A Rough Reception - but for whom?

**Windy Jack** · 09-16-2016 01:33

Robert Little and Roderick Dallas in their Sopwith Triplanes had been alerted to Gothas returning from a raid over Folkestone, England and set out to meet them to make sure they had trouble reaching base. They had decided to fly together to pack a bigger punch against the larger plane.

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With Von Korff turning his Gotha towards them Little overshot, leaving Dallas to tackle it alone. His first shot saw flames shoot out from the Gotha!

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With a quick turn around, via an immelman, Little was able to get back into the action, with he and Dallas exchanging fire with Von Korff.

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Unfortunately for Von Korff his rear gun jammed and that's exactly where the two Sopwiths were! What they were doing to him, he couldn't do to them.

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Maybe Little and Dallas should have spoken a bit longer about what they meant by sticking together before they jumped into their cockpits at the airfield. This did seem to be taking it to ridiculous lengths. By this time Von Korff and his crew had got the fire out and could concentrate on flying to safety.

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But this was even more ridiculous. Both Dallas and Little were wondering whether one day someone might invent a communication system between planes in the air so they could know where the other was thinking of going. Von Korff was uncomfortable with these strange tactics - trying to knock him out of the air instead of shooting at him.

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Unfortunately for Dallas and Little all this bumping and banging wasn't slowing the progress of the Gotha to safety. Nor was it helping Little whose plane was now billowing smoke courtesy of the cleared rear gun of the Gotha.

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A second shot at Little from Von Korff's rear gun sees the Sopwith tumble into the drink. Von Korff is nearly there. Will the other pesky Sopwith try anything at the last moment?

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Yes, Dallas would make one last attempt to stop that darn Gotha.

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But if you're close enough to shoot, you're also close enough to be shot at. So it's not the Gotha that is stopped in its tracks, but Dallas' Sopwith!

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So Von Korff's Gotha had a rough passage, but he was smiling a lot more than Dallas or Little.

The damage bill:

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You may have recognised this scenario. It was our variation on WGF Scenario FB02, using two mats worth of ocean and the coastal mat. We had decided that when the Gotha had crossed the coast it was successful rather than the edge of the mat. However it didn't make any difference because there were no pursuers left.

**flash** · 09-16-2016 02:10

Nine zeroes ! von K was a lucky b that time around. Nice one Doug

**Carl_Brisgamer** · 09-16-2016 06:52

Great AAR Doug. I have been pretty busy of late but am planning to do some more scenarios in the next couple of weeks, including some bomber missions.