AAR - Variation OTT DYM Mission 3
Having got ‘stuck in’ with Mission #2 as a variant of the “Daring Young Men” (DYM) OTT campaign, it seems I ‘must’ continue along the lines of the AAR for that mission. Although I was planning to play along with eh DYM campaign, I hadn’t intended the game for that AAR to be anything more than a one off. The plan was to wait until I got some Shapeways balloons done up and to start from mission #1. So, I’ve had alterations here and there…most notably the character whose plane I’m flying, Ltn Wolfgang von Augustin had his 1st combat mission in that AAR. So when I finally do play mission #1 it will either be ‘out of sequence’ (i.e., all the missions prior to that shift down by 1) or it will be retrospective with different pilots.
This Mission is about intelligence collection and features a photo recon plane for the Central Powers side and an artillery spotter for the Entente side. The mission (#3 set in early 1916 on the NW Front and devised by Gully_raker) is here:
https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...by-Gully_raker
My AAR (parts 1 & 2) for the previous mission are here:
https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...least-halfway)
https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...o-2-(2nd-half)
As mentioned the official DYM OTT campaign is set on the NW Front in early 1916. My games are set on the Italian Front in late 1917 primarily because of the limited set of planes I have – er, now had as more arrive every week. One thing I’m finding with the Italian Front set in the time frame of the Battle of Caporetto is that one can use a good variety of planes – out of date ones are still being flown in this theatre and you can legitimately fly Austro-Hungarian, Italian, German, French, British…and even some from one of the many Balkans countries.
My Set Up
Central Powers
1) Austro-Hungarian Scout – Aviatik D.I (the plane I ended up flying) that’s supposed to intercept the Entente artillery spotting plane
2) German two-seater – Rumpler C.IV (attached to my characters’ Flik as the Germans don’t think the A-H are capable of effective and efficient reconnaissance.
[The real reason is that I didn’t have anything that was being flown by the A-H KuK LFT. However, the Germans really did think that the A-H intelligence was inferior – well, crappy. Here’s a quote from “The German Air Force in the Great War” by Major Georg Paul Neumann:
“When the German 14th Army in the valley of the Save was assembled round about Laibach and Krainburg towards the end of September 1917, and the Army Commander proceeded to verify his information concerning the district and our enemy, it became obvious that the existing Austrian maps of the Julian Alps, and the mountainous regions of Tolmein, Karfreit, and Civigale were quite unreliable…. Consequently our reconnaissance machines were ensured command of the air over the battle-fields, and were therefore able to carry out their work unhindered. Before long they had completed a photographic survey of the districts on both sides of the lines, and had provided the General Staff with a complete picture of the enemy's railway system, the distribution of his forces, and the disposition and strength of his flying units.”
The quote is from here:
http://www.allworldwars.com/The-Germ...y-Neumann.html
Crew:
Aviatik D.I - My ‘character’ was recovering from wounds for one mission, so the Aviatik will be flown by another member of Flik 55J Bis – Leutnant Ryan von Taaffe (yes, his first name is Irish but he was born in Austria).
Rumpler (German crew) – Leutnant Wilhelm Lange (pilot) / Feldwebel Ludwig Jäger (observer)
That’s it for the CP side.
For the Entente side the problem was similar – a lack of suitable 2-seater reconnaissance aeroplanes as the Italians primarily flew French ones or home-brewed ones – none of which are on offer from Ares (or previously Nexus). After the balloons this will be the focus of the next Shapeways order.
1) Scout to intercept the Photo Recon plane – SPAD S.VII. I decided to go with a B firepower on this plane but to give the pilot a ‘Perfect Aim’ ace skill with the assumption that the pilot was inspired by Franceso Baracca who said, “It doesn't matter if the VII is equipped with a single gun. Provided you are a good fighter, a single gun is just enough."
2) Artillery Spotter – Sopwith 1 ½ Strutter.
3) Scout to Escort the Arty Spotter – Sopwith 1 ½ Strutter Comic
The Sopwiths are flown by British airmen – a reconnaissance squadron sent down a wee bit in advance of the British / French reinforcements that showed up after Caporetto – a bit of a fudge since these missions are just before Caporetto (i.e., October 1917).
Crew:
The SPAD S.VII was flown by an Italian pilot – Tenente Andrea Bertotti Diamanti (Ace – Perfect Aim)
Sopwith 1 ½ Strutter – Lieutenant David Kelsey (pilot) / Sergeant John Russell
Sopwith 1 ½ Strutter Comic – Lieutenant Raoul Wittington (his mother had romantic notions – see bio of the Swedish diplomat, Raoul Wallenburg).
The final obstacle was a NoMansLand matt. I didn’t have one and it was a key part of the scenario. Eventually I will get one when a reasonably priced one (including shipping) is available. I had the NML tiles downloaded from the Aerodrome and printed them out. They were too drab so I decided to jazz them up with scenic flock but I didn’t like the results (after getting them half done). I realized that the flock I was using for the crater rims was a warm light earth colour but the basic NML was a cool taupe. Not good. So, I tried photoshopping the original pdf files and that seemed good enough that I went with it. The photo below has three stages – (1) tile printed out as is but with some dark green flock, (2) tile with light earth colour added for crater rimes, and (3) a photoshopped version without any flock, which is what I used.
The Story – Mission Orders
Hauptmann Michael von Taafe (see disclaimer below) walked into the duty room. He had just got off the phone with HQ. They wanted a plane up – schnell! An enemy reconnaissance plane and escort had been spotted headed up the valley and whatever their intentions, HQ wanted their mission aborted. Nothing was to interfere with the planned offensive. All of Flik 55J’s pilots were already on missions; so it was up to Flik 55J Bis to do something.
Michael looked around the room. He sighed. The only pilot in the room was his cousin, Ryan von Taaffe. He had just sent up that new German crew, Leutnant Lange and Feldwebel Jäger on a photo reconnaissance mission. He noted how curious it was that German two-seaters had officers as pilots and NCOs as observers while it was the opposite in the KuK FLT. Flik 55J Bis’s other pilots where either recovering or already on missions. That left Ryan. It was one of the perversities of military systems that Ryan, a cousin, was assigned to Michael’s command. Michael and Ryan had frequently played – and fought – together it seemed forever. Michael both admired and detested Ryan for likely the same reasons. Ryan was the opposite of Michael. Ryan was care free, egotistical, risk taking and so on while Micheal was responsible, modest, cautious and so on. However, worst of all ever since Ryan’s time at Trinity College he would from time to time put on an affection of being Irish – mostly to charm young Frauleins but also to irritate Michael. The von Taaffe’s had been in Austria for over 100 years and were as Austrian as anyone else, but their grandfather had married an Irish woman and grandmother had insisted that her children and grandchildren had something of Irish culture in them, which was fine but Ryan seemed to relish in it – perhaps because he was Oma’s favourite.
“Ryan, your on task. An enemy reconnaissance flight has been spotted coming up the valley. HQ wants that mission aborted at all costs. So up you go. Oh, and by the way, the engineers at the Flars Group want some operational evaluations on that new aircraft they sent - the Aviatik; so take the Aviatik.”
“Right you are, Michael”, replied Ryan in his most affected Irish accent.
“And don’t call me Michael!”
“Aw surely, Mikey”, muttered Ryan under his breath. He had a thought that Michael meant him a wee bit of mischief by assigning him the Aviatik – a lovely looking plane but you’d hardly use an untested plane on a crucial mission.
Michael thought, “A slight wound wouldn’t be amiss”. He shook his head. “No, pilots – even Michael – were too valuable and aggressive, lucky ones like Michael were the most valuable”. He turned back to face Ryan and ordered, “Ryan, do not approach the Front Lines! Under any circumstance.”
Disclaimer: There really was an Irish-Austrian aristocratic family; the head of which was both an Irish Earl and an Austrian Graf. My characters are purely fictitious. The only thing I’ve taken from the von Taaffe’s are the name and the Irish background. No offensive is intended and any similarity is purely coincidental. So apologies if you’re reading this and are a Taaffe or know a Taaffe.
The Story - Artillery Spotting
Lt. David Kelsey, his observer – Sgt. John Russell and Lt Raoul Wittington were members of a squadron that had been sent to the Italian Front. The Huns were up to something big. Intelligence had reports that Germany had been sending troops, including aircraft. The Brass wanted to know what was going on and so far the enemy had been giving the Italians a difficult time, so their squadron was deployed to the Southern front. Their current mission was to do a bit of arty spotting. Apparently a heavy battery had been making a mess of the front line trenches.
Kelsey and Russell were in the Sopwith reconnaissance plane while Wittington flew escort. As they approached the front lines. Kelsey looked to his left. He spotted a Rumpler – “Hmmm,… a German plane. Could mean trouble.” However, he saw further to his left an Italian SPAD heading to intercept the Rumpler.
Figure: Turn 1.1
Raoul must have also spotted the Rumpler and SPAD as he banked right to come up on the right side of the Sopwith.
Figure: Turn 1.2
“A little close there, Raoul.”
Figure: Turn 1.3
“A good call, Raoul”, thought Kelsey as he spotted an enemy scout heading their way. He signalled the enemy battery below to John.
Figure: Turn 2.2
John started signalling the Italian battery.
Figure: Turn 2.3
Ryan spotted the plane doing circles around their artillery. “Now, don’t we be doing a wee bit of naughty spotting. Let’s see if we can do something about that.” He headed for the spotter. He noted the escort to the left. Perhaps he could just scoot on by.
Figure: Turn 3.1
Bullets whizzed by with a few hitting the Aviatik. “A British machine! You crumpet-stuffer”, thought Ryan.
Figure: Turn 3.2
Raoul banked right after his shot at the Austrian….he didn’t recognize the aeroplane type. The spotter plane moved slower than Ryan anticipated. He cursed….”missed both!”, as both the spotter and escort flew out arc.
Figure: Turn 3.3
Kelsey banked right and came upon the tail of the strange enemy plane. He fired a burst but the enemy pilot was flying well and the shots seemed miss.
Figure: Turn 4.1
“Here’s one for you”, though Ryan as he flipped the plane over and got a good burst in. Several pieces flew off the wings and fuselage of the British plane.
Figure: Turn 4.2
The spotter banked right but the escort was in Ryan’s sights. Another good burst. The Sopwith fired back but most of the bullets seemed to miss Ryan. Note: the photo shows a shot from the Sopwith spotter. That was a mistake I discovered later. I took the damage points back but it was too late to do anything about the rudder damage as I had gone past that point in the game. It probably meant Ryan missed a couple of shots on the Sopwiths.]
Figure: Turn 4.3
The Italian artillery shells were landing on target. Kelsey signalled Raoul that it was time to head home. Ryan moved the stick to bank left but the rudder wouldn’t respond. “What that….?”, cursed Ryan.
Figure: Turn 5.1
Not being able to follow the British machines, Ryan climbed and applied a full rudder in the opposite direction to yaw his aircraft around. “Too late for the battery”, he thought as he saw enemy shells land on target.
Figure: Turn 5.2
Ryan had thoughts of chasing the Britishers but he saw he’d not be able to catch them. “Ah well, Michael had told him to not approach the Front Lines.” He looked around and noticed the German Rumpler that had recently been assigned to their Flik being hounded by a SPAD. “Time for a wee bit of fun then!”, thought Ryan.
Figure: Turn 5.3
To be continued….
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Originally Posted by Flying Officer Kyte
to Andrea.
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