OTTED Mission 22 - The Last Waltz - 17th October 1917
Three new pilots had arrived late afternoon on the 16th as the Bulldog scout pilots were all in hospital recovering from the latest mission disaster. Squadron commander Lt Augustus Owen, still on the heal himself, did make sure he was there to greet the rookies and settle them in.
“We don’t expect any missions for a while boys so familiarize yourselves with the area. Don’t go anywhere near the front, study the flight course on the board. It will take you to the adjacent squadrons, please check in with them and find out what they have been up to. Communications have been dismal the last week after the latest Hun attack so I’d like a report when you return. So get a good night’s sleep and up you go at oh-eight hundred. I’ll see you off then”.
William Batters was nearly jumping out of shoes. “At the front at last”, he gleefully declared while settling into his bunk, “time to hunt some Huns in the morning”!
Archie Joslyn was much more reserved knowing the game was now serious. A friend that he had grown up with had died a month ago back in flight school in an accident. It was dangerous learning to fly and now there will be real shooting, not the game Batters played in his mind.
Lastly was Harold ‘Oldie’ Leitch. Oldie was 22. He was the old man of his flight class that ran from 17 to 20. He was one of the better pilots to pass and had confidence in his abilities but knew well he still had much more to learn.
St. Marguerite, 1800 hours, 16 Oktober 1917
The Eagles, all but Büttner and Beck, were in the briefing room waiting. From behind Büttner’s closed office door an argument was obviously going on. Loud muffled discussion interrupted by yelling and an occasional fist pounding on a desk. Then silence for a moment before the door flew open and Büttner stormed out followed by Beck.
Büttner stood silent in front of the squadron, a minute went by. One of those tense minutes that lasted half an hour. No one dared speak while Büttner looked at each of them, one by one, eye to eye.
Beck broke the silence, “I still think it should be me”.
“Enough,” Büttner firmly said staring at Beck.
“Tomorrow our mission is to set a trap.” Büttner started.
Beck broke in, “You shouldn’t be risked in this stup”
“SILENCE”! yelled Büttner. “We follow orders here. I follow HQ, you follow me. We - will - set - a - trap.”
Büttner went on...
“HQ has sent us one of the captured British two seaters. It will be used as bait to lure some British pilots to their demise. HQ has worked on this plan and expect us to carry it out”.
“Rudi, you will fly the British plane and Deitrich will observe. I will fein to attack to lure in the unsuspecting Britisher while Reinhardt and Heinz, hidden behind a cloud will pounce once he has committed himself.”
“We fly at 0800. It should not take long as those Britishers love flying over to our side. We will be back by 10”.
Büttner left the briefing room and went to check on the planes for tomorrow’s mission. He disagreed with HQ’s failed to convince them it was not a wise plan. One does not risk a trained scout pilot to be shot at first. “Hrumph, why does not someone from HQ come and fly as bait?” he thought to himself.
“Reinhardt was well seasoned and should be able to take care of young Heinz”.
To the west...17 October, 0800 hours.
As the trio of Camels lifted off Augustus waved, a wave weighted with sadness knowing the odds were against these three surviving their first month at the front.
After circling the airfield several times, when they gained altitude they headed southwest, away from the front. 15th Squadron was due south but they were to stay well back of the front on their orientation to the adjacent aerodromes.
Ten minutes out Batters veered south. Leitch and Joslyn watched as Batters drifted off course. Leitch fired off a few rounds to get Batter’s attention but soon he had flown out of sight to the east.
As Batters (red chevron) flew over the lines he felt the rush of adrenaline. At 8000’ he was alone above the trenches. After flying east a couple miles he spotted a speck down below, then another. He went into a shallow dive staying well above until he could make out the planes below.
“Yikes! A friendly 2 seater was being hunted by a German. What luck, this Hun is distracted so I can swoop in and get him, saving the 2 seater. I’ll be at the head of the table in the mess tonight for bagging this Hun”! he thought.
Behind the clouds waiting to spring the trap were Reinhardt (black tail Alb DV) and Heinz (green tail Alb DV).
Batters, thinking his plan to be cunning, carefully maneuvered behind the German so not to be seen.
As Batters dove in he shot too early into his foe in his excitement. He did score but did not notice that he was now the hunted.
As soon as Büttner felt bullets striking his plane he turned off to get out of the way for Reinhardt and Heinz. Heinz struck first, Reinhardt ready to strike the prey once Büttner passed under him.
Batters panicked and lost his track of the orange Albatros as he felt a burning pain in his left calf.
It happened so fast Batters did’t know what to do.
Leitch(Hearts) and Joslyn(blue circles), against their gut feelings and orders went looking for Batters and found him in the thick of it.
Heinz pressed the attack but had a hard time following the tight turning Camel. The Camel turned so sharply Reinhardt overshot his dive. The prey will live a little longer...
Batters turned hard as he could to get past the two diving Huns.
Heinz missed a golden opportunity as he had to avoid Reinhardt.
As Büttner lined up the Camel he was hit in the right arm throwing off his aim.
Luck was with this Camel as it flittered across Büttner’s guns without taking any damage.
Heinz gets another chance but does little damage. Lucky for Büttner the Camel did not shoot right after it had Immeled into a perfect position.
(Batters wound saves Büttner!)
Joslyn broke left and Leitch kept straight unnoticed well above the fray.
Reinhardt and Batters exchange fire. Batters aim is true as he wounded his second enemy.
Batters breathed a big sigh of relief as he sees Joslyn fly past.
Reinhardt just notices another Camel diving in on him and gets off his last burst.
Joslyn and Leitch both pounce on Batters enemy. Joslyn dives in just over Batters chewing up the Hun’s tail. Leitch dives in over Heinz and hits Reinhardt's main braces and Reinhardt’s plane crumples to pieces, fluttering to the ground like a handful of leaves.
Heinz is wondering what happened. Their trap has failed badly. Reinhardt is down and Büttner is not in sight.
Batters looking left watching the orange Hun craft does not notice Joslyn as he banks to give chase to Heinz. Joslyn’s wheels run along the top of Batters wing, luckily only doing minor damage.
The surprise of hitting Batters distracts Joslyn. The long rang deflection shot would probably have missed anyway but the slight bump with Batters didn’t help Joslyn’s shot.
Büttner returned to the fight with fury. He took careful aim and hammered Leitch’s Camel. Both Camels fired back, one going silent but one scoring a decent shot on the orange Albatros.
Joslyn, now past Batters, turns inside the Albatros and fires into the front end, hitting the engine setting it on fire while doing some serious damage.
The fire shocks Heinz and his reaction brings him dangerously close to the Camel, nearly hitting it.
The two Camels fly past Büttner. Batters plane is so riddled and he realizes he has to head home. Joslyn works at getting his Vickers to sing again.
The fire looks worse than it is.
Heinz turns in behind Büttner but through the fire he doesn’t see Batters until he is past. His shot is well behind the Camel.
Büttner turns in on Joslyn, but the trade of lead is a bad one. His guns go silent and his Tiger has an orange glow that is not good.
Batters also gets in a shot on Büttner’s tail.
Batters barely misses hitting a Hun and Joslyn again. Oh! How he wishes he
had stuck to the flight plan!
Joslyn shadows one of the burning Huns while Batters heads for home.
The fire is too much for the Tiger. Büttner spins and twists on the way to the ground trying to gain control. But for all his efforts the ground wins.
Heinz fire flickers on.
Leitch carefully approaches Joslyn and the remaining Hun.
Leitch closes in on the Hun but not fast enough as an exchange of fire goes slightly in favor of the Hun.
Heinz twists and turns away from his fire and the pair of Camels as best he can. His fire goes out with a whimper.
With the fire out he can finally get back to business. A quick look and he finds himself alone and two Camels closing in.
Heinz cuts in between the pair frustrating Leitch as he flies past too quick to aim his shot.
Heinz knowing he is in trouble against two enemy decided to take it to them.
With both behind he sets up an Immelmann hoping to catch on before they both can react.
As he reverses he finds Leitch up close in his sights and he lets loose. Unfortunately a long shot from Joslyn hits him right through the shoulder and Leitch riddles his fuel line, setting him on fire and finishing him off.
As the burning Albatros speeds into the earth Joslyn and Leitch look around for Batters, he is not to be seen.
Batters returned to base first telling of how the trio had spotted a two seater in trouble and had to help out. He passed out from his wound not being able to finish the report.
Butcher’s Bill
Ltn Reinhardt Richter SD EXP WIA 0 kills
3 -3(exp) -1(wia) = -1 KIA
Hptn Peter Büttner SD FLM WIA 0 kills
6 -2(flm) -1(wia) +2(ace) = 5 Injured -1 mission
Total -1 Missions
Ltn Heinz Wolff SD FLM WIA 0 kills
7 - 2(flm) -1(wia) = 4 severly injured 6 = -6 missions
Total -6 Missions
2Lt William Batters RTB WIA 0 kills
7 -1(wia)+3(rtb) = 9 all is well!
2Lt Archie Joslyn RTB 1 kill
2Lt Harold Leitch RTB 2 kills
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