Wings of Glory Baron Manfred Von Richthofen memorial Battle
Wings of Glory Baron M.Von Richthofen memorial Battle
My apologies for the long delay in posting the pictures from our battle. So here they are. I will edit in the photo commentary after I upload the pictures.
Rittmeister Manfred Von Richthofen (The Red Baron) or "Le Diablo Rouge" Was shot down and killed on 21 April 1918 over the trenches near Vaux-sur-Somme.
In Honor of the anniversary of his death, we members of the Javelina Flight present: A Wings of Glory Baron "Rittmeister" Manfred Von Richthofen memorial battle.
This took place on 25 April 2018 at Tucson Games and Gadgets Broadway store location. We arrived at around 12:30ish when the store opened, and finished at around 5-6 pmish.
The following were present at the event; Jerald "Mr Nice guy" Sharp, Henry "HardRock" Tyler, Michael "Newbie" Anderson, and Daniel "Captain Knowitall" Morgan (flying Von Richthofen's Dr.I and wingman Kirschstein and an Albatros D.Va)
The Event Cover Picture
Central Powers Starting point. Two Albatros D.Va's on the left. Flying Udet's D.Va is Michael Anderson, and flying the Black and white D.Va of Baron Hauptman Otto Von Broche is Daniel "Captain Knowitall" Morgan and two Fokker Dr.I's on the right likewise being flown by Mr Morgan, w/BVR in the red/green Dr.I with Kirschstein's black and white striped Dr.I as wingman.
1
Triple Entente Starting point.
On the left side is Jerald "Mr Nice Guy" Sharp flying a pair of Sopwith Camels. On the right side flying a pair of SE-5a's is Henry "HardRock" Tyler.
2
Henry "HardRock" Tyler and his SE-5a's. Major Rodric Dallas and Lt. Clyde Westphal in the SE-5 'Z'.
3
Jerald "Mr Nice Guy" Sharp and his two Sopwith Camels. One of which is Capt Roy Brown in the red/white tail Sopwith and Lt. Oldsman as wingman with the blue/white tail.
4
The CP first moves...
It is an unusually cold and crisp morning for April as Manfred V. Richthofen and Hans Kirschstein took off from their Aerodrome to head towards the front lines. They are going to try and rendezvous with a pair of Albatros's from a different Jasta before they reach the lines.
5
The TE first moves...
Captain Roy Brown and his slightly green wingman head up to the cold early morning sky to the front lines. They are the only available pilots & aircraft for a combat patrol over the lines. Unconfirmed is the "Possibility" of other aircraft from a different squadron being sent. He wasn't given any orders to rendezvous with anyone.
Major Roderic Dallas and his wingman take off in the early morning hours to head to the front for Combat Patrol over the "Southern" part of the lines. He doesn't know it yet, but he is about to face the infamous "Le Barone Rouge" or "Red Baron" this morning.
6
On the Central Powers side...
Oberleutnent Ernst Udet and Rittmeister Otto Von Broche in the Albatros D.Va's make their way towards the lines. Off to their right are a couple of Fokker Dr.I's in the distance, likewise heading towards the front lines.
Rittmeister Von Broche motions towards their direction. Their orders were to rendezvous with them before they reached the lines, but there's no time to do that now. Looking across the lines Udet can see a pair of faint outlines of the enemy aircraft. Still too far away to make out what kind they are though. He cocks his twin Spandau's and fires of a couple of test rounds. Hauptman Von Broche hears the gunfire from Udet, he looks in his direction to see him pointing directly ahead of him. Von Broche looks and sees the enemy, faint on the horizon. He gives Udet a thumbs up. Looking back towards where he saw the pair of Fokker's he happens to notice two more dots on the horizon, but likewise across the no-man's land on the Entente's side. He cocks his twin Spandau's and fires off a couple test rounds. Seeing that Udet is looking in his direction, he points to his front and right, and in the direction of the faint dots on the horizon.
Thinking to himself "This is turning out to be a rather busy day."
Manfred Von Richthofen looks over to his left and can just make out the black and white Albatros of his friend Baron "Otto" Von Broche and his personal double eagle crest marking on the side. And just beyond him the unique side marking of Oberleutnant Ernst Udet. They are too far away to signal them unfortunately.
Turning his head back to his front he just make out the faint outlines of aircraft on the other side of the No-Man's land. He looks over and can see that Hans is looking to his front as well. Manfred casually cocks both of his Spandau's and presses the firing button to fire off a short burst, testing his guns. His friend and wingman Hans Kirschstein is likewise cocking and test firing his guns. Manfred is unusually calm as he knows that very soon he will be engaging the enemy once again. The only thing bothering him is that he still has a bit of a headache.
7
Major Rodric Dallas can see the edge of the Entente lines. Towers of exploding dirt rise up then fall all along the trench lines here. The poor buggars down in the trenches are getting it bad. Maybe he can sneek a trip to the other side and find those bloody Artillary guns belonging to the Hun's and perhaps take a few out in strafing runs. He looks over to his wingman Lt. Clyde Westphal. He can see him charging his cowling mounted Vickers and reaching up and releasing the wing mounted Lewis to bring it down. He can see him checking the drum and charging the gun, then swing it back up into it's firing position. Maj Dallas decides, that it probably a good idea if he does the same. As he is readying his guns he can hear the two guns of his wingman test firing. He does likewise once he has checked and charged both guns. Now he is ready. Looking forward, he can make out faint outlines of two small aircraft. They look like Triplanes. "Well, this will be an interesting day to say the least. Maybe we can go hunting the Artillary after we deal with these blokes." he says to himself.
Captain Roy Brown charges his twin Vickers and test fires them. He can hear the Vickers belonging to his wingman Lt. Oldman fire a short burst as well. Looking over to his wingman he gives him a thumbs up. He points to his front at the two faint outlines of what appear to be possibly Albatros's or maybe a pair of Pfalz's. Maybe not Pfalz's, those are typically relegated to Balloon busting unless the Hun are desperate to get airplanes in the air. They are typically no match for any current TE fighters available. So, they have to be Albatros's. But which ones?
8
The Germans Fly over their side of the trench lines, to the cheers of the poor slogging foot soldiers down in the trenches! All of the Fighter pilots wave down to the soldiers below. On the opposite side of the No-Man's land, they can see where their artillary land from the geyser's of dirt arising from the Entente's trench lines.
9
Dallas and Westphal along with Brown and Oldman reach the trailing edge of the TE trench lines.
For Dallas and Westphal they can make out the enemy aircraft as indeed a pair of Fokker Triplanes.
For Brown and Oldman they are close enough to confirm that they are about to engage a pair of later model Albatros's.
10
The two pairs of Antagonists approach each other with caution as they make their way over "No-Mans" land...
11
To the North end of the battlelines, the first exchanges are brutal!
Udet and Von Brosche fire on the Sopwith Camel directly in front of them at very short range. They watch in shock and horror as it erupts into a massive fireball that consumes the aircraft in seconds!
Meanwhile Udet's Albatros shudders and shakes as bullets from the Sopwith directly in front him and the one to his front left impact his aeroplane. Then suddenly the aeroplane erupts into a fireball as incindiary rounds from the Sopwith on his left find their way to his fuel tank and igniting the vapours in it.
Von Broche's Albatros is rocked and buffeted by the exploding aircraft belonging to Udet and the luckless Sopwith exploding to his front.
He can feel the intense heat from the exploding Sopwith as he flies right through the fireball.
Captain Brown's cheer of his "kill" is tempered by the loss of his wingman. He shakes off the sadness of the loss and presses onwards with even more conviction of his need to avenge his death.
12
On the South end of the battlelines, the first exchanges between the Triplanes and SE-5's begin.
Dallas, who is slightly leading his wingman ends up slightly below the black and white striped Fokker, he can Just get his guns to train at close range on the Red/Green Triplane belonging to the Red Baron. He fires, and the bullets pass just behind the Baron's tail.
Meanwhile Westphal fires at the Red Baron at very close range, and missing him entirely as his rounds fly above the Fokker. In that long burst both his Vickers AND his Lewis gun jam.
13
Manfred calmly takes aim and fires when he knows that he has the SE-5 properly positioned on his guns. Seeing the flashes from the guns of the SE-5 doesn't bother him.
Westphal can see the flashes from the twin Spandau's of the Red and Green Fokker belonging to the German Ace 'Richthofen'. He feels the bullets as they impact his aeroplane and tearing into the dope treated fabric, doing substantial damage as they do.
14
Almost as if each of the pilots were reading the other's minds, they all perform Immelmans to bring their aircraft back into contact with each other.
Fortunately for Westphal he is below the Baron who cannot shoot at him. Because as he completed his Immelman he began to un-jam his guns. Beginning with his upper wing mounted Lewis. Using a trick an old instructor taught him, just before climbing into his Immelman, he reached up and released the lock pin on the gun mount to allow the Lewis to roll back as he climbed and was in the half loop. The Lewis gun slid down and was in position as he completed the Immelman. So now he has set to work on clearing the gun jam on it. Pulling the drum off, he puts it in a rack on his left. He reaches for another drum...
15
To the North, Brown makes a hard rotary turn to try and get into an advantagous firing position on the remaining Albatros.
Von Broche meanwhile performs an Immelman to double back hopefully onto the British Sopwith.
Neither pilot is in a firing position to get a shot.
16
In the exchange of gunfire between Von Richthofen & Kirschstein vs Dallas...
Manfred pulls out at the top of the Immelman, his head hurting even worse with the G forces pushing more blood to his head. He is literally seeing red and nearly passes out. But even through is red haze he can barely make out the enemy plane right in front of him. He fires, and misses entirely. His shots go high and wide over the SE-5.
Kirshstein pulls out at the top of his Immelman, and as his vision clears from the G forces put on his body and brain, he sees the yellow and green SE-5 directly in front of him. He fires his guns and over shoots the damn plane completely missing him.
Dallas levels out from his Immelman and seeing the two Fokkers directly in front of him, he braces for the inbound bullets to strike him and his plane. He can see the muzzleflashes from all four Spandaus, he can literally feel the bullets as they whiz by him and over him. Completely missing him entirely. Wasting no time Dallas instinctively triggers his Vickers and Lewis guns for a long burst at the very close Red Baron... After a few rounds fire from each gun they both jam! "Beautiful" he thinks to himself. He can see his wingman desperately trying to clear his own guns jam. "What stinking bloody damn luck!!" He says out loud to himself.
17
In the North end, Brown's Sopwith and Von Broche's Albatros collide with each other as they fly very close to each other as they intesect. Captain Brown is lucky! His aeroplane suffers no damage! But the Black Baron Von Broche is NOT so lucky! His entire undercarriage and lower fuselage is completely destroyed.
Remarkably his aircraft is still somewhat airworthy!! Now, Landing will be quite a feat though!
The impact jar's the Baron's aeroplane terribly and he can barely keep his plane under control.
20
Manfred signals to Hans to follow him in a hard rotary turn towards the North in an effort to possibly aid the Albatros's in their fight. The Baron finds himself face to face with Captain Roy Brown's Sopwith Camel.
They fire on each other at the same time, literally as if each were reading the others thoughts.
Manfred feels bullets impact his plane, then suddenly he is having trouble with his controls. He cannot turn to the left.
Brown fires on the red and green Fokker in front him, he can see the muzzle flashes from it's Spandaus, he can feel the bullets impact his plane. Checking the extent of the damage, he sees that it is negligible.
Von Broche makes a long shallow turn to get a feel for his aircraft's continued airworthyness. He spots another Albatros, he signals to the pilot to follow him.
21
Apparently the pilot of the new Albatros did not see the Baron's signals or he simply ignored him. The Baron is not sure. But either way, if either survive this battle today, he will be having a very stern chat with that pilot!
The pilot of the new Albatros, spots the lone Sopwith and turns to engage it from the rear.
Meanwhile; Manfred and Hans try to maneuver to engage the British Sopwith. Kirschstein ends up slightly below the Sopwith and cannot engage his guns on him.
Manfred is leading Hans and ends up completely out of firing position.
22
The newly arrived Albatros fires on the Sopwith belonging to Capt Brown peppering his plane with bullet holes. But no major damage.
Captain Brown who was so focused on engaging the Baron and his escort that he didn't even think about anyone engaging him from behind! He feels the bullets impact his plane! He turns to look behind him and can see an Albatros directly behind him!!
23
All of the players doing "Pilot Stuff" and moving their planes..
24
To the East the two SE-5's manage to maneuver around and casually set themselves up to pounce on the Baron or any other enemy who present themself.
Manfred performs a hard Rotary turn to the right, directly in front of his wing man Hans.
Hans flinches as the Baron flies right in front of him.. He is preparing to do an immelman..
25
The new Albatros pilot tries once more at the Sopwith at long range.
The Black Baron Von Broche is gently maneuvering his Albatros back into the fight now that he is confident that his aircraft can handle it.
While Captain Brown is craning is head around left and right to the rear, trying to figure out where that Albatros is, his Sopwith shudders from the bullets impacting it and coming from the damnable Hun's plane behind him.
26
Dallas maks a hard turn to his left and lines up on the Red and Green Fokker belonging to Richthofen. He fires and is satisfied to see the bullets impact onto the fragile airplane's fuselage and upper wing.
Manfred completes his Immelman to feel the bullet impacts to the left side of his plane...
Kirschstein completes his Immelman, and the Pilot of the new Albatros shoots again at the same Sopwith Camel. He can see more damage ravaging the British plane.
Brown trys to shake the determined Albatros, and as he makes a right turn, his plane shudders from bullet impacts and now he cannot move his rudder to the right.
27
Starting at the top...
Dallas finds himself at very close range to the Red and Green Fokker belonging to the Baron. He shoots, and does a little more damage to the Fokker.
Manfred is shaken out of his fog as he feels the bullets impact his plane..
The new Albatros pilot is feeling fairly cocky and confident now and fires off two long bursts from his twin Spandau's into the same Sopwith that he has been tailing which turned right in front of him. In his second burst his guns jam. Probably because he overheated them with the long bursts.
Meanwhile Hans is still struggling to un-jam his guns... He can see the Sopwith right in front of him but cannot do anything about it.
28
Meanwhile the Black Baron finds a new target, a lone SE-5 that crosses right in front of him. He fires two short bursts doing substantial damage to the hapless plane.
Following his wing leader Dallas, Westphal turns to the left. He is so focused on following and staying with Dallas that he didn't notice the black Albatros to his right. His airplane shudders with bullet impacts from his side and rear...
Westphal's SE-5's right side upper and lower wing separate from the fuselage and his airplane begins to tumble down to the ground.
The Black Baron chalks up a kill as the SE-5 tumbles from the sky and breaks up into pieces.
29
Meanwhile... Over the Entente trenches, Manfred climbs and makes his way out of the crowd of aircraft... As he does so, he spots the Camel belonging to Brown's wingman just below and to his right.
Kirschstein is franticly trying to un-jam his Spandau's. So far he's pulled three bad rounds from the gun's mechanisms. He tosses them out of his aeroplane in utter frustration. He doesn't see the SE-5 looming very close on his left, nor does he see the Albatros narrowly hitting him from the right side until he hears the roar of the Mercedes engine and feels the prop wash right over him...
The young pilot in the Albatros D.V is so focused on clearing out his guns jam that he doesn't see either the Dr.I Fokker or the SE-5 directly in front of him until it was almost too late. He spots the Fokker first and reflexively pulls his control stick up. Then he sees the SE-5 directly in front of him, with his guns blazing.
30
Manfred aims for the Sopwith and fires. He can see the bullets pass just behind the Camel. He can see the muzzle flashes from the twin Vickers and feels his Fokker being hit by the bullets. Only a few holes, nothing major.
Not far behind Manfred, Dallas sees the striped Fokker fly right in front of him and is about to instinctivly fire on it, then out of now where an Albatros appears right above the Fokker and heading right for him! Dallas senses the greater threat from the Albatros and the engages it at close range. He realizes that the Albatros narrowly missed hitting the Black and White striped Fokker. Dallas fires two long bursts from his Lewis and Vickers guns into the Albatros. The incindiary rounds in the Vickers sets the Albatros to smoking, while the Lewis gun stitches holes thru the under side of the upper wing of the Albatros.
31
Kirschstein is still fumbling with getting his guns un-jammed, and finally gets the last bent round free. He charges fresh new rounds into his Spandaus. Then he sees the Sopwith Camel is heading right at him from his left. He cannot target him, all he can do is brace for the inbound bullets... They come as they stitch a line down the left side of his Fokker right to his tail. He cannot turn his rudder to the right.
Dallas meanwhile, instinctively pulls his SE-5 to the right in a hard turn to hopefully avoid a collision with the Albatros. He suddenly realizes that the Albatros didn't fire back at him. Looking over to his right he can see the German pilot franticly trying to un-jam his guns. He realizes right then just how lucky he was just a scant few seconds ago. Had that pilot been able to fire, it's a good probablilty that he would not be still flying..
The Pilot in the Albatros felt the bullets impacting his plane, and now it's smoking. He's never felt the sheer terror like he felt just a few seconds ago. Shaken, he tries to finish getting his gun jam cleared up so he can at least shoot back next time. Finally, his guns clear he chambers fresh new rounds into his guns.
Lt. Oldman in his Sopwith has lost track of his wing leader Capt Roy Brown. Then out of nowhere a striped tri-winged Fokker appears to his right crossing in front of him. Instinctively he fires his Vickers into it, and stitches a line of holes down the left side of the fuselage to the tail.
32
Baron Hauptman Otto Von Brosche gently turns his Black Albatros to the right, he waves at Von Richthofen as he goes by. He spots the Sopwith Camel in front of him. Its a long range shot but he takes it anyway. He fires his twin Spandau's and sees his bullets trace a line of damage into the right side of the Camel.
Lt. Oldman has completely lost sight of his wingleader. He turns to the right to avoid hitting the Fokker and to possibly come back around to engage him again, and spots two Albatros's. One is facing him and the other is flying away from him. He cannot engage the one facing him, but he can engage the one showing his tail. He lines up the shot and fires. Incindiary tracers seem to flow like a river into the rear of the Albatros, damaging it further. As he is shooting at the one Albatros, the other one facing him is shooting at him!! Bullets impact his Camel and trace a line down the right side of his plane. One round narrowly missing his leg and another one hitting his seat! "Damn lucky on that one Oldsy!" He mutters to himself.
33
Manfred does a split 'S' to get back into the fight. As his plane comes around, Manfred spots the Sopwith Camel to his front and facing him. Instinctivly he shoots. Manfred doesn't see the SE-5 on his right side but he can feel the bullets whiz over his head as they narrowly miss him. He sees and feels the bullet impacts from the Sopwith however and his plane begins to smoke.
Lt. Oldsman spots the German Triplane directly in front of him he triggers his Vickers and sees his bullets have started the Fokker smoking, but his joy is cut off as the bullets from the German plane hit his camel and he feels the burning sensation of a round hitting him. He can see blood oozing out from his side. "Oldsey, ya pushed yer luck a bit to far this time old boy!" He mutters again to himself, as a black and white Albatros flies perilously close over head and on his left.
34
Manfred can feel the Fokker literally give up the ghost as it goes out of control and falls to the earth. There is nothing he can do about it. He franticly tries to undo his harness. The Fokker slams into the ground just before he gets the last harness latch free.
The Red Baron is dead. British and Australian infantry pour from the trenches to try and reach the destroyed aircraft. Each man hoping to grab a piece of the "Bloody Red Baron".
35
Oblivious to the Red Baron, the remaining German flyers continue with the engagement.
Dallas saw the Baron go down however, as did Lt. Oldsman, he was the one who put the final rounds into the 'Baron' and shot him down.
Dallas and Brown meanwhile engage the rookie pilot in the Albatros.
36
Capt Brown lines up on the Albatros and fires, he can see the incindiaries pepper the hapless plane mercilessly.
Dallas lines up on the black Albatros and fires. He over shoots! "What in the bloody hell is going on here?" He says to himself. "This is twice now!" he says.
The rookie pilot of the Albatros looks over his shoulder both left and right to find he has two enemy planes behind him, bracketing him. The Albatros shudders from the impacts of bullets on his plane.
37
Capt Brown lines up on the Albatros and fires, he can see the incindiaries pepper the hapless plane mercilessly.
Dallas lines up on the black Albatros and fires. He over shoots! "What in the bloody hell is going on here?" He says to himself. "This is twice now!" he says.
The rookie pilot of the Albatros looks over his shoulder both left and right to find he has two enemy planes behind him, bracketing him. The Albatros shudders from the impacts of bullets on his plane.
38
After some jockying and maneuvering the rookie in the Albatros finds himself in the adventagous position to shoot at the yellow and green SE-5 that had shot at him previously. He feels a certain amount of satisfaction as the incindiary rounds impact the British plane.
Meanwhile, Rodric Dallas realizes that both of his guns are now out of ammo. He looks to see if there are any more drums for the Lewis gun... All empty, his Vickers, definitely empty. His last two engagements and his over shooting of the enemy convinces him that when he gets home, he will be doing some adjustments on his guns, and having a chat with the lads in ordinance about his ammo!
39
To the South, Lt. Oldsman barely has control of his aeroplane, he debates on whether or not to just head home. He decides to stick with the fight as there are still Hun airplanes in the sky.
Baron Otto Von Brosche signals to Kirschstein to join up with him, and they turn to the North to hopefully engage the remaining British fighters.
The rookie in the Albatros sticks with the Yellow & Green SE-5 like glue.
40
The rookie aims and fires at the British fighter and barely puts any new damage to it.
Dallas meantime, does a hard turn to the right to point his bird home. Out of bullets that's the best thing to do. He feels the bullets hit his plane from the determined Albatros behind him.
41
Dallas decides that his best course of action is to simply dive out of the action, so he points his nose downward and dives down...
Brown meanwhile, does an immelman and turns back into the fight, he sees Dallas dive for home. Brown spots a German fighter and turns to engage him...
42
Brown finds himself facing the black and white striped Fokker at very close range, he fires and after a short burst *CLICK* his guns are jammed. He can see the muzzle flashes from the paired Spandau's and as the bullets impact his plane, he feels a burning sensation in his shoulder. He's hit. "Bloody Fantastic! Guns jammed and I'm wounded!" he thinks to himself.
43
With Dallas heading home, the odds have changed. It's now, three to two. However, all the German aircraft have suffered damage and any one of them could go down with just the right engagement.
44
After some maneuvering around, the Black Baron and Kirschstein find themselves face to face with a Sopwith Camel belonging to Lt. Oldsman. They both fire on the hapless Sopwith. Kirschstein hitting it on it's left side and Hauptman Bosche hitting him to his front.
Bosche can see the incindiary rounds whiz by overhead his plane.
Lt. Oldsman can feel the bullets impacting his already damaged plane. He just needs to hold on...
45
The Black and White Albatros flies over the stricken Camel and can make out just how damaged it is...
Kirschstein spots the other camel and turns to engage it.
The rookie pilot turns his plane to get back into the fight after clearing out his gun jam.
Brown, finally clearing out his jammed guns turns back into the fight.
46
Due to the timing of things, Kirschstein and Brown end up passing each other but not able to engage either, then Kirschstein does a split 'S' and doubles back onto the tail of Roy Brown's Camel! Kirschstein shoots and although some of his bullets miss, others do not and further damage the Sopwith.
Baron Von Broche doubles back with an Immelman and sees the Camel barely in range of his guns. He fires and after a couple rounds fire... *Click* his guns are jammed.
The Rookie pilot finding himself in the perfect firing position on the other Camel, fires and watches his rounds impact on the tail of the Camel.
Capt. Brown flinches as the striped Fokker zooms over his head, he looks back to find that the Triplane has doubled back on him and is firing. Bullets impact his already stricken plane.
Lt. Oldsman turns hard to his right hoping to get back into the fight. He doesn't see the Albatros on his rear quarter until he feels the bullets impact his plane and now he cannot turn right.
47
Brown without thinking jerks his control stick to the left and makes a hard bank turn left. He looks back and see's Kirschstein right there on his tail. He sees the muzzle flashes from his guns and the bullets whiz over his head then suddenly stop.
Kirschstein comes out of his split 'S' and is glad to see the same Camel still in his sights. He fires and after several rounds fire *Click* "DAMMIT!! JAMMED AGAIN!!! If I get out of this fight alive, I'm going to shoot that GODDAMN ARMORER IN THE FACE!" He shouts to the wind.
The Baron meanwhile seeing the Camel right in front of him is helpless to shoot since he is trying to clear his own jammed guns. Hearing Kirshstein's guns fire then suddenly stop, tells him that poor Hans is having as much trouble with ammo as he is.
48
After some maneuvering, Otto performs an immelman to try and re-engage with at least ONE of the British fighters. As he pulls out of the top of his Immelman he finds the prop and nose of a Sopwith to his front left at a very close range. Having finally cleared out his gun jam he tweeks his rudder to bring both of his Spandau's to bear, he fires at the Camel and watches as the bullets rend the airplane to pieces. But he can see the muzzle flashes from the Camel too. The bullets whiz over his plane but some hit it too. Right into his fuel tank! The results are instantanious! His airplane explodes killing him instantly.
49
Roy Brown pulls out of his Immelman only to find a Black & White Albatros directly in his front and right. He tweeks his rudder to bring both Vickers to bear. He fires! Some of his rounds go over the Albatros, and some impact right behind the Mercedes engine powering the Albatros. The incindiaries that hit penetrate into and through the fuel tank, igniting the fuel vapours... Then *BOOOOOOM*!!! The Albatros is consumed in a massive fireball from the explosion. Then his own guns *CLICK* and jam.
50
His own airplane is rocked by the explosion shudders from bullet impacts and then it just falls apart, wings rip from their mounting points, his engine simply falls away from the rest of his fuselage. Capt Roy Brown suddenly finds himself strapped to a seat with no airplane attached to it.
He quickly unbuckles his harness and pushes away from the seat and pulls the ripcord on his parachute. (A fortunate winning from a luckless supply Sgt in the last poker game.)
51
His own airplane is rocked by the explosion shudders from bullet impacts and then it just falls apart, wings rip from their mounting points, his engine simply falls away from the rest of his fuselage. Capt Roy Brown suddenly finds himself strapped to a seat with no airplane attached to it.
He quickly unbuckles his harness and pushes away from the seat and pulls the ripcord on his parachute. (A fortunate winning from a luckless supply Sgt in the last poker game.)
52
The Rookie Albatros pilot catches the other Camel in his sights, he aims, he fires... And the airplane begins to fall apart and fall to the ground in several different pieces..
Lt. Oldman is fighting to not pass out from the continous blood loss. His vision is now blurry and hard to focus, he can barely control his airplane. He doesn't even see the Albatros on his left. But he can feel the bullets hit his Camel, and then the tail just dissappeared and then as his plane starts into a spin his left upper wing lifts up and rips right off, then the lower wing on the right side rips from front to back right at it's mounting point on the fuselage. Then his airplane begins it's uncontrollable tumble and spin to the earth below. Oldsman removes the .45 Webley from it's holster, points it at his head and fires. Better to die now before the impact.
53
The last Entente aeroplane has fallen, the Central Powers control the sky over No-Man's land, for now.
But at what cost? The loss of a great legend, Rittmeister Manfred Von Richthofen. And the loss of a popular and generous Aristocrat from Hannover, Hauptman Baron Von Broche.
The remaining German pilots rendezvous with each other and return home. Both are low on Ammunition, and both have a need to have a stern word with their respective armorers about the subpar ammo situation.
The End.
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Originally Posted by Popsical
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