Sidney lay on his back gasping for air. His right leg was pinned under the wrecked Sopwith. His heart raced as adrenaline coursed through his veins. He looked around and guessed he was slightly behind the first German trench line. He tried to free his leg, but it was stuck tight under the wreckage.
It had gone according to plan initially. With his specialty training in trench strafing, he and another pilot, Phillip Clark, had been assigned to take out machine gun positions before the big push. Coming in low right next to each other he and Phillip took out the first machine gun with little effort.
As they banked left to line up the next machine gun however, Sidney’s machine guns were the only ones shooting. Phillip must have had a jam. Without the combine firepower, the machine gun emplacement kept shooting.
Sidney kept up with his attack, diving a little too quickly on the machine gun position. A cackle of gunfire came from behind him, and his wing snapped, canvas fluttering in a long train behind him. Sidney yanked back on the stick and tried to pull the nose up, but the craft could no longer fly, and he went down.
Pinned by his plane, Sidney now looked up at the sky, an impotent observer. John Henry harassed a Pfalz directly overhead.
Looking south he saw the other Camel, Phillip’s plane, exchanging fire with a gold Albatros.
From above Lewis Springs pounced upon the Albatros, tearing the little plane apart, sending it down to the earth in a lazy spiral.
Phillip strafed the machine gun positions, while the two SE5a’s took care of the German fighters. All looked well for a minute, but Sidney groaned audible when he saw Phillip’s plane rock as it was hit by machine gun fire. Sidney heard rather than saw the unmistakable crunch of a plane crash.
With the two camels down, Lewis knew what he and John Henry might do. He turned his plane and dove. The speed was tremendous and he hurtled to the earth. His rudder seemed to not work as he drifted off of his intended course. Lewis pulled back on the stick with all of his might as the earth rushed closer and closer! Finally his plane leveled out, but as he scanned the sky he couldn’t see any other planes. (I was a dope and flew him off the board attempting an overdive)
Sidney despaired as John Henry went low to strafe the trenches. Giving up altitude gave the advantage to the Germans, but it was the only way to soften up the machine gun line. With that line in place the foot sloggers were going to have a very difficult time of it. Both Pfalz planes fired at the zooming SE5a.
John Henry seemed to be fine as he strafed the southern gun emplacement. A large explosion and fireball told Sidney that John Henry must have hit an ammo dump!
Wheeling around, John Henry lit into the next emplacement. Given the incredibly long burst, Sidney figured he must have hit it pretty hard.
The Pfalz pair were back however. The blasted at the SE5a, screaming down from above. Fire flickered and caught, streaming smoke and flames behind the tattered plane.
Sidney saw John Henry bank and fire again. He wondered if he would have that iron resolve if he were in John Henry’s place. Ignoring the fire John Henry screamed down the trench, spitting vengence like the angel Gabriel himself.
The low machine guns couldn’t hit the streaking blur. High above it was a different story, and a quick burst from the Pfalz send the fiery comet crashing down into the German trench.
It was tense as Sidney huddled against his plane. As the battle began, the thin canvas offered little protection from whizzing bullets and crashing artillery detonations. Such joy he had never known as he beheld the 10th British Corps advancing! Four or five of the infantrymen lifted the plane off of him and called for stretcher bearers to take him to the rear. Sidney looked into each face that they passed. He wondered how many of the grim faces wouldn’t be coming back.
Butchers Bill
British
2 gun emplacement destroyed, 1 plane downed =25 points
Lewis Springs / RTB / 1K
John Henry Gurdon / EXP FLM ET / 0 K / Silenced 1 MG
Crash: Rolled 3 -3 EXP = 0 Dead!
Sidney Hicks / EXP ET / 0 K / Silenced 1 MG
Crash: Rolled 10 -3 EXP -1 = 6 Injured skip 1 scenario
E&E : Rolled 5 – 1 ET -1 WIC = 3 Captured and escaped. Skip 2 scenarios
Phillip C. Clark / EXP NML / 0 K
Crash: Rolled 9 -3 EXP -1 NML = 5 Injured, Skip 1 Scenario
E&E: Rolled 5 +1 NML -1 WIC = 5 In Hiding. Skip 2 Scenarios
Germans
3 planes shot down, 3 trenches at end of the game = 45 points
Erich Seywald / EXP NML / 0 K
Crash: Rolled 10 -3 EXP -1 NML = 6 Injured Skip 1 Scenario
E&E: Rolled 12 +1 NML -1 WIC = 12 They didn’t even see me!
Alfred Mettlich / RTB / 1 K
Heinrich Mallincrodt / RTB / 0 K
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