OTT BE- Mission 1, The end at Paschedaele 10 Nov, 1917 by Dragonfly

[Dragonfly]

Excerpts from the personal diary of Oberleutnant Martin Brachell:

“November 10. 1917

I was tasked to go on a dawn patrol with Bettman and Rosenfeldt today. The British has stepped up their reconnaissance flights of late and we need to show them who owns the skies over Passchendaele. The weather has proven to be a worse nuisance then the British planes these last weeks and I was happy to finally get some time in the air.

I instructed Bettmann and Rosenfeldt to fly their Albatrosses together while I stayed more to the north as we would cover a larger area and allow us to more freedom of maneuvering and as luck would have it we found our prey only a few minutes after taking off. We spotted a flight of 4 coming towards our lines, 2 two-seaters which I identified as a Bristol and a DeHavilland with Spad escorts. I immediately turned my Albatross towards the foe aiming to get in range of the two seaters, while signaling Bettmann and Rosenfeldt to go for the escorts.



As I sped in towards the Bristol, one Spad turned towards me but I managed to get shots off at him without him begin able to fire in return. I now noticed that the Brits were receiving heavy fire from the trenches also, as they had foolishly decided to fly directly above them to reach their targets. Despite our combined attacks it seemed the brits suffered no real damage. I later learned that the MG in one of the trenches had misfired and jammed preventing them to engage the planes in an effective manner. Damn infantry men and their lax weapon maintenance.

The two-seaters split up to go for two different targets. I decided to make the Bristol my primary prey and turned as hard as I could to get into a good firing position. As I did I felt my plan hit several times by one of the Spads, but nothing crucial was hit. I dived towards the ground to get out of his firing arc while he followed me down. As I tried to get away from my attacker I could see that the infantry below were shooting all their guns at him and against all odds actually hitting. I was close enough to see the enemy pilot jerk as a bullet hit him, but he regained control of his aircraft passing right by me.



I swiveled my head to get a bearing on my two wingmen and cursed as I saw them far away seemingly oblivious to my need for them. Obviously I need to have words with them about the virtue of staying close to one’s flight leader. As I frantically signaled for them to join the fight I could see both two-seaters taking pictures of our ground units.



I banked hard getting a good angle on the Bristol and let my guns blaze at him but I could not tell if I was doing any real damage.

Finally Bettmann and Rosenfeldt got into the game and engaged the two Spads leaving me free to pursue the Bristol. I could see them ducking and weaving trying to get behind the enemy planes as they all took whatever shots they could at each other. I could only curse as I saw both Bettmann and Rosenfeldt stop firing and starting hitting their guns as they desperately tried to clear them. I guess not only the infantry need lessons in gun maintenance. Luck however seemed to have been with them, as their final salvoes before jamming managed to set the enemy plane on fire and the damage making it spiraling down to the ground.



The remaining Spad engaged with Rosenfeldt and must have hit him good as I could see black smoke spewing from this plane. I decided against coming to his aid as I counted on Bettmann assisting if needed.



I was now afforded the luxury of being able to fire at the Bristol several times without having to worry about its escorts, but I was amazed at how much damage it would take without my bullets seemingly having any effect. Lining my sights up I gave a cry of joy as I saw my bullets raking the cockpit section and the pilot briefly slumping over.



I must have hit him as the Bristol fell sharply before righting itself, the observer desperately shooting back at me. In my eagerness to finish the Bristol off I misjudged the distance and almost crashed right into him as he banked hard to get out of my firing arc. As I turned back towards the Bristol I could hear the angry buzzing of the bullets passing me as the observer continued to fire at me. Suddenly I felt a hard kick in my left arm followed by numbness and then a searing pain. I had been hit!



This affront made me furious and despite the pain in my arm I lined up a perfect shot at the now damaged Bristol. I am sure that the Devil himself must have blushed as he heard the profanities I yelled as my gun jammed at this crucial moment allowing the Bristol to make a break for the British lines.



I yelled in frustration as I could see him fly fast and low over our trenches while I was struggling to clear my guns..the irony of my earlier jibes about gun maintenance not lost on me even at that moment. My frustration turned into elation as I could see that once again accurate fire from the trenches found the Bristol. It kept flying straight for a moment but then slowly turned towards the ground and then falling like a wounded bird, slamming into the earth.



I had now managed to clear my guns, and just in time as the last Spad came racing at me forcing me to break violently to avoid a collision. I set up for an immelman turn to get behind him and as I climbed I could see the DeHavilland far away making a fast get away. Those damned brits would get some pictures after all.

My Immelmann was performed flawlessly and I had the Spad in my sights, but could not manage to get shots off while at the same time keeping the plane level as raising my arm seemed to have gone stiff. To my side Rosenfeldt fired at the remaining Spad but to no effect. The Spad had now almost gotten out of my range but I leveled out and let one final burst of fire at him. I could see my tracers reach the plane and slam into the cockpit and immediately after the plan dove forwards into a spiral I knew he would not get out of. Against all odds I must have hit the pilot.



I watched as the plane plunged into the earth close to our trenches. With the last two-seater over British lines and with our fuel and bullets almost spent I gave the signal to return home. Shortly after landing we received a call from the infantry unit who had participating in our fight, confirming our victories.”


This was my first try at the campaign and solo rules, and even though there was a bit of book keeping and my struggling to remember all the rules, I felt it flowed well and had great fun playing the scenario out. I think my biggest mistake was not remembering the rule about planes RTB if 5 wounded. Ah well...I can explain that with over confidence on the British pilots part (this time anyways). My main frustration was the IA for the other planes, but at no time did they act stupid, only a bit erratic (I used the basic solo rules on the ipad app for this outing).

I was very happy on how the game played out as I felt my side “win” the air battle while the Brits got away with a set of pics thus “winning” their objective too (despite abysmal C&W rolls).

Anyways, the butchers bill as I can read it:

Eagles:
Oblt M Brachell RTB/WIA/1 kill Wound roll: 8+3 (RTB)=11 (All well when you land well)
Ltn D Rosenfeldt RTB/0 kills
Fwbl M Bettmann RTB/1 Kill

Bulldogs:
2Lt A Cox SD/FLM/NML/0 kills Crash & Wound roll: 3-2(Flamer)-1(NML) = 0 (Dead!)
2Lt E Holden SD/ET/WIAx2/0 kills Crash & Wound roll: 5-1(ET)-2 (2 wounds )= 2 (Dead!)
2Lt (P2) E Turnbull SD/ET/WIAx2/0 kills Crash & Wound roll: 4-1(ET)-2 (2 wound)= 1 (Dead!)
Cpl (O) A Kelly SD/ET Crash & Wound roll:7-1(ET)= 6. Roll 3= Miss 2 missions
E&E roll: 6-1 (ET)= 5 (In hiding). Roll 2= Miss 1 missions
2Lt (P2) S Edwards RTB/0 kills
Cpl (O) L Mustard RTB/0 kills

Photos taken: Photo 1 Straight, over red dot. Photo 2 Straight, over red dot. Photo 3 Stall, over red dot.

Hope this is approved

[mikeemagnus]

Nice one Sverre. Eagles did a good job despite the frustrating number of gun jams! Good fun read and some lovely pics. Thanks - Rep on the way

[flash]

Now that was a great opener to your campaign Sverre - there will be great celebrations in the Eagle's nest tonight !

Onkel says:

Congratulations on your victories !
When completing the Butchers Tally please include photos of the planes and their damage, this can really help with checking the tally particularly if there is a query.
Please note in the crash/wound table there is no modifier for Enemy Territory (ET), that is an E&E modifier, but there is a -1 SD, shot down, modifier (if not FLM of EXP) so your calculations worked out OK just had the wrong nomenclature.
I see you've note the Morale & Wounded Pilots section of the rules, a lot to take in but you'll get there.

Replacements for your bulldogs have arrived

[Teaticket]

Great way to start the Bitter End Sverre! A victory of sorts can be claimed by both. Brutal results for the Bulldog crews. They'll have to pay more attention to your Eagles the next time they face you.

[tikkifriend]

Well done Sverre Our mess will be awash with good german beer tonight.

Well written AAR , plenty of action and good photos Lets see what happens next.
Paul

[Stumptonian]

Well done, Sverre.
An excellent first blood.

I know what you mean about keeping track of everything. It's easy to forget certain things in the heat of the moment.

[Setarius]

Excellent first AAR Severe. You took it to the Brits and only allowed them 1/2 a victory, while acquiring a 1/2 victory for your Eagles.
Can't wait to see what your next mission will bring.

[Dragonfly]

Thanks so much for the feedback guys! I really appreciate it, and it makes me even more eager to get my next report in. I'll make sure to get the butchers bill pictures of individual planes in for the next mission.

[LOOP]

A very well written AAR Sverre. And well told to
I think your Eagles did very well and deserve a schaps or two at the mess tonight

Looking forward to the follow up

[gully_raker]

Great first Campaign AAR Saverre!
Well done.

[Carl_Brisgamer]

Nice AAR Sverre, very clear photos. The trench fire can be deadly, but if you use altitude it limits fire from the ground to targets at altitude 2 or less, meaning your Brisfit would have been out of range. If you have ground units in a scenario I always advise using the altitude limitations, otherwise they are way too powerful.

Great start, looking forward to more from your Eagles.

[Teaticket]

I think having ground fire makes the game more challenging. That's why I put it in. You can fly higher and play it safe but your accuracy in this scenario will be lessened. If you can always fly above ground fire, why have it?
Ground fire is tame for its reach when you consider how high mg fire could really reach.
Chris weighed the number of photos taken more than I would have compared to accuracy but it all works out in the end for an interesting scenario link.

[Carl_Brisgamer]

I think having ground fire makes the game more challenging. That's why I put it in. You can fly higher and play it safe but your accuracy in this scenario will be lessened. If you can always fly above ground fire, why have it?
Ground fire is tame for its reach when you consider how high mg fire could really reach.
Chris weighed the number of photos taken more than I would have compared to accuracy but it all works out in the end for an interesting scenario link.

You answered your own question regarding ground fire Pete, the reason you have it is to force the enemy to fly higher and increase bombing difficulty.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

One would never guess from your AAR that it was your first mission Sverre.
You produced the goods as if you were an old hand at this game.
Well done,
Rob.