Following on from Richard Schwab's very enjoyable WWII Pacific games, we had a little time left before the table had to be turned over to the next gam master. As it happened he was putting on a Medieval skirmish that dd not require a lot of space so graciously allowed the Valley Flight to use half the table for an impromptu WWI mission. We were joined by no less a personage than fellow 'drome member Cappy Tom and his lovely lady Crystal who had made the long trek from the Shawnee country along the Ohio to be with us.
Early 1918, somewhere near the Ypres salient: a British long range battery was harassing movement behind Hun lines, so a pair of two seaters was sent up to locate them. Also in the area was a new pilot flight testing the new Siemens-Shuckert fighter. Four Sopwith Camels from 10 sqn. RNAS were alerted to drive off the enemy, and a furious dogfight developed!
The opposing flights soon got to grips with each other and were trading blow for blow. The British pilots did a good job in preventing the Germans locating the gun battery, and one of the two seaters was driven off with engine annd rudder damage, but made it safely back to friendly lines. Tom's camel dueled with a Halberstadt piloted by one of the infamous "She Devils" and in an epic fight, both airplanes were shot down simultaneously! The rookie pilot in the SS DIII gave a good account of himself and handled the new machine superbly: Berlin has been informed and the High Command has decided to award him exclusive use of that airplane, effective immediately.
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