Harry's Game....
Ypres sector, July 23rd 1917
After a long period of inactivity, the roar of aero engines was once again heard over the Valley. Tommy was up to something! As we scrambled to get whatever aircraft were available into the sky, the distinctive shapes of two of their "Harry Tates" appeared above our lines. Off to the north two more airplanes could be seen - single seaters this time, Camels from the look of them and obviously intending to ambush our scouts sent to engage their RE8's.
Our defenses were thus split: the Count leading his staffel of Fokker Dr I's against the British scouts, while I took a Halberstadt and an Albatros to engage their 2 seaters. This proved to be an unfortunate decision, as the Halberstadt was leaking fuel, either to poor maintenance or sabotage, and in the first burst of British fire, exploded violently, the poor aviator in the cockpit never stood a chance.
This left my Albatros outnumbered and outgunned against the two Tommies who quickly adopted a loose formation orbiting the battle zone so that an attack on one would almost always result in taking fire from it's team mate.
Away to the north, our two triplanes were giving Tommy a lesson in dogfighting, and managed to separate the two Camels, concentrating on one at a time. The first Tommy was damaged and limped away in short order, but his wing man seemed to have a charmed life - or nine of them!
I pressed home my attacks against the RE8's and achieved many hits, but as I was about to finish of the first Englishman, the damaged English scout appeared and put a lethal burst into my engine and it was all over.
To the north, the lone Camel continued to give back as good as it got, with interest and first one, then the second DrI was forced to return to base for repairs.
A black day indeed for Gemany!
I must finish this report now, as two gentlemen from Berlin are waiting to see me.....
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Originally Posted by Skafloc
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