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Thread: OTT DYM - Mission 1 - Luftwachdienst-Sperrflug - 5th January 1916 by Vagabond

  1. #1

    Default OTT DYM - Mission 1 - Luftwachdienst-Sperrflug - 5th January 1916 by Vagabond

    OTT Daring Young Men – Introductions.

    “Where’s the bally flag thingy, the damn windsock, I can’t see it anywhere, they must have one, what sort of airfield is this, I’m just going to have to land not knowing which way the bally wind is blowing”!!! “There can’t be much, the trees aren’t moving – good grief my first landing in France and it’s probably going to be my last, oh well let’s go, another brown pants day in my currently, very short flying career”.

    “Hells teeth, that was OK I’m down but OH NO I’m not slowing down, must be running down wind, these FE2b’s are big planes, lots of windage, by heck that hedge is coming up fast, I think it’s going to be alright, yes yards to spare”. I was so relieved to have got myself and the plane down in one piece that I turned the engine off before I realized how far away the hangers and the rest of the buildings were.

    This was going to be embarrassing, I could see a lone figure start the long walk to where I was parked, just as another chappie raised the wind sock and the 2nd FE2 that was following me realised what was happening. He pulled up sharply, the engine was making a hell of a row but he gaining altitude as he turned, then flew low over my head just as the engine cut out, but he made a perfect landing, coasting over close to the hangers, and is probably getting a round of applause right now. The 3rd FE followed his lead but appeared to try and land 2’ below where the ground actually was, there was a huge crack as the under carriage failed to stand the strain of the impact, but it held together long enough and there was no major disaster. Well Bouncer Berry had survived another landing.

    I have to say he made me feel slightly better about my fiasco of a landing, that is, until the lone figure trudging towards me arrived. A man twice my age with a huge walrus moustache and muscles the size of pineapples, he said “welcome to the Drome Sir” in a soft Devonshire burr. “If I could just swing the prop to start the engine and then we can get you turned in the right direction, do you think you could give me a lift back to the hangers Sir, it’s an awfully long walk”. Yes embarrassing.

    I suppose I’d better start at the beginning, well the arrival in France, the rest can come later. I was so proud to have earned my wings, the training was shorter than I’d expected and when they signed off the last few sections on my papers without me actually doing the exercises I did wonder if something was amiss, but they said no, it was standard practice with a pilot of my capability!!
    There seemed to be a bit of a flap on and unusually I received my travelling papers the following day. Lots of hanging around in draughty railway stations and I was sick on the ferry crossing, but recovered quickly in time to be loaded onto a tender bound for the Depot. I’d heard about the Depot, everyone waited around, sometimes for weeks until there was a seat to fill at some airfield or other, and that pretty much decided what you were going to fly in France.
    I was praying it wasn’t going to be BE2’s, they were supposed to be death traps, I was hoping for a Bristol and being a scout pilot, they were the chaps that attracted all the French Fillies, or so I’d heard. Of course that information came second hand from chaps who hadn’t yet been to France, but it was common knowledge in training so it must be true!

    I was a bit surprised when I alighted from the tender to be shouted over by a short, fat, bad tempered Captain, “Are you Flying Officer Vagabond” “Yes Sir” I responded standing stiffly to attention and giving him my best salute, which he barely acknowledged. “Ever flown an FE before” “No – well OK they are fairly easy to fly, grab your flying gear and take that one 2nd in line” “What do you mean your gear is following you, for Gawd sake there’s a war on you know, take these and let’s get going. You and those other 2 lost souls are going to 6 Squadron, follow me. I’ll fly twice round the airfield when we arrive and then I’ll leave you to land there on your own, think you can do that”. He didn’t wait for an answer but flung me a pair of goggles and set off for the first machine.

    Rushing after him I had a quick glance at the other 2 pilots and started a bit when I recognised Wilfred Berry, I thought he’d been sent back to the infantry, he’d broken so many planes in training that he’d earned the nickname Bouncer, the other good looking chap I’d never seen before but he had a dashing air about him that I couldn’t help but admire, that was my first sight of Liam O’Flynn.

    Following our arrival we were greeted by a square jawed, powerful looking fellow.“Well chaps, listen up, I don’t have long, my names George Drummond, Lieutenant Drummond to you for the time being, I can give you 10 minutes and that’s all, I’m just waiting for a couple of Frenchies to arrive, then I need to be off. Things have been a bit fraught round here lately, the squadron has 2 flights of BE2’s”, - my heart sank, “but you’ve been posted to my flight and we fly FE2b’s, usually escorting the BEE’s”, - my heart leapt
    .
    “It gets dark early here and there’s no time to take you up tonight and having seen how you land I haven’t the heart to see how you fly but I have orders to destroy a couple of German balloons tomorrow at first light”.
    “O’Flynn that was a perfect landing, if you fight like you fly you’ll be most welcome here, sounds like the mechanics are going to have a bit of a job on with your engine though so you can sleep in tomorrow and we’ll become acquainted later. Berry, we can’t afford you to break anymore airplane’s, you’re grounded until I can assess your capability. Vagabond, looks like you’re the lucky one, meet me in the Opp’s shed at 6:30, kitted out and ready to fly at first light. I’ll brief you on the mission then. Find Jack Cowan, he’ll be in the mess drinking, tell him he’s your gunner tomorrow, he’ll make sure you don’t get lost, he’s an A.M.1 but a bally good gunner, so don’t lose him because he’s valuable.

    “You may find this a bit brutal Vagabond but in 1 sentence tell me your life story, I need to be able to say something personal if I need to write to your parents after tomorrows mission”. “Well Sir I was born in Yorkshire spent my first 5 years in Leon a French town and then back to Blighty for 12 years finishing my schooling and joined up as soon as I was old enough”.
    “Well done lad, and were you any good at maths”, “Not really Sir”. “Thought not, 5 and 12 are 17 aren’t they and you need to be 18 to join up lad”. “Sorry Sir I’ meant 6 years in France” “Hummm, and do you speak French, because that will be most helpful as I’m waiting for 2 French Officers with a couple of Morane monoplanes who should be here any minute, in fact that must be them now”. So saying two of the sweetest little monoplanes flew over the field, climbed, did a fast fighting turn and dove straight down, pulling up at the last minute and landed side by side in a perfect display of flying.

    “Cocky Buggers - Good grief, who painted the nose of that plane, the C.O. will have a fit when he sees it.” This was muttered underneath Drummonds breath as we strode across the field but I heard it well enough, although I was admiring rather than condemning the bright red nose of the nearest Morane.

    “Bon jooor museuire, je m’apellee Drummond, Lieutenant Drummond, weeelcom a ma aerodrome, noose amie a vu vouz”.

    “Och aye man we ken English as weel as any mon, we can speek that if you’ve a mind. Me and the wee lord here have it as our native tongue don’t ye ken. A sight better than you have the French, na offence to you”.
    What ho Drummond old chap, here’s our papers, so said the other airman, they were a strange couple, the Scotsman, tall, freckled and with a shock of red hair, almost as bright as the nose on his plane and the short almost plump, dark haired, aristocratic one, who was speaking now.

    Drummond looked totally confused but took the papers. “My apologies, I was expecting 2 French airmen on secondment for the next month, to act as liaison with the squadron to the south of us, and I’m your Flight Commander so Sir or Lieutenant will do. At that sparks seemed to emit from the ice blue eyes of the red haired one. “Och I think ye’ll find secondment means we fly with ye, not for ye. When the pigeons hit the airscrew we’ll be with ye, but weel no be taking daft orders fra ye” “Have ye been running the flight for long noow”

    There was a slight pause “Err no, about 10 days ever since Captain Beckenridge was sent home with a busted up leg”. “Weeel it’s a hard thing to tak responsibility fray other men and tak’s a while to get used ta, so weeel let it pass. I met Beckenridge a while back and he said you were a bit stiff necked but spoke well of you, saying he’d rather have you covering his back than anyone else he knew”. Drummonds face lit up at the complement.

    “Ok - so you are Henry De Lacy” Drummond addressed the dark haired one “and you must be Rory MacNair, I’ve pronounced that right have I”. “Yee have the Gaelic then do yee said Ruairidh MacNair”. “Not really but I used to spend a lot of time in the Scottish Mountains with my Grandfather when I was younger and he taught me that certain couplets of letters were not pronounced, the dh in your case, he lived near the Monadhliath Mountains, pronounced more like Monalai, with the dh and th silent”. “Weel I grew up in Badenoch said Rory, I know the Monadhliath well, I ken see we’re going to get on jest fine”.

    Drummond was looking a bit sheepish by now “Well look I have to get off but before I do, can you explain what an Englishman and Scotsman are doing flying for the French”. The plump one whom Rory referred to as the wee Lord said “it’s a long story, but the short version is we joined the French Foreign Legion together, we were serving in North Africa when this shindig started over here in Europe and we wanted to lend a hand, applied to leave but they wouldn’t let us go, so we applied to serve in the French Air Service, we had to tell a few white lies to get in but here we are. They sent us on this secondment business because we speak the language and no one else would fly with the English, it was more to do with the food and wine you serve in the mess I believe, rather than a nationalistic thing”.

    “Well your more than welcome” rumbled Drummond, “I’m taking a patrol over at first light on some balloon busting and we’re very short handed, Flying Officer Vagabond is coming with me and I’d like one of you two as well”.
    “That’s going to have to be me said Rory because his lordship doesn’t like mornings, he’s more an afternoon sort of person”.

    “Right ho, I’ll brief you properly in the morning, see the adjutant he’s got all your billets sorted out but I must dash”, and with that he set off at a fast pace towards the tender, jumped in and was gone.
    Last edited by flash; 01-15-2019 at 07:10. Reason: Prefix Added

  2. #2

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    OTT Daring Young Men – Game 1 Balloon Busters

    It’s cold, and dark, the weather in January in eastern France early in the morning before daylight is no joke, it’s bad down here on the ground but it’s going to get a lot colder up there, we are all muffled up. Lieutenant George Drummond and the rest of the flight are huddled around the illusory warmth from the small wood burning stove in the Opp’s Room. “Right now we know there are 2 balloons spotting for their artillery and we have to destroy them, preferably getting back here in one piece” Drummond spoke quietly with some air of authority. If you can both keep station on me until we get within striking distance of the balloons I have a cunning plan, all four of us looked at him, me with admiration and the others with some scepticism.
    Ok there is always a lot of Archie looking out for these balloons from the ground and usually air cover provided by those damn Fokker’s. Vagabond I know you will have heard much about the Fokker Scourge in the papers at home but you can forget most of it. The BE2 boys are still well out of their depth against a well handled E111 but the FE2’s we are flying are more than a match for them, bear in mind you have a man in front of you who has a much wider field of fire than they do, so provided you fly your plane steadily so Jack Cowan can shoot them, things should be OK. I believe Rory’s plane is the equal to them so they are a bit of an old ogre to us.
    Right what I propose to do is this, I want Vagabond and Cowan to take out the Archie batteries closest to the balloons, have you done any bombing practice Vagabond. There was a deathly silence when I said – none at all. Well it’s a good time to learn, Jack will do the throwing and you just get him in the right place. Throwing!!! Yes, your planes not equipped to drop bombs so you throw them over the side, it’s quite simple, just don’t drop one in the plane by mistake.
    “Rory do you think you can keep any enemy scouts off my back while I shoot down the balloons? Ok I’ll be relying on you to watch our back, don’t know if you met Frank Lawless last night, oh you did, well that’s good because in spite of first impressions he’s a damn fine gunner and I trust him implicitly. Well most of the time, I can tell you one or two stories but anyway let’s move on. Frank and I will carry a couple of bombs but I want to keep the crate as light as possible because we may need to get a wiggle on”.
    “Vagabond as you’ve not bombed before I would suggest you go down low, it makes it easier to hit the target, yes Cowan I know it makes it easier for them to hit you but I saw Vagabond land yesterday and he was practicing weaving all over the sky to avoid Archie, weren’t you Vagabond and he’s damn good at it”. Well after a moments hesitation I said yes, it seemed better than saying I was doing my best to fly straight and land in an orderly manner.

    “Right ho lets get this show on the road”, so I put my helmet on and it went very quiet until Drummonds voice boomed out “ What the hell have you got on your head” “My helmet sir, my Dad had it made specially, along with the rest of my protective clothing”. Opening my flying coat I showed them and everyone burst out laughing. “You’ll never get off the ground you dope, well don’t get shot down, we’ll never live it down, the Germans will be laughing from now until the end of the war. Come on we don’t have time to mess about, you’ll have to do”. With that we all trooped out to the planes and set off.

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    We had taken up station with George Drummond on the left, he had specifically said I was to fly in the middle of the formation so they could keep an eye on me, I was having trouble keeping up but not too far behind, and could see the bright red nose of Rory’s Morane off to my right, he was going to be easy to spot, or so I thought.

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    We had climbed to the height we expected to find the balloons before crossing the lines and sure enough, there they were, the biggest things I’d seen in the sky apart from clouds, and in the distance a couple of black specks, growing larger as we approached.

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    Two Fokker Elll’s looking mean and menacing, like sharks, masters of their environment.

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    I saw some puffs of smoke on the ground and wondered what that could be!

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    They were followed almost immediately by explosions, one right in front of my plane and I involuntarily pulled back on the stick, a bit shamefaced when Jack looked over his shoulder in surprise at my reaction, he quickly realised I’d never seen Archie before and gave me an impish grin and thumbs up sign. I think I’m going to like flying with this chap, he has an easy cool, reassuring way about him.

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    I finally recognised the black dots as Elll’s, a plain grey one and a fancy blue and grey one, we were approaching on a straight course, no one giving way at the moment.

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    Rory was banking to port, looked like he was planning to fly behind me and watch over Drummond as we had discussed.
    All of a sudden my plane started to judder and shake, scared me rotten I can tell you until I realized it was Jack Cowan firing his Lewis gun at the fancy blue Fokker, bugger, he was firing back I could see the tracers coming straight at us.

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    But we didn’t seem to take any damage, well none I could discern, but at that stage I was quite excited, more worried about what I should do next. I could see the Archie battery below the Fokker, but was too nervous about dropping down out of the fight to attack it and leave my comrades behind fighting. That was a bit of a thought, comrades, yesterday no one relied on me and today they do.
    I could see lumps flying off the Fokker, either Jack or Rory were making good target practice.

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    Out of the corner of my eye I could see that Frank Lawless was no slouch and his tracers were going straight into the grey Elll who seemed to be giving back as good as he got.

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    Lawless kept up the barrage and I saw the Fokker lift in the air, I wondered if Frank had hit something serious, maybe the pilot, I didn’t know quite what but the plane settled down and carried on, so it can’t have been too serious.

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    OK – these guy’s are relying on me to do a job, I daren’t let them down and pushed the stick forward and started my dive down to the AA battery, just in time really because the Fokker flew straight over my head, we would have collided head on if I’d not gone down. Jack was firing away but I must have spoilt his aim with my quick manoeuvre because I didn’t see any damage caused, although looking back bits of canvas were erupting from Rory’s Morane.

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    Hard to see but Jack’s started to throw bombs over the side, but we are quite high up so they’re going to take a while to hit the ground. Lawless has started to pour bullets into the balloon and Rory has made it behind me and is close enough to Drummond to protect him from the enemy Fokker’s.

    (Ignore Rory’s 1 damage, he was out of ammo)

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    The correct photo, with Lawless firing at point blank range into the balloon just before his gun jams.

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    Jack’s bombs are still in the air and are obviously going to miss the target, there is a loud explosion as we dive down on the AA battery, it nearly deafens me it’s that close but the plane is still responding well so they must have missed anything important – except my eardrums of course. Mind you it’s only the second time I’ve flown the bird so what do I know how it should handle.

    The Fokker’s are executing a perfect turn to port in unison. Rory appears to be preparing to Immel back into the fight as Lawless tries desperately to unjam his Lewis gun.

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    Just as I thought the bombs explode beyond the AA battery. I’m going to have to sharpen up my flying or Jacks going to give me a boot up the backside, even if he is only an A.M.1. He turns in the seat and grins and holds his finger and thumb in a zero, and waves his arms in a circle to indicate we should have another go.
    I like this man even more.

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    In the distance Rory has completed his Immel and the Fokkers are continuing to fly in perfect unison continuing their turn to port.

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    Over on the right I am starting to turn to starboard so I can get Jack back to throw some more bombs at the AA, this is a slow manoeuvre but something I hope to get better at. Meanwhile the Fokkers continue to turn to port in a fabulous exhibition of formation flying. (Well done Dave) but even better Rory has the grey Elll in his sights and opens fire.

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    With some blinding shooting, “this kid can really make thing’s happen out there.”
    Unfortunately his gun jams.

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    the Archie appears to be shooting indiscriminatingly at anything in the sky and narrowly misses the fancy blue Fokker. Rory is going red in the face with anger, he has the grey Fokker right in front of him but can’t shoot.

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    With some perfect flying he is on the tail of the blue Fokker but is still unjamming his guns. Someone is going to get a rocket up the jacksee over this incompetent and negligent bullet checking as they loaded the clips of ammo. The Fokker’s rocket off in all directions like a covey of pheasants.

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    I’m making a slow and laborious turn to starboard and realize I’m going to be very close to the Balloon lines as I pass under it, I have continued to dive and expect to give Jack as much chance as possible to get the bombs on target when I eventually get back to the AA battery.

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    I’m just about going to make it, over in the distance Lawless has unjammed his guns and again opens fire on the balloon.

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    But misses at long range, Rory is chasing Fokkers all over the sky and the AA shells continue to rain up on friend and foe alike.

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    Drummond gets Lawless up close and personal and yet again the Lewis gun jams without causing much damage.

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    I sneak under the balloon, Jack looks back white faced and it’s my turn to grin and give him the thumbs up. Rory is flying like a man possessed he has the blue Fokker in his sights again and is making the most of it. Again I see the tracers going straight into the cockpit and the plane jerks as if in response to a giant hand pulling on it’s strings.

    (The small blue 1 is because he has perfect aim – well of course you must have known that)

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    Drummond pulls to port away from the big grey gasbag and the grey Fokker follows.

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    At this point I’m at level 2 Jack starts to prepare to throw the bombs out but before that he gets a long blast of machine gun fire into the AA position, I’m grinning with delight, that’ll show the illegitimate sons not to mess with a FEE from No 6 squadron.

    Lawless with no one to shoot at is preparing to throw some bombs of his own.

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    Bloody Hell Drummond hasn’t seen us, he’s right on top of my plane and I can see bombs starting to fall from the sky, what the heck is this all about, I know I didn’t make a good job of landing yesterday but this is a bit much. Jacks bombs miss again, my fault entirely and they overshot the target - again.

    (I thought the rules read that bombs land immediately they are dropped from level 2 but they don’t)

    The grey Fokker is right behind Drummond and opens fire.

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    Drummonds FEE bursts into flame.

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    He Immels and Lawless hanging on grimly is looking straight at the grey Fokker, who has turned slightly to starboard, he does manage to get a glancing shot off at Drummonds plane but this is the last mistake he is going to make. Lawless can not miss at point blank range and causes so much damage that the Elll fall out of the sky an unrecognisable mess of canvass and wood.

    (1 Kill to Lawless)

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    Drummond continues towards the balloon and Lawless continues to fire. Mean time I’m as angry as an angry person can be, I’ve missed the damn AA battery twice with the bombs and am going to finish the job. I dive lower. We are skimming the ground, well not quite but it feels like it. Jack turns again, he is still white faced and I give him my deaths head grin, the one with lots of teeth and no humour and point back at the battery. He understands, I think we have some rapport forming between us. He cocks the Lewis Gun and grins back, although his grin has more humour in it and yet again holds up one thumb.

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    Lawless continues to fire on the Balloon.

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    I start to turn to port to return to my nemesis the AA battery as the Fokker flies above me in the sky. I’m sure I can see him looking over his shoulder at Rory in the Morane but it may be my imagination.

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    Drummond is hounding the balloon like some kind of Gun Dog and Lawless is continuing to fire into it.

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    I was right the Fokker Immel’s back towards Rory and they both fire long bursts into each other, smoke starts to puther from the Fokker.

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    Probably blinded by the smoke the Elll flies straight, narrowly missing Rory’s plane. I can see another white puff of smoke from an AA shell explode right by Rory’s plane but it doesn’t seem to cause any damage.

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    Meanwhile Drummond and Lawless continue to fly around the balloon, pumping lead into it at every opportunity.

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    Before it explodes in a ball of flame. Drummond’s FEE had been taking damage from the fire even though he had been doing everything in his power to put it out, they were in close proximity to the Balloon when it exploded and their plane took even more damage, in fact it was so close to going down that Drummond was going to have to make a run for home.

    (1 Kill to Lawless)

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    The blue Elll had imelled right in front of me, I was amazed at the manoeuvre, and even though there was still smoke pouring out from the plane it’s pilot was chasing Rory to the best of his planes ability.

    I was dead set on bringing the FEE round to be able to strafe the AA position yet again.

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    Rory and the blue Fokker are circling as tightly as they can but neither of them gaining an advantage when the Fokker stops smoking. I get Jack in line and in range of the AA gun and he opens up. Tracer bullets show that he is spot on target, I just need to fly steadily and not spoil his aim.

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    As we close he continues to pour fire into it until there is an explosion and finally we have destroyed it. I whoop with delight, it’s a small victory but our first together.

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    After the balloon exploded Drummond’s twisting and turning finally put out the fire, he was preparing to turn for home when an Archie shell went up in front of him. The 1 indicates it explodes next move.

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    He jinked to the right but the shell just caught him and the damage inflicted blows him out of the sky.

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    AA shells are exploding everywhere. I can see Drummond’s plane on the ground and I see one figure pulling the other out from the wreckage but can’t make out which is which.

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    The Elll comes round the column of smoke from the burning balloon and starts to line up on Rory. I am much nearer but very low to the ground. I’m turning to starboard and starting to climb up to the level of the remaining balloon. The crew have been hard at work hauling it down and they are going to meet me half way.

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    Rory gets a sustained burst into the final Fokker Elll and it explodes in a cloud of smoke.

    (1 Kill to Rory MacNair)

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    I’ve managed to get the FEE up to the level of the balloon and Jack starts to pour fire into it.

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    We circle the great big thing and continue to shoot at it.

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    I can see Rory on my right coming round to take a shot at the balloon but I want to get there first.

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    Jack and Rory both fire but it’s Rory’s shots that are fatal and he blows the balloon to smithereens. Unfortunately we’re both too close to the thing when it explodes but neither of us takes any damage. Almost immediately there is another explosion that rocks my plane but again there seems to be no damage.

    (1 Kill Rory MacNair)

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    With both balloons down we make a run for the lines, because the balloon was nearly down on the ground we are at very low level and seem to be skimming tree tops as we fly for home. Rory vents his frustration on an AA battery as he flies past and I’m keeping a close eye on him because I don’t want to get lost and have to ask Jack for directions home.

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    The AA shells are still a problem, at this stage I am flying my FE on the AI and I am firing the AA shells at myself. Confused! The problem is that instead of jinking about to throw the gunners off the scent the AI is making a beeline for home, well I guess it’s a Rookie mistake.

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    The plane gets hit by Archie for the 4th time and for the forth time I draw a zero. As Jack said later, it’s better to fly with a lucky pilot than a good one. After I thought about that for a while I was a bit upset but I think he was still a little shook up from flying underneath the balloon and maybe also having his Flight Commander drop bombs on us.

    The three of us made it back over the lines and landed safely, there was some relief knowing that one or hopefully both Drummond and Lawless made it safely out of the plane, even though they were on the wrong side of the lines.
    Last edited by Vagabond; 01-14-2019 at 09:43.

  3. #3

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    The Butchers Bill

    I made a couple of errors that I am aware of that may have some influence on the game results so I’ll just point them out and let Dave pick the bones out of it.

    Rory MacNair has the Perfect Aim skill, which I believe I should have used only once in the game. I forgot about the once and used it 3 times, all of these were fired at the Elll of Matthaei, I did remember to take 4 counters before the skill was used again. However MacNair finally shot down Matthaei with an explosion card so the additional 2 damage had no effect on the final outcome.

    I used limited ammo for the Hochkiss gun in the Moraine along the lines Carl proposed, ie 2 bursts and then 2 periods reloading. 2 bursts is a remarkably short time and on a couple of occasions I pulled out the part used clip and replaced it with a full clip. I only mention this because I intended using the optional rule and doing the same for the Lewis Guns, ie 3 bursts and 3 to load. However I thought it was 5 bursts and that’s the figure I used and it was only later when checking that I realised I had it wrong. This had an impact on the balloon that Lawless shot down but as the final damage was an explosion and it’s an optional rule I think I’m just going to claim it.

    Looking at the photos for the 2nd bombing run it looks like I had Jack Cowan, shooting and preparing the bombs in the same phase so I won’t claim the 2 points for destroying the AA gun, although Jack and I will be drinking to our success in the bar tonight and drinks will be on us. Cheers.

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    Ltn Paul Matthaei (Fokker EIII) / SD(EXP)-FT / WIA / 0 Kills

    C&W Rolled 7 -3EXP -1WIA = 3Injured, Skip 1D6 scenarios, Rolled 3 = skip 3
    Note only 1 of the 3 blue damage cards count.

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    Ltn Georg Treiber (Fokker EIII) / SD(FLM)-FT / WIA / 0 Kills
    C&W Rolled 3 -2FLM -1WIA = 0 RIP

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    Lt George Drummond (P) (FE2b) / SD-ET / 0 Kills
    C&W Rolled 8 -1SD = 7 Injured, Skip 1D2 Scenarios, Rolled 2 = Skip 1
    E&E Rolled 8 -1WIA -1BEL = 6 In Hiding, Skip 1D2 Scenarios, Rolled 6 = Skip 2

    AM2 Frank Lawless (O) (FE2b) / SD-ET / 1Kill (Treiber) 1 Kill (Balloon)
    C&W Rolled 4 -1SD = 3 Injured, Skip 1D6 Scenarios, Rolled 4 = Skip 4
    E&E Rolled 6 -1WIA -1BEL = 4 Captured and Escaped Skip 1D3 Scenarios, Rolled 5 = Skip 3

    Dave I’m sorry, I should know but I'm not sure if these skipping scenarios are cumulative, does Drummond skip 3 and Lawless 7? Cheers

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    2/Lt John Vagabond (P) (FE2b) / RTB / 0 Kills

    AM1 Jack Cowan (O) (FE2b) / RTB / 0 Kills

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    2/Lt Ruairidh MacNair (Morane) / RTB / 1 Kill (Matthaei) 1 Kill (Balloon)

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    Balloon downed by Lawless

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    Balloon downed by MacNair.

    I flew as the rookie 2nd Lt John Vagabond, I’d decided to follow Tim(Flying Helmets) thoughts on rookies so I adjusted the flying deck and for the 1st game it was minus 1 right and left side slips, 1 right and left turns and 1 straight plus the Immelmann card. Im using 1 stall each turn to represent a slower than average pilot.
    For 2nd mission will add back the sideslips, for 3rd mission will add back straight and turns, removing the requirement for the stall each turn. On 4th Mission will use all the cards and remove the normal rookie gun requirements etc.

    I used the equivalent of 3 decks of cards A, B and C decks, the green edged counters represent the C deck, so AA fire as far as I can see I drew 9 AA hits and all were 0 except for a 2 and 6 on Drummonds plane.

    Using Neils scoring
    Entente 2 Enemy fighters destroyed +4Pts 2 Balloons shot down 10Pts +1AA Gun not counted = 14Pts.
    Central Powers 1 Enemy Fighter destroyed = 2Pts or if you count it as a 2 seater 3Pts

    A big thanks to Neil for the scenario, I really enjoyed it and in spite of the outcome for most of the game it could have gone either way, so felt well balanced. The only thing was I changed the orientation of the board so right was East and the German side and left was west and the British side.

    A good if lucky start to the Campaign.
    Last edited by Vagabond; 01-16-2019 at 00:03.

  4. #4

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    A splendid show John, great pics & scenic's complemented by sound story telling.
    Mistakes - there'll always be a few - they didn't seem to have great effect - hopefully you won't make them again ...
    The one time use ace skill was bound to catch us out when the blood is pumping !

    Uncle says:

    Damned good show ! A couple of sausages downed for the loss of one machine is a pretty decent result. With a couple of kills apiece Rory & Lawless will get a MID at least.
    Tidy AAR with good Tally (remember WIC not WIA in E&E line - and yes the scores are cumulative). It seems you didn't use the solitaire AA rules - or did you ? Hard to tell with the rings & counters.
    Last edited by flash; 01-15-2019 at 09:49.

    "He is wise who watches"

  5. #5

    Default

    Superb John. Really enjoyed that. Lots of humour and I like the innovative range sticks, smoke/fire markers, balloons and scenery. Fine shooting and flying. Not sure we were supposed to have ace skills for any of the pilots just yet as I think they have to be earned. But what the heck. That was a first class AAR. Hope Drummond and Lawless are not out of things for too long. REP inbound and thanks for the entertainment

  6. #6

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by mikeemagnus View Post
    Superb John. Really enjoyed that. Lots of humour and I like the innovative range sticks, smoke/fire markers, balloons and scenery. Fine shooting and flying. Not sure we were supposed to have ace skills for any of the pilots just yet as I think they have to be earned. But what the heck. That was a first class AAR. Hope Drummond and Lawless are not out of things for too long. REP inbound and thanks for the entertainment
    Oh Bugger, you're right, 3 of the pilots have an ace skill but they can only use it once per game, I forgot all about the once bit. There's at least one other thing I got wrong that will have an impact on the result, I'll check through my notes and see if I can correct it for the Butchers Bill. Thanks for pointing it out.

  7. #7

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    John, leave it to Uncle. he'll make a decision about it all. Best to leave things as are for the moment. I'm not even sure I'm right myself. I was under the impression that the ace skill were those our pilots had been allocated and would be using, once per game, only after they had the correct number of kills. Maybe I should be using them once per game myself already. Sorry Uncle, you'll be pulling your hair out at this rate Clarification please

  8. #8

    Default

    Top-notch action and AAR!

  9. #9

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    Great AAR, John! Love seeing FEEs in action, and the map and backdrop are top-notch!

    Another action-packed entry, further upping the bar for those who have yet to go (me!). Well done, sir!

  10. #10

    Default

    Superb show John.
    I really must sort out some of those thin range sticks, they look so good and I just can't handle multiple fire with only my laxer light doing one at a time otherwise I would need 150 pictures per action.
    Rob..
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  11. #11

    Default

    Thanks guys I'm looking forward to reading everyones take on this.

    Rob did you mean laser because I've no idea what a laxer light is. We are barely past candle light where I live the sticks are kebab sticks, new not used.

  12. #12

    Default

    Really well done, John. Your telling and display of the action are top-notch.

    Nice to see the aircraft you posted earlier in action for the first time.

    And an extra for your home-made balloons. Who needs Ares?

    With all the new tweaks added to the rules this go-round it's inevitable that mistakes will be made.
    I don't think any of yours were serious enough to worry about.

    As far a I understand the aces are available for 1-time use every mission until the pilots reach actual ace status, at which time that 'temporary' skill will be their permanent one.
    If they survive ...

    Interesting chits you are using to display the hits instead of the actual cards.
    Are you reshuffling everything back into the deck so that each draw has the same odds?
    Makes things much more even in my view.
    I will be using 2 'B' decks for each side for this one, I think, and reshuffling a plane's cards back in if a Boom is drawn.

  13. #13

    Exclamation

    Quote Originally Posted by mikeemagnus View Post
    John, leave it to Uncle. he'll make a decision about it all. Best to leave things as are for the moment. I'm not even sure I'm right myself. I was under the impression that the ace skill were those our pilots had been allocated and would be using, once per game, only after they had the correct number of kills. Maybe I should be using them once per game myself already. Sorry Uncle, you'll be pulling your hair out at this rate Clarification please
    As I understand it Mike you can use theInherent Ace skills awarded by Dave ONCE per Game until they achieve 5 Kills.
    However I did not use any Ace Skills in my game.

  14. #14

    Thumbs up

    Super Storytelling John!
    Chock full of action & mayhem so well done in achieving a Mission Success.
    Rep inbound.

  15. #15

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Vagabond View Post
    Thanks guys I'm looking forward to reading everyones take on this.

    Rob did you mean laser because I've no idea what a laxer light is. We are barely past candle light where I live the sticks are kebab sticks, new not used.
    Yes John it should have read Laser. Guess I was just being oblique.

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    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  16. #16

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Stumptonian View Post

    And an extra for your home-made balloons. Who needs Ares?

    As far a I understand the aces are available for 1-time use every mission until the pilots reach actual ace status, at which time that 'temporary' skill will be their permanent one.

    Interesting chits you are using to display the hits instead of the actual cards.
    Are you reshuffling everything back into the deck so that each draw has the same odds?
    Makes things much more even in my view.
    I will be using 2 'B' decks for each side for this one, I think, and reshuffling a plane's cards back in if a Boom is drawn.
    Thanks Pete - the balloons were a bit of a necessity I've never seen any Ares ones for sale and Shapeways are about £45 each. AIM do a very nice Drachen but the postage cost from the States killed it for me along with the customs collection charge which last time was almost 3 times the actual customs charge itself.

    Your understanding of the ace skill is the same as mine - I just forgot in the heat of the battle.

    I knew I needed more B decks for the balloon attack and previously I'd made my own cards so i thought I'd make smaller tokens that don't take up so much space on my control board. The other benefit is that they aren't as visual on the table. With the equivalent of three decks i didn't need to add them back to the pot.

    Cheers again

  17. #17

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Flying Officer Kyte View Post
    Yes John it should have read Laser. Guess I was just being oblique.

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    Predictive text gets me like that all the time.

  18. #18

    Default

    Fat finger syndrome, or just not hitting the key spot on because of my failing eyesight and taking out an adjacent letter by mistake is my real problem. As laxer is not flagged by spellcheck I looked it up this is its meaning.

    A man or women who utterly enjoys the sport of lacrosse. Someone who lives for the sport, and all that he or she does is think of the graceful activity.

    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  19. #19

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Flying Officer Kyte View Post
    Fat finger syndrome, or just not hitting the key spot on because of my failing eyesight and taking out an adjacent letter by mistake is my real problem. As laxer is not flagged by spellcheck I looked it up this is its meaning.

    A man or women who utterly enjoys the sport of lacrosse. Someone who lives for the sport, and all that he or she does is think of the graceful activity.

    Rob.
    We're going to have to find a word that describes us in the same way.

    What about WoWer (a man or a woman who utterly enjoys the game of wings of war. Someone who lives for the game and all that he or she does is think of the graceful planes) or maybe we are not so sad

  20. #20

    Default

    Uncle has done.

    "He is wise who watches"

  21. #21

    Default

    As I understand it Mike you can use theInherent Ace skills awarded by Dave ONCE per Game until they achieve 5 Kills.
    However I did not use any Ace Skills in my game.
    Thanks for the clarification Baz

  22. #22

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Vagabond View Post
    We're going to have to find a word that describes us in the same way.

    What about WoWer (a man or a woman who utterly enjoys the game of wings of war. Someone who lives for the game and all that he or she does is think of the graceful planes) or maybe we are not so sad
    Oh yes we are.
    A very good term for it John.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  23. #23

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by flash View Post
    and yes the scores are cumulative). It seems you didn't use the solitaire AA rules - or did you ? Hard to tell with the rings & counters.
    I thought they were cumulative, poor Lawless out for 7 scenario's and I had great hopes for him.

    For most of the game I plotted the AA fire as the main rules, I found if I fired at the right time so that I didn't know what the AI was going to plan it worked fine and was fun. When I fired at Vagabond I used the solo rules apart from at the end of the game when he was running for home, then I let the AI take control of the plane and I fired the AA, I can't remember now if I hit the plane once or twice at that stage but as you can see I drew 0 each time for the damage. I was so surprised at the number of zeros I drew for AA and balloon explosion damage that I went back and checked that I had the correct numbers in the deck.

  24. #24

    Default

    The rules say concurrent, not cumulative.
    That means 4, not 7, for Lawless.

  25. #25

    Default

    Great report John, a visually lovely and action packed encounter - not to mention bloody!

    A good start for your Bulldogs, well done.

  26. #26

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Stumptonian View Post
    The rules say concurrent, not cumulative.
    That means 4, not 7, for Lawless.
    Absolutely right Peter they are concurrent - 'brain fart' on my part (long day, got my wucking mords fuddled)

    "He is wise who watches"

  27. #27

    Default

    Hey John... meant to ask this earlier. The damage chits you're using... home-made, or did you contract out for them? What are they made of, if you don't mind me asking...?

    They look pretty sharp, and don't disrupt the flow of the narrative as much as a pile of cards might.

  28. #28

    Default

    got my wucking mords fuddled
    Nice one Squadron Leader (retired). Not come across it before

  29. #29

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by fast.git View Post
    Hey John... meant to ask this earlier. The damage chits you're using... home-made, or did you contract out for them? What are they made of, if you don't mind me asking...?

    They look pretty sharp, and don't disrupt the flow of the narrative as much as a pile of cards might.
    Hi Chris I got the files from this forum somewhere, there are 4 pdf's and I just printed them onto Adhesive label paper and stuck them on to some cardboard. They are double sided so for the back I cut them out first to ensure I got them square and the right back to the right front.

    I then used a felt tip pen to colour the edges of the counter so I know which deck it's from.

    I'm not sure where on the forum the tokens are and I'm not sure of the etiquette of posting someone else's work but this is a picture of one of the PDF's to show what I mean.

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    I have spent some time looking so I could give you a link but can't find them. I do have the PDF's. The file is on here for anyone to down load but if the creator would like to jump in so they can claim credit I would like to thank them for their work.

    If I shouldn't post this image just let me know, I found out how to remove them if necessary.
    Cheers

  30. #30

  31. #31

    Default

    Great action and telling of the tale John! A drubbing of that nasty Hun. Their losses will hurt. Not many E.IIIs available so losing two is going to be painful for them, as well as two gas bags!
    Your rookie got in some quality flying and will be a good addition to your scout pilots if he moves on from 2 seaters.

    A note on 2 seaters, when planning an Immel, the observer cannot shoot on the card before, the Immel, and the card after.

  32. #32

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Teaticket View Post
    Your rookie got in some quality flying and will be a good addition to your scout pilots if he moves on from 2 seaters.

    A note on 2 seaters, when planning an Immel, the observer cannot shoot on the card before, the Immel, and the card after.
    I might need to rethink my plans for my rookie, I had intended flying him in the FE2 until the DH2 comes along but that's about half way through the campaign so until then he can't gain any combat victories.

    I knew rookies couldn't fire after an Immel but didn't realize it applied to crew as well thanks for letting me know.
    Cheers

  33. #33

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Vagabond View Post
    I might need to rethink my plans for my rookie, I had intended flying him in the FE2 until the DH2 comes along but that's about half way through the campaign so until then he can't gain any combat victories.

    I knew rookies couldn't fire after an Immel but didn't realize it applied to crew as well thanks for letting me know.
    Cheers
    Too bad you didn't get a Shapeways Bristol Scout C or two. They're a fun plane to fly with the gun arc angled off to a side like the BE2c.

    One nice thing about flying a Morane-Saulnier L, I won't forget about having my rookie not fire during an Immelmann as a typr L cannot do one! I'd rather have to remember the rookie rule! That I'll have to deal with after 3-4 missions as I migrate to better planes.

  34. #34

    Default

    Great AAR. Thrilling action. Can't wait to play mine but I need my balloons (Chris! hedeby) So wont get them until after Vapnartak on 3rd Feb.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  35. #35

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Teaticket View Post
    Too bad you didn't get a Shapeways Bristol Scout C or two. They're a fun plane to fly with the gun arc angled off to a side like the BE2c.
    .
    I've been thinking of investing in some more Shapeways planes, I was going to get a couple of BE2's because from my limited research they appear to be about 90% of the planes that the RFC were flying at this time, I think only 6 squadron had a flight of FE2b's and the rest had a bit of a mixed bag apart from maybe a couple of squadrons of Gunbuses.
    I do like the look of the BE2 but I'll check out the Bristol as well.

    Neil I'm hoping to get to York for the show so I might see you there. I'm still not sure if I can make it or I would have offered to help out.
    Cheers

  36. #36

    Default

    Top marks there John


    I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings
    Coming down is the hardest thing



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