never prosper was it cheating the Germans?, So the Germans did a little cheating of their own, The Huns went to special pains to try to kill Willy. On 3 August Willy shot down a balloon booby-trapped with explosives that when detonated from the ground narrowly missed killing him. This to should be reflected in the game, I just rolled a dice, on a 6 the balloon explodes, and you take 6 damage cards . What do you think ?
Bookmarks