OTT ED Mission 11 - Live To Fight Another Day - Nov 15th 1916 (Archidamus / Entente)
November 1916 saw the Bulldogs running nearly continuous sorties in support of the Army's operations on the Somme, in what was rapidly becoming known as the Battle of Ancre. This operational tempo had been hard on both pilots and their machines. By the morning of the 15th the mechanics could only make a DH2 and a Nieuport 16 flight-worthy.
Earlier that morning an enemy balloon had been reported in the air some way behind German lines, and the Bulldogs were tasked with bringing it down before it could provide the enemy with any useful intelligence. Capt. Frank Palmer took to the air in his venerable DH2 along with young Daniel Astardly in the squadron's Nieuport 16 armed with rockets to bring down Fritz's sausage!
After crossing the lines Frank and Daniel headed into enemy territory. As the balloon hove into sight they were horrified to see four machines heading directly for them - it was a trap, and they had fallen for it.
(Jensen and Treiber in Albatros DII's, Wielhe and Gilly in Halberstadt DIII's - diced for entry, with Jensen & Gilly coming on immediately, the other two on card 2 of turn 1)
(Palmer and Astardly - diced for distance, both coming in at 2 rulers out)
Frank immediately waved frantically at Daniel, indicating that they should turn and run for the lines and safety. Both threw their planes into Immelmanns, but unfortunately for Daniel both Jensen and Gilly were close enough to open fire as he completed the turn - and as bullets ripped through his Nieuport's fuselage he felt a burning sensation in his shoulder.
His plane wasn't fast enough to outrun his pursuers and both Jensen and Gilly continued to fire. Gilly's guns jammed almost instantly, but Jensen's burst tore through the fragile Nieuport, and Daniel's vision faded as he was hit for a second time as a bullet pierced his shoulder. As Frank looked on, unable to intervene, the Nieuport went into a nose dive and seconds later ploughed into a field below.
With heavy heart Frank continued towards the lines, hoping that he would see an opportunity to turn on his assailants and avenge Daniel. Looking over his shoulder he saw both Jensen and Gilly turn towards him, as Treiber and Wielhe continued to pursue the DH2.
Gilly was concentrating on clearing his jammed guns when Wielhe's Halberstadt loomed into view. He frantically hauled back on his controls, and felt a slight bump - he thought he'd avoided a catastrophe, but his undercarriage had hit the top of the Halberstadt's engine, and it immediately began to stutter
Elated at the sight of his enemies mid-air collision, Frank was brought back to the raeality of his position as Treiber's Albatros got onto his tail, and a long-range burst tore holes in the DH2's upper wing
Frank started to weave, trying to throw his pursuer off - to no avail! Treiber continued to track his quarry, and another long-range burst again put bullet holes in the DH2. Almost unnoticed, Wiele turned his Halberstadt towards home and safety - straight into Erich Jensen's Albatros. Yet again, an Albatros undercarriage hit his plane - and this time the top wing folded back as he spun into the ground below.
Frank turned away from the oncoming Jensen, trying to put distance between his wounded machine and the Eagles. He momentarily broke clear, but then they closed again. Treiber managed a long-range deflection shot which peppered his tail and damaged the DH2's rudder.
By now Frank was only concerned with escape -all thoughts of turning on the Eagles was forgotten as the damage to his machine mounted. Treiber poured another burst of fire through the space where the DH2 ought to have been, but Frank's skilful handling managed to avoid this fate - at the expense of giving Jensen a sitting target. Fortunately this only resulted in minor damage, although the DH2's rudder now refused to turn to port.
Those proved to be the final shots of the encounter, as Franks dove across the lines to safety
His return to the Bulldog's Mess was sombre, and the squadron held it's collective breath awaiting news of Daniel's fate - which would come much later on from the front lines when he managed to elude capture and finally reach safety.
The mood in the Eagles' Mess was similarly sombre, but was lightened considerably by the news that Albert Hahn had escaped from the British, and a rescue was being mounted by Peter Büttner's flight.
THE BUTCHERS BILL
Siegfried WIELHE: Downed by Collision / - / 0 Kills
Crash roll 4 -2 COLL = 2 KIA (A real Oswald Boelcke re-run)
Julius GILLY: RTB / - / 0 Kills
Erich JENSEN: RTB / - / 1 Kill
Georg TREIBER: RTB / - / 0 Kills
Daniel ASTARDLY: SD ET / 2 WND / 0 Kills
Crash roll 7 -2WND -1SD = 4 Severely Wounded Skip 4 Scenarios
E&E roll 7 -3WND -1BEL = 3 Captured & Escaped Skip 1 Scenario for total of 5 Skipped
Frank PALMER: RTB (just) / - / 0 Kills
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by flash
A good escape against the odds Brian!
Turns out your mission could be a graveyard for us Bulldogs 
Great 
Bookmarks