“You’ve got to be joking!” Beck interrupted and strongly rebuffed Büttner’s plan.
“Return the holiday mail to the enemy? This is insane.”
A couple of the other pilots chuckled a nervous cackle, the rest were uncomfortably silent.
Büttner went on, “We will fly over the forward Bulldog airfield and drop what is rightfully theirs. Their morning patrol should be on the ground so we..”
“It is nonsense”, Beck started up again. “Are to risk ourselves and our machines to play delivery boys with their Christmas presents? This isn’t 1914, we don’t play nice anymore. Utter nonsense.”
“...we won’t be interfered with for the drop”, Büttner continued, now with a smirk on his face. “Their morning patrol should be back and nicely lined up on the ground for refueling and rearming. While dropping their mail we will also drop, some of these”. From behind the lectern he lifted a tightly tied cluster of stick grenades.
“AH HAAA”! Beck yelled with enthusiastic approval. “Now why didn’t you say so from the beginning. This is more like it. Some New Year’s fireworks the Bulldogs won’t forget”.
Agustus Owen (blue circle Camel) was turning back after a late and unsuccessful patrol. With the dawn’s frigid cold some of the planes had a
d i c kens of a time starting. Owen left quite late for the dawn patrol along with Acrhie Joslyn (red chevron Camel), Roy Morrow (hearts Camel) and Harold Leitch (SE5a). They had split up, each covering a section just along the front. Owen could see Joslyn far off to the north but getting closer with Morrow behind him. Leitch, in the faster SE5a was still out of Owen’s sight but expected back soon if all went well.
Owen thought he could see several planes ahead of him flying towards the airfield. “Funny”, he thought, “We’re the only late flight and I’m in the lead...so...Oh no”. It struck him, this was not going to be good.
Rudi Koch piloted the Rumpler while observer Ludwig Immelmann prepared the surprise presents for delivery. Rudolf Schmitt and Peter Büttner flew behind the Rumpler in Fokker Triplanes.
Buttner, remembering Hartwig Alder’s* advice and kept a watchful eye in every direction. As the airfield target came into sight he noticed a speck in the sky off to his 8 o’clock. He turned to get a better look and sure enough there was a plane closing in.
(Hartwig Alder was the original Eagles leader of Kek Alder when the unit formed back in ’16. (Early Doors))
Büttner let off a few rounds to alert the others that they had company. Ludwig hurried the last cluster to readiness. They had hoped to first drop the parachute mail, then while the curious down below gathered deliver the real presents but knowing there was action imminent all would be dropped at once.
As the parachutes drifted down to the field the cluster bombs went offdestroying one plane and damaging several more. A small hangar fire started so Ludwig felt a bit of pride in his aim.
From his distance Archie could still see the explosions and smoke down on the airfield. He opened the throttle a little more.
Büttner flashed his tail in front of the oncoming scout in the hope of luring him in and distracting him from the clumsier Rumpler.
Wether it worked or not, the British scout would soon be meeting the Tiger.
In the blink of a eye the two enemy planes met and spat deadly bursts at each other.
Büttner watched lots of pieces flying off of the front of the Camel and almost didn’t notice the flame starting to lick out of his cowling.
Owen cursed as he felt his Camel shudder under the attack. As his guns went silent he could hear and feel his rotary engine skipping badly.
Rudi had a bad feeling as he turned back east after the drop and saw two British scouts closing in.
Büttner kept his triplane in a tight turn keeping the fire damage to a minimum.
Rudi tried as he might to avoid the oncoming scout but it tore into his Rumpler tearing canvas and splintering wood. Ludwig couldn’t get a bead on him as he came in from the port blind spot.
As Büttner kept turning right behind the Camel he could see Owen hammering away at his Vickers.
Roy Morrow was surprised to see Büttner appear from behind Owen. Büttner was also not expecting to see another British scout and barely got off a shot. Morrow, not returning fire just watched in shock as the German fired on him.
Ludwig kept up the fire but could not hit the elusive scout.
As Morrow froze and watched the incoming German he almost failed to take evasive action. It was a close call as Büttner being preoccupied with a fire didn’t notice how close he was coming to the British plane. (the fire is kept at bay)
Ludwig gets a better shot at Owen’s sputtering Camel.
After eluding Büttner, Morrow zeros in on the Rumpler.
Ludwig and Morrow trade fire but the twin Vickers have a distinct advantage.
Both kept on firing but neither could hit as Rudi slipped and swerved in desperation.
Ludwig felt helpless as his Parabellum seized up and he could do nothing with his frozen fingers to fix it.
Rudi keeps flying as erratically as he can to keep the bullets of Morrow from striking home.
Seeing the chaos down at the airfield below Owen aimed his limping Camel towards the main Aerodrome further west.
Büttner took a long shot as he glimpsed Owen through the smoke adding a few more holes to Owen’s battered aircraft. He then sideslipped behind the slow moving Camel and put some more serious damage into it.
Rudolf and Archie square off at long range. The frigid New Year’s air grips Archie’s Vickers and they go silent. Rudolf does not see any muzzle flash and fears the Brit is saving his rounds for close range.
Having to deal with the fire Büttner lets Owen escape. The fire goes out with a whimper.
Morrow finally catches Rudi and Ludwig, pummeling the helpless Rumpler. The shattered airplane noses down and begins to pick up speed as the nose stays down despite all of Rudi’s effort.
Rudolf in a panic flies in too close to Archie and narrowly avoids a collision.
Büttner in the meantime begins to stalk Morrow scoring a long range shot, damaging the Camel’s rudder.
Archie flies off to clear his jam but keeps an eye on the triplane.
Rudolf Immelmanns and Archhie turns hard right to set up a second pass.
Archie clears his guns just in time as the two blast away at each other. Archie’s Camel is rocked as it’s rudder is damaged and the engine starts to vibrate wildly.
Not noticing the damage he had done to his target Rudolf screams as his triplane’s engine flames up.
Once again they pass by each other as they plan their next moves.
Flying as fast as he can to get to the action, Harold Leitch can only watch as he is harmlessly out of range.
Morrow turns tight right hoping to catch the Tiger but Büttner turns in and flies right under him.
Büttner uses his Triplane’s agility to it’s maximum to get on the Camel’s tail.
Morrow can feel Büttner’s breath on the back of his neck and tries to turn into his foe. He instinctively uses his Camel’s turning ability to get his aim on the Tiger as fast as possible but Büttner is waiting for him. Büttner’s aim does not fail him and shreds the Camel to pieces. Morrow holds on for dear life as falls towards the earth in a ball of flame and smoke.
At the moment Rudolf feels the fire is under control.
Rudolf turns as quickly as his Dr.1 will take him and gets on the rough riding Camel’s tail and starts to punish it and it’s pilot.
Archie is able to escape Rudolf’s chase as the fire flares up to Rudolf’s dismay.
Büttner notices a newcomer to the fight and turns to cut him off.
The SE5a is too fast for Buttner as it screams on by going straight for Rudolf.
The fire has badly damaged Rudolf’s Tripelane and he must disengage and head home.
Unfortunately between Rudolf and home is an oncoming Bulldog in a SE5a.
Büttner sees the SE5a attacking Rudolf and fires in desperation knowing he is out of range but hopes against the odds that he can distract the Brit.
Harold holds the trigger tight firing until his guns seize up. It may have seized but before doing so the damage was done. The German plane can take no more and crumples like a stale digestive biscut.
Büttner tries to give chase but the speed of the triplane is no match for the SE5a. Harold, with seized guns and seeing the rest of his flight ahead of him, flies on leaving the German to curse in the frigid air by himself.
Butcher’s Bill
2Lt Roy Morrow SD EXP 1 Kill
C 7 -3 =4, injured, 4 = miss 4 missions
2Lt Archie Joslyn RTB WIA 0 Kills
C 8 +3(rtb) -1(wia) = 10, ok.
Lt Agustus Owen RTB 0 Kills
2Lt Harold Leitch RTB 1 Kill
Fwbl Rudi Koch SD ET 0 Kills
C 3 -1(sd) = 2 KIA
Ltn Ludwig Immelmann SD ET 0 Kills
C 7 -1 = 6 injured, 4 = -2 missions
E 6 -1(wic) -1(bel) = 4 captured but escapes, 4 = -2 missions
total miss 2 missions
Ltn Rudolf Schmitt SD ET 0 kills
C 6 -1(sd) = 5 injured, 4 = -2 missions
E 7 -1(bel) -1(wic) = 5 in hiding, 4 = -2 missions
total miss 2 missions
Hptn Peter Büttner RTB 1 Kill
Scenario score
Bulldogs 3
1 x 2 seater shot down 2 points
1 x scout shot down 1 point
Eagles 2 1/2
1 scout shot down 1 point
3 scouts forced away 1 1/2 points
Bulldogs eek out a slim win by 1/2 point!
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