"Well there it is chaps", said Uncle, "The Hun has put a sausage up and is giving our chaps a hard time of it with his arty so I've had HQ on the blower asking us what we're going to do about it". He looked about the room.
"Well we're going to shoot it down, that's what" he continued. As the heads of the assembled men turned he raised a hand to quell them "I know, I know, the bally things are hard to put down but as luck would have it I was talking with my opposite number in an RNAS squadron whilst in town the other day and his mob have received some sort of incendiary round that they've been trying out with some success." He went on "Smoke tracers they call them. You see with our standard ammo, unless we are extremely lucky, all we can do is punch a few hundred holes in a gas bag and deflate the thing. With these incendiary rounds we might be able set the escaping gas on fire and improve our odds of burning one down, at least that's the idea."
"Anyway, I've had a word with him and he's agreed to send us a box to mix in with our standard stuff, there won't be enough for everyone so I'll issue it to one of you, they should be along this afternoon so after this get your kit ready and I'll notify the armourers."
"Right, I think Paine will have the specials, Gaither will be your escort, he's a decent shot, and Keye, we have our own sausage going up today so I want you to stooge about nearby in case the Hun has a go at it and provide cover for the others if they need it."
"One more thing, we are forbidden to use this ammunition against other aircraft or personnel so make sure you don't, and only fit the drums just before you attack - you'll have a spare drum of ordinary and an escort anyway.
I will issue each pilot with a written order authorising it's use just in case anyone goes down behind the lines and they try to make something of it."
Having left 2Lt Alan Keye behind them to act as sentinel on their balloon 2Lt Alistair Gaither in the DH2 with the cdl tail escorts 2Lt Cameron Paine towards their target.
Specks off to their left turn out to be Obltn Johannes Achilles in his all cdl Fokker E.III escorted by Ltn Otto Hengl in his striped E.III on their way to perform similar duties in similar manner as they - having left their comrade Ltn Willi Kieckhäfer to protect their balloon.
Some miscommunication during the approach to the balloon has Paine turning in as Gaither continues ahead
The Eagles manage it better than their adversaries, keeping a tight formation. Kieckhäfer is nervous as his leader is not renowned as a lucky pilot and close proximity increase the feeling
The Germans swing into the attack Achilles unleashing his first incendiary laced burst but to little effect other than no further encouragement needed to speed the crew on their way overboard.
The British do the same, Gaither fires a burst but momentarily blocks Paine's line of sight - rounds crackle about him from a ground based machine gun, unseen Kieckhäfer approaches from the far side as the attack begins.
Paine gets a sighter as he overlaps Gaither - the fizzing specials alarming as they pass close inboard
Achilles' luck begins to turn as he starts a fire on the Englander balloon with his second burst.
Hengl finally gets a shot as rounds from below snap past his cockpit
Gaither meets Kieckhäfer head on as they pass the balloon in opposite directions - guns roar and stop abruptly (Gaither's empty) but not before the young German is wounded. Meantime Paine pours in more specials.
As Keye chases them round the mulberry bush Achilles Immels and fires back into the balloon
The wounded German flies off losing height, guns jammed. Paine empties his first drum of specials as he hooks back into the balloon and Gaither has reloaded his empty gun
Achilles sends some rounds Keye's way but no harm done
Back around the mulberry bush, Keye immels and gets in behind Achilles - his shot damaging the German leader's engine. Ground fire is on target too but the gun jams immediately. Is his luck about to desert him ? Hard to tell.
Hengl scores at close range... as does Achilles .... The resultant explosion of the British balloon wreaks havoc on Hengl's machine and rocks both the others
The Bulldogs line up for a second run, meanwhile, for reasons best known to himself Kieckhäfer heads for the barn
As he brings his machine back under control Keye takes a shot from Hengl but gets another hit on Achilles machine himself
He forces the attack scoring again with his last rounds as the drum runs dry
Gaither jams his gun in his next burst; ...
Paine closes in, firing all the way until his gun empties
Then Woomf !
Keye frantically reloads as his prey dives away; Paine, his job done, reloads with a standard drum, Gaither looks for a victim... in the background Hengl limps away in his Bag blasted eindecker
Gaither sideslips in but fluffs the last shot in his drum.
Keye dives down on the eindecker
He opens up but his gun jams almost immediately as Paine finishes the job from the other side but he takes enough damage to force him to limp home with a dodgy motor
Butchers Tally:
Eagles:
Obltn Johannes Achilles: (Plain E.III) SD-FLM-FT-1 kill (Balloon)
Rolled 5 -2FLM = 3 - Injured Skip 1D6 scenarios. Rolled 4 = Skip 4
Ltn Otto Hengl: (Striped E.III) FRTB-D 0 kills
Ltn Willi Kieckhäfer: (Green E.III) RTB/WIA 0 kills
Rolled 6 -1WIA +1RTB = 6 - Injured Skip 1D3 scenarios. Rolled 1 = Skip 1
Balloon destroyed.
Bulldogs:
2Lt Cameron Paine: (All PC.10 DH.2) RTB 2 Kills
2Lt Alistair Gaither: (cdl Tail DH.2) RTB 0 kills
2Lt Alan Keye: (All cdl DH.2) RTB 0 kills
Balloon destroyed
Victory points:
Eagles:
10 points for Destroying Balloon
1 point for any enemy Fighter forced to return to base
Total 11
Bulldogs:
10 points for Destroying Balloon
2 points for enemy Fighter Shot Down
1 point for enemy Fighter forced to return to base
total 13
Bulldog victory.
Nice one Baz
Used my altitude rules, played 3 turn reloads on Lewis gun (anything else is lightweight), played in the AAMG with alt range rules when I had a clear shot - went for same method as solo AAA - hits on special damage on A deck, draw B for damage. Suitably ineffectual with one gun but multiple emplacements would be different.
Only thing that didn't work well for me was the gasbag guards were poorly positioned to stand any hope of an intercept before the attackers commenced their attack.
Messed up with the Green E.III - should not have FRTB but played over a couple of periods so he bugged out. Wouldn't have stopped the balloons destruction.
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