OTT DYM Mission 9 - Timing is Everything - 6th March 1916 - Gully_raker

[gully_raker]

Both the Officers & the enlisted mens Messes of C Flight were not happy places!
Uncle had outlined the special mission for tomorrow & had detailed to two bomber crews & 2nd Lt. Jon Snow to fly a DH-2 as escort.
"Another bloody Tunnel to try to destroy" grumbled John Downton. "look at the shambles the last one was!" "Sadly I agree" said the C Flight commander Lt Reg Fife-Brand "cost us some good Aircrew not to mention the 3 Aircraft lost". "However ours is to Do or Die & HQ have impressed on Uncle the top priority this job needs to be done. The jolly old Hun has a free rein bringing in supplies & men by train & storing them in the safety of the tunnel. One spot of good news is that the Weather chaps have forecast heavy cloud cover in that area which may be a blessing or might make your mission damn hard. Its in the lap of the Gods!" "Now have an early night as you need to be off at 0630 in the morning" "Good Luck!"

Early next morning the Flights FE 2b flown by John Downton & crewed by AM2 Max Abbey & a Be 2c flown by 2nd Lt "Taffy" Evans accompanied by AM3 Harold Entwhistle. Both these crews had been transferred in from another Squadron following the losses from the last disastrous attempt to bomb the other end of the tunnel. John Snow took off in the DH-2 & followed the slower bombers towards the target area. They had been briefed to use compass bearings to locate the target if indeed the area was blanketed with cloud.

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As they flew into enemy territory they saw a large bank of clouds before them.

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Unseen by our pilots two German Fokker E.III's were patrolling the target area. Ltn Kurt Rudiger in a CDL coloured plane & Ltn Gerherd Bruning in a green painted aircraft.

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Checking their compass bearings the 3 allied pilots flew into the cloud mass.

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"Bloudy Hell" cursed Taffy Evans in a heavy Welsh accent. "Hoow is a mon supposed to find a railroad track in this pea soup" Harry Entwhistle called back " Trust to luck & providence is all we can do!"
Jon Snow had headed off to the Starboard side of the flight to see if vision was any better on that side when suddenly a hole opened in front of them & the silence was shattered by the bark of a German Flack gun which had spotted the FE through the break in the Clouds. Fortunately the shot went astray & Lt Downton spotted the Railway line & turned towards the target.

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There below them was a train making its way towards the target. The green Fokker could not see the British aircraft through the clouds although he had heard the sound of the flack gun.
Both British aircraft prepared for their bombing runs on the tunnel.

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On the other side the DH-2 & Ltn Rudiger's Fokker suddenly spied each other but both of their hurried shots missed.

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The FE's bomb fell slightly short of the tunnel but caused considerable damage.
The BE's aim was spot on & its bomb hit right into the tunnel mouth.
Aware of the closeness of the BE Downton opened the throttle of the Fee's Beardmore engine & pulled the control stick back hard to climb away from a possible collision.

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Suddenly all hell broke loose as the Flack gun again opened fire & the FE was too close to miss. A large hole appeared in the lower port wing & 2 struts were cracked.

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As the heavily damaged bomber climbed it was presented with a perfect shot at Ltn Rudiger's Fokker which came under attack from Jon Snow's DH-2 at the same time. Snow saw the German pilot flinch in the cockpit but did not know if it was his shots that caused the wound. As it turned out it was Max Abbeys burst that wounded the German Pilot.

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As the stunned Rudiger continued to circle, Snow took another shot at the German aircraft but did little damage.
The damaged Fee headed back towards base as quickly as the damage allowed.

Snow & the BE also disengaged & flew towards home base with the knowledge of a job completed & for once without loss of either aircrew or aircraft.
Both German Fokkers also returned safely to their aerodrome leaving the train marooned on the line with the tunnel destroyed.

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Observations & Comments

Well that was done more quickly than I thought it would take.
It was very fiddly trying to move the "hole" without disturbing the AA & Flack cards. Also trying to balance & move the aircraft on & through the clouds.
I was surprised that only the one Flak gun was unmasked by the hole. I flew all aircraft at Level 4 so the Machine guns would not have been effective even if unmasked.
However it was an interesting Mission to fly so thanks Sam.
I decided not to try to destroy the train but concentrate on the main object of the mission to destroy the tunnel.
I made one mistake which you might have noticed. It the excitement of the moment I played a dive card for the Fee instead of the climb but as the intention was to climb I left it & recorded it that way.

RESULT

British Victory!
Tunnel Destroyed = 10 points

German forces Nil points.