PROLOGUE
Well Vagabond we’re all pleased to see you back but as you know things have been a little sticky round here lately, C Flight is down to myself, Henry De Lacy and Frank, my observer. You probably don’t remember Frank Lawless, but you must remember the Balloon’s on your first sortie when you joined the Squadron and we were shot down. Yes I knew you’d remember, well he was wounded and taken prisoner but managed to escape and I picked him up in Hunland on my way back from that last raid, crikey we were way over the other side of the lines on that one, I didn’t think we’d make it back, but there you go, we did.
Anyway with you back we are up to 3 pilots and 1 Observer, it’s a good job we can call on B flight when we need to but for this job 3 planes should do.
That’s Drummond my Flight Commander giving me my welcome back speech after my stint of 3 weeks in the field hospital. I have to say I’d rather hoped to get my kit bag unpacked followed by a drink in the Mess to catch up on all the news since I’ve been away but I guess that’s not going to happen.
I’d heard about his daring rescue and we all expected he would get a gong for it but it seemed MID was all he was going to get. Sometimes life is just so unfair.
Anyway he continued it seems the Germans are having a big push to make some more inroads into the French positions south of us, roughly opposite St Proud’s squadron, they’ve been having a tough time of it and have asked the CO if we can help out a little.
I guess we must have a spy in the German camp because we know they are going to send a few planes to take some up to date pictures of the area to help with the next attack and of course our job is to stop them. I don’t think we have accurate information on which specific fortification they will attack and so we are going to fly up and down the lines and the French will fire a red flare to signal where the enemy planes are and we just fly to the flare and shoot their planes down. It sounds simple enough but there again it always does sound simple to the Wallah’s at HQ.
Well we take off in 30min so you had better get your kit on and I’ll give the briefing in 15, see you by the hangers and with that he was gone.
You may remember my flying kit includes a big sheepskin jacket to keep me warm and a suit of metal plates to keep me safe. After my last mission 4 weeks ago when I got shot in the leg, an area the suit didn’t cover my father in his infinite wisdom had mail leggings sent out and General Melchert my God Father has requested a complete written report on how it all performs. It seems he is only interested in me if I get shot!
Fifteen minutes later I was kitted and ready for the briefing, with 3 pilots and only 1 Observer I was wondering if I would be flying a Morane or my old FE2b with Frank Lawless riding shotgun.
Right started Drummond, we have 2 DH2’s and a FE2b available to us, I’m taking Frank with me and you two will have the DH2’s. I looked aghast, I’d not even seen a DH2 before let alone flown one. Don’t worry Vagabond, Drummond went on, Henry is quite familiar with the new plane and he’ll run through all you need to know in 5 minutes. I continued to look aghast.
Don’t bring it back in the same state as you did Gladys was his final words as he strode off to see Uncle before we left.
This is my 4th mission and following Flying Helmets ideas on Rookies on my 4th mission I am a fully capable pilot, - yes I know. So once Henry had given me my briefing on the DH2 I asked him about Immelmann turns, the one thing I hadn’t mastered yet and he explained all I needed to know, seems easy enough – if you get it right.
Watch out the next Hun that gets in my way.
LOG
The German planes were approaching the target when the balloon went up, well you know what I mean, the flare went up. The French must have been asleep though as they only fired the flare on the third turn and the Reconnaissance planes were almost at the target.
With true Teutonic thoroughness they had a flight plan worked out. The escorting scouts would break outwards in a 180’ turn, you can see that happening here. Then the Albatros CI with the Blue Griffon insignia would turn inwards and 2 phases later the one with the Red Unicorn insignia would also turn inwards both doing 180’ turns and that should ensure they were both able to take photo’s of the area around the fort as well as double photos of the fort and not collide or impede each other, then get the hell out of there.
I am flying the Recce planes, everyone else is Dave’s AI until the photos have been taken and at that point I’ll revert to being 2nd Lt Vagabond RFC and then woe betide the Hun.
Finally on turn 5 the 1st RFC planes arrive, by this time the only photos that need taking are one more of the central objective and the outside ones once. The RFC had a fairly lucky arrival point and should cut off the Recce planes before they get too far on their way home, they’ve not started to turn yet and these XD turns are pretty sedate.
I was following Henry’s lead, trying to keep close to his port wing but not too close and I can see the Albatros with the blue Griffon marking is starting his turn to run back over the target. We need to close the distance quickly because their planes are almost as fast as ours and we will have the devil of a job to catch them once they are headed home. The big problem was going to be the escorts, no one mentioned escorts, they didn’t normally send the Fokker Elll’s over our side of the lines, so this must be important to their High Command.
We will just have to ignore them to get our job done and hope to keep out of their way long enough to stay alive.
Looking over my shoulder I can see the fawn E111 has curled around us but Drummond in the FE2 has arrived, following almost directly behind us and bullets fly through the air, fortunately none at me.
Lawless on his first flight for 6 weeks has lost none of his skill and plants bullets in the E111 but his gun jams.
I can see Henry is shooting lumps out of the Griffon Albatros, and luckily for me the Observer is too busy taking pictures to man his gun and shoot in my direction.
Drummond in the FEE turns to port and looses position on the E111, Henry and I continue our attack and I get off a quick shot at the Red Unicorn Albatros and see the Observer slump over his gun.
Both E111’s are behind us and in a good position to defend the Griffon Albatros and help him get away.
The Unicorns Observer recovers quickly and pours lead into my machine, I don’t think he’s done too much damage, certainly he missed me and the engine is still going so that’s all good.
In the distance I can see a mixed brawl going on.
Henry is trying to get behind the Griffon but has come into range of both the Albatros and the Fokker however it looks like they can’t shoot for toffee. The Blue Fokker just misses a mid air collision with the Griffon, so much for Teutonic efficiency now. The Griffons Observer has to leave the gun and get ready for the next photograph.
This is me preparing to do my 1st Immelmann turn and return to the fight.
I do a clumsy flat Immelmann turn and see Henry getting shot to pieces by the fawn Fokker and his DH2 bursts into flame. I was expecting to be able to get a shot at the Albatros but my poor turning technique means he is well out of range.
I can’t see this but the Griffon takes his last photograph.
At the same time the blue Fokker fires at Drummond for a second time and his plane starts to issue black smoke, possibly an oil pipe leak but not as bad as Henry’s fire which looks serious.
Fortunately the pusher engine means the smoke is all behind them and Lawless having un-jammed his Lewis gun is firing at the Griffon, who not to be out done is firing back. He has taken all his photographs and just needs to return to base for a successful mission. The red Unicorn has taken another photograph and just needs to get one more of the central target to complete his mission as well.
At this point Henry takes 2 damage from the fire and is starting to think it might be too late to put it out with his evasive flying.
The red Unicorn takes his final photograph as both Drummond and Henry De Lacy open fire on the lead blue Griffon Albatros.
I’m just an observer at this point I’m so far away from the action.
As this is one of the very few photos I’ve managed to take that are clear and in focus I had to show the Unicorn Albatros taking it’s last photograph of the target fortification.
This is the result of Henry and Lawless firing on the Griffon Albatros, the FE gets a fist full of lead but Lawless misses completely as does Henry De Lacy.
The next phase it is a completely different story, the return fire from the Griffon turns Drummonds smoking engine into a ball of flame and his plane falls from the sky.
As he goes down they must both be thinking Oh no – Not again.
Both Elll’s have turned to escort the Recce planes home, each has taken a full set of photographs and the only thing standing in their way is Henry, I’m a long way from the action but at this point I relinquish control of the Albatros planes and become my alter ego 2nd Lt John Vagabond. I pull my underpants over my trousers and become Super Pilot.
I can see that Henry in spite of his plane being a ball of flame is still continuing to attack the Griffon and he hits the pilot and shoots great big holes in the plane, eventually it cants forward and in a long slow, shallow dive hits the ground, destroying all the photographic plates, however he also takes more damage from the Griffon before it goes down.
The Griffon has bitten the dust.
1 Kill to Henry.
Pulling a shallow turn to the right Henry whilst burning brightly and taking more damage from the fire (3pts) is also on target for the blue Fokker, he opens fire but the flames are obviously distracting him and his shots are wide of the mark.
I have finally got my act together and am chasing after the remaining Recce plane but there are 2 Elll’s in my way.
The ruler is just to show the distance I am behind him.
I’m still chasing it but the fawn Fokker has closed with me, we fire at each other and do significant damage because of the close range, it’s enough to send the Elll scurrying homeward. Henry seems to be in a flat turn, maybe just trying to reduce the effect of the fire.
The Unicorn is getting away as the blue Fokker closes on me.
Henry has been jinking about trying to put the fire out, he has taken a further 4 pts of damage but has finally succeeded and the fire is out. He then receives a hail of lead from the fawn Elll which starts the fire going again, this is too much for his plane and it falls gracefully to the ground, however he has shot the pilot of the Elll and done sufficient damage to cause it to dive down to the ground as well.
2nd kill to Henry (if he’s not dead this is a good result for him)
You can see that I nearly collided with the blue Fokker, my card is underneath it, but as they say “nearly is good enough” and we both survive this near miss.
Just an overview to show what is happening at this point. 4 planes crashed, the Red Unicorn on the right streaking for home, me giving chase and the blue Fokker on the left facing the wrong way and not able to intervene until later.
In spite of the altercation I’m still after the Red Unicorn and this is to show how far behind I am.
I continue to chase but my plane is just not fast enough to catch him before I have to turn back. Boo Hiss.
I turn back and the blue Fokker is in front of me. This is the 1st time I’ve only had two planes on the table and one is controlled by me and the other by Dave, usually if I’m controlling a plane it’s more of a general melee but this time it’s one on one, mano a mano.
Well - come on Dave – let’s see what you’ve got!!!!
I do a wide sideslip to the left, Dave stalls – humm I didn’t expect that, we both fire, bugger he’s hit my engine, I can hear it banging and vibrating like the devils own collecting tin, but I’m not done yet.
The left side slip is the first of a fancy three part move and now I hang a fast right turn, he’s right in front of me.
But he jinked right, any other move and I would have had him cold but the cunning bugger is just too close for me to shoot.
You can see that if the plane is on the arrow it will overlap my stand, hells teeth I thought I had him then but I’m not done.
I continue right and I’m just behind him, out of angle but next turn he’s dead meat. This was such a sweet move of mine, I should have had him dead and do you know who taught me this move, of course it was Dave’s AI taught it to me, although when he did it, my plane got shot to pieces, it’s good to pay him back, well it would have been good if he hadn’t been so trixy, but I’m not done yet.
That’s it, he’s dead, I do a turn to starboard, I have him cold, on a plate but, noooooo my gun jammed, he’s gone straight, he’s going to Immel, oh no I’m in deep deep trouble. Hell and dishwater, then I realise I have the bullet checker attribute. So I’m not done yet.
I’m not a big fan of attributes in games, it always seems an unrealistic gamey sort of thing and so I’ve never used them except in the first game in this campaign, so I have a moral dilemma, do I try and overturn the jam and kill him or not and risk getting killed. I ignored it.
I stall - so I would have got my second shot in, the one that would have seen him fall from the sky, in flames at least, but my gun’s jammed, he Immeled, his gun is not jammed and I take damage, not too much thank goodness. I think I might be done now.
We fly past each other and all I can do it give him the V for victory sign, what do I do now. A duff engine and I have more damage than he does, yep I’m in serious trouble, the next set of moves will decide it.
I elect to get as far away as possible and hang a left, in this situation he’s either going to go right, left or Immel, 2 out of 3 see me in serious trouble, fortunately the dice decide he will also go left and we end up quite a long way apart. Whew, I breath a sigh of relief. Definitely done now.
The German mission is over, it was a success, pictures taken and returned home, the blue Fokker follows the Albatros back to the field and I go home too, grateful to have survived an encounter with the dreaded Dave D8 AI, although I was sure I had him there, for one moment I was sure.
Well Paul(Tikkifriend) that started off as quite a pedestrian affair, most of the photographs were taken before the RFC even arrived, but it turned into one of my most desperate fights yet. As you can see I only used 4 German and 3 British planes, I could have managed the full numbers but would have had to draft in new pilots and I knew I would be a bit tight for time, a cracking game, thanks a lot.
I just need some good dice for my guys to survive but at least we’re in friendly territory. Does that make the ground softer?
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