Albert Ross
06-16-2011, 19:35
Company for dinner and an impromptu game followed, as so often happens......
A quick raiding force consisting of an RE8 escorted by two Sopwith camels was tasked to bomb the river crossing near the village of Ruisseau-moyen in the Marne sector. We took off at dusk but one pilot became disoriented and was unable to maintain formation while the remainder of the force pressed on to the objective which could be discerned by the amount of "Archie" sent up from Boche lines
The RE8 and it's lone escort were set upon by an LFG Roland and a Fokker DrI triplane over the target, and this along with heavy ack-ack fire disrupted the bombing run so that the target was over shot. The lone camel fought bravely to shield it's charge effectively from the Hun machines and was eventually forced to break contact after taking heavy damage. The pilot managed to return safely to British lines meanwhile the second camel joined the fight, shielding the RE8 as it made a second run on the bridge. Unfortunately this bomb also fell wide of the mark and with the light failing rapidly, both sides withdrew. No aircraft were lost, but as the bridge remained intact and one allied airplane was driven off with damage, victory goes to the central powers.:embarass:
De-briefing the returning air crew it was learned that the opposing aircraft were the infamous "She Devils" and it was observed that the Hun AA gunners tended to fire at all aircraft regardless and appeared to have damaged at least one of their own airplanes.
A quick raiding force consisting of an RE8 escorted by two Sopwith camels was tasked to bomb the river crossing near the village of Ruisseau-moyen in the Marne sector. We took off at dusk but one pilot became disoriented and was unable to maintain formation while the remainder of the force pressed on to the objective which could be discerned by the amount of "Archie" sent up from Boche lines
The RE8 and it's lone escort were set upon by an LFG Roland and a Fokker DrI triplane over the target, and this along with heavy ack-ack fire disrupted the bombing run so that the target was over shot. The lone camel fought bravely to shield it's charge effectively from the Hun machines and was eventually forced to break contact after taking heavy damage. The pilot managed to return safely to British lines meanwhile the second camel joined the fight, shielding the RE8 as it made a second run on the bridge. Unfortunately this bomb also fell wide of the mark and with the light failing rapidly, both sides withdrew. No aircraft were lost, but as the bridge remained intact and one allied airplane was driven off with damage, victory goes to the central powers.:embarass:
De-briefing the returning air crew it was learned that the opposing aircraft were the infamous "She Devils" and it was observed that the Hun AA gunners tended to fire at all aircraft regardless and appeared to have damaged at least one of their own airplanes.