OTT Early Doors Mission 19 - Escorting Trouble - July 17th 1917 - Diceslinger
Foreword and disclaimer
I am using the engine damage rules that I posted in the House Rules section of the forum. I also am shuffling the cards back into the deck when a plane is shot down.
Roland’s numb fingers were clenched around a spar in the wing. The wing, now broken in half, bobbed along closing in on the shore. The wing of the camel crunched as it bit into the sandy ground. The endless waves lapped at the shore, bringing more bits of debris to the shore. Roland forced his unfeeling hands to release the water soaked wood. Struggling to his knees, he was knocked down as the relentless surf shoved the wing into him. His head throbbed and his vision blurred. Sputtering, Roland crawled his way out of the water and rolled onto his back. The grey sky squatted overhead in an oppressive expanse. The sky was remarkably bereft of any planes, a stark contrast to earlier. “How could there be any planes. They are all in the drink,” Roland muttered to himself. Putting his hand to his head Roland felt a huge bump on his forehead. He must have hit it very hard.
Roland rolled over and tried to get up. His leg seared with pain and he tumbled back into the sand. Gingerly he rolled onto his back again and held his leg. His boot bulging against the swollen leg underneath. It had to be broken. How the hell did this all happen?
Roland remembered his plane hitting water. The bottom wing had snapped in several places upon impact and the engine had immediately started pulling the plane down. He had unbuckled his seat belt when the engine had stopped. Yes, the engine stopped, that’s why he crashed into the water. Roland closed his eyes and he could hear the bullets pinging and whining around him. The bullets came from…from the gunship! That was it, Roland remembered the machine gun of the gunship tracking his every move, tearing his plane apart.
But he had been distracted, flying sideways, constantly turning. “That’s right, my plane was on fire!” thought Roland. “On fire….but not just me,” he puzzled. He thought back, black smoke had filled his eyes, the suddenly a fiery streak….Yes, another plane! Young! Ernest Young had been there. They were chasing a plane, but couldn’t shoot…both of them had jammed guns.
Roland remembered now. As Ernest headed back south, the flames had engulfed his plane and it had plunged into the sea. Ernest was dead. An image flashed though Roland’s mind. Before Ernest had gone down, an Albatros. Ernest had downed the Albatros. Ernest had bravely dove on the Albatros and a two seater, all while his plane was on fire. He remembered the Albatros crumbling into pieces as the gas tank exploded.
The smoking two seater persisted in Roland’s addled thoughts. It had gone down too. Yes, the R.E. 8 had downed it.
Ah…The R.E.8….that was Charlie and Frankie. They were captured. Both captured after they escaped their burning sinking plane. But before that they fought like tigers. Frankie had shot down a red Albatros.
He had a flitting vision of a burning R.E.8 scraping into that red biplane. “That’s right, I thought that would be the end of them. But Charlie kept that bus in the air.”
But Frankie had been amazing. The other German two seater, Frankie had shot that one down as well. Yes, he remembered the biplane sinking into the sea, only one person bobbed to the surface.
And yet another plane, as Frankie has set a gold colored Albatros alight. It had eventually plunged into the water to put out the flames.
Yes, before all of that Frankie had dropped the bombs on the submarine. Yes, that’s why there were here, over the north sea on this grey day. Frankie had really hit that sub, dead center. Another plane was there, they had aborted their bombing run so Frankie could have a go. Yes, those chaps from the RNAS. Roland couldn’t remember their names.
After the Brisfit veered away it had been hit in the engine, Roland remembered it visibly slowing. Still the pilot had stuck with it.
Even with a motor threatening to conk out, the brisfit had dropped their eggs on the submarine.
Ah, but that plane too ended up in the water. Machine guns from a gunship caught up to it.
Did they get the submarine? They should have, they had three planes bombing it. What happened to the other two seater?
That was the plane that Roland had been escorting. Another pair from the RNAS. There had been a fierce exchange with the gunship’s machine guns. The rear gunner had been hit.
Roland remembered now. The pieces of wing fluttering to the water below. The fuselage plunging to the bottom of the ocean. The machine gun fire had been too accurate for the two seater, and it had been downed before it could even drop its bombs.
The machine gun fire. The gunboats threw so much lead into the air. The din was constant, Roland remembered. Then the most horrid memory came flooding back. The machine guns fire. They got Joe. Joe the Giant killer. Joe the double ace. Joe, Roland’s mentor and friend. Roland lay on the beach, broken and alone, and wept.
-FIN
The Butcher’s Bill
Bulldogs
Blue and white two seater (RNAS) / EXP / Pilot WIC Observer KIA / 0 K
Pilot
Crash: Rolled 8 -3 EXP -1 Sea -1 WIA=3, Severely Injured skip 1 Scenario
E&E Rolled 5-2 WIA -1 Sea -1 BEL =1 Captured
Observer
Crash: Rolled 3 -3 EXP -1 Sea =0 Dead.
Charles Stubbs/ Frankie Duncan / SD / Both Captured / Duncan 3K
Pilot
Crash: Rolled 6-1 SD -1 SEA=4 Severely Injured Skip 4 scenarios
E&E: Rolled 5-1 Sea -1 WIC -1 BEL =2 Captured
Observer
Crash: Rolled 6-1 SD-1Sea=4 Severely Injured Skip 6 Scenarios
E&E: Rolled 4-1 Sea-1 WIC -1 BEL =1 Captured
Bristol F2B (RNAS) / EXP / Pilot KIA / 0K
Pilot
Crash: Rolled 4-3 EXP -1 Sea=0 Dead
Observer: Rolled 11-3 EXP -1 Sea= 7 Bruised, Skip 1 Scenario
E&E: Rolled 9-1 Sea -1 WIC -1 BEL= 6 In Hiding, Skip 1 Scenario
2Lt Roland Walker / SD-FLM sea / WIA / 0 Kills
Crash: Rolled 7 -2FLM -1Sea -1WIA = 3 Severely Injured, Skip 6 Scenarios
E&E: 12 -1FLM -1WIA -1WIC -1 BEL -1Sea = 7 Landed almost home ! - Skip 1 Scenario
2Lt Ernest Young / SD-sea / WIA / 1 Kill
Crash: Rolled 2 -1 SD -1 Sea -1 WIA = -1 Dead
Capt Joe Davis / SD-Sea / 0 Kills
Crash: 3 -1 Sea -1 SD +2Ace = 3 Severely Injured Skip 6 Scenarios
E&E: Rolled 6 -1 Sea -1 WIC -1 BEL =3 Captured and Escaped. Skip 3 Scenarios
Germans
Joseph Klingenschmidt / EXP / KIA / 1K
Crash Rolled 5-3 EXP -1 Sea=2 Dead
Ltn Harry Buhl / FLM sea / WIA / 0 Kills
Crash: Rolled 6 -2FLM -1 WIA -1 Sea = 2 KIA
Erich Seywald / EXP / WIA / 0K
Crash: Rolled 8-3 EXP -1 Sea=4 Severely Injured Skip 1 Scenario
Hans Schape/Josef Bormann / EXP / Schape KIA, Bormann WIA / 0K
Hans Schape
Crash: Rolled 5 -3 Exp -1 Sea=1 Dead
Josef Bormann
Crash: rolled 9 -3 Exp -1 Sea=5 Injured Skip 1 Scenario
Emil Korner/Paul Plange / SD / Korner KIA, Plange WIA / 0K
Emil Korner
Crash: Rolled 2 -1 SD -1 WIA -1 Sea=0 Dead
Paul Plange
Crash: Rolled 6 -1 SD -1 Sea=4 Severely Injured Skip 3 Scenarios
Submarine – heavily damaged but not sunk
Gunboats / untouched / 4K
PostScript
The pendulum swings the other way. After downing four bombers last mission, this mission will be remembered for the losses suffered. My top two pilots out for the rest of the campaign, three others captured or killed. Writing the AAR was tough, it was a train wreck any way I tried to write it. So I diverged from the usual play by play AAR and did this one in snippets and pieces as Roland tries to piece his memories back together. It is still dark, every plane on the board was shot down after all, but I hope it made it more interesting and less painful to read than it otherwise would have been. Next time I’ll try harder to silence those gunships!
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Originally Posted by flash
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