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Flying Officer Kyte
05-26-2013, 12:50
Young Geoff Smythe had just taken one satisfying draw on his Senior Service, when the warning gong outside the Squadron Office started to clang. With a mild curse he discarded his fag and with one continuing motion swept up his flying helmet and made for the door.
His Hurricane was already being prepared as he dashed across the tarmac, and with a few adjustments and a couple of words to his mechanic he was taxiing along the runway and gunning his engine.
As the fields of Kent began to spread out below him he retracted his wheels and came onto the heading relayed to him from the Control Tower.


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This really was his pigeon, and his alone, as the rest of the Squadron was already out on a mission, and the only reason that he was at the Drome was a problem that had occurred to his engine when some AC had left some cotton waste in his intake.
Well now there was some hostile sited crossing the Thames estuary and only he was available to deal with it.


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Gaining altitude as he flew, Geoff strained his eyes for a sight of the bandit.
It was a silver bright day over the salt marshes in the distance and very difficult to make out anything in the brightness of the sky where the horizon and water met.
Then just for a moment he felt, rather than saw a dark dot intrude on the brightness. Shielding his eyes, he tried to spot the fleeting dot again, and was about to put it down to overindulging in the Mess last night, when he got a fix on it again. Certainly an aircraft coming in fast and about 1000 feet below him, heading towards Chatham by its heading.


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Putting his joystick over he turned on an intercept course and opened up his engine.
Using a handy bit of cloud cover to mask his approach, Geoff dived onto his opponent, which had now turned out to be a lone BF110.
Both pilots opened fire at the same moment, with an accurate burst, and Geoff cursed as his engine started to misfire immediately. He was sure he had hit the Hun, but there was no sign of any damage save one hole in the canopy.


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Overflying the 110, Geoff throttled back on his now labouring engine and started to try to out turn his enemy, the rear gunner trying to get a bead on him as he passed to no avail.


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There was only ever going to be one outcome in a turning fight, and very soon the more manoeuvrable Hurricane managed to cut across the arc of the circle and get off a short burst of machine gun fire.


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Closing to point blank range Geoff gave the 110 all he had got and was gratified to see it fall off on one wing and start to spiral down toward the ground, only to level out at a hundred feet or so and pancake into the salt marsh.


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As he overflew his very first kill he saw one of the crewmen struggle out of the plane and stagger across the marsh toward the dry ground where a crowd of locals was already gathering to view the crash site.


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What a dashed bit of luck he said to himself as he headed back towards the Drome. Now if the engine only holds out I will get my fag after all.


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Note:- A real bit of luck for me which did not seem to be so at first. The engine hit gave me the advantage of having to slow down which brought my turning circle inside the BF 110. and into the rear gunner's blind spot at close range. Add to this the double hit on the pilot and it was all over in seconds.

I don't expect Bouncer-Smythe's young nephew Geoffrey will be this luck every time he takes on a Hun.

Rob.

Lt. S.Kafloc
05-26-2013, 13:56
Short and sweet Rob. Gave the dastardly Hun what for after he nearly spoiled the party. Nice little trophy to hang on the squadron mess wall. I'm sure there will be a bit of tail with swatstika attached to show your kill.

Nice AAR Rob.

Neil.

Flying Officer Kyte
05-26-2013, 14:34
Short and sweet Rob. Gave the dastardly Hun what for after he nearly spoiled the party. Nice little trophy to hang on the squadron mess wall. I'm sure there will be a bit of tail with swatstika attached to show your kill.

Nice AAR Rob.

Neil.
Thanks Neil.
I was quite happy with it as it was my first attempt at a WWII solo game.
Rob.

gully_raker
05-26-2013, 16:30
:thumbsup: Well done Rob!
Short & sweet indeed. Nothing better than making your first kill!;)
Just ask young "Rocky" Rhodes, "Dustys" offspring.
Did you enjoy the challange of the WW2 game play?

calm
05-26-2013, 16:31
Very nice AAR !!! :thumbsup:

grumpybear
05-26-2013, 16:42
Well written as allways , fun to read .

ptownhiker
05-26-2013, 19:24
That is a very nice AAR. Can you talk more about crash landing card? Is it something you randomly draw and use in campaigns?



thanks,


dave s.

FrankJamison
05-26-2013, 20:01
I've found the Bf-110 has problems dealing with slow aircraft.

We did a mission with a Bf-110 against a B-25. I quickly determined that having my Mitchell going as slow as humanly possible gave the Hun fits.

Flying Officer Kyte
05-27-2013, 00:52
I've found the Bf-110 has problems dealing with slow aircraft.

We did a mission with a Bf-110 against a B-25. I quickly determined that having my Mitchell going as slow as humanly possible gave the Hun fits.

Well thanks Frank.
That is one I will keep in mind. I still have a great deal to learn in the flying of these WWII birds.
Rob.

flash
05-27-2013, 01:09
A cracking AAR with a fitting end - Well done young Smythe !

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Flying Officer Kyte
05-27-2013, 01:17
A cracking AAR with a fitting end - Well done young Smythe !

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Nice photo Dave.
It looks as if the ground has dried out a bit in the sunshine this morning.:D
Rob.

Flying Officer Kyte
05-27-2013, 01:28
That is a very nice AAR. Can you talk more about crash landing card? Is it something you randomly draw and use in campaigns?



thanks,


dave s.

The late LGKR provided us with this critical hits deck which you can find in the files here Dave.

http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=409

I took it as my basis for the after a crash results, then looked at all the results of Aces victories and the percentage of deaths and survival rates of their victims, and added a few more survival cards to reflect these percentages. If we are not using the Auto results machine, I always draw one of these cards.
Rob.

Nightbomber
05-27-2013, 01:39
Well done, that rookie:) Quite historically accurate outcome I must say, Rob. The frontal salvo of Zerstorer could easily damage an incoming plane, but in a subsequent dogfight Hurry might out turn such opponent easily. Congrats:)