OTT: The Bitter End, Mission 2 "Rain in the Forecast; Fire from the Sky
“Don't drink too much tonight, Arthur” the Major said quietly into Hammond's ear, as they stood by the “bar” in the mess. “You have the early morning job my boy!”
“That's not funny, sir! Have you seen the weather out there? Low cloud, wind and rain and a lot more of it coming up from the west. Nobody is going to be up there for a while, unless I am very much mistaken. It has to be a complete wash out. Besides, our lads need the rest day after the past few week's activities.”
“Sorry Arthur, but you're wrong. The Canadians are pushing forward first thing; guns are all bogged down, so cannot give support. It's down to us I'm afraid. And by “us” I mean “you” of course! That's official. From the top. In the air by 6 a.m. You won't have to go far over the lines! Find the targets you'll be given in the morning, drop your bombs and get out of there as quickly as you can. You'll have a couple of two seaters for company; our friends from down the road. They're a good lot and know what they are doing. They took the photos last week and know exactly what to look for!”
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Thus it was that Arthur Hammond, exhausted and slightly hung over despite the Major's advice, acting as flight commander, found himself trying to keep his flight together in thick, low lying cloud; heading the short twenty miles or so towards the now, all too familiar battle ground around Passchendael. He hated flying through clouds like this – you were never quite sure you were flying straight and level. Very disorientating! So it was a huge relief when he spotted a familiar landmark through a gap in the damp cloying mists that had hugged him tight for the last ten minutes. Time to get below the clouds and pray that there wouldn't be too much ground fire. Low level bombing missions were very dangerous affairs. Not so much from Archie – they wouldn't be much of a bother today, but machine guns – now that was an entirely different matter. The Canadians had done a marvellous job at pushing our Hun friends well and truly back by now, but there was still much to do and the Hun was not going to give up any more ground than he had to.
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Ground fire, yes, but the last thing Hammond was expecting today was any Hun being foolish enough to be in the air at this time. Nor did the Hun expect any RFC pilots to be stupid enough to fly in this deteriorating weather. The clouds were getting thicker, heavier, darker and lower, even as they did their “brief“ patrol just behind their own lines.
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Ltn Otto Poeschke was showing two newcomers around. Casualties had been high recently and Kürt Parschau and Gerhard Anders had not been with him for long. They had done well a week or so back, when the Britishers had tried to send over a flight of two seaters, but since then, things had been very quiet and the weather so bad that even this doubtful opportunity could not be passed up as a chance to continue their training. A warning had been given, to look out for more two seaters in the area, but he didn't believe the reports were accurate. Until they almost flew into one another!
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In fact, to their utter embarrasment and nearly their sudden demise, both flight commanders flew directly toward one another. Only their experience saved both of their lives as they quickly applied pressure to respective joysticks.
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The two flights, enemies it is true, approached one another, bizarrely, rather like partners at a ball, about to perform a Quadrille. The near collision appeared, to the rest of the pilots involved, to be like the couple in the middle, passing rather intimately, but elegantly, by one another. But the pilots of the two seaters had no time for such frivolity. Alexander Clarke and Ralph Leather had the complete confidence of their respective observers, Alan Davis and Sholto Douglas, and they knew exactly where they were and what they had to do. They headed for their targets. Which is not to say they were without trepidation. They had been assured that no enemy scouts would turn up in these conditions. Which is why they had just the one Camel escorting them. They knew Hammond's reputation and were willing to let him get on with the job of keeping these Albatrii busy, for that is what the observers had seen, three of them. It was a tall order! An Albatros was no match for a Camel in this situation and had there been two of them, the Hun would probably have left them alone. But three on one was a tall order. Could Hammond keep them off the backs of the two seaters long enough to make the bomb loads tell?
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Almost immediately, as the Albatros of Ltn Kürt Parschau, with its bright yellow fuselage, flashed passed him going in the opposite direction, without even a friendly wave or a passing “How's your father?”, Ralph Leather spotted his first target, almost dead ahead (Secondary target marked with a “2” which is not damage). So he started his bombing run, warning Sholto Douglas to ready himself. Alex Clarke had, unfortunately, spotted the same target, so he veered to his right, just as Hammond decided to go back for the Hun. The turn, which Hammond successfully completed, gave him a little more height, which meant Clarke passed immediately below him! But it was a damned close shave and no mistake! “Too early in the morning for this sort of thing – everyone is half asleep, or hung over more like!” Clarke quickly changed course again and headed off for another target he suspected was a little further on.
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Meanwhile, what of our Huns? Otto had only had a short time to explain the importance of “flying as part of a flight” to his fledgelings. “When I turn to the right, the man on my inside, that is to my right, will dive under me and take up position again on my left. The man on my outside, that is to the left, will cut to his right, over the top and take up position to my right. If I turn left then reverse the procedure. Do you both understand?” Not wishing to appear stupid they had, naturally enough, both nodded their affirmation. But of course, this was not true. Kürt Parschau (and probably Gerhard Anders too) did not understand these confusing instructions! Right now, this was very apparent, as he had completely misjudged the situation. With the result that, in the excitement, with the prospect of shooting down easy two seater targets, he had forgotten his lesson and turned directly towards his flight commander in a Quadrille performance of their own. Very bizarre. There was a loud bang as Parschau hit the other Albatros, doing more damage to both aircraft than the Britishers would later manage in the next few minutes combined! (8 damage each to both Poeschke and Parschau) But they both survived! Gerhard Anders avoided the fiasco, more by luck than judgement! (Damage 0)
Hammond saw all of this and was delighted if rather bemused. Taking his opportunity he fired into the confused cluster of flying machines, but missed completely – anything vital at least!
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Clarke, meanwhile, quietly got on with the job in hand. His first bombing run was partially successful (Partial hit on secondary target) and he was able to swing right and drop his remaining parcel of Hun gifts on another target. Sadly this turned out to be a dummy (Partial hit on dummy target – marked “0”).
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The Hun scouts were now beginning to sort themselves out. Buzzing angrily like hornets at a beer fest, they suddenly appeared a whole lot more menacing to Hammond, who still didn't seem to be able to hit a barn door with his 2 x 7.7mm synchronized Vickers machine guns. He completely failed to do any damage to the yellow Albatros, albeit at long range, on his second attempt! Lord, he had better get some practice in, if ever he managed to extract himself from this mess. It must be said though, that both of the two seater crews were extremely grateful to him by now, despite his gunnery inaccuracy, because he was doing a splendid job in stiring up the ire of these Huns against himself, leaving them to do their part of the job in relative peace and quiet. There was absolutely no sign of Archie and all the machine guns and small arms fire was directed at the Canadians. The PBI was soaking it all up for them, yet again!
Parschau did a rapid about turn and attempted to return fire on Hammond's Camel – a plane that he detested, but he too was not on form. Not only did he miss, but his guns jammed into the bargain! However, despite this small bit of luck for Hammond, things were about to get extremely hot for the young British Flight commander.
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Three Albatros pilots were now out for his blood and as he attempted to turn away, to get into a better position between them and his two seaters, so Anders came after him:
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And they collided. What a day for collisions! Only this time it was Hammond who came off badly. The Albatros appeared to suffer no further damage at all; Hammond knew his Camel was hurt (4 damage - +fire ignored). But he was still in the air and personally unharmed. Time to get rid of his bombs. He made a run at what he could see of the partially damaged target, hit earlier by Leather. With another Albatros on his tail, at close range and closing, he should have been a dead man. He could almost hear the familiar daka daka daka daka – But nothing came. “Guns jammed – Lord am I the lucky one!” A silent prayer followed and he could feel the sweat trickle down either temple; the hairs on the back of his neck tingled in anticipation. Bombs away, but too soon – a partial
success for Parschau, despite the jammed guns he was furiously trying to free!
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Hammond threw his Camel hard to the right, in an effort to shake off the pursuing Albatros. The distance between them increased marginally, but by now the furious hammering of Parschau on his 2 x 7.92mm Spandau LMG 08/15 fixed, forward-firing synchronized machine guns had achieved success and once again he opened fire. This time Hammond did hear the daka daka daka daka, it was not in his imagination. Lead flew all around him and much of it made contact with his beleagured Camel (3 damage plus damaged engine). Suddenly the engine coughed and Hammond was in trouble!
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Again he threw the Camel over to the right, using the innate instability of his aircraft to his advantage – only to run headlong toward the approaching, demonically spectral form of Poeschke's Albatros! Spectral? Was it his imagination again, or were the clouds falling, like a blessed curtain, on the end of this performance. Could he perhaps use them to make his escape. Daka daka daka daka
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came the orchestrated reply (2+4 damage; nothing in reply, but guns jammed on Albatros).Why was he still alive? His machine was full of holes! How were the struts and wires doing? No telling – return fire – missed again and at close range - “I'm losing it completely – I'm done for.” But not yet Alexander! Even as the sweat now poured from him in a torrent of fear, the machine gun aimed straight at his head ceased abruptly. In a flash he was past, but “Oh God, another one - pull up, pull up”. One last exchange of fire, this time with his third rival, Herr Leutnant Gerhard Anders. All three had wanted him dead (damage 1; 2 in reply, at last!) And then he was away, into the blessed clouds. “Oh those beautiful, heaven sent, billowing, bossoms of life itself!”
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“Down to the wire Alexander my boy!” (Damage 14/15) But you are away for the moment, with only the way home to find and a landing to effect! God, the feeling of euphoria swept through him like a forrest fire – he screamed and shouted at the top of his voice, to nobody – nobody was near to hear his joy, were they?
But behold, there beside him, coming from he could not tell where, were both of his charges. Clarke pulled along side, waggled his wings cheerfully and pointed to the heavens, giving the thumbs up!
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Later
The Major read the reports from all three pilots. The two from the DH4 chaps were most interesting. Leather claimed that he had succeeded in partially destroying their secondary target, although he had mistakenly dropped the remainder of his bombs on what turned out to be a cunningly disguised dummy.
Clarke, on the other hand, claimed to have not only partially damaged the primary target but to have also totally destroyed the one Leather had hit early in the raid.
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Added to which, the only damage sustained by either DH4 was during an exchange of fire between Leather and what was believed to be the flight commander of the Huns. Minor damage was sustained by the DH4 which was unable to reply due to jammed guns!
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Davis and Douglas, the observers, had both reported witnessing the magnificent job done by Hammond, in keeping the Hun off their backs. Leather had seen Hammond climb up into the clouds, at the same time as Clarke had come into view, so he had signalled the latter, by waggling his wings and pointing skywards, and the two of them had headed off to where they were able to make contact with Hammond and shepherd him home, with his Camel coughing away merrily, more like a consumptive dromedary, than a first class scout.
As for the Hun, it was not a satisfactory day for them. What was supposed to be a simple, safe patrol behind the lines, came close to being a disaster. Not because of the Britishers, whose gunnery had been appalling, but because his own training methods had let him down. Poeschke, quite rightly, blamed himself for the collision between the three of them and determined to put things to rights immediately on their return home.
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He and the others also reflected sadly on the bombing damage achieved by the enemy, and on the missed opportunities of the day. Too often had guns jammed! What a prize that Camel would have made. But hats off gentlemen to a gallant foe. Three to one huh! And he had survived!
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The End
The Butcher's Bill
Airco DH4
Lt Alexander C Clarke (pilot) / RTB / 0 kills
Succeeded in partially damaging secondary target.
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Sgt A W Davis (observer) / RTB / 0 kills
Airco DH4
2nd Lt Ralph T Leather (pilot) / RTB / 0 kills
Succeeded in partially damaging primary terget and also the secondary target, resulting in the latter's destruction.
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1 damage received from enemy fire
Cpl Sholto Douglas (observer) / RTB / 0 kills
Sopwith Camel
2nd Lt Arthur Hammond / RTB / 0 kills
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Of the 14 damage incurred, 10 came from enemy fire (plus the engine damage) and 4 from a collision (fire damage from the collision was ignored).
Butcher's Bill (Central Powers)
Albatros Dva
Ltn Kürt Parschau / RTB / 0 kills
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8 Damage caused solely by collision with friendly aircraft.
Albatros Dva
Ltn Otto Poeschke / RTB / 0 kills
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2 Damage plus damage to rudder caused by enemy two seater fire. The rest, 8 damage, caused by collision with friendly aircraft.
Albatros Dva
Ltn Gerhard Anders / RTB / 0 kills
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1 Damage from two seater enemy fire. 2 damage from the Camel (wow he hit something).
Conclusions
A totally bizarre start to the mission, but by the end it was a good job, for the Allies, that the clouds came down to the rescue. Bombers did quite well I thought – really difficult to line up the targets. Photography in the first mission was a lot easier!
Read no further unless particularly interested, but to keep track of things I put all movement and other records on paper, which I show below. One sheet per turn of three manoeuvers. I also have the app for my phone but since I use that for photos I found it easier to print off the movement decks and use hard copies. I do use the App for other solo games and find it very good! Used Special H deck for bombers, as advised, until aircraft ran out of bombs, then reverted to normal H deck when I thought the Camel could do with some support. Wasn't needed though because I took the quick way out. I tried to use the altitude rules, but having climbed to altitude five, there was nowhere else to go, allowing for a little room for Immelmans. So there we stayed, nobody willing to give away
height! Lastly, my game table may look big but I did measure out an area equivalent to two mats and stayed within the borders quite easily. I think the bizarre dance of the two flights at the beginning was down to using a Straight, Straight, Straight sequence whilst still two feet apart, plus the original line up which had the Huns wider apart than the Allies. My table is just a fraction wider than the two mats, so by the time the two flights reached one another they were unable to fire at each other. Quite silly really, but I have read, on numerous occassions, of pilots who never even saw another aircraft, despite their flight being involved in a dogfight. Strange!
The log
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Cheers,
Mike
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Not any more. Its really just a game aid and a help to me when I come to write the 
Originally Posted by gully_raker
We'll get 'em in the end 
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