PRS
02-07-2011, 20:31
The ground forces were making a fast push through the German lines and supplies were being ferried to the front as quickly as possible. There was no time to move AA guns up, so planes were in constant rotating patrol to protect the supply dumps as the men on the ground marched forward. Higgens was in his Snipe covering a supply route, but his wingman had developed some engine trouble and had to return to base. As he cruised around keeping a watch on the horizon, he wondered when reinforcements would arrive. 'Not soon enough,' Higgens thought, as he watched the small speck over the German lines get larger. It was only one, so Higgens figured it might not be a big problem in his new, state of the art flying machine. As it grew larger, he recognized it as a Roland and was suprised to note that it had no forward gun. 'They must be desperate if they are throwing this old thing at us.' On his first pass, the machine guns jammed, and Higgens cursed his luck. The German pilot was good and positioned his gunner well, allowing him to put several bursts into the Snipe and set it to smoking. As he worked on the guns, Higgens tried to turn and dodge but somehow stayed in the German gunsights. The next shot hit Higgens and sent a spray of blood over the controls. Finally getting the Roland in his gunsights as it neared the dump, he let out a burst on target that really ripped up the fuselage, but the plane kept going. It dropped it's bombload, taking out the supplies and turned back towards it's own line. Higgens knew he would need to pull up short to keep the whale in his sights, but the strain was too great on his injured body and he couldn't pull the trigger in time. As the Roland slipped to the left, it let out a burst that ripped the poor snipe within an inch of it's life. The next bullet sparked the fuel line and Higgens knew it was time to bail. He watched his bird explode as his parachute slowed his fall.