Two seater melee

[Baxter]

For our weekly stoush I decided to play one of Carl Brisgamers scenarios. Number four - Two guns for Scaroni. The gist of it was that Scaroni in his Hanriot with an A Gun would fight a UFAG over the lines. Scaroni also had Acrobatic Pilot, Bullet Checker, Incendiary Bullets and Perfect Aim cards. This sounded a bit one sided to me so I substituted a Halberstadt CL.II thinking that at least the two seater had Immelmann capabilities to offset the Hanriot advantages. Windy Jack agreed to fly the Halberstadt.

So confident ...



No contest I thought.



Trying to get on the Halberstadt's six was not so easy and I got hit hard. Again and again and again.



In fact Windy hit me 10 times and I only managed to return ineffectual fire twice in the whole game.

I guess the moral of that sorry episode (for me anyway) was that overconfidence can be fatal and that two seaters should be treated with respect. Except for the two 90 degree turn cards the Hanriot has, the Halberstadt can turn inside the Hanriot. That makes getting on his six very problematic. Well done to Windy for giving me such a flying lesson. I was well and truly done like a dogs dinner.

[gully_raker]

Gary that will teach you not to be overconfident & show those two seaters proper respect.

[Stumptonian]

Nicely done, Windy Jack.


And here's to a good sport, Gary

[Windy Jack]

A great photo of Boston! (That's the dog for those not in the know.)

[mikeemagnus]

Interesting one guys. I guess you were not playing altitude, which may have allowed the Hanriot to get behind and underneath. Either way, two seaters are difficult to take on. I've found that out the hard way myself Thanks for sharing

PS Nice dog Happy Xmas all.

[milcoll73]

yeah, 1 on 1 a scout usually looses to a 2 seater. apparently this is true to life. a ww1 memoir called "diary of an unknown pilot" about a yank flying for the brits, at one point laments his compatriots learning a hard lesson by tangling nonchalantly a 2 seater.

[zenlizard]

Truly, one needs to know the capabilities of not only one's self and one's airplane, but also the opponent, and the opponent's airplane.

[flash]

They can be a handful, Rickenbacker regarded them as dangerous as a Fokker D.VII. You'll have to experiment Gary, it sounds crazy but sometimes a sideslip away from the direction of turn followed by a couple of turns in the direction required can change the angle or options favourably.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Maybe that should be a trussed Turkey at this time of year Gary.
Thanks for the flying display.
Rob.

[Setarius]

Thanks for teaching us an important lesson, good luck on your next try.

[Hedeby]

Yup... maybe there is a reason I like flying Bristol Fighters

[Horse4261]

The original tactics taught to new pilots in attacking two-seaters was to never bank with the target, but to bank in the opposite direction from your target aircraft. This is because the target aircraft has to bank into its turn. By banking opposite of the target this places your aircraft 'below' the horizontal centerline of the target aircraft and the rear gunner can not bring the weapon 'low' enough to bear. When the target flattens out from its bank, the the attacker banks back onto the target in the tailing position and in the blind-spot of the rear gunner. By banking with the target, this places the attacking aircraft out of the rear blind-spot and maximizes the time in the rear gunners sights for more effective targeting by placing you inside the enemy's turning radius.

[Carl_Brisgamer]

Good to see you are getting some use out of the historical scenarios Gary. As Mike said, without altitude rules in play all the advantages are with the two seater.

[Naharaht]

This poster demonstrates what you were talking about, Troy.

[Vagabond]

This poster demonstrates what you were talking about, Troy.

Thanks for this David, it's a whole lot clearer with a diagram.

[Baxter]

We do not play altitude rules but that diagram makes them look tempting.

[FlyBoy Nate]

They can be a handful, Rickenbacker regarded them as dangerous as a Fokker D.VII. You'll have to experiment Gary, it sounds crazy but sometimes a sideslip away from the direction of turn followed by a couple of turns in the direction required can change the angle or options favourably.

Thanks for the flying tip! I will try to use it in one of my games.

Nathan