OTT Mission 2 - Coming and Going - 14th January 1916 by Flying Officer Kyte

[Flying Officer Kyte]

OTT Mission 2. Coming and Going.

Kyte breezed into the outer office.

"Ah van Der Maren, I was just about to send for you. I have a simple little job for you this morning. Our latest rookie young Stones needs a familiarization along the lines. Just run him up and down our sector, but impress on him that he is not to venture onto the enemy held territory, nor engage with any enemy aircraft, but to run for home at the slightest smell of trouble. Got that! good man. Off you go then, nice clear day for a flight. You can use the two new Moranes. It will give you a chance to get the feel of them " With that he turned on his heel and returned to the inner sanctum and his paperwork.
Twenty minutes later Pete and George "skimmer" Stones were cruising toward the trenches, which stretched out below like a great brown scar across the landscape.
After pottering along for a while, Pete's attention was attracted to a burst of Archie in the distance. Wondering who had poked a stick into the RAs nest he shaded his eyes and took a harder look.



Between the two Moranes and home was a lone enemy bomber making for the lines with a salute of flack marching along behind it.
Indicating for Stones to cut and run, Pete turned his machine onto an interception course with the two seater.

Kyte.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

AAR.Part one The action.




On seeing the pair of Moranes, the Albatros CIII immediately turned away and headed south East.





Turning to intercept, Pete was alarmed to see "Skimmer" Stones heading straight for the German two seater.







Before he could come about, young Stones and the Albatros were exchanging compliments.








As Pete headed towards the action, Skimmer just avoided a suicidal collision with the Hun.







Pete now took a hand in the matter and with his first burst jammed his guns.







As he turned away he copped a packet in return,




but it at least looked as if George was obeying orders and turning for home. Then George executed the first Immelmann he had ever pulled off and what is more got off a snap shot at the Albatros albeit a mere single hole in the wing.







Pete was forced to turn away, to avoid contact with the German aircraft as George exchanged shots with its rear gunner/ observer.







Whilst Pete was having real trouble keeping out of the way of the Albatros, George continued to hammer it from the rear. Luckily for George, the Observers return fire suddenly ceased.





Now with his eye in and glued to the German's tail George continued to hit it with the odd round. Smoke was now also issuing from the wounded Albatros.






Once again George struck, and this time a short jerk in the nose of the German machine told George he had probably hit the pilot.






He now turned away to get out of the acrid smoke stream and get a better view of the enemy.





Having cleared his vision George attacked again as the smoke cleared. This time he igniting the damaged fuel line and the Albatros went down in a ball of fire.










Pete decided to continue, the flight up the lines with George, whilst he concocted a story to explain why George had managed to shoot down an enemy two seater whilst on a non contact patrol.

Kyte.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Part two.

Having progressed up the lines, Pete now decided it was time to Sheppard George home to the Drome.

Even as they turned, George, who now had his hackles up, spotted a couple more German kites crossing the lines,



and before Pete could react Skimmer turned towards this second challenge of the day. All that Pete could do was turn with him.







The sheer speed of their reactions caught the Huns off guard, and Pete and George got into a perfect position to effect a scissors attack on the two seaters escort.







Unfortunately the combined fire did little damage other than temporarily jamming the scouts rudder.

As the scout cleared the arena, a close order rumpus now ensued between the Recon plane and the two Moranes.



.



In the general shemozzle, bullets flew everywhere, but the only outcome was the jamming of the CIII's forward machine gun.







Then a terrible thing occurred. In the process of damaging the Scouts engine, fire from the CIII's observer hit Georges magazine which exploded, ripping his controls to shreds, and sending him down just inside the British lines.











With his own machine so badly cut up that he was almost helpless himself Pete could only turn away and dive for home.







Pushing his aircraft into a dive and preying it would hold together, he headed for a nearby cloud.








Fortunately, with its faltering engine the scout could not catch him, and a very relieved Pete slipped into the clouds, leaving the two German machines to complete their recon mission unhindered by this patrol at least.







Kyte.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Butcher's Bill.

Bulldogs.


2nd Lt Peter van der Maren: RTB-D 0 kills



Flt Sgt George Stones: SD-EXP-FT 1 kill.
Rolled 6 -3EXP = 3 - Injured Injured - Skip 1D6 Scenarios. Rolled 2 = Skip 2

German Eagles.




Bomber SD. 0 kills



Scout FRTB-E 0 kills


Recon plane RTB. 1 kill

Kyte.

[Baxter]

Great to see early warplanes in action. Nicely photographed and narrated AAR.

[flash]

A tale of two halves there Rob, exciting & hairy action in both, resulting in a hard fought tie. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Uncle says:

Well done for the draw, a hard fought action and a bomber bagged, though at a price.
I was going to mark vdM as FRTB but spotted his inherent skill is Lucky Pilot so he could have dodged the four damage.

[mikeemagnus]

Jolly fine performance Wing Co. So the rookie gets a kill - excellent, although he may be in for a bit of a lecture when he recovers Nice tie there and a fun AAR. Thanks for sharing REP inbound

[ShadowDragon]

Nicely done....alas, the rep gun jammed.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Thanks Uncle and chaps.
It was a shame that the dread Bang went to the aircraft with the most hit points left or we could have run them a bit closer methinks.
Well a tie is better than the luck we have had thus far. I do like the Moranes even though they are a bit frail.
Rob.

[gully_raker]

Well done Rob!
Finally the Doggies bag a German Bomber.
That young rookie is certainly full of Pluck if not Luck.
Glad he landed OK & lived to fight another day.

Rep inbound.

[zenlizard]

I think the neophyte is in for both a "well done" and a dressing down for "interpreting" orders.

[Stumptonian]

Very nicely played and presented, Rob.
I like the spacing you put in between photos - makes it really easy to follow.

A draw is better than a loss any day that ends in "y".

Really like your Eindecker. Not sure if I mentioned that already, but I'd like to add the stripe to one of mine.
Scraped the black cross covers off the wings of one of my spare Buddekes when I noticed that the packaging had started to do it for me.
Now to find time to touch up the rest and add crosses.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Well done Rob!
Finally the Doggies bag a German Bomber.
That young rookie is certainly full of Pluck if not Luck.
Glad he landed OK & lived to fight another day.

Rep inbound.

Thanks for the comments Baz, and also for the Rep. Much appreciated.
Rob.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Thanks for the Rep Pete and nice words about the Decker. I keep looking at the others and wondering if I should repaint as a Jasta or not.
Rob.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Thanks for the Rep Sam.
Young Stones is certainly in for something.
Watch this Kyte for further developments when he arrives back at Bentangles.
Remember it is a long walk back from the Front, and no I wont be sending a truck to pick him up.
Kyte.

[Vagabond]

Great report and well done to Skimmer Stones a good first outing for the Rookie Pilot. Very impressed with their flying tactics, that pincer move was exemplary and should have resulted in more damage caused, c'est la guerre.

The Morane's look very spiffy with their red noses, was it Trenchard who invented Red Nose Day back in the Great War?

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Trenchard may well have had a red nose John. I am just glad that when we started the first campaign way back I gave the Bulldogs' Camels red spinners to emulate my great hero Albert Ball.
So these fit right into that scheme.
Thanks for the Rep.
Rob.

[Lt. S.Kafloc]

"By gad Sir, damn near run thing eh what! Who was leading that patrol, should be brought up himself for leading that young pup into such an affray."

Well played Rob, superb action as always.

Neil

[Flying Officer Kyte]

I was actually flying that young pup as you call him Squadron Leader.
Rob.

[tikkifriend]

Ace job hunting the Hun Rob.

[Teaticket]

Nicely done Rob. George Stones kept his wits and that darned rookie scored a kill. Huzzah!