Prequel
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Professor Randolph Simmerson dragged himself up the strip of beach & rolled himself onto his back. His clothes soggy on his bony frame.
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Glancing to his right he made out his Laboratory Assistant Jack Johnson laying on the beach some yards away. So he thought, they had both survived.
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No thanks to that hamfisted deckhand who had managed to blow the stern off the trawler they were using for his mine experiments. Well he hoped the wireless operator had managed to get an SOS away before the ship sank beneath him. Still they had better get into shelter, dry their clothes & hopefully await rescue. He had to protect the knowledge of his experiments.
Many miles away at Bentangles Aerodrome there was much joy in the C Flights officers mess as the previous evening they had welcomed back from wound leave 2nd Lt "Dusty" Rhodes the popular Australian scout pilot who looked fit & rested after his convalescence in Blighty.
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The door of the mess opened & Uncle stepped purposefully into the room. "Listen up Chaps!" "We have a bit of a flap on, seems some damned fool Scientist has managed to blow himself & a trawler up during an experiment & GHQ needs to rescue him & his knowledge ASAP. They don't know if the jolly old Hun has got wind of whats happened but we need to get there first & rescue him & any one else but he is of the most importance".
"Now I want "Lofty" Hill our most experienced 2 seat pilot to fly the FE with Sgt Stark as escort & a follow up flight of a BE, in case of another survivor & Dusty if you are up to it you can fly as its escort" .
"YES SIR!" replied Dusty with enthusiasm "Cant wait to get back into the air. Who will be flying the BE?" Uncle replied "I think I will send one of our new chaps, 2nd Lt Jonathon Downton, he can fly the BE with the oblique firing wing mounted Lewis gun. That way he has the ability to defend himself if it comes to trouble. It should be a bit of a milk run if the Hun dose not interfere!" "I will give you the map references. There is a beach that apparently can be used as a landing & take off strip at low tide but you need to watch for the change of tide!" "Now go & get kitted up & be off as quickly as you can." "I have already arranged for your aircraft to be fueled & armed".
The Mission
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Soon after the 4 aircraft took off in line astern & headed towards the coast where the castaways had landed.
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Unknown to the Allied pilots the Germans had indeed picked up on the SOS transmission & their own rescue mission had been mounted led by Oblt Helmet Dahlmann flying an Albatross C.III with the new Eagles Staffel Fuehrer Oblt Caul-Auguest Schwartz in his CDL coloured Fokker E.III followed by Ltn Julius Gilly in an Aviatik accompanied by Ltn Richard Arntzen in a Grey E.III.
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The faster British planes had pulled ahead of the slow BE 2c & as Lofty Hill turned the big FE to make a landing approach the 2 DH-2's turned towards the approaching German aircraft which had appeared off to their Port side.
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The German Fokkers had also turned to engage the approaching British scouts as their 2 seaters made for the coast. Dusty drew first blood with a good burst into Schwartz's E.III.
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As Lofty dived the FE & eased back on the throttle of the Beardmore engine Brandon Stark tried a long distance shot at Arntzen's Fokker but caused no damage.
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A general melee now occurred with Sgt Stark getting a close burst into Swartz but without causing much damage. Swartz was just out of arc to return the favour. Dusty Rhodes hit the Aviatik causing it to omit black smoke but in return got hit by Arntzen's fire as he performed an immlemann turn.
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Stark fired at the Albatross as it approached the beach only to have his Lewis gun jamb at the pull of the trigger. Dusty again hit the Aviatik this time damaging its rudder & avoided damage from another burst from the grey Fokker.
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While all this action was going on in the air things had been happening down on the beach. As he pulled up at the end of his landing Lofty Hill saw 2 figures run from behind the rocks at the end of the beach. One wearing a bedraggled suit & tie & the other in casual gear.They waved frantically & Lofty shouted over the sound of the ideling engine "Quick! help turn the plane around". The suited man yelled back.
" I am Professor Simmerson! It is vital to get me to safety!" "My assistant can wait for another aircraft". Lofty called back "Climb aboard as soon as we are facing for takeoff, There is another aircraft coming"
With the Professor safely aboard he opened the throttle of the powerful Beardmore engine & proceeded to climb from the sand. He immediately banked the FE & headed for safety as fast as the aircraft could fly keeping just enough height above the ocean.
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Oblt, Dahlman had skillfully landed the Albatross as Johnson had watched fearfully from the rocks recognising the black crosses on the German plane. Dahlman shouted "Achtung" accentuating the command with a shot from his Luger pistol. Johnson hesitated before another shot just above his head & a shouted "Niene!"convinced him to cooperate.
At the point of the pistol he helped turn the Albatross & climbed into the second cockpit.
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Jonathon Downton flying the BE saw his landing attempt thwarted by the Albatross opened up on it with the oblique firing wing mounted Lewis but caused no damage.
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Above the beach Stark & Schwartz exchanged shots with neither causing damage. They then narrowly avoided a collision.
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As the Albatross commenced its take off Downton tried another burst but again no damage resulted.
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By now the FE had successfully reached the safety of the British lines & Professor Simmerson breathed a huge sigh of relief giving no thought to his assistants situation.
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By this time both the British & German Scouts had reached the limit of their fuel reserves & reluctantly turned for home.
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As he turned for home Brandon Stark had one last chance to stop the Albatross from escaping with the British Lab Assistance but although he hit the German aircraft it was not enough to shoot it down & with his Lewis empty he could olly watch the German Aircraft fly off into the distance as he eased the DH-2 back to its home aerodrome.
Comments & Observations
Well that was a bit of fun & something different!
I actually managed to land both the Fee & the Albatross successfully. The BE was just too slow compared to both German 2 seaters to allow me to snatch Johnson to safety.
I used Dave's D8 charts & all 2 seaters commenced at Level 3 whilst the escorting scouts were at level 4.
Surprisingly no Fire, Wounds or explosions were drawn but we did get a gun jamb.
I guess with both sides capturing a castaway it would be a Draw although the goodies got the more important person.
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