OTT ED Mission 11 - Live To Fight Another Day - November 15th 1916
November 14th 1916. 1700hrs
Captain Andrew Smith was in a foul mood, two new pilots had arrived, bringing Nieuport 17s, which aircraft he personally disliked, and both of them had fluffed their landings so badly as to render their machines unserviceable for some time. Worse, 2Lt Bayliss had attempted to land across the field, and had piled into the hanger containing the new Spads, effectively writing them off too. To top it all, there was a desperate need to curtail the activities of the German spotters who were making the bloody Hun bloody artillery too bloody accurate by half. Not only were the Generals complaining, but his own brother had written quite a sneering letter about how proper soldiers were getting hammered day and night while “ ’Poncy Flyboys’ were living the life of Riley in cushy digs miles from trouble.” He thought about the screams coming from one of the rooms last night where an A flight pilot had dreamt he was falling in flames. Cushy be damned!
He reached the Hangers and shouted for the duty Sergeant.
Sergeant Hallam approached and saluted the irate Captain.
“Where is Lt Thornton?”
“He has gone with the Crossley to St Omer to get some spares for the wrecked aircraft Sir”
“What aircraft are serviceable for tomorrow Sgt Hallam?”
“Begging the officers pardon Sir, I shall get the Service logs immediately”
As the sergeant marched off to the maintenance officer’s office, Andrew followed, mentally cataloguing the faults of wet behind the ears bloody junior Lieutenants.
“Sir, at this time B flight has 2 Spads, both with damaged propellers, damaged under carriages, one with a misfiring engine (magneto), the other with a crumpled lower starboard wing. Four N17s; one a total write off; one engine unserviceable, propeller smashed, bracing wires port side damaged, lower port wing missing fabric on lower surface tip to halfway, struts requiring inspection; one engine hours requiring major overhaul and service; one rear fuselage and flying surfaces badly shot up, control wires need replacing, skid needs replacing. That concludes the list of aircraft currently listed against B flight Sir.”
“Damn and blast it Sergeant, is there anything else serviceable or that can be made serviceable for tomorrow?”
“Not with the men trying to sort out this list Sir, we are working 14 hrs a day as it is Sir”
Andrew Smith drew a deep breath, and with a great effort of will forced himself to speak in a calm and measured voice as befitted an officer of His Majesties Army in the Field.
“Sergeant Hallam, if you weren’t working on these aircraft, are there any others that could be made ready for tomorrows dawn patrol?”
The sergeant frowned in thought.
“There are 3 DH2s waiting to be shipped back to St Omer Sir, and of course the Squadron’s run about”
Andrew looked around the office, found a sheet of paper and a pencil and began writing
“Right Sergeant, I am writing orders for you to put all the men to work on those DH2s. I need three aircraft ready for action for tomorrows patrol. Here is another order for the cook house, if you chaps have to work all night; the cooks are to lay on hot food for you at midnight. Any major problems, have my batman wake me, otherwise I’ll see you just before first light, about 0530. Carry on Sergeant”
November 15th 1916
Dawn 0645
Weather overcast; clouds from 1000 ft to 20,000 ft+
Wind; prevailing, force 2
Smith’s batman entered his room at 0500 hrs precisely as requested, with the obligatory cup of tea and jug of warm water. He lit the Captain’s storm lantern and poured the water into the basin on the washstand.
As Andrew carried out his morning ablutions, he heard footsteps approaching. There was a sharp rap on the door then his batman stepped into the room.
“What is it Brice?”
“Sergeant Hallam is in the squadron office Sir, there is a problem”
“Thank you Brice, tell him I’ll be down directly.”
As Captain Smith walked into the squadron office, the sergeant straightened up from the wall he had been propping up and came to attention, saluting the officer. Smith looked at him, the man was plainly exhausted.
“Stand easy Sergeant, what’s the problem?”
“We’ve only managed to get two of the DeHavilands flyable Sir. I’ve detailed a couple of the lads to get the run about fuelled and armed as a last resort Sir”
“Is the Lewis gun still bolted directly to the top wing?”
“Er, I don’t know Sir, probably...”
“Do you think you could fit a foster mount in time?”
“We’ll give it a go Sir, yes,.. yes... if you’ll excuse me Sir, I’d best get a couple of lads taking one off a Nieuport immediately”
After breakfast, Captain Smith called his flight together to discuss the morning’s activities.
Right chaps, we have two DeHavilands, and the station run about as the only aircraft available to us. How many of you have any experience on the DH2? We cannot afford any incidents on takeoff today.
2Lt Bromhead stepped forward, “I have flown one a few times Sir.” The Captain looked at Sgt Ball.
“What about you Sergeant, what were you flying before the Nieuport 17s?”
“My previous squadron was equipped with the Nieuport 11 Sir. Two DeHavilands were sent to us Sir, but both were the subject of fatal crashes on takeoff, and the Major refused to accept any more. A flight was equipped with N16s then I was transferred here Sir, with the N17s.”
“Have any of you flown one of those?” asked the Captain pointing to the run about. “I was going to fly it myself, but I will have to take one of the pushers.”
2Lt Duval stepped forwards. “I flew one at the training school Sir, there were two used for final flights for the trainees. They were pretty good I thought”
Captain Smith stared at the new pilot. Who did he think he was? He had heard that the colonials were ‘a bit different’ but really! He pulled himself together.
“Very well; Bromhead, you take one of the DHs, I’ll take the other. Duval, you can take the run about and let’s see if you can actually land something shall we? Bayliss, you can spend the morning checking ammunition. Sgt Ball, I’d like you to assist the Lieutenant and make sure he knows what to look for.”
5 minutes later as the light improved to the point where a white horse hair could be distinguished from a black one at arms length, the three aircraft of B flight headed for the front.
Turn 1
Andrew’s small command had been airborne for nearly 40 minutes. They had scared off an unescorted Rumpler without damage to themselves, and at the cost of only a few rounds from the DH2s, and had now pushed further into enemy airspace. 2Lt Bromhead was flying at 11,000 feet to keep a watch for any German hunting groups. Smith and Duval were lower at 7 and 8,000ft looking for enemy aircraft through the cloud which was lying between 4 and 9,000ft.
They had just spotted two Halberstadt single seaters in obvious escort formation for an observation plane below the patchy cloud when Bromhead signalled trouble above by firing a red flare.
All three British pilots immediately turned for home. 2Lt Duval began to climb, 2Lt Bromhead dived to the left and Cpt Smith turned right.
Duval flicked up and over into a classic Immelman manoeuvre as the others continued to turn away, but the Germans had seen the flare, and turned straight into the attack. The three Albatros DIIs of the Eagles had turned into a dive to the left, and now put their noses down into a power dive, dropping a couple of thousand feet in nearly as many seconds. Meanwhile, Ltn Horst Wessel (recently transferred from the Eagles to the Hawks following the creation of the Jastas) in command of the observation flight ordered his long suffering pilot FWbl Katzewurger to climb in pursuit of Smiths DH2.
As Andrew dived for the cloud in front of him, Igor Katzewurger piloting the Roland, still climbing fired at the retreating tail before him. Duval, now diving away out of his Immelman passed before the guns of Ltn Schultz who seized the opportunity with both barrels. Luckily for Duval, the interrupter gear on Schultz’ Albatros failed almost immediately.
Turn 2
2Lt Bromhead also found cloud as he got down to 7000ft, but Ltn Klein of the Hawks caught him before he could lose himself. A lucky round caught the fuel tank above the top wing, allowing fuel to flow onto the hot engine which ignited it, making the cloud glow with orange light.
Ltn Bienz, flying the other escorting Halberstadt climbing hard to intercept Duval also got lucky, his bullets finding a fuel line and setting fire to the hard pressed Bristol Scout.
Ltn Wessel, unable to see his quarry, ordered Katzewurger to fly around the edge of the cloud bank before them.
As Bromhead shot out of the bottom of his cloud, jinking left to shake off his pursuer, Klein found himself now half buried in cloud.
Bienz, still climbing towards the burning Scout, fired again. Duval’s desperate attempt to evade by turning away proved his undoing, allowing Bienz to close in and rake his tail at close range
As Duval pushed his stick forward to try and dive out of range, Bienz fired a third time, virtually shearing the tail from the stricken aircraft. At the same time Ltn Otto Klaudet, newly recruited into the Eagles, unleashed a devastating salvo from his twin Spandau machine guns.
The Scout plunged earthwards, a flaming wreck.
Turn 3
High in the air at 10,000ft, Schultz, Klaudet and Bienz, all intent on their own small parts of the battle found themselves trying to occupy the same piece of sky. The resultant collision had widely different results. Schultz, still concentrating on his malfunctioning guns, had his undercarriage ripped off by Klaudet. The shock to the forward fuselage of Klaudet’s Albatros ruptured its fuel tank, spraying fuel over the hot engine with predictable results. Schultz, bent forwards as he was, concussed himself with his own gun butts. Bienz was the lucky one, avoiding contact by inches.
Lower in the sky, FWbl Katzewurger had found Cpt Smith again. As he drew a bead on Smith’s tail, Wessel saw Bromhead still trailing flames, exiting the clouds. Both men fired, and both hit their targets.
The two Germans continued to fire at their separate targets.
The Feldwebel struck a telling blow, damaging Smith’s engine, but Wessel’s shooting proved more deadly, blowing Bromhead out of the sky.
In a display of unbelievable Teutonic arrogance, Wessel now ordered his long suffering pilot to break off his pursuit, and turn towards Bromhead’s crash site.
Turn 4
Klaudet was now in serious trouble. His damaged aircraft was being consumed at a dreadful rate by the fire engendered by the collision. Schultze was drifting across the sky, dazed and confused, his missing undercarriage affecting his centre of gravity. Leptien was looking for his comrades, seeing Klaudet in flames he headed in his direction. Bienz and Klein now sought out their errant charge, and were surprised to see it at very low level near the downed DH2.
Smith couldn’t believe his luck; the Roland had had him cold, especially with his engine running so rough. He was almost at the front, but far too low.
Igor Katzewurger landed the Roland in a field near 2Lt Bromhead’s crash site, and Ltn Wessel clambered out, already wondering what would be left to take as a souvenir. The DH2 was burnt out, no chance of a serial number or even a wing roundel. Maybe the Lewis gun, the fire would have rendered it useless as a weapon.
As the Teutonic Twit was contemplating trophies, Andrew Smith crossed the German front line trenches. Far from keeping their heads down as he fervently hoped, they were very much alert, armed and dangerous. A hail of rifle fire crashed into his barely flight worthy craft, rendering it un-flight worthy.
He crossed no-man’s land at ever decreasing altitude, finally coming to rest between the British first and second line trenches.
Turn 5/6
Captain Andrew Smith,
SD/FT
HP 13/13
Rolled 2D6=9
SD -1=8 Bruised, Miss 1 Scenario
2Lt Carl Duval
SD FLM/ET/MIA
HP 19/11
Rolled 2D6=9
FLM -2=7 Miss 1Scenario
Escape
Rolled 2D6 =4 Captured and escaped
1D3 =2 Miss 2 Scenaria
2Lt Gonville Bromhead
SD EXP/ET/KIA
HP 3/13+EXP
Ltn Gunther Schultz
RTB/WIA
HP 6/14
Rolled 2D6=10
All’s well when you land
Ltn Hans Leptien
RTB
HP 0/14
Ltn Otto Klaudet
COL/FLM/KIA
HP 14/14
Rolled 2D6=4
FLM -2=2 KIA
Ltn Heinz Bienz
RTB/1 Kill
HP 0/14
Ltn Wilhelm Klein
RTB
HP 0/14
Ltn Horst Wessel
RTB/1 Kill
FWbl Igor Katzewurger
RTB
HP 0/15
Post Script.
Supper in the Bulldogs’ mess was quite subdued that evening, but Major Vaughn had some news that required celebrating. After the loyal toast, he suddenly stood up, shouted “That man!” and pointed at 2Lt Gregor McGregor.
McGregor also stood somewhat uncertainly.
“McGregor” stated the Major flatly. “Since your award of the MC, I have been waiting for word from Horse Guards with some trepidation. It has finally arrived.” He grinned suddenly, “you are promoted Lieutenant, effective two days ago. Gentlemen…his trousers.” And the party began.
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What a Furball that was John. Full on action from GO to Woah!
Originally Posted by johnbiggles
Must just be one of those country of origin things.
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