OTT-FYM Mission 2 Close Air Support April 12th 1917 by ShadowDragon
OTT-FYM Mission 2 – Close Air Support – April 12th 1917 by ShadowDragon
This FYM Scenario is my contribution to the campaign:
https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...y-ShadowDragon
The British offensive was stalled due to the time required to move guns forward, establish roads across the hell of No Man’s Land, and so on. The Royal Flying Corps had vowed to keep the Hun disorganized, and the Seadogs were part of the effort. Often, they’d have morning and afternoon missions.
Sir Henry Rumsbottle was assigning crew for a mission to destroy a Hun headquarters and logistics hub. The tandem crew were Flight Commander Robert Samson and AM2 Colin Booker while the scout pilots were flight sub-lieutenants Bruce Dundee, Tom Watson, and Jan Kruger. The other Squadron tandem and scout crewmen had their missions and were already preparing for takeoff.
“Gentlemen, this mission is simple enough, but with a few wrinkles. Bomb the blazes out of a Hun headquarters. The wrinkles are that the headquarters is nestled amongst civilians – churches, schools, and hospitals.”
“I won’t have my people with a reputation for indiscriminate bombing.” Rumsbottle looked pointedly at Colin who, along with the recovering David-Lloyd, had managed to hit all three – a church, a school, and a hospital in their last outing. Bruce thought it rather late for that. Rumsbottle went on, “I want you to go in at the lowest level possible to ensure you’re on target. The other wrinkles are the usual Hun Archie and scout patrol, but they’ve also put up a balloon barrage. If you go in above and dive on the target, you’ll have the devil of a time to get back out with the Huns on your back. So, Tom and Jan will blast a hole in barrage. We’ve ‘borrowed’ a rocket armed Nieuport 16 and twin gunned Nieuport 17. The wing mounted Lewis will have incendiary rounds while the Vickers will have ordinary ball. If there’s trouble, ditch the Lewis pan with incendiary. Tom you’ll have the N16 while Jan will have the N17. You’ll be followed up by Robert and Colin in a Bristol F2A – we’ve been a little negligent in returning those to the RFC – and Bruce with another borrowed aircraft SPAD VII. It’s not as manoeuvrable as the tripes, but it has speed. I want you in and out with minimal dogfighting. With so many missions over enemy territory in support of the ground troops we’ve been taking it on the chin from the Hun.”
Those are some wrinkles, thought Bruce – and likely everyone else assigned to the mission.
Tom and Jan approached the barrage. There were no enemy on their side of the barrage, so it looked like a clean run in.
On the other side a lone Albatros DIII was patrolling near the top of the barrage. It would be easy enough for Hun to scoot over the top.
Jan had climbed to have more manoeuvre space around the balloons, but Tom kept his altitude constant to get a round of rockets off at the target balloon. It was for naught as the naughty rockets went off course. Fortunately, Jan’s incendiary bullets successfully ignited the balloon. On the other side of the barrage, as expected, the Hun climbed to harass them.
Tom switched to his Lewis while he lined up to fire his last round of rockets at the yellow balloon to the right. Jan was already on that balloon – and the lone Hun was on Tom.
Warned of the approaching British aircraft, two more Hun scouts were in the air.
Jan continued firing at second target, but Hun had Tom’s number. Bullets struck Tom, stunning him. He struggled to control the Nieuport.
The Hun gave Tom no respite – Tom felt more bullets. The barrage was in front of him. It looked like he’d hit it, but Tom never knew if he did. His Nieuport shredded by bullets and the barrage and his body riddled by bullets fell from the sky.
Jan looked over his shoulder. It was all on him now. The brown balloon’s fire wasn’t doing much but he had managed a fire on the yellow one, but he had also managed to jam both the Lewis and the Vickers.
A third Hun reinforcement joined the fight.
Bruce and the F2A crew started crossing No Man’s Land. To their chagrin, both target balloons were still looking healthy and only Jan’s Nieuport was visible in the sky.
Jan cursed in Afrikaans. It looked like both balloons had some type of fire retardant as their respective fires flickered without so much as an intention of flaring up. On the other hand, Jan had managed to attract all four of the enemy scouts – all of them Albatri.
The F2A headed towards the brown balloon to avoid the enemy scouts, while Bruce turned to aid Jan.
Bruce lined up the DIII with the green fuselage and fired. Bruce smiled as the bullets struck the engine cowling of the DIII. He’ll be heading home, thought Bruce.
Jan was also having some luck; his bullets had started a second fire on the yellow balloon. That will help but, at this rate, it would be a while before either balloon would be down.
Utilizing the SPAD’s speed, Bruce used Immelmann and Split-S turns to make successive runs at the enemy. [Note: it was at this point I checked the climbing rate of the SPAD and realized I needed to manage the SPAD’s altitude carefully. Now, managing jams is another thing.)
Jan now focussed his attention on the yellow balloon. As predicted the green DIII was heading for the barn, but now without a fruitless opportunity shot at Jan. Bruce cursed his luck. The yellow DIII was ideally placed for a close range shot, but, alas, his Vickers was jammed. As far as the balloons were concerned, the yellow was being more cooperative than the brown one.
Jan sought to encourage the brown balloon with the planned sausage roast.
Success! A second fire sprouted on the brown balloon.
Two balloons and four fires, but not so much damage.
Jan turned towards the yellow balloon. Woosh! That was the end of it. (Note: the yellow balloon should have been destroyed with the fire damage at the start of the turn, but I had failed to keep track of the +1 for successive shots at the balloons until after the game. No matter the fire damage cards would have been drawn after the planning phase, so there’d be no change in manoeuvre cards.)
Satisfied with his work, Jan decided It was time to ditch the incendiary pan and switch to pure ball shot. Jan relished tackling the swarm of Hun Albatri.
While the yellow DIII went after Jan, the white one decided the F2A was the more important target. Bruce’s SPAD dove on the white DIII (the SPAD had popped up in altitude due to Immelmann turns, so a dive brought it back down to the same altitude as the white DIII). Bruce was ‘in the grove’; the white DIII wilted before the SPAD’s onslaught.
Meanwhile Jan had strayed into range of the enemy Archie. Flak burst harmlessly behind the Nieuport
Bruce’s rampage continued. He positioned the SPAD on the rear of the white Albatros. It never had a chance. (Bruce used his ‘sneak attack’ skill.) That evened the score for the loss of Tom, and, with the green Albatros leaving, that left two enemy scouts – and, of course, Archie.
However, the brown balloon was still there and needed watching.
Bruce had a fleeting, deflection shot at the yellow DIII, but only managed to jam the Vickers again.
The jam was sorted but not without attracting the attention of the second Hun AA gun.
Meanwhile, Jan encountered the yellow DIII, which was above him – good enough for a burst from the Lewis (higher machine gun rule).
The F2A started it’s bombing run – attracting both enemy Archie a blue DIII. Bruce turned to pursue the DIII but it was already diving down to the F2A’s altitude.
The F2A’s bomb were on target. Robert and Colin sighed in relief. (It was close – the card was just a couple mm away from being a partial hit.)
The blue Albatros dove on the F2A, inflicting heavy damage.
Robert turned to port to avoid the barrage, but it still proved a disaster. The blue DIII had the F2A dead centre at close range; and made the most of it. Something vital on the F2A was hit. A small explosion ripped the engine apart and the F2A ‘glided’ – if it can be called that – to the ground.
Too late, Bruce was on the blue DIII. (Heck of choice for the sniper skill – ‘0 points’ or the ‘1 point jam plus 1 for diving). Finally, the brown balloon was done. Bit and pieces rained down on the blue DIII.
Bruce was determined. The Hun might have shot down Robert and Colin, but he would pay for it – just not on this phase!
Jan and the Yellow DIII continued to dogfight above Bruce and the blue DIII, but that didn’t mean no opportunity shooting. (Note: I can’t remember the respective altitudes. Bruce and the blue DIII are at altitude 2 but I don’t remember if the yellow DIII being at altitude 3. However, it made no difference.)
Jan and the yellow DIII have turned about. The yellow DIII got the worst of the exchange with engine damage. (Note: there seems to be a missing turn that was not photographed, which I only noticed on writing this up. It was missed in my labelling because there was no photo. The yellow DIII executed a Split-S, but that means a phase is missing. However, I’ve kept the turn labels since it would mean re-doing a lot of photos. That didn’t seem worth the effort. From this point on, all turn labels are one phase behind what they should be.)
Meanwhile, down near the ground, Bruce and the blue DIII practice their dogfighting skills.
…and, they practice their flying skills by not colliding as well. Jan tries just shooting the Lewis (higher machinegun rule), but only succeeds in jamming the Lewis.
The blue DIII chooses to turn while Bruce chooses an Immelmann, which allows Bruce a close range shot that does little damage.
Above Bruce and the blue DIII, Jan pursues the fleeing yellow. With the DIII having engine damage, Jan just might catch up to it, but he only manages to jam both machineguns.
Bruce dogs the blue DIII, while Jan unjams his weapons with a mallet – a darn good thing he ditched the incendiary ammo!
In his pursuit, Jan forgets about the Hun Archie; Archie reminds him that they’re still there.
Finally, Jan is in range of the yellow DIII.
So close to escaping! Alas, Jan has the yellow DIII’s number, and it falls from the sky ablaze.
Bruce and the blue DIII continue their fight. Bruce looks over to where Jan’s located. He’s too far into enemy territory! What’s that Boer thinking? Jan looks down on the Archie crew frantically reloading their gun.
Unfortunately focussing on the blue DIII and Jan, Bruce didn’t realize that his SPAD also strayed into Archie’s range. There’s a double crack of Archie flak. The SPAD is unscathed, but the Nieuport disappears in a cloud – only to emerge from it with naught else than a prayer to hold it together.
Well, let’s finished this and get back for a cuppa – or something stronger. (Note: this should be turn 8.1 and not 7.3. That will be important in the next photo.)
…and, Bruce does put an end to the fight. The Blue DIII turns while makes the most of the opportunity. (Note: while doing the photos I wondered about the left turn since the previous photo showed a right rudder damage. However, I now realize that this is turn 8.2 while the rudder damage was on turn 8.1, so the rudder damage isn’t in effect yet.)
Bleeding profusely, Jan somehow managed to ‘stuck the landing’. Bruce was ready to give him a good punch for foolishly pursuing the yellow DIII, but Jan beat him to it by collapsing from loss of blood.
It was a successful mission but at a cost. Both the F2A (Robert and Colin) and Tom were shot down. Eventual word from the Germans was that Tom was killed. Jan’s injury would keep him out for a month or two. Colin made it back to the station soon enough with word that Robert was captured, but that proved to be only long enough to check out the German nurses.
Points:
Seadogs:
Target = 4 X 5 points per damage point = 20 points
Balloons = 2 X 5 point per balloon destroyed = 10 points
AA Guns destroyed = 0 points
Enemy Aircraft shot down = 3 X 10 points per aircraft = 30 points
Enemy ace shot down = 0 points
Enemy Aircraft FRTB = 1 X 5 points per aircraft = 5 points
Total = 65 points
Adlers:
Target undamaged = 0 points
Enemy aircraft shot down = 2 X 10 points = 20 points
Enemy ace shot down = 0 points
Enemy aircraft forced to return to base = 1 X 5 points = 5 points
Total = 25 points
A win for the Seadogs but a costly one.
An interesting point for me is that this is likely the first scenario that I recall where Bruce Dundee’s ‘sneak attack’ ace skill made a significant difference. The combination with the ‘sniper’ skill proved deadly in the game.
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Originally Posted by flash
A very decisive victory for your lads, so congratulations - but at one hell of a tough price. RIP FSL Tom Watson 
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