A Rainy Day for a Gotha !
This game is a spin off from mission 18 OTTED where my chaps had a dismal outing against the mighty Gotha. In that game I had three scouts against two Gotha & two Roland CL.II escorts, with replacements arriving for scouts as and when they are lost. All aircraft arriving in the battle area from randomly selected directions.
This time I pitched my three against one Gotha and one Roland CL.II sans replacements for losses.
As usual for me shooting is peg to peg, I'm using my simple altitude rules and OTT rules else wise apply.
We join the fight when first contact is made, 2lt Allen Allcox's Nieuport 17 randomly appeared ahead & above of the Gotha and bores in head on... it does not go well, the Nieuport gets caught in the crossfire of the Roland and the Gotha's front gunner. It not only sustains engine damage but he jams his Lewis gun to boot !
2Lt John Landon in a Silver Nieuport had arrived behind the German formation. He rushes in but (with almost prescient AI) the Roland cuts behind the Gotha and his rear gunner exchanges fire with the Nieuport - no damage done but Landon's Lewis gun jams too..
The Gotha's rear gunner meantime batters Allcox's Nieuport as it passes ! Engine damage forces Allcox to RTB.
The Roland fails to capitalise on Landon's jam (he drew a 0 (+1) in the next phase) - just as 2Lt Eric Turnbull roars in from the Gotha's front quarter, his Lewis gun chatters but has no obvious affect on the leviathan.
The Roland gunner, Ltn Franz Lang, gets another damaging burst into Landon's Nieuport and damages some flight controls as his pilot, Ltn Kurt Lahner tries to avoid merging with the Gotha !
Turnbull reefs his kite into a long turn; slides behind the Roland, blocking Langs next shot on Landon's kite, and gets off a raking burst into the Gotha with little response from its rear gunner
Then it all kicks off ! Lang gets a close range burst into Landons silver Nieuport and sets it on fire, Turnbull gets a short range burst into the Gotha that starts a fire on board that and its rear gunner causes his Nieuport to blow smoke !
Turnbull drops in behind the Gotha's tail and lets rip another short range burst causing another fire to start - the gunner swaps lead with Landon over Turnbull's head !
The next exchange is inconclusive but causes jams for Turnbull and the Gotha gunner
Landon gets in another couple of long range efforts as the Gotha tries to wriggle free of its pursuers.
As the Nieuports overshoot their target it succumbs to the flames and begins the long spiral to the ground
Butchers Tally:
Gotha SD-FLM-FT / 0 Kills
Roland - Ltn Kurt Lahner & Ltn Franz Lang RTB / 0 kills
The Chaps!
Foreground (A) 2Lt Allen Allcox RTB / 0 kills (eng damage)
Left (Silver) 2Lt John Landon RTB / 0 kill
Right 2Lt Eric Turnbull RTB / 1 kill (shared)
There you go, another rainy day of fun had by me !
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