Episode 4 of Daring Young Men: The Italian Front
“I figli delle madri”
A Mikeemagnus Production
(https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...by-Mikeemagnus)
Starring:
Commander of Flik 55J bis (The Emperor’s Baby Squadron): Hauptmann Michael von Taaffe
Flying for Flik 55J bis
1. Leutnant Wolfgang von Augustin (Aviatik D.I – 2 guns)
2. Feldwebel Günter Neumann (Aviatik D.I – 1 gun on top of the upper wing)
3. Leutnant Ryan von Taaffe (Rumple C.IV)
Flying for the Italian Squadriglia Caccia (three pilots on the left)
1. Tenente Giacomo dei Ferreti (SPAD XIII)
2. Sottotenente Pietro Guzzoni (SPAD S.VII in silver blue)
3. Sottotenente Franco Romanelli (SPAD S.VII in camouflage)
Prologue
[Scene: the young and arrogant Austrian aristocrat, Wolfgang von Augustin is writing a letter at his desk in the Flik 55J bis aerodrome. A glass of schnapps is beside the letter.]
Voiceover:
My Dearest Sister,
I am writing to you because I must tell someone in the family about my extraordinary last mission yesterday. Do not breathe a word about it to mama and papa. I want it to be a surprise, but more about that later as I must tell the story in its proper order.
First, I must thank you for visiting me and my fellow pilot, Günter, in hospital. Fortunately, our wounds were merely a few bruises. Everyone says how fortunate I was with my plane exploding. They say I landed in a farmer’s haystack. Thank God for farmers.
I know that mama and papa have been quite worried about me since then. Perhaps they will be even more worried when they found out what happened yesterday. I hope they do not prevent me from flying. I cannot completely explain the feeling I have while flying. It is as if the machine and I are one thing and that the air is my natural abode. Perhaps one day I will be able to take you flying and that you might feel a little bit same as I do. We’ve always been two of the same nature as children.
But to start at the beginning as I promised…
Yesterday morning, our Hauptmann, Michael von Taaffe, came running into the ready room where Günter and I were playing a came of cards. Apparently his cousin, Ryan von Taaffe, had taken in to his head to go and bomb an enemy airfield near the front line. I could tell you many stories of the antics of our dear Ryan. The Hauptmann says that Ryan is making his hair turn grey, but rest of us in the Flik quite enjoy Ryan with his tales and high spirits. Ryan took one of the German Rumplers with a few bombs. He did not have an observer to man the rear machine gun and no one was sure if his pilot’s gun was armed either. He was probably completely defenseless. The our observers on the front lines had reported his flight path and very likely he was soon to be returning chased by many enemy aeroplanes.
The Hauptmann ordered Günter and I to take two of the new Aviatiks and rescue Ryan.
“Bring him back alive….or dead…er, no, alive. Onkel would never forgive me”, said our exasperated commander.
I must say that I had a shock when I saw which of the aeroplanes the Hauptmann was assigning to each of us. Günter was to fly the newer Aviatik which had two machine guns while I was to fly the older one with just one machine gun on top of the upper wing.
I protested to our commander, “But I am an officer! Should I not have the newer Aviatik.”
However, our Hauptmann gave me a very stern look – like Opa used to give us when we were naughty children, and replied, “Times are changing, young Wolfgang. Show me that you can use one gun first and not your usual antics of flying through clouds as if you were a bird.”
I saw the hurt look on Günter’s face and was instantly sorry as I have become quite fond of my dear wingman. It all came out of me without a thought. Next time I will try to do better.
A Commercial Break here
[Commentary: Any bad translations to a native Italian speaker makes this even better as it is completely in the tradition of bad subtitles used by low budget films – and even some high budget films. The planes were chosen mostly because I had not used these ones, but it seemed a good mix. The only real difference was that in the original OTT-DYM 4 scenario the ‘bomber’ has no forward machine gun while the Rumpler does. In the event the Rumpler never had a chance to fire its forward gun so I left it ambiguous as to whether or not it had bullets. The other question how far back to place the Rumpler. The original scenario has a slower plane so I placed the Rumpler as far into the NML mat as I could and still allow room for the pursuing airplanes. Other than that it worked pretty well as a 1917 Italian Front scenario.]
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