Second Patrol Mission:

[Captain Knowitall]

Second Patrol Mission:

0630 hrs 20 August 1917, Augsberg Sector: Jasta 2

Personal Diary entry 21 August 1917

I have returned to duty at Jasta 2 after my long recovery from my injuries. I feel as though I have been gone a lifetime. Some of the chaps that were here to greet me when I first arrived are no longer here. One was promoted and given his own Jasta to command. Several others have been killed in action whilst flying over the trenches. Yet, two others crashed their machines on the enemy side of the lines and are now prisoners of war. And it appears that we have a new commander, Leutnant Erwin Böhme.

I never even had a chance to get to know any of them. What a pity. The loss of Dieter Shultz was personally tragic, as he was the only person in the squadron that I even really knew. Dieter and I grew up together in Stuttgart and attended the same Training squadron where we learned to fly.

The Mission:
The OberLeutnant has appointed me the flight leader since I have had some "combat" experience. Ha! I've got experience in getting shot down is what I have! I am to take the fresh replacement from the training school up on his first sortie to see how he will do.

According to the intel given to our commander, there is a small group of fighters harrassing our lines and we are being sent up to disabuse them of that notion, and to shoot them down. Well... Try to anyway.

I and the new replacement Leutnant Lutzig Metz are assigned to fly Albatross DIII's. This is the second one for me, his first. I am somewhat dissapointed that I didn't get a newer model plane such as the new Fokker DVII's or even a Model D.Va Albatross.
I have noticed that we have just received a pair of Pfalz D.III's and our Commandant has been given a brand new Fokker D.VII to replace his aging Halberstadt.

Off we go into the fresh morning light of the new day. My flight mate Lutzig Metz and I head straight for our lines and get to max altitude whilst en route.

Once at the front lines it does not take us long until we spot the troublesome Nieuports. Well, well!, well! If it isn't the same pair that I tangled with previously!! We come at them head on... I am dead on to one of them and Lutzig is just slightly off and to the right as we come at them. I let fly at long range and continue firing until we are very close. I see an explosion in the other aeroplane and watch as it tumbles to earth in an acnic ball of flames. I feel a brief pang of pity for the poor fellow, but that does not last long since his mate is still out there and will be looking to exact revenge.

I signal to Lutz to follow me into an Immelmann turn. We bring our ship's about and search out for the other Nieuport.
Ahh there she is... Coming around to us. I line myself up on him and as soon as I know my guns are in range I begin firing, and so does Lutz.
I let fly two long bursts. I see smoke then flames... She is going down... Yet another Son of France or Britain dies for his country. I shall pray for him as well.
It's difficult to tell who actually got the kill, but I'm going put in my report that it was Lutz who got the kill. He was a bit closer to the enemy Nieuport than I was, and upon reflection, He also had a better attack angle than I.

After the fray I take stock of my situation and I find that although my new aircraft has sustained some damage (some rather serious) Myself and Lutz have survived the day and head back to our Aerodrome and home safely.

I suspect the conversation with Sgt Rupp about the Ammo problem, as-well-as the time spent making sure the guns are properly aligned and sighted in has paid off after all.

I apologize for the short missive, I must prepare for my next mission tomorrow.

Till then

[KiltedWolf]

Nice! It was a good mission wasn't?

I think I may "promote" you to write all of our after-action reports! BTW, this was the first mission as we begin the Knights of the Air campaign.

Cheers!

[Oberst Hajj]

Nice write up. You guys should post how your campaign goes... I'd love to follow along with another group as they play through my rules.

[Captain Knowitall]

Nice! It was a good mission wasn't?

I think I may "promote" you to write all of our after-action reports! BTW, this was the first mission as we begin the Knights of the Air campaign.

Cheers!

Ya tis!
James, we played two games back to back remember? Technically we had two missions.
But hey... I figured it would sound better written as two separate stories that follow back to back.

I could write it up from the Allied point of view as well, but I figure to let Henry do that if he is so inclined. If he is not but would like for me to write it up for him then I will need a story outline with names places etc.

Thanks,
I've always aspired to be a writer. I just do not have the muse to write 200 pages for a full novel.

BTW James,
I popped by Hats tonite and picked up the Albatross D.Va and the Sopwith Camel. (This way if the one pilot gets promoted or gets assigned to the newer plane, then I'll have it. (I'm thinkin "Repaint"!!!! (;^>)

I now have 3 WoW WWI aircraft in my collection. This to add to my ever expanding WWII collection.

[Wolfbiter]

Congratulations on your victory. Definitely, speaking to your ground crew about all the machine gun jams on your last foray seems to have helped!

[Captain Knowitall]

@ the Col, Certainmont! would you like the "After-action report" missives to be posted here in the missions or campaign area?

[Captain Knowitall]

@ The Wolfbiter, Yes it certainly has. I did notice a vast improvement in that area.

With the help of Sgt Rupp and several Mechanics, We set up a "Zeroing" Range for our aircraft. (Actually it was Sgt Rupp's invention! Quite ingenious actually.) We had some POW's build up a berm of dirt to about 6 meters tall. Then Sgt Rupp (with the help of some local artisan talents) painted up target roundels on large sheets of canvas. This was then attached to two poles which were stretched and placed into holes to support them. (Later on Corporal Weiss stiffened the apparatus with two horizontal supports to tighten up the canvas.)
Then we positioned the aircraft to about 50 meters away from the target, chalked up the wheels and raised the tail section and supported it upon some wood blocks.

Once that was done, we made sure that the aircraft was level, and then we proceeded to load and fire the Spandau's. Sgt Rupp (ever the ingenious inventor) figured a way to adjust the Machine guns by inserting or removing wooden wedges in the gun mounts.

We would first adjust the left gun until it was hitting where we wanted it to. Then did the same with the right gun. Then when we fired both guns we checked for the bullet patterns once again. We kept adjusting the guns until they were aligned perfectly and we moved the aircraft back to the 100 meter mark and checked that the bullet pattern would converge at that point.

Now I know where my Kill zone is!
I happened to meet Werner Voss the other day, and whilst talking about tactics, he brought up the subject of Ballistics. He said that when at a severe angle of attack to your target, that you need to lead it. He showed me the concept by balling up his fist then positioning it so that when looking at it from the back, and aligning it just in front of your target, then position your aircraft so your target ring cross hairs are just at the opposite side of your fist, then fire, then you are right about where you need to be to lead your target.

He says he figured it out quite by accident one day. He said that he was resting his one hand up on the rim of the cockpit and was tailing an SE8 but at an extreme angle. He says that he was having a time of it getting any hits on him. On a lark he lined up his ship so that the target reticle was in the position as he described earlier. Then fired. He saw that the tracers had actually hit the wing and pilot areas when he did that. That's how he got the rest of his kills..

Well, that's what he told me anyway.