“What do you mean herr Oberst, you can’t be serious! This British ace has shot down 8 aircraft in the last 3 days. 2 of them Jasta leaders like yourself.”
“Well Sidweg, I feel it is either my time or it is ....my time. I will hear no more of it. You are in charge until I return and no mention of this to the rest of the Jasta ok?”
“Ok, herr Oberst. If only I wasn't wounded we could take to the skies together”.
"Thank you for that Sidweg, but this is a job for me alone. Anyway it would be unsporting, how do the British call it? Ah yes Not cricket to have 2 onto 1. Don't wish me luck it may bring me bad luck. See you soon Sidweg".
It was early dawn as Oberst Ludwig von Bietruttoffen climbed into his Albatros DII. he wold have preferred his DIII but they had been withdrawn temporarily due to mechanical and structural defects! He made ready for take-off and within minutes he was climbing and circling to gain altitude for he had a plan. The enemy ace had made all his kills over British territory. To enable him to gain height and be in the right place at the right time he must have advance warning of lone German aircraft. He would then dive down from behind and mostly in one pass shoot down the unsuspecting pilot.
Ludwig gained 10,000ft and headed obliquely towards the trench line. As he neared he switched off his engine turned 90 degrees to the right and slowly descended across no-man’s land using clouds to cover his silent flight.
He strained his ears to hear any noise but either he had already crossed no-man’s land or everyone was fast asleep. He saw a break in the clouds and knew he was far over enemy territory, too far for what he intended so he banked right to head back to the front lines and started his engine. And nothing! Damn what a time for the engine not to start....he tried again. In fact it was only on the 4th attempt that his engine spluttered into life but he was well below cloud cover and dangerously close to the ground. In fact it was this fact that warned him of the danger closing in from behind. Glancing down he caught the shadow of a fast approaching aircraft behind him. He didn’t glance back but counted to 5 then banked hard left
Diving towards the ground the shadow disappeared. The tailing enemy, a Sopwith Pup, had looped round and was heading away from him.
‘I’ll turn, climb and be on this novice before he realises I’m there’, thought Ludwig.
But this was no mere novice; this was Captain George, ‘Geordie’, O’hare. He had seen the Albatros turn away from him and his maneuver had coaxed the Hun back towards him. Geordie banked left and prepared to claim his 9th victim in 3 days!
Opening shots went wide of each other as both pilots maneuvered out of harms way. Geordie realised this was no novice Hun but a competent pilot but still no match for him.
Both pilots used their combat skill and experience and the dogfight heated up. Both threw their aircraft in opposite directions as they closed and nearly collided trying to gain an advantage.
Out turning Ludwig, Geordie got the first telling blow in as his vickers machine gun erupted a stream of bullets into the Albatros now in his sights! Then he heard the fatal, click, click, click. His single vickers had jammed!
Ludwig threw his plane into a looping turn as the Pup passed beneath him.
Gun cleared they headed away and both looped and closed, head to head. Ludwig’s Albatros reeled under the deadly fire from the Pup as all of his bullets went wide! (Lucky Git 1!)
Turning as quick as he could Ludwig managed to get the pup in his sights and returned the favour he received not long before....this time there was no escaping his bullets as they shredded the fuselage behind Geordie.
‘Well he certainly knows his stuff..now to finish this and get home for a cup of tea’. He turned quickly to the left, catching Ludwig out. ‘This British pilot is good, but is he good enough?. ‘ Ludwig thought to himself.
Ludwig had missed the British pilot changing direction so banked as hard as he could to maintain an advantage.
He couldn’t turn as tightly as the pup. So preparing to loop he saw the pup about to do the same thing, ‘damn, it was maneuverable’.
Unable to clear the jam quickly as he maneuvered through the loop George was at a disadvantage, Ludwig saw his chance and let out a long range shot.
Suddenly the pup turned right in front of him and he blasted the enemy from that close he could almost touch the other aircraft with his hand.
Both aircraft circled each other, they both knew this was it..one of them was going down.
It was the agile maneuvering of the Pup that was Geordie’s downfall. His turn was to tight and the Albatros was just out of his sights, ‘next time round Fritz’ he thought as he saw the swirl of tracer heading towards his plane. ‘Damn, he’s got me!’. Were Geordie’s last words that day!
Geordie threw the Pup this way and that but some of the bullets found their mark and the pup spiraled towards the ground. (I took Lucky git II and got rid of the 3+pilot wound card).
Ludwig circled then headed for home. Mission accomplished, until the next time......
The Butcher Bill:
Captain George ‘Geordie’ O’Hare: SD/FT/13 damage
Top row at +1 = 5 (disregard 3+pilot wound card)
Bottom row normal = 8
Turned over cards 9 cards of ammo left.
Oberst Ludwig von Bietruttoffen: RTB/8 damage/1 kill
Top row at +1 = 6
Bottom row normal = 2
Turned over cards 6 cards of ammo left.
Summary:
1. Great mission, even with the AI solo the Pup nearly had me from the off. It was 7 damage to nil, to the pup until I got behind him, even then it was dicey!
2. Used limited ammo, worked really well. At close range the 2nd card came from the general deck respectively the 1st from the ammo cards allocated randomly to each plane.
3. Drew 12 cards per plane at start to simulate restricted ammo.
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