OTT ED Mission 10 - Three Bridges to Victory - 19th October 1916
October 19th 1916,
Dawn: 0635
Weather: Recent high pressure front temporarily stalled over region causing heavy ground mist. Clearing later, more rain forecast for coming week.
Captain Andrew Smith was awakened by his batman bringing him a cup of tea and lighting his spirit lamp.
“It’s five am Sir, and the Major would like to see you as soon as you are dressed.”
Andrew groaned and dragged himself to the washstand. The jug held warm water, thank God for a decent batman. As he dragged his razor across his chin he tried to recall last night’s thrash in the mess; he couldn’t remember anything more outrageous than the usual occurring, so the early call must mean a special operation. He groaned again.
Major Vaughn the squadron CO held a brief pre breakfast meeting with his B and C flight leaders, Andrew and Captain John Frederickson.
“John, Andrew, I have just received an urgent call from HQ. Apparently one of the three bridges over the Ancre that were bombed a couple of days ago has been replaced. I gather there is some kind of submerged bridge running alongside one of the bridges, but Intelligence hasn’t been able to determine which one, so we must bomb all three to ensure a positive result.”
“John, pick two of your best crews. The Intelligence wallahs have convinced the General Staff that a high altitude attack masquerading as a reconnaissance flight is the way to go, and our orders leave us no choice in the matter. I know, I know, your chaps don’t have much experience of bombing from high altitude, but GHQ insist that we have a go from 10,000ft!”
“The same silly beggars insist that there is currently slim chance of enemy air activity as the ground activity is at a stalemate again, but I am giving you the two new Spads Andrew, and orders to fly in the general vicinity without making it too obvious that the two seaters are up to anything special.”
The two Captains, once dismissed, hurried to write the orders for the operation, and to pick the men for the required roles.
The day dawned blue and cloudless, the first clear morning after weeks of seemingly interminable rain. As the October sun spread its warming glow over the sodden French fields currently hosting 52 Squadron RFC, Andrew had a last brief word with Sgt Ball who he had chosen as his wing man, nodded to Cpt Frederickson who had opted to fly the Fee as the main bomber, and strode to his SPAD. Climbing into the cockpit, he signalled to the ground crew to ‘suck in’, heard the shout of “contact”, replied, switched on and prayed as the Hispano- Suiza V8 roared into life.
As the four aircraft lifted into the air, the sun’s rays began heating the ground soaked by weeks of rain. Thin tendrils of mist began to rise from the mud between Thiepval and Beaumont Hamel. As the planes flew over Hamel heading to Beaucourt, the wisps clumped together forming a dense carpet so thick that only the ruined spires of the churches rose above it. When Cpt Frederickson and his escort reached the approximate area of the bridges, the river was completely hidden from view.
As the target was so completely obscured, Frederickson had no option but to signal to Flying Officers Chard and Ault to abort the operation and return to base.
By 0900, reports from the front indicated normal visibility had been restored, and the two pairs of aircraft took off once more, the crews having enjoyed a breakfast of more than tea and toast this time.
To maintain the impression of a simple escorted reconnaissance mission, the two seaters took a fairly direct route to the bridges, while the Spads followed a longer diversion to the south. Both groups converged on the targets at the same time due to the Spads’ greater speed.
During the early morning fog, both armies had sent forth trench raids. This escalation alarmed the Germans sufficiently for their High command to order a patrol from the nearest newly formed Jagdstaffel. Thus it was, that as the two seaters approached the river at 10,000 ft, off to their right the Spads were shadowing them at 14,000 ft while four german fighters, came out of the sun between 14,000 and 16,000 feet straight at the unsuspecting bombers.
To begin with , neither side was aware of the other
Then Sgt Ball spotted the Huns, just as they saw the two seaters.
The Huns flew closer, waiting for the best position to dive out of the sun at the unsuspecting two seaters, unaware that Smith and Ball were now closing on them
The three groups converged rapidly,
The first the C flight contingent new about it, was when the lead Halberstadt opened fire on the 11/2 Strutter
That first burst cracked on oil line on the Strutter, causing it to smoke badly. FO Chard turned quickly away, giving Ault a chance to fire at a diving Albatros. His vision obscured by smoke, he missed as, luckily, did the Albatros. Sgt Ball, seeing a Halberstadt diving past in front of him, fired a quick burst to good effect, while FO Archer in the Fee crossed swords with the other Albatros, being wounded in the foot in the process.
As the German formation broke up, and levelled out, Sgt Ball found himself face to face with Albatros of Ltn Schultz, but came of the loser in the exchange, the twin guns of the Hun causing significant damage to his Spad, especially to his rudder bar. To add insult to injury, his gun jammed. FO Ault fired another burst at ObLtn Sonneck’s Albatros, but missed again as the Strutter’s engine continued to belch smoke from its ruptured oil line.
Cpt Smith found himself the final victim of the initial round of combat, when Ltn Schultz slapped a burst at close range into his fuselage.
As the aircraft scattered apart, ObLtn Sonneck, and Sgt ball worked frantically at their weapons to make them serviceable again.
Sonneck succeeded first, and finding himself behind the Strutter, squeezed off an ill aimed burst.
Over correcting he fired again, most of his bullets flying wide, but it was enough to cause Ault to drop his bombs too early and miss the bridge.
Sgt Ball, finally unjammed his Vickers, and as he passed under the Halberstadt of Ltn Johann Arnold, he was able to target Ltn Stutz, just as 2Lt Ault also fired at Stutz.
As the engagement progressed, Ault and Ball continued to pour shots into the unfortunate Stutz, while Archer in the Strutter finally got a clear shot at Sonneck, raking his rear fuselage and tail.
Ltn Arnold dived under Sgt Ball’s Spad, and straight into the fire of Archers Lewis gun. His return fire caught the luckless observer in the left arm, one of the bullets ricocheting off the bone into his chest killing him outright.
Smith, having immelmanned, dived back into the action and poured a devastating burst into the engine and cockpit of Stutz’s Halberstadt, damaging the engine, wounding the pilot in the leg, and causing the whole to spin out of the action to the fields below.
As all this was going on, FO Ault was still engaging Sonneck until his gun jammed.
The grand melee continued, Smith now in full flow, set Arnold’s plane on fire.
Undeterred, Arnold fired at the now defenceless Fee, shredding the right ailerons and wings as it passed in front and below him. Smith, still closing on Arnold delivered the coups de grace, rupturing the burning fuel tank and causing the Halberstadt to explode catastrophically.
The burning wreckage swirled around the hopelessly compromised Fee as the two aircraft plummeted to the ground
As Andrew climbed out of the centre of mayhem and destruction, Ltn Schultz dived down to avenge his fallen comrades,
As Sonneck got behind Chard and Ault again, and set them smoking once more, just as Ault prepared to release the second and last bomb.
As Sgt Ball desperately tried to return to the fray,
Sonneck continued to pour bullets into the Sopwith, sawing through the port wings until they sheared off sending the two seater into a fatal spin as the last bomb, released too late, overshot the middle bridge to explode harmlessly in a field
The four remaining aircraft now circled warily like gladiators, each one waiting for one of their opponents to make a mistake.
Gradually the circus climbed higher into the sky, as the pilots jockeyed for position
Suddenly Sgt ball saw his chance; an Albatros climbing in a slow left spiral strayed below him. Pushing his nose down, he descended firing his Vickers into the top of the enemy aircraft’s engine. A great gout of oily smoke erupted, followed seconds later by the orange flash of fire!
The fire began to eat at the aircraft,
ObLtn Sonneck turned his climb to the left into a desperate right hand dive as Ball straightened out preparatory for an immelmann
Ltn Schultz could only stare in horror as his flight leader battled his furiously burning machine downward in a tight spiral to keep the flames away from his cockpit, while the two Spads closed in
The height he had gained performing a fast half loop caused Sgt Ball to pass over his prey too high to be able to bring his gun to bear,
But the fire continued to consume the wood and fabric machine at a terrible rate,
Until the proud bird of prey transformed into a pathetic fluttering wreck, which ploughed gracelessly into the damp earth
Andrew Smith’s dive to catch the stricken Albatros proved unnecessary, and left him completely out of place to threaten the remaining enemy plane,
But Ball, coaxing every ounce of power out of the big V8 in front of him, hauled the heavy fighter up and round until he had the German in his sights
Schultz had miscalculated, and now he too was belching smoke after Sgt Ball had hit his engine.
Praying fervently that he would not catch fire too or rip his wings off, Ltn Schultz pushed his nose down into an almost vertical dive and fled.
Andrew, spiralling upward saw him going and eased off his throttle, levelling out
The Hun was beaten, but the operation had failed. The Germans would know that the submerged bridge was not a secret any more, but much worse for Andrew, his friend and mentor was gone.
He had grown to admire and value John Frederickson above all others in the squadron and now he lay in the smashed wreckage of an obsolete pusher far below.
As the last remaining enemy fled the arena, Andrew Smith sadly turned for home
Captain Andrew Smith,
RTB/ 2 Kills
Sergeant Tim Ball,
RTB/ 1 Kill
Second Lieutenant John Chard
SD EXP/ET/KIA
Second Lieutenant Maurice Ault
SD EXP/ET/KIA
Second Lieutenant Algenon Archer,
SD/ET/KIA
Captain John Frederickson
SD/ET/MIA
Rolled 2D6=8 SD(-1) =7
Miss 1Scenario
Escape
Rolled 2D6=5 BEL (-1) =4
Rolled 1D3 =1
Miss 1 Scenario
Ober Leutnant Heinrich Sonneck,
SD FLM/FT/ 1 Kill
Rolled 2D6=10 FLM(-2) =8
Bruised,
Miss 1 Scenario
Leutnant Gunther Schultz
RTB (forced to flee)
Leutnant
Johann Arnold
SD EXP/FT/ KIA/ 1 Kill
Leutnant Reinhard Stutz
SD/FT/WND
Rolled 2D6=6
SD(-1)=5
WND(-1)=4
1D6=5
Miss 5 Scenaria
Reply With Quote
and I see there was some serious altitude being played !
Lord what a bloody & fiery confrontation that was!
Originally Posted by Dowters
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