OTTBE Mission 18 - “A Champagne Breakfast” - 25th July 1918 teaticket
The weather had cleared, the ground was dry and firm, and the enemy was once again on the advance. This latest push was being reinforced mainly by fresh troops crossing three pontoon bridges that crossed Marne. Being the closest Jasta to the bridges, the Eagles were tasked with destroying them.
Büttner was away and currently recuperating from his latest wounds so Rolf was still acting commander. There were no able two seater pilots available. Hans Kimple temporarily out of action and Amadeus Schubert having not survived his last flight, so Rolf had to come up with something. Rolf was forced into sending his pilots into an action he did not want to do. The eagle scout pilots were not trained for bombing like the British but now they would have to try.
Through the night the ground crew worked tirelessly and rigged three scouts with bomb releases. Each of the rigged Siemens-Schuckerts would be able to carry one bomb. One bomb should be enough as the pontoon bridges photographed did not appear to be very sturdy.
Rolf was up well before dawn to check on the progress of the technicians. Konrad Schroeder had stayed up through the night to contribute to the modifications. Konrad felt like he was back home when he spent a winter’s night repairing a broken heater for the stables. His sense of responsibility had not lessened since he had left home for the war.
Rolf wasn’t comfortable with what he found in the hangars as he was wishing he had more planes to put on the mission. Still, three newly rigged planes under the circumstances was quite good and Konrad was commended for his part keeping the work going through the night.
Rolf chose two pilots for the mission, Gunther Rothammer and Wilhelm Fischer. Konrad insisted that he be allowed to fly but Rolf thought he had done enough through the night. He didn’t want to send him up after a sleepless night. Rolf wasn’t about to risk the squadron’s better pilots on a mission they weren’t trained for. Rolf also purposely sent the best of those on the ready list on another patrol. He thought that sending fighter pilots on a bombing mission without any training in bombing was folly.
He decided to send himself on the mission as the third. When Gunther and Wilhelm had their coffee and some stale biscuits he spent half an hour explaining the theory of a successful bomb drop to them.
With no time for a practice run they were up in the air and heading for the Marne. The blue sky reflected off the wide river and the hasty bridges were quickly spotted.
Behind the British advancing lines the defensive patrol circled the air above the river crossing. Besides being tasked with defending the crossing they also had an observation balloon to protect. Bateman and Wheeler were circling around the balloon when Morrow left them and shot straight towards three oncoming aircraft.
Batemn and Wheeler noticed Morrow and quickly followed suit.
Gunther didn’t like what he saw coming. He was lined up to drop his bomb on the southern bridge but an enemy plane quickly intercepted. He had to change focus as the two exchanged fire. Gunther fired first and definitely hit the enemy’s engine throwing off his return shot.
The British plane lost sight of Gunther and almost crashed into him. If it weren’t for Gunther’s quick reaction the slight brush would have been a catastrophe.
Gunther did all he could to avoid the Englander and stay on line with his target. Passing the smoking Camel he pulled the release but his bomb went long missing the pontoons, hitting the far bank..
Rolf and Wilhelm lined up a bridge each, anxiously eyeing an oncoming enemy.
Rolf reaches for the bomb release as the enemy diving down on him fires and misses. Rolf, even though distracted for a couple of seconds, kept on a true line and saw the pontoon bridge below explode and separate.
Wilhelm took his eye off his target to watch Rolf. He quickly looked up and saw an enemy plane diving down at him. He pulled the release before realigning his flight path and missed the bridge. Some fortunate Tommys on the bridge were sprayed with a large geyser of water instead of a possible disaster.
As if in a strange dance, five fighting aircraft were wing tip to wing tip, enemy next to foe down the line. In that brief moment each looked to a side, some seeing their killer eye to eye, others looking at the back of a leather flight helmet.
Once that instant passed the planes swirled and climbed to try to gain advantage.
Wilhelm and Gunther were give a rude surprise as anti-aircraft guns opened up. Luckily for both they were at extreme range and were not harmed even though the aim of the gunners was quite good.
Rolf turned back and faced a fast SE5a trading long range shots.
As soon as the two passed each other, the smoking Camel got on Rolf’s tail. The Camel pilot did quite well to see through the smoke to line up a shot but fate saved the German.
Rolf sees a striped Camel lining up on Wilhelm and tears into it from behind. The hail of bullets certainly must be distracting the Camel’s pilot?
Wilhelm engages with the striped Camel head on and dealt it some serious damage escaping any himself, most likely thanks to Rolf.
Gunther takes on the SE5a after it clears Rolf. Gunther can’t believe it as the Brit reverses right along side of him.
Rolf sees this and turns to engage. His luck moments ago of the tailing Camel jamming it’s guns turns against him as he now has a malfunction of his own.
As all three Germans turn on him, Bateman makes good use of his planes superior speed and zips away.
A close call for the trio of Schukerts.
Bateman turns quickly to try to take advantage of the momentary confusion amongst the Hun but Gunther never lost his line chasing the Brit. They look each other in the eye as they pass wing tip to wing tip.
Rolf puts some distance between him and any enemy so he can clear his guns.
Noticing Rolf hammering away, Wilhelm sticks close by to protect him.
Gunther and Bateman aren’t too eager to fly into each other so they clear off looking over their shoulders at each other.
Wilhelm turns back to place himself between Rolf and the enemy. He faces the striped Camel again and aims straight and true. His perceived moment of victory is immediately interrupted as he can’t believe that his plane no longer responds to his controls as it starts to spin downward. As he spun lower and lower he notices his victim, the striped Camel, in a similar situation. The Camel hit the ground hard, bounced and kept scraping the ground until it stopped half in the Marne. Wilhelm came down next to a trail that led into a wood. With his plane pretty much destroyed he headed towards the trees. Just as he crossed the trail, three British soldiers emerged from the wood, bayonets fixed and all pointing at him. He lifted his hands, nodded and was shepherded down the trail to the south into the woods.
Gunther spent a few seconds too much keeping an eye on Bateman allowing Morrow to line up a deflection shot. Luckily for Gunther the British Vickers go silent after putting a few new holes into the Schuckert.
Gunther notices the Camel pilot fumbling with his machine guns.
Morrow adeptly circles the Hun while working to clear his jam.
Rolf sees the secondary target, an observation balloon. Seeing he and Gunther were clear of the enemy he wags his wings signaling to Gunther to follow him in an attack on the balloon.
As soon as Rolf gets into range the AA opens up. Luckily the round sails past.
The round fails to detonate at altitude and falls to the ground. It lands in the woods along a trail next to four men. The blast knocks them all off their feet. A quick shake of his head and Wilhelm’s mind is clear. The three Tommys were still on the ground, one not moving, the other two slowly rolling over. Wilhelm jumped up and ran north into the woods as fast as he could, not stopping until he reached some thick underbrush to hide in.
Bateman realizes the dilemma, knowing he won’t catch the first Hun he flies to intercept the second hoping the ground gunners will turn the first away.
Rolf sees the balloon getting larger as he closes in. He loads his limited incendiary ammo while flying straight towards the balloon. Too straight. A second AA gun fires. The shell explodes right under Rolf, shredding his aircraft. Almost in shock he is temporarily blinded. His head feels like it’s inside a beer barrel. It is totally dark and there is no sound from his engine even though he can feel the vibration. The wind on his face is also silent. The only sound is a loud ringing in his ears.
When his vision returns he has lost a lot of altitude. He perceives that his plane is badly shredded and feels little response from his attempts to gain control. He spots an opening in the trees below and guides his plane to the ground. He surprises himself and lands as well as if back at the aerodrome. Sitting in the cockpit he is amazed that he is unharmed. Looking around, taking inventory of his plane, he realizes it is not a total loss. It hits him that the shock from the blast had disorientated him and survival instinct brought him to land in enemy territory. The clearing he was in was not long enough for a take-off so he quickly sets his plane alight and heads into the woods.
As Bateman zooms in on Gunther he over shoots the Hun and almost flies into him. Gunther settles in below the SE5a knowing he cannot out distance him. With his incendiary ammunition loaded Gunther has to fight the temptation to fire on the SE5a. He only has a few precious seconds to shoot at the balloon with any hope of destroying it. He will have to keep out of the SE5as guns while trying to down the balloon, quite a challenge!
Gunther slips out from under the Bulldog to get a shot at the balloon. It starts to smolder but no fire is seen. The ground crew frantically start to haul it down to earth.
Turning away from the balloon Gunther gets behind the SE5a. He almost gives in and fires on the Englander but his commitment to the mission wins out. He holds his fire so that his next shot will be on the balloon, if the enemy allows him to do so!
The AA gun below are frustrated and cannot fire on the Hun as he is too close to one of their own.
It is un-nerving to tail one of the Bulldogs and not shoot! Gunther follows his enemy to stay out of his guns while planning a run at the balloon. When he finally gets the gasbag in his sights he pulls the trigger. The last of his incendiary rounds fizzle and bounce off of the rubberized beast.
As the incendiary rounds are spend the next rounds are now for the SE5a. Gunther slips around the balloon and puts the SE5a in his sights. Bateman feels the sting of a round hit his thigh.
Bateman dives to try to get away but Gunther follows him down under the balloon. Another round strikes Bateman and he loses control of his plane as he curls up in pain.
Gunther sees the pilot slump down into the cockpit and the plane fall away. With his guns jammed on that last burst Gunther knows he must be careful as the last Camel has returned. Luckily it is on the other side of the balloon giving him time to clear his guns.
When Gunther clears the balloon the AA guns resume their work. One is quite close but there is no apparent damage.
With weapons readied Gunther turns on the chasing Camel. The move catches the enemy pilot off guard and his aim is badly off. Not Gunther though as the Camel shudders from the impact of the incoming lead.
Gunther turns off to the east, away from the AA positions.
As soon as there is sufficient distance between the Camel and the Hun the AA fires a round but the Hun flies on.
Gunther heads for home but the Camel gives chase. Gunther notices, when the EA crosses the Marne and out of AA range, Gunther turns back to play a little bit more of the game.
Swinging wide Gunther takes a deflection shot but knows he has missed. Both pilots put some distance between each other before turning back for another pass.
Gunther slips and slides on his approach to the oncoming Camel. His motion makes it hard on the Camel pilot to aim and shoots wide. Gunther fills the cockpit with his rounds.
As the Camel pilot slumps so does the Camel. Gunther banks left over the stricken enemy.
Slightly wounded Morrow knows he is ok to fight on but his Camel has reached it’s limit. He knows he must reach the safety of the AA to have a chance to make it home.
Continuing his turn Gunther comes up behind the Camel and punishes it some more.
Morrow curses knowing he is so close to safety but may not make it. He can’t dive to get away or use evasive maneuvers as his badly wounded plane can’t take any more stress so he must now count on luck.
Reaching the Marne Gunther breaks off knowing the British AA is hoping he gets back into range. He turns and watches the lucky Camel struggling on it’s way home.
Butcher’s Bill
Bulldogs
A/Lt Roy Morrow RTB WIA 0 Kills Total -1 Mission
C 6 -1(wia) +3(rtb) = 8 injured, 3 = -1 mission
2Lt Lionel Bateman SD 2xWIA 0 Kills Total -1 Mission
C 9 -1(sd) -2(wia) = 6 injured, 2 = -1 mission
2Lt Stephen Wheeler SD 1 Kill Total -2 Missions
C 8 -1(sd) = 7 injured, 4 = -2 missions
Eagles
Ltn Wilhelm Fischer SD EXP ET 1 Kill Total -3 Missions
C 9 -3(exp) 6 injured, 3 = -2 missions
E 7 -1(exp) -1(bel) -1(wic) = 4 captured but escapes, 5 = -3 missions
Ltn Rolf Schafer SD? ET 0 Kills Total -2 Missions
C 9 -1(sd) +1(ace) = 9 lands ok
E 6 -1(bel) = 5 in hiding, 6 = -2 missions
Ltn Gunther Rothammer RTB 1 Kill
Victory Points
1 Bridge destroyed +5 Eagles +10 Bulldogs
Balloon winched down +5 Eagles +5 Bulldogs
Planes downed +4 Eagles +4 Bulldogs
Plane forced home +1 Eagles
Total 15 Eagles 19 Bulldogs
I made a balloon deck from my ‘B’s as they were not used in this game.
I paid the price for finishing up this one late night. I’ve done it before and knew better but when you think you’re in the groove… I thought Schafer was knocked down by the direct hit from the AA but he had 1 hit point remaining! Oops. Having only 1 point left he would have turned back, probably into Morrow’s guns, so it is what it is. Luckily for Schafer he is only out 2 missions. He can live with that!
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Originally Posted by Stumptonian
Well that was a torrid encounter Peter!
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