OTTBE Mission 17 Hell Over Hamel July 4th 1918 {Stumptonian}

[Stumptonian]

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Well it's great to be back!
Got this played last weekend and wondered if I would ever be able to post the results
That being said, I took my time and only just finished this AAR today

Although Keller's luck seems to all be of the bad kind lately, at least he survived his fiery demise but will be missed now for 6 missions.
Not sure there will be enough time left before the armistice for him to make 'ace'.

Becker and Schmidt made up for it, especially Herr Becker, who is now a double ace with 10 victories. Marksman I is the selection for the next ace skill.
Kratsch added to his total as well, with his 6th kill.

The Bulldogs, however, managed to pull off a victory, but at what cost?

Scout pilot Davies will never get that 5th kill, and the RE.8 crews were more than decimated, with Chiltern killed in his first foray, Mayhew, Sykes, and Corcoran out for 3 or 4 sorties each, and observer Tom Travers POW for the duration.

I will need the Bulldog's "uncle" to send me at least one two-seater pilot in order to have one crew on standby.
Depending on requirements over the next two or three missions I may need to request more - might as well wait until they are need for certain.

Time now to clear up the table in preparation for next weekend's Thanksgiving celebrations. I have a feeling the pool table will be needed for other than flying.

[gully_raker]

What a FURBALL Pete!
I am amazed so many crews actually survived & it ended as a Allied victory as well.
However as you said "At what cost"!
Hope the PBI appreciated the Bulldogs dogged efforts to keep them supplied.

Rep Inbound.

[Setarius]

Well done Pete and like you I'm glad to be back.
I'm sure Onkel will have a few words to his boys about capturing pilots and then letting them escape, but I'm glad most of them got away.

[flash]

Nicely done Pete, that was action all the way ! You needn't have fielded the third RE8, that should only occur if you'd lost one of the first pair whilst still on the allied mat ie on the way to the target. Still it was all good to see even if a little costly to the Bulldogs.

Onkel says:


We may not have stopped them reaching their objective but we certainly made them pay a heavy price for their achievement - well done my Eagles
Small point of order - Corcoran & Roper were shot down in Mission 16 and out of action - I have added the following crew to the roster to take their place:
2Lt Lynn Davis
Cpl Alec Daley

David Rimmer promoted to Lt to replace loss of Lt Davies.
Replacement scout pilot: 2Lt Thomas Maynard
Replacement for Travers is Cpl Edward Cunningham as an observer gives you two functional crews for M.18 if required.

Kurt Becker: Awarded Order of the House of Hohenzollern (OHH) Promoted to Hauptman will take command of Eagles over luckless Fenstermacher.

[Stumptonian]

Well I cocked that up a bit, didn't I?

I should have seen that Corcoran and Roper were not available from my own spreadsheet.
Probably because I had to get another pair mid-mission.
Roper is actually out for one more, so hopefully Mission 18 will not require two 2-seaters.
Thanks for swapping out the crew (that I didn't actually need to put into service).
Oh well ...

Becker will make a good leader, but he may be a "player/coach" more than a pencil-pusher.
Looks like Fenstermacher will get more air time now.

[flash]

...Becker will make a good leader, but he may be a "player/coach" more than a pencil-pusher.
Looks like Fenstermacher will get more air time now.

Maybe without the burden of command he will show his mettle and this has lit a fire under him

[flash]

All you need do Pete is Edit Post; Go Advanced; Attachments - find slide 78, check the box in the bottom corner an X it goodbye. It won't then appear in the 'blue box' which are simply images not used within a thread but are attached to it.
Then to replace the image with the new one - highlight the 7th Attach config from the end (235924) in your thread select your new image from attachments and insert inline. Preview & Save.
I could delete the image I think but not replace it as the new one appears in a different post and I can't access your images.

[Stumptonian]

OK I got it in place, but don't know what your

highlight the 7th Attach config from the end (235924)

is about - I do not see that when editing.

I fixed some of the other slides to correct the names and managed, after several frustrating attempts, to get it all reloaded.
Hopefully they are all in the right order ...

[flash]

OK I got it in place, but don't know what your

highlight the 7th Attach config from the end (235924)

is about - I do not see that when editing.

That's the number of the image attached to the thread that you were wanting to replace - when you Edit the thread there is a whole block of your images presented as [ATTACH=CONFIG]number[/ATTACH], maybe that's just how I can see it, as the author it may present differently ?

[Stumptonian]

When I first go in to edit and select Advanced I think I see what you see for a fraction of a second - then I just see two windows with pictures.
The top one appears to be everything I have ever uploaded, and the bottom is for the current post.
I had some issues with the dreaded blue outline so I deleted all the pictures and reloaded by dragging down from the top window to the bottom one.
The first try they were all in reversed order so I removed them and did it again.
It sure is a finicky system ....

[flash]

Yeah it is ! Seems you're referring to the Attachments Manager - if you look at your thread when you hit Edit you will see any text & [ATTACH=CONFIG]number[/ATTACH] for the images you've added. In Go Advanced you can get to the Attachment manager. If you can id which is the one to replace (usually by count) highlight it, add the new and X out the old it won't appear in a blue field.
Does involve switching between screens & can be fiddly but can be done.

[Teaticket]

I've never seen so many near collisions. These boys like flying in close! Schmidt might have been robbed of that first kill but he made a fine show of it and got a pair before it was all over. The Bulldogs paid an extremely high price for this one.

Lots of action through this one Pete, great going!

[mikeemagnus]

Good Lord Peter - that was a real show down if ever there was one OK so the drops were successful, but what a price the Bulldogs paid for that one. Excellent AAR as usual and thanks for the entertainment. Congrats to your Adlers for a very fine performance
Damn

Cheers, Mike

[Stumptonian]

Thanks guys, it was a fun one to play.
It was tough seeing Keller go down so hard, but at least he will be back for a mission or two near the end.
I guess I need to not do such a good job flying the Bulldogs through their ammo drops/bombing...