Brave Knights Of The Air Defend La Belle France!
Excerpt from the newspaper "Le Figaro," Autumn 1917
LE SABREUR STRIKES!
All Paris is eagerly following the daring deeds of the bold young champion of the Escadrille des Cigognes, Lieutenant Pierre Benjamin Lord! This dashing young knight of the air, who wields his SPAD XIII fighter as skillfully as a master bladesman parries and thrusts with his rapier within the salle, has become a rising star of the Aeronatique Militaire and the bane of the nefarious Germans!
Only yesterday, the villainous Boche launched an attack on one of our airfields near Couronne. A two seater Rumpler reconnaisance aircraft, flanked by escorts identified from the notorious "Flying Circus" of Le Diable Rouge, the Red Baron, attempted to treacherously bomb our brave lions of the sky as they slept weary from their unending duty, unaware of the perfidy that flew above! But the vigilant Lord was not caught off guard! His razor-keen senses caught the thrum of the approaching engines, and within moments he was aloft in his SPAD, prepared to engage the foe!
Using his superior speed, Lord shot past an enemy Albatros and Pfalz with the speed of the thunderbolt, easily outdistancing the slower, inferior German scouts, whose attempts to hit him were desultory at best. Though they attempted to attack him from two sides, Lord wove around them with the speed that has earned him the well-deserved nickname "Le Sabreur" among his comrades. In the confusion as all three planes broke off at sharp angles to avoid a tangled collision, he spotted the Rumpler, which had woven around the main engagement and was heading straight for the target!
Boldly moving in on the enemy's left, Lord unleashed righteous fury upon the Rumpler, whose gunner--lacking the bold and courageous heart of his nemesis--was barely able to return fire, let alone do any harm to our brave airman. Evading the German's fire with practiced ease, Lord then slipped to the left of the Rumpler, once again riddling it with a hail of well-placed fire. Soon flames could be seen licking out from the fuselage!
Desperately trying to put out the fire, the insidious Germans aborted their bombing run and flew in circles, but their fate was sealed! Their plane crashed into a duckpond owned by a local farmer, M. Gaston. M. Gaston reports that his ducks, in a fit of patriotism, righteously struck blows for La Belle France by viciously pecking the Germans until they were taken in custody by our gallant soldiers.* "It may also be that my ducks do not appreciate all these Germans falling into their pond," M. Gaston told our reporter with a shrug. "Last week, another German crashed there in a triplane, causing a fearful mess, and they were not happy about that either. They pecked him many times as well, quacking irritably before he ran away."
Alas, the Rumpler's escorts, treacherously seeking revenge had circled around at this point in order to ambush our brave Lieutenant Lord! Afraid to face him in a fair fight, they crept up behind him and let fly with their dastardly ambush. Even a pilot as courageous as Lieutenant Lord can only endure so much, and his plane began to descend to earth!
Things might have gone ill for our brave hero, but for the intervention of a brave comrade from our allies of Great Britain! Lieutenant J.B. Milton of the Royal Naval Air Service had been patrolling nearby in his Sopwith Camel. Seeing the brave Lord driven down by superior numbers, he moved to engage the remaining German fighters, looping and swerving in a manner astonishing to the various spectators--farmers, milkmaids, angry ducks, etc.--watching enthralled below. Daunted by his skill, the Pfalz retreated, leaving his Albatros crony to face Milton alone. But attempting to engage him in a close-quarters duel was a mistake...the Albatros banked, but Milton used his Camel's superior right turn to move inside and to the right, lining up a perfect shot that drove the Albatros down!
Thanks to this brave Canadian's intervention and the providence of the spirit of Victory, Lieutenant Lord was able to land unharmed. We look forward to hearing of his continuing triumphs against our Prussian foes, and thank our Canadian friend for his gallant defense of a hero of France!
(Game Notes: I thought I'd try writing up something from the other side, as our Allied players are starting to pull of some pretty spectacular dogfights. Of course, the French newspapers may be a bit more...um...enthused...than Wolf's letters home to his folks. But hey, the Allied pilots are doing some pretty spectacular things--especially the eight-year-old Frenchman--so I suppose they deserve it.)
*P.S. Guess which player was flying the Rumpler? Yeah. That would be me. Luckily I wasn't using Wolfram in this particular sortie.
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Originally Posted by DaveZee
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