As mentioned in the Dutch Wing forum (Dutch wing diary) we (Blackronin, Cats eyes, PonchoLatour and myself) played two games on Saturday, November 21st 2015.
The first was a WWI scenario:
winning condition: ship needs to leave the table ...
After Action Report:
One cold November Friday in 1917 an old 800-ton steamer (SS Thordis) sailed from Hull heading to the port of Calais with a full load of crated SE5a's, that were to be delivered for use with 85 Squadron.
Hugging the coastline SS Thordis sailed south when off the coast of Skegness she was warned that one or more U-boats were lying in wait along the coast further south. Knowing how important his cargo was to 85 Squadron the ship's Captain contemplated taking the risk and continue south, but eventually he decided against this and turned his ship on a South-Easterly course, crossing over to the coast of Holland. By now it was dark and mid Channel the SS Thordis hit a ferocious storm, making it alsmost impossible to continue. When at last the Captain caught a faint glimpse of light he recognised it as Zeebrugge's lighthouse and he headed that way. Safely moored in Zeebrugge's harbour the Captain decided to continue his voyage the next morning. The ship was duly secured by Belgian troops, dispersed on the quay. Although this seemed prudent it also attracted the (unwelcome) interest of German spies that had infiltrated the harbour area, disguised as workmen. They immediately send out a message to their German bosses saying a British ship with an unknown (but obviously important) cargo was berthed in Zeebrugge harbour, planning to sail again next day.
Now German High Command frantically began to look for planes able to intercept the ship and prevent it from reaching its destination ... The only planes more or less capable of fulfilling this job available turned out to be ....two Gotha G.V's ... escorted by two Fokker Dr.I's ... So these planes got their orders to ensure the SS Thordis wouldn't reach her destination ... Although the pilots of both Gotha's (Ltn. Papierkorb and Ltn. Pappschachtel) complained to their unit commander about the unsuitability of their planes for an anti shipping mission they took off at early daylight ...
Meanwhile, Entente HQ had heard of the progress of the SS Thordis and, knowing about the possibility of the ship being recognised in Zeebrugge and be reported to the Germans, ordered fighters to be sent to Zeebrugge to escort her to Calais. The only one available fighter units though were two French Spad XIII's and a mixed flight of the American Expeditionary Airforce consisting of one SE5a and a Spad XIII.
So, early next morning, a Saturday, the two Entente flights arrived early above the port, knowing they would be sufficiently earlier than the Germans .... but ... to their utter astonishment they already saw two lumbering giant Gotha G.V's approaching the harbour ... this can't be true Jimmy Boudwin in his SE5a thought, they're much faster than they should be ... I must report this to HQ ...
and attacked ... and so did Frank Luke in his Spad XIII ... and from the other side of the port in came Lieutenant Madon and Sous-Lieutenant Coadu in their Spad XIII's and they attacked as well ...
Using the speed of his SE5a Lt Boudwin was rapidly closing in on the nearest Gotha G.V (flown by Ltn. Pappschachtel), but ...a short burst of the Gotha's front gunner's Spandau cut through one of the SE5a's fuel lines, causing a huge explosion of the SE5a ... last thought of Jimmy Boudwin ... "I hope Frank noticed the Gotha's extraordinary speed as well and reports back ..." ...
Lt Luke saw all this happen and took some evasive manoeuvres hoping these would bring him in a good shooting position behind the Gotha ...
On the other side of the port the French flight was engaging the other Gotha G.V flown by Oltn. Papierkorb but alas ... the escorting fighter (a black Fokker Dr.I, flown by Oltn. Josef Jacobs) shot down Sous-Lieutenant Coadu who's Spad XIII exploded after the first Spandau-salvo.
Just a few turns later Jacobs helped by the gunners of Ltn Pappschachtel's Gotha G.V also took down Lieutenant Madon ...
so on the Entente side there was only Lt Luke in his Spad XIII left ...
Meanwhile down below at sealevel the SS Thordis had left the harbour to try and escape during the battle going on in the air ...
Ltn. Pappschachtel was the first to reach a bombing position but SS Thordis just in time time took a hard starboard turn and the bombs Ltn. Pappschachtel dropped just missed ...
Ltn. Pappschachtel turned right to start another bombing run ...
Now the danger for SS Thordis came from the left ... Ltn. Papierkorb's Gotha was closing in rapidly ... with Lt Luke's Spad XIII (which was already smoking from hits from the Spandaus of Manfred von Richthofen's red Fokker Dr.I) in hot pursuit.
However, a bombing run on SS Thordis was not possible due to smart manoeuvring of her Captain so Ltn. Papierkorb turned away ...
By then it was clear that the bombing attack by the Germans had failed ... they returned home ... having no planes lost ...
SS Thordis sailed safely to the port of Calais to deliver her desperately needed crates full of SE5a's ...
Lt Frank Luke jr. managed to bring home his heavely smoking Spad XIII
and ... reported to HQ the extraordinary speed of the Gotha's he (and Lt James Boudwin RIP) had noticed.
So ... the Entente players (Aardvark1430 and Cats Eyes) did win ... but at what cost ...
The second was a WWII scenario:
winning condition: ship needs to berth in harbour safely ...
After Action Report:
November 1943, on a cold but clear Saturday the 2800-ton MV Oldenburg was sailing on the eastern part of the North Sea heading for the port of Wilhemshaven in Lower Saxony, Germany. The ship's Captain cursed the clear weather knowing well that he might be discovered by an Allied plane and would come under attack. So when he noticed the Lockheed Hudson circling high above he send out an urgent message asking for air cover.
Although being desperately short of planes Luftwaffe Command sent two Fw190-D's (Ltn. Wübke and Ltn. Götz) and two Me-110C's to cover the ship.
Having received the message from the Hudson the Allies reacted fast and two B-25C's and two Spitfire Mk.IX's (flown by SL "Johnnie" Johnson and Sgt "Screwball" Beurling) were dispatched to intercept the MV Oldenburg ...
Some time later the MV Oldenurg Captain sighed with relief as he sighted the German coastline and his escort flying in ...
But ... from behind him 4 spots in the air became bigger and bigger.
The two Mitchells dove down to mast-height and went flat out for the ship trusting the Spits to cover them.
The pilots of the "Dora's" cursed the Luftwaffe command for sending them in their high-altitude fighters to fight at low-level taking away their advantage...
Johnnie immediately attacked the "Dora" of Ltn Götz setting it on fire while "his" B-25 attacked the ship.
The two Bf.110's turned too late and let "Screwball" and "his" B-25 pass by but their reargunners managed to damage the Spit.
With the ship's Captain cursing his non-functioning AA-guns and desperately turning to port the B-25 let go of its bomb-load and ... bulls-eye !! The MV Oldenburg was doomed ...
Although almost incredible Götz in the burning "Dora" managed to hit Screwball heavely and down he went ...
By now Wübke had hit the other B-25 which started smoking and the two 110's were closing in ...
but Johnnie had seen the danger the B-25 was in and came to the rescue ... he shot down Wübke ...
The two Zerstörer now in firing range opened up on the smoking B-25 which exploded ...
Almost at the same time they also (almost accidentally) caught Johnnie ...
There was now only one Mitchell left and he frantically tried to flee.
In the meantime Ltn. Götz had managed to put out the fire and followed the Mitchell ... a high speed chase ...
Without its escort the hapless Mitchell stood no chance against the furious Götz and ... down she went ...
The Allies (played by Aardvark1430 and Blackronin) had won the battle, the MV Oldenburg was sunk as ordered, but none of them returned that day ...
We had a lot of fun during the two games, thanks Alfonso, Joaquim and Lex.
Bookmarks