Pre - Christmas Dogfighting !!

[Hedeby]

Following Neil's suggestion I have re-started this thread hopefully with a working poll attached. I was planning on a single day of gaming at the Doncaster venue on whatever day the most people could attend. I will add details of location etc once I know that this is a viable option.

You can vote for as many days as you like, although obviously please dont vote for the same day twice, lol

Over to you chaps - I can make it happen just need to know how many and who exactly would like to come - open to everybody

[Rebel]

Rebel would like to attend unless the majority decision is a day I can't make.

[Tonx]

Tonx (was Aussietonka) would like to attend if he is well enough ...

[Klunk]

working every weekend during December so only one date in November Iam available 22nd.

[Dom S]

Recon in Pudsey, Leeds (Saturday 5th December) is the only clash in my diary, but I suspect I'm an unlikely participant anyway - if I happen to have an unexpectedly clear day I might try and get along, but this time of year tends to be a bit manic for me.

Dom.

[Rebel]

Recon in Pudsey, Leeds (Saturday 5th December) is the only clash in my diary, but I suspect I'm an unlikely participant anyway - if I happen to have an unexpectedly clear day I might try and get along, but this time of year tends to be a bit manic for me.

Dom.

Hi Dom. Recon is also a no-miss event for me. Any chance we could get together? Always nice to put a face to a name. Rebel

[Dom S]

I can usually be found at the Tumbling Dice stand for much of Recon - it tends to be my main catch-up with Mr Sulley, so is a safe bet for tracking me down.

[Maverick]

Fellow Pilots

Email received yesterday from show organisers
WoG have been allocated a table at Halesowen show
Sunday 6th December,
official announcement and detail to follow shortly.

so those who normally attend the participation show events
may want to take note ~ check diaries etc.

Maverick

[WarBoar]

Fellow Pilots

Email received yesterday from show organisers
WoG have been allocated a table at Halesowen show
Sunday 6th December,
official announcement and detail to follow shortly.

so those who normally attend the participation show events
may want to take note ~ check diaries etc.

Maverick

Ooooh this is great news i might be able to go to that! very local etc

[Tonx]

Still confined to barracks sorry to say but wondering if any further news is on the cards following the poll closure.

In the event of feeling better I would like to attend an event in Doncaster - one hour's drive away for us.

PLUS: I wish to show support towards Chris and this event if I am able to because of the support he gave me recently through some adverse events A number of other Members helped out too and it would be great to meet up with everyone and thank you all in person because it's meant a lot to me

[Rebel]

Hi Chris
I see the Poll is now closed. Does that mean a date has been decided? I'm OK for any of the 3 most popular dates in the poll above.

[Hedeby]

Am going to sort out in next day or so - looks like 22nd is best day (most yes answers and SWMBO happy to stamp pass for that day, lol). Will update tomorrow with details

[Tonx]

Am going to sort out in next day or so - looks like 22nd is best day (most yes answers and SWMBO happy to stamp pass for that day, lol). Will update tomorrow with details

Thank you very much Chris - that's 13 days away. Look forward to hearing more though

[Hedeby]

We should be OK for a couple of 6x4 gaming spaces, suggest arrival about 10:00am and we can play to whenever- cost £2 per person, plenty of space nearby to park for nothing, probably a few locals to join in to swell the numbers (maybe more if we advertise on their Facebook page) https://www.facebook.com/the.grid.project/

Marshgate Doncaster - DN5 8AF Sunday November 22nd

Cafe on site plenty of space etc. we will have plenty of kit between us, we can decide what we want to play depending on who manages to make it - we'll keep it fluid and just have some fun. EVERYBODY WELCOME from near or far...

Just need to speak to the main man to rubber stamp but don't forsee any issues - should be able to rubber stamp tomorrow

[Embis]

Thats great, I will be there. Being a relative newbie to this I have relatively little in terms of kit but I will bring along what I have.

[Rebel]

[QUOTE=
Marshgate Doncaster - DN5 8AF Sunday November 22nd


Hi Chris
My AA route finder does not recognise DN5 8AF but gives me DN5 9AD for Marsh Gate.

[Tonx]

Fantastic that this event is up and running ... My fingers will be crossed that all goes well on the day.

I'm sorry to say that I am still very seriously confined to barracks. But should this situation change (to think more positively / supportively) I will let Chris know.

[Rebel]

Just need to speak to the main man to rubber stamp but don't forsee any issues - should be able to rubber stamp tomorrow[/QUOTE]

Hi Chris
Did the Rubber Stamp descend or is it still hovering? Also as I did not go to the Pre Doncaster night could you give the full address please especially as my AA route finder did not recognise the postcode you already gave us?

[Lt. S.Kafloc]

Chris is Halfords just across the road (A19)?

[Lt. S.Kafloc]

Apologies Chris was planning to come down but that is pack up and tidy up day after last panto show.
Have a great day. Remember lots of pictures required.

[Klunk]

Leave Pass signed by the Long Haired General, so looking forward to seeing everyone on the 22nd. What timings are we looking at, as I am probably going to have to leave about 14:30hrs.

[Hedeby]

OK CHAPS THE RUBBER HAS BEEN STAMPED AND THE LIGHTS ARE GREEN - ITS GO GO GO for next Sunday 22nd November. I shall be on site from 09:30, I will set up with the aim of welcoming folks (and shooting them down) from about 10:00 - but its all very fluid, turn up when you like and play for as long as you like - no public only other gamers - I think there is a Kings of War tournament going on as well - but there's load of room. I have plenty of planes but only three of the original mats - so we will need a couple more if we are to have two games running.

The address is Marsh Gate, Doncaster DN5 9AD the contact number for the venue is 07588 678467 - my number is 07801 064119 - just one thing if asking for me ask for Sedge (or Chris) rather than Hedeby - (its a long story, lol) most people will know me by the former.

Cheeky map... basically head into Doncaster town centre, pass the railway station turn left over the old North Bridge then first left after the bridge - if lost follow signs for HMP Marshgate (Doncatraz to the locals)



Anyone welcome - see you there

[Hedeby]

OK Chaps heads up - who is coming on Sunday?

[Rebel]

OK Chaps heads up - who is coming on Sunday?

Rebel and Doug will be there as long as the forecast possible snow is not too deep.
What does / is the venue looks like / called? Marsh Gate appears to be a square?

[Hedeby]

Rebel and Doug will be there as long as the forecast possible snow is not too deep.
What does / is the venue looks like / called? Marsh Gate appears to be a square?

It will be the only place with any cars outside, just give me a ring when you get close, honestly you can't miss it...

[Embis]

OK Chaps heads up - who is coming on Sunday?

Hi, I will be coming, I'm a relative newcomer to the game and so have relatively little gear, but will bring what I have.

[Hedeby]

If anyone has mats please bring them as I only have three...

[Embis]

I have two, I will bring both.

[Hedeby]

Good man Mark - thank you

[Rebel]

If anyone has mats please bring them as I only have three...

I have one which I shall bring!

[Hedeby]

Excellent - I had better dust off the planes etc. I will be on site from about half nine -you are all welcome whenever you get there - As stated entry £2 - ask for me on arrival - I will have my Aerodrome polo shirt on for those that I have yet to have the pleasure of meeting, one word of advice (and its a long story, lol) Most people there will not know me as Hedeby, so try Chris or Sedge (don't ask) and they will know who you mean.

[Hedeby]

Right everything ready to be loaded into the car, thermals out as boy its cold here today (although no sign of snow), hopefully see a few of you tomorrow for a spot of jousting amongst the clouds

[Rebel]

Right everything ready to be loaded into the car, thermals out as boy its cold here today (although no sign of snow), hopefully see a few of you tomorrow for a spot of jousting amongst the clouds

I hope you mean it's cold in Doncaster rather than it's cold at the venue.
Cheers Chris. Doug and I will see you in the morning!

[Maverick]

Chaps

To all who are lucky enough to enjoy the day together...

wishing all much safe flying and no BOOM cards!

Maverick

[Embis]

Chaps

To all who are lucky enough to enjoy the day together...

wishing all much safe flying and no BOOM cards!

Maverick

Thanks Simon, we had a great day, unfortunately The Boom cards made a couple of appearances, one spectacularly early into our first flight... but its not for me to tell that story... is it Chris? Was a great day out and a great venue. Thanks to Chris for organising and to Doug, Reg and Carl for being such sporting wingmen and adversaries.

[Hedeby]

Thanks Simon, we had a great day, unfortunately The Boom cards made a couple of appearances, one spectacularly early into our first flight... but its not for me to tell that story... is it Chris? Was a great day out and a great venue. Thanks to Chris for organising and to Doug, Reg and Carl for being such sporting wingmen and adversaries.

Hmm no comment - lol

Photo's and AAR to follow shortly but huge thank you to Mark, Reg, Doug and Carl for making the effort (special well done to Carl for coming all the way from Cambridge)

[Klunk]

Excellent day out. Cheers Chris for organizing it and I had an absolute blast. Thanks to Reg, Doug and Mark as well for such a fun sortie.

[Rebel]

A big, big thank you to Chris for the organisation and to Carl, Mark and Doug for making it a memorable day. We managed to get four good games in and the venue was very good. I was sorry that I had taken a packed lunch as the smell of the bacon butties being served was a definite distraction which I managed, with great perseverance, to resist.
By the way, who is Simon?

[Hedeby]

Simon = Maverick

[Rebel]

Ahhh! Silly me!

[flash]

Sounds like a lot of fun was had - look forward to seeing the AAR !

[Hedeby]

Its on its way once I have re-sized all the photo's

[Hedeby]

Right chaps as promised....

Those reporting for duty at 'the Grid' in Doncaster were as follows


L-R Doug, Reg, Carl and Mark (bit too cool for uncovered polo shirts as the industrial heaters took a while to kick in - so jumpers to the fore, but I can assure I was wearing mind Squadron Leader)

First up we though we would start with a spot of slow trundling, so it was DH2s vs. Eindeckers, looking forward to a good well balanced scrap.


I thought I would make a bee-line for the new chap Mark (Embis) and give him a bit of a flying lesson in my trusty DH2.
Long range exchange a 'B' damage each just to warm up the guns and say hello...



You have got to be kidding me !!! (I didn't know Trev had managed to make it... 1st damage card of the day and, you guessed it BOOM !!

Bugger..

Hope the rest of the wing have more luck



Reg - starting as he meant to continue smoking throughout every fight of the day (and its such a bad habit as well)





Doug meanwhile was getting really frustrated by that awful grinding noise coming from the engine - luckily for him it soon stopped...



That left Reg to withhold the honour of the RFC and try and redress the balance



Nice one Reg, one down two to go, Carl (Klunk) our Ace of Aces winner from the recent Doncaster gathering not having the best of starts...



err not much redressing later...



Game one over and a resounding 3-1 victory for the Germans

Next up (and no day would be complete without it) it was time for some Spad VIIs (have I ever mentioned how pretty the 23 Squadron ones are?) and PLEASE NOTE Chris and Tim we are up against some single gun Albatrosses - they do exist honestly.. Well a D.II, a Halberstadt and Von Richthofen in his twin spandau armed D.II. I realised at this point that despite flying a wing at every show this year just about, I had lost every single fight whilst flying Spads - so it was about time for my luck to change, especially with quality wingmen like Reg and Doug..





Battle swiftly joined well more swiftly than last time)



Oooh look a plane with smoke pouring out of it from the start of a fight - that is one hell of a pipe Reg must have on the go up there...



Hedeby blazing away at Klunk to no avail, attempting tight turns also to no avail - sickening crash as the two aircraft meet head on



ooh 10 points crash damage - unlucky Carl - your Doncaster heroics seem to have deserted you, and was that Von Richthofen?... not quite the way I envisaged getting my first kill of the day, but who cares they all count, and its advantage to the RFC. Things get even better as Reg powers in and... ooh unlucky Carl is that a boom card I see ... and that leaves Mark (embis) 1 vs. 3 - blimey a Spad win looks on the cards





To make matters worse for Mark his SINGLE (take note Chris and Tim) gun has jammed, so deciding that not only is discretion the better part of valour but also just had a shout from the kitchen that the burgers were ready. So its head for home leaving the RFC and their Spad VIIs to a famous and duck breaking 2-0 victory





Lunch tucked away (double burger with cheese a very reasonable £2.60 which together with free Tea and Coffee all day meant sundries were very light on the pocket) Its time for Hedeby to get his Bristols out...
Although why I thought that 3 Bristols would be an even match for 3 Gotha's was anyone's guess. The bombing raid came in heading for the BEF command post in a small town behind the trenches. Hedeby leads his flight of F2Bs up to intercept (yes Tim I know only one plane had the upper gun mount, but we had three so we must be right - and it was Gothas)







We thought we would break through the Gotha formation, loop round get in their blind spot and blow them out of the sky... well we got through ok, although there seemed to be rather a lot of 'B' damage coming from all sides, and not all of it was missing.



Oh look one of the Gothas is pouring smoke - it couldn't be could it? yes Reg has changed sides and is now smoking for the Germans



Looks like one of those 'B' damage card hit home as one of the Bristols has engine damage and is lagging behind but thankfully Doug has brought his 'A' game (and his 'A' guns) and the first of the Gothas explodes in a fiery mess.



Whilst we were busy celebrating it escaped our notice that not only had the other two Gothas escaped but that they had dropped every bomb right on target destroying the town and the HQ.
Ooops - although the battle was lost we were determined to make the Hun pay





The chase was on however such was the speed difference we kept managing to avoid the blind spot by mismanaging distance - the Gotha rear gunners were having a field day helped by an awful lot of RFC gun jams





Finally even though I was collecting more zero damage cards than a small child, Klunk's gunner gets in a really evil burst and my Bristol is down



Just to make a bad day even more embarrassing Klunk repeats the feat next turn with Doug. As the two Gothas head off the map to safety the lone Bristol heads to home to try and explain how not only did the Germans destroy the target they also won the aerial scrap 2-1 (oh the shame of it) - I think picking plane fragments out of squishy bits in the middle of no-mans land would be preferable to the inevitable dressing down the unlucky survivor would get



So onto the final game of the day bidding a farewell to Carl who had a long trip back to Cambridge ahead of him (well played sir, champion effort to come all that way and yet again you return home with most 'kills' on the day)
To finish with we decided to go for a late war scrap with Snipes against D.VIIs.

Obviously I used up all the available zero cards in the previous game and before long I fell victim to a blasting from Mark - every shot a winner. In case you were wondering who was flying the D.VII that is smoking badly - yup its Reg yet again.







We decided to call it a day at that point as time was getting on and everyone apart from me had a fair journey home.

Great days chaps thanks again for making the effort to come, and lets do this on a more regular basis. (full set of photos in the album marked Pre-Xmas Dogfight)

[Rebel]

Nice one Chris!

[Tonx]

Well Done Everyone Glad November 22nd 2015 has turned out to be a good day

Although it is early days were there any thoughts on repeating this event next year please? Fantastic photos - it's great to see everyone looking well.

Simon / Maverick ... Wondering why the long face when you're up next in just under two weeks time at Halesowen? Unless ... I've missed something of course as I have had to spend four days away from here (bad health again - two steps forward ... and then two steps back it seems )

[Embis]

(Snip Snip..)

.....were there any thoughts on repeating this event next year please? (....Snip snip)

Yes, lets have a new year game!

[Tonx]

Yes, lets have a new year game!

Big gap coming up according to my Pilot's Notes ... First big events of next year taking place on March 5th 2016 where we supposedly still have a clash between Spitfire 80th Anniversary Commemorations (RAF Cosford) and Hammerhead 2016 (Newark Showground.) Then we have WMMS 2016 near Wolverhampton on March 13th 2016. Not long after these events will be SALUTE and Triples 2016 which I think are both down for April 2016.

Let us see what Chris thinks about repeat events although if all including my health is better / well by early 2016 I'd second this request for something during January / February's lull in activity. Things obviously got off to the very best of starts - well, with the odd Boom Card here and there they did anyway! However if it is any consolation there's been a rash of Boom Cards in a number of locations which I am aware of just recently ... Must be a pre-Xmas thing or so forth affecting both WGF and WGS!

[Flying Helmut]

Thanks for the AARs Chris!

So, Trev did manage to hide under the table after all.............that first BOOM card! Sorry, but I did find that amusing.

Those SPADs - just the exception that proves the rule...............next time you bring them out, we Huns will bring them down, as usual.

As for the Gothas, it just goes to show that without all the extra bolt-on guns, the Biffs are just planes like any other.

Bet the DVIIs would have cleaned up too!

Glad you all had a great time; wish I could have joined you. In order for that to happen, though, you'll need to move the venue about 100miles closer to London!

[Flying Helmut]

First big events of next year taking place on March 5th 2016 where we supposedly still have a clash between Spitfire 80th Anniversary Commemorations (RAF Cosford) and Hammerhead 2016 (Newark Showground.) Then we have WMMS 2016 near Wolverhampton on March 13th 2016. Not long after these events will be SALUTE and Triples 2016 which I think are both down for April 2016.

Another correction, Barnaby - first event next year is Vapnartak at York, Sunday February 7th.

Hammerhead Saturday March 5th
WMMS Sunday March 13th
Triples Sat/Sun March 19th/20th
Salute Saturday April 16th

[flash]

Great photos Chris, brought it all to life for us; lets hope it becomes a regular thing for you chaps.