OTT Daring Young Men – Mission 4. “Some Mothers do ‘ave ‘em”. January 27th 1916
Historical Background
Since the end of the Battle of Loos in October 1915, before which the Entente had had air superiority, the Central Powers gradually wrested that air superiority back to themselves, largely through the use of the Fokker Eindecker, with its apparent ability to dive “almost vertically” from a great height advantage and its synchronised machine gun, able to fire through a rotating propeller without damaging it.
Britain, in particular, had been trying to answer this problem by reinforcing the RFC in large numbers (also in preparation for the Somme Offensive planned for later in 1916). On October 19th 1915, 13 Squadron arrived in France with their RAF BE2c’s; followed by 18 squadron on the 19th November with “Vickers Fighters”; 9 Squadron on December 20th with BE2c’s; and 15 Squadron also with BE2c’s on 23rd December. Then, in January 1916, on the 23rd, two more squadrons arrived – numbers 20 and 21 with RAF FE2b’s and RE 7’s respectively. This then was the position at the end of January 1916.
There were yet more to come, so that from a total of 12 squadrons present in France following the end of the Battle of Loos, the number rose to 27 Squadrons by the 1st July 1916. But our mission takes place on 27th January 1916. Preparations for the Somme Offensive were on going and the German attack before that, in February, on a nine mile front along the banks of the river Meuse, opposite Verdun, was not expected!
The mission
Your squadron / staffeln has only been at the front a matter of a few weeks. Enemy scouts are operating either singly or in loose knit groups, with little or no planned coordination between them. They just appear randomly over the front line and have been playing havoc with your reconnaissance and photography aircraft. A situation which the crews of such aircraft are complaining about bitterly. In recognition of this problem, orders from on high now make it necessary for reconnaissance aircraft to be escorted at all times. (Assume this to be so for both sides, although historically it only applied to the Entente.)
However, after returning from an early morning patrol, during which not a single enemy aircraft has been seen, one of your less salubrious flight members, a scout pilot, who thinks he has spotted what looks like a small forward airfield belonging to the enemy, apparently unprotected by anything other than one beaten up looking out of date two seater, just the other side of nomans land, decides to go solo against it. So, without further ado, informing nobody of his intentions, he has a two seater bombed up and sets off on his own, with no observer and otherwise completely unarmed, to put a few holes in the airfield and demolish the ancient bus, if he can. Oh dear, some mothers do ‘ave ‘em!
Just as he is lifting off the ground, with his fellow flight members wondering what the heck he’s up to and his flight leader endeavouring to turn the local air blue with fury, Uncle/Onkle came rushing from his office, waving the above mentioned orders from HQ, relating to escorting reconnaisance aircraft. After a heated exchange between Uncle/Onkle and said flight leader, the only other available aircraft, two of them, are sent off in pursuit, to escort the rebel to wherever he is going and to bring him back again, preferably in one piece.
Inevitably, when they eventually catch up, they find him under attack!
Equipment:
1. Two mats, one of them preferably Nomans Land (Or similar sized play area).
2. One friendly “rebel” two seater – RAF BE2c or similar if Entente; LVG C type or similar, if Central Powers.
3. Two friendly support aircraft, chosen from those available at the time*.
4. Three enemy aircraft, chosen from those available at the time*.
*The choice of aircraft, other than the rebel two seater, is yours entirely, providing they were available at the time. However, they may not be armed with more than one machine gun and you are asked to keep in mind that Fokker E types are forbidden to cross over Nomans Land, so if you wish to use these, play them as a substitute for a similar mono-plane, if you have no other model, or find a reason why you broke the rules
Initial placement:
With the two mats placed long side to long side, your starting position, for the unarmed two seater, is one half ruler distance into nomans land (farthest away from his home base) from the centre position of the line joining the two mats, to the leading edge of the model’s base, heading for the far edge of the friendly map, as if running for home as fast as it can go (See photo).
From here on the rebel two seater is flown with a reduced AI deck, consisting of three straights, two stalls, two left turns and two right turns. Shuffle these and deal them in threes, for two turns, then shuffle the deck and start again, repeating each two turns. Do not permit the rebel two seater to fly off the side edges of the play area (substitute cards where necessary).
Two enemy aircraft are placed randomly to bounce the rebel. There are five possible positions around the rebel, measuring one full range stick, base to base, from each position (see photo). Number these one to six, as shown, and then use a D6 to place each of the enemy aircraft N.B. Throw one D6 per enemy aircraft (in my example the throws were 1 and 4. The enemy are then placed to directly face the rebel who is already nearly in range of both.
Two friendly aircraft are approaching. Flying in whatever formation you like, providing they are within one half range measure of each other, base edge to base edge (and at least one of them is in base contact with the edge of the mat), they are placed randomly along the long edge of the friendly mat not in contact with the second mat and heading towards the centre of the play area. (See possible example in photo).
If you are playing altitude rules, all friendly aircraft begin at the same altitude, whilst enemy aircraft are one peg higher. Please therefore be careful when setting up, to ensure this is possible.
The third enemy scout will appear at the beginning of turn three at the same starting altitude as that for his peers. Divide the centre line, between the two mats, into six and throw a D6 to randomly place this third enemy scout at the appropriate place facing the nearest opposition aircraft.
Objectives: Enemy - Offensive patrol, to shoot down all EA if possible.
Friendly – rescue the rebel and then head home.
Victory points:
The unarmed two seater is SD = 1 point to the enemy.
The unarmed two seater makes it off the friendly edge = 1 point to friendly side.
Any other aircraft shot down = 2 points to its enemy.
Any other aircraft leaving/forced to leave the area, for whatever reason, whilst enemy are present, = 1 point to its enemy.
NB Since the rebel pilot, who takes it into his head to break the rules and go solo, will undoubtedly be severely repremanded, if he survives, you are advised that this pilot will automatically be grounded for the following three mission. I leave it to Uncle to decide whether or not this should be cumulative with other possible reasons to skip missions.
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