The Fokker Eindecker had begun to dominate the air over the trenches in the summer of 1915.
By the winter of 1915-16 they had struck fear into airmen flying for the RFC and Aéronautique Militaire, with most of the Fokkers’ RFC victims being the reconnaissance aircraft BE.2c, while the French offered up various Voisin, Farman and Caudron targets.
This period is often referred to as The Fokker Scourge.
The German Eindeckers were so successful that the RFC changed their tactics for observation aircraft, requiring three escorts for each.
This severely limited the number of reconnaissance missions that could be flown in support of the army, for both photographs of enemy formations and assistance with artillery spotting.
That situation was about to change, first with the arrival of the Nieuport 11, which started to arrive for French units in January 1916.
The Nieuport had a single Hotchkiss or Lewis machine gun mounted on the upper wing.
The RFC had had to satisfy their needs with the Bristol Scout C, with its inherent machine gun mounting issues,
or castoff French Morane-Saulnier N type, which, although similar to the Eindecker, did not have the same success.
One can only imagine how The Fokker Scourge may have played out had not the German High Command dictated that the Fokkers were not to cross into enemy held territory. Virtually all of the victories were achieved over German lines in defensive attacks
The British decided to use that to their own advantage, and on February 5th, 1916, sent out several groups of their new answer to the E.III, the
De Havilland DH.2, a “pusher” aircraft similar in design to the Fe.2b two-seater that had shown some success against the Fokkers.
The DH.2 was a single seat biplane with a forward-firing Lewis gun which allowed the pilot to “aim” with his aircraft.
The DH.2 had sensitive controls, and at a time when service training for pilots in the RFC was very poor, it initially had a high accident rate, gaining the nickname "The Spinning Incinerator", but as familiarity with the type increased, it was recognized as very maneuverable and relatively easy to fly.
The rear-mounted rotary engine made the DH.2 easy to stall, but also made it highly maneuverable.
The Adler Eindecker pilots are going to learn all about that today.
This mission entails one such DH.2 excursion over No Man’s Land to German territory.
The idea was to draw out the Eindeckers and wipe them from the sky, enabling the BE.2c to carry out their duties unopposed.
Twenty-four years later, during the Battle of Britain, the German Luftwaffe would use this same strategy. It was known as a ‘fighter sweep’.
There will be two pairs of DH.2 and two pairs of E.III to oppose them.
(If you do not have these aircraft use whatever you have that was available in February 1916.)
Place the No Man’s Land Map joining a Countryside map on the long edges as shown. If you do not have these particular maps, any of similar size will suffice, but treat the middle of the Left map and west as “No Man’s Land” for C&W/E&E purposes. The rest of the map is German territory.
One pair of Eindeckers are approaching No Man’s Land, hoping to begin a circuitous route searching for enemy reconnaissance aircraft.
They will be placed 1-1/2 rulers in from the south edge, heading west, ½ rule from the join.
The second pair of Eindeckers is heading south over the German trench line.
They are returning from an uneventful sortie, at roughly the center of the map, ½ ruler from the join, staggered slightly as shown.
Consequently, these two aircraft will have limited fuel. At the end of Turn 5 they must attempt to exit from the closest edge of the Countryside mat.
Their first move in Turn 6 must be plotted accordingly, even if currently engaged
A pair of DH.2 are positioned as shown, one ruler from the west edge of the NML mat, a bit more than one ruler from the closest E.III
The Eindeckers are just out of range of the Entente aircraft.
The second pair of DH.2 are positioned as shown, one ruler from the South edge and 1-1/2 rulers from the west edge, separated by ½ ruler.
If using altitude, place all Entente aircraft one level higher than the Germans.
Your objective is to defeat all enemy aircraft.
If at least three Entente aircraft are still functional when the ‘short of fuel’ Eindeckers have left the table, the German player may bring in a reinforcement.
Place this aircraft along the center line of the Countryside map using a random 6-sided die roll to determine position across the map.
The example shows placement after a roll of 3
If the only remaining German aircraft are in the process of leaving the battle there will be no reinforcement.
Victory Points
3 points for each enemy aircraft shot down.
1 point for each enemy aircraft forced to retire*.
*This does not include forced to retire due to lack of fuel.
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