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Thread: AAR OTT-DYM--Mission 2- 14th Jan 1916-Coming & Going--gully_raker

  1. #1

    Default AAR OTT-DYM--Mission 2- 14th Jan 1916-Coming & Going--gully_raker

    The telephone in the Squadron hut sent out its strident ringing until the Duty Officer answered.

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    "52 Squadron!" "Yes HQ, An Albatross C type heading East from behind our lines" "What? Oh I see. Yes Sir! Immediately Sir. Thank You!"
    The officer rushed to Uncles cubby hole. "Sir, seems there is a scatter on at HQ. The old Hun has bombed a Transport Depot near the village of St Augustine & is heading back to German Territory & they want us to intercept it!" "They expect it to pass just to the South of our airfield"
    Uncle headed over to C Flights mess where he found Lt Reginald Fife-Brand playing a game of Solo cards. "Reg any of your chaps ready for some interception work?"
    He quickly filled Reg in on the mission adding that the German Bombs had caused havoc to the horses at the Depot.
    Fife-Brand smiled & said "Well as a matter of fact I ordered young Rhodes to take the Gunbus & show that new Canadian rookie Sgt Stark in his Morane around our patrol area but they are not due to leave for another 5 minutes" Wonderful" exclaimed Uncle "that will be good experience for them. I presume AM2 Macbeth will be with Rhodes"
    Reg replied "Consider it done" & headed out to the 'drome to instruct the pilots on the change to their mornings programme.

    The two British aircraft had spread out to cover as much territory as possible but remained in visual contact so they could support each other.
    Then almost at the centre of their combined arcs they saw a cream winged aircraft approaching from the South.
    "That must be it" thought Dusty as the shape was nothing like their own BE's. Waggling his wings to attract Brandon Stark's attention he turned the Gunbus towards the enemy.

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    The enemy aircraft had also turned towards the Vickers but Stark's Morane had not yet reacted to the Albatross' change of direction.

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    The opposing Aircraft were soon in close range & exchanged fire. Dusty was surprised to find himself being shot at from the front of the German plane as he had only ever encountered rear firing Hun 2 seaters. There was a brief exchange if fire then both guns fell silent. He saw Hamish gesticulating wildly & hitting his Lewis gun with his other fist. Obviously a Jam!
    Minimal damage was caused but the Albatross started to put out a trail of black smoke.

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    As the two aircraft passed the Gunbus received further damage from the Albatross' rear gunner.

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    The Morane had now closed on the action & prepared to fly past the Gunbus to attack the enemy plane.

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    The Allied pilots were somewhat surprised at the speed of the German 2 seater & they struggled to close to firing range.
    Finally the Morane got within range but due to his inexperience Stark found the German was just outside his firing arc.
    The Gunbus was still trying to close on the action but lacked the speed required.

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    Disaster now struck the Morane as a lucky shot found the petrol tank & the British aircraft exploded & fell to the ground in flames.

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    The Gunbus had finally got in range & got a good hit on the Albatross but in return suffered some rudder damage.

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    Taking advantage of the Gunbus's wide firing arc Hamish managed to wound the pilot of the German aircraft.

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    The wound caused the German pilot to fly straight towards the edge of the mat & due to its rudder damage the Gunbus was unable to follow until the Albatross was well out of range.

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    And so ended the first part of the Mission with the Albatross exiting the side of the gaming mat.

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    Damage sustained by the combatants shown below.
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    Mission Part B

    Saddened by the loss of Sgt Stark & the Morane, Dusty turned towards his Aerodrome & as he neared the lines he made out the Black nosed Morane of Lt Fife-Brand coming towards him.
    By a number of hand signals they were able to tell Reg what had happened to Stark. In turn Fife-Brand indicated to them to follow him. Checking on his fuel gauge Dusty followed the Morane as it made its way back to the front.

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    Back on the German side of the lines an Aviatik observation plane accompanied by a Fokker Eindekker were on a mission to check out what damage if any had been caused by the bombing raid early that morning as the Albatross had not yet returned to its home 'drome.

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    The two groups of fighters closed & exchanged shots with minimal damage being caused but the Moranes gun immediately jammed!

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    The Gunbus came under fire from the Aviatik's rear gunner who fortunately missed.

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    The green Fokker had manoeuvred around to get a shot at the Morane but did little damage.

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    Having cleared his machine gun Fife-Brand now got a shot into the German 2 seater which caused it to catch fire.

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    The Fire appeared to be doing little damage to the sturdy Aviatik!

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    The German rear gunner took a shot at the Morane but perhaps due to the smoke from the fire missed completely.

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    The Gunbus & the Fokker were both well away from the action but were both trying to close to assist their compatriots.

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    Although the fire continued to burn it was doing no further damage to the German plane.

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    As their paths converged the Gunbus & the green Eindekker exchanged fire with the Fokker coming off 2nd best with both a jammed gun & a damaged engine thanks to Hamish's accurate shooting.

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    The fire on the Aviatik finally went out with only minor damage to its fabric.

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    The German Observation plane now reached the end of the mat & so ended part two of this interesting Mission.
    The other Aircraft now disengaged & returned to their home Aerodromes.

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    Comments & Observations

    Well the Germans had the "Luck of the Irish" in that one! Even setting the Aviatik on Fire did not help. Lots of Jams as seems the norm for B Deck games. Maybe using triple decks is NOT a good idea!
    I used Dave's D8 Charts without altitude & I flew Dusty's Gunbus. All others were AI
    Not sure how the Albatross flying off the table due to pilots wounding will affect the outcome of the game. Will leave that for Uncle to decide.
    Looks like another German Victory to me! Those Gunbus's just don't have enough speed to keep up with the German 2 seaters.

    All in All a good fun game.

    However still having difficulties with loading photos! All goes OK until about halfway through an AAR & then the system either will not load a photo or wants to load multiple photos including those already loaded!
    This becomes very tiresome especially for missions with lots of pics. Fortunately this one did not have that many!
    Last edited by gully_raker; 02-16-2019 at 01:06.

  2. #2

    Default The BUTCHERS BILL!

    British Forces

    F/Sgt Brandon Stark--Red nosed Morane-- SD-EXP-NML 0 Kills
    Rolled 9- 3 Exp= 6-1 NML=5=Injured. Rolled 4 = Miss 2 missions
    E&E Rolled 10 -1EXP -1WIC +1NML = 9 They didn't even see me !
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    2nd Lt R "Dusty Rhodes--Pilot--Vickers Gunbus RTB 0 Kills
    AM2 Hamish Macbeth--Observer - RTB 0 Kills
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    Lt Reginald Fife-Brand--Black Nosed Morane - RTB 0 Kills
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    German Forces

    Albatross CIII
    Pilot Ltn Julius Gilly FRTB-W / WIA 1 Kill --Morane B Stark
    Rolled 4 +1RTB -1WIA = 4 - Injured - Skip 1D6 Scenarios. Rolled 2 = Skip 2
    Observer Ltn Hans Groos-- RTB 0 Kills
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    Aviakik CI
    Pilot Obltn Helmet Dahlman
    Observer Ltn Hans Schobinger
    Both RTB-- 0 Kills
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    Fokker E III--Green
    Obltn Wilhelm Bassenge FRTB/E 0 kills
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    Last edited by flash; 02-18-2019 at 00:15.

  3. #3

    Default

    Well at least all pilots and crew will live to fly another day.
    I know what you mean about the triple 'B' decks.
    It seems 'feast or famine' - zeros or fire/smoke/engine/wounds all the way.
    It sure seems like I get more smoke and flame with the 'B' than with the 'A' I am more used to.
    Looks like the Kaiser's Adler will claim a victory over your Bulldogs this time.

    Sorry you have trouble loading pictures. I just do one at a time as needed between narrative bits.
    Maybe it's your use of the Advanced that's causing you grief?

    REP on the way sir.

  4. #4

    Default

    Nice to see the early birds in the fight. Well done.

  5. #5

    Smile

    Quote Originally Posted by Stumptonian View Post
    Well at least all pilots and crew will live to fly another day.
    I know what you mean about the triple 'B' decks.
    It seems 'feast or famine' - zeros or fire/smoke/engine/wounds all the way.
    It sure seems like I get more smoke and flame with the 'B' than with the 'A' I am more used to.
    Looks like the Kaiser's Adler will claim a victory over your Bulldogs this time.

    Sorry you have trouble loading pictures. I just do one at a time as needed between narrative bits.
    Maybe it's your use of the Advanced that's causing you grief?

    REP on the way sir.
    Hi Pete! No I load each pic separately so that should not be the problem.
    Got me very puzzled!

  6. #6

    Default

    Well done Baz. Yet another highly entertaining game.
    We do seem at a bit of a disadvantage against the hoards of the Hun at the moment. Pretty accurate history really, although the two seaters should be easier meat than they are proving to be.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  7. #7

    Default

    Well-done AAR, Barry. And yes, you're entirely right about the Vickers FB 5. Makes one wonder why the Germans called every British pusher type a "Vickers".

    ...Probably for the same reason every Fokker Dr-I was instantly flown by Richthofen, the moment it was spotted.

  8. #8

    Default

    Nice looking games Baz, unlucky that Stark got shot down but them's the breaks. Exciting to watch even if it was a loss to the Bulldogs

    Uncle says:

    Hard luck chaps, we'll have to do better but those Hun machines are so good.

    I adjusted your Tally to marry pics with the rolls - picked up a couple of things - Stark landed in NML so had to roll E&E - I have done this - he got away scot-free.
    Gilly was WIA so therefore FRTB - no matter he left by the edge - and also needed to be rolled for.
    Bassenge was also FRTB due to engine damage.
    Last edited by flash; 02-17-2019 at 11:20.

    "He is wise who watches"

  9. #9

    Thumbs up

    Quote Originally Posted by flash View Post
    Nice looking games Baz, unlucky that Stark got shot down but them's the breaks. Exciting to watch even if it was a loss to the Bulldogs

    Uncle says:

    Hard luck chaps, we'll have to do better but those Hun machines are so good.

    I adjusted your Tally to marry pics with the rolls - picked up a couple of things - Stark landed in NML so had to roll E&E - I have done this - he got away scot-free.
    Gilly was WIA so therefore FRTB - no matter he left by the edge - and also needed to be rolled for.
    Bassenge was also FRTB due to engine damage.
    Thanks Dave! I was not sure what impact leaving by the enemy edge would have had on Gilly's Albatross therefore left it to your decision.
    Should have remembered to do a E & E for Mr Stark.

  10. #10

    Default

    Good show Baz. Yep, those snails of the sky with the X decks can't even catch themselves. It was made worse by the bomber turning right into you. Once gone past its almost impossible to get to shoot at it again. My Morane-Saulnier L's are in the same boat.

    I use triple decks too. Its amazing how the cards never seem to spread out to the average. Keeps it interesting!

  11. #11

    Default

    Nice game Baz. I'm sure the scores will even up as we progress through the scenarios.

    Neil
    See you on the Dark Side......

  12. #12

    Post Epilogue.

    The mood in the Mess was rather sombre as everybody waited for word on the fate of F/Sgt Brandon Stark the new Canadian pilot who had only been with the Bulldogs for 14 days.
    His chance of survival looked slim after his Morane had apparently exploded as a result of a German bullet hitting his fuel tank.
    Then Uncle entered with a big smile on his face. "Great news Chaps! Seems our Canadian had the luck of the devil with his aircraft crashing into a shell hole full of water which extinguished the fire. He crawled out on our side of the hole & laid low until darkness & had the good fortune to be spotted by a night patrol of the Black Watch who spirited him back to their lines & dosed him up on Scotch Whisky". "Next morning he was taken to a Casualty Clearing Station who checked him out & phoned to give us the good news" "He will be out of action for a couple of weeks until his bruises clear up. So lets raise a glass or two to Sgt Brandon Stark!"

  13. #13

    Default

    Well done Barry and a good result for Mr Stark also. A couple of exciting games not a good outcome for the British but they all survived to fight another day so not a total disaster either.

    Shame the Gunbus is so slow, but it's good that historical accuracy is observed, you'll just have to hide in the clouds and ambush them next time

  14. #14

    Default

    Well done Baz. I too flew a Gunbus and the slow speed was difficult to deal with Must admit I thought the entire scenario took place over friendly Entente territory. Anyway, that's the way I played it - sorry if that was wrong. So nobody died and the Eagles get another victory. Well, it is the time of the war that was bad for the Entente airmen. It was a good tussle and a very enjoyable AAR to read - thanks REP on the way.



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