OTT CYM - Mission 1 - Back To Front - July 5th 1916 - teaticket
ObLtn Konrad Dahl roused up the Eagles for their first pre-flight briefing since the Jasta was pulled out of the line for a rest. It had been a restful month off and then half a month to set up a new aerodrome, a luxury of time they will not see again. Not a lot of flying time had been lost though as the weather in this sector had not been the best for flying.
“Nice to see you all looking strong and rested. It will be good to get up in the air again and back in business”.
The briefing room was packed, not all had a seat as the new aerodrome was not as spacious or as well equipped as the last. Four of the Eagles had to stand at the back of the room for lack of seating. Lothar Ochs, Paul Wolff, Alfred Müller and Hans Pfieffer leaned against the back wall.
Konrad went on, “We have some new aircraft in our hangar for your approval. Seems the enemy’s new biplanes that have an edge on our eindeckers have sparked designers back home to make some of our own doppeldeckers. We have a new Fokker biplane that has high hopes. It is designated as the a D.I.
We also have a special eindecker with a second machine gun”.
Paul nudged Lothar so that he loses his balance. He doesn’t fall but there is enough of a distraction as he regains his balance to stop Konrad from speaking. Not the least embarrassed but more amused, Lother sees that all eyes are on him and quips, “At least in our planes we’ll have a seat, our new planes do have seats, ja”?
Everyone laughs but Konrad. He just shakes his head while smiling at Lothar.
“Yes, our new planes do have seats. Just make sure you don’t get shot in your’s”, Konrad quickly replied to more laughter.
“Seriously, these new planes should be carefully evaluated in real combat. Paul, Lothar, you decide which you will fly”. Konrad gives the new birds to two of his better pilots.
“I’ll be flying with you to observe them myself. Let’s hope they live up to expectations”.
As soon as the mission briefing is over Paul, quick as ever, bolts out the door to get his choice of the new planes. Lothar tries to catch him but Hans is in the doorway first. Lothar gets past Hans but not before Paul is out of sight already in the hangar.
As Lothar rounds the hangar opening, he sees Paul already sitting in a plane.
“I should have known”, Lothar points a finger at Paul sitting in the double machine gun eindecker.
Paul chuckles, “You are twice the flyer I am so you obviously should have twice the wings”.
Konrad and Hans finally arrive and get ready as the blackmen prepare their eindeckers.
Konrad offers Paul his old Fokker but Paul with exaggerated politeness declines the offer. He really likes the idea of two machine guns.
So Konrad mounts the grey Fokker, Paul the new E.IV, Hans the reliable Pfalz and Lothar the new D.I.
Since this is an evaluation flight, Konrad leads them on a patrol looking to pick a fight.
The French have been busy patrolling over the lines so Konrad was confident they would get to test out the new planes. Soon three French Nieuports are spotted.
They also spot the Germans and turn to meet them.
Paul gets off his first burst with the twins. Not being used to the E.IVs being slightly nose heavy his rounds pass beneath the Frenchman.
Noyer fires back but fails to find his target.
Lothar turns to get out from behind Paul with Hans following.
Lothar and Noyer line up on each other but neither have any joy of watching tracers fly into the enemy.
Lother and Noyer both pull off to unjam their weapons and are fired upon while doing so. Allard misses Lother and Hans has the same fate as Lother with silent guns.
With four different planes to ready, did the blackmen mistake which ammo went to which plane?
Konrad and Paul reverse to get back to the fight.
Allard puts a couple of holes in the grey Fokker.
The double weight of lead from Paul punish the Bebe’s engine.
Paul has to pull up as Allard flies across his bow. Keeping focus on Konrad, Allard closes in to very close range. To his despair he badly fouls his Lewis.
Hans bites his lip as he frantically works to clear his machine gun. One eye on the job at hand and one eye on the French plane he is tailing, he continues the chase.
Just as he clears his gun the Frenchman reverses right in front of him.
Bullets bounce off his engine and nick an oil line while his few rounds miss before another jam.
Hans and Noyer then pass by too close for comfort.
Allard’s jumpy engine tells him to head home. He positions himself tight to the tail of the eindecker for protection.
Konrad can’t believe his luck that the Frenchman is not shooting. Now, how to reverse the situation?
Lothar tries hard to line up a shot at Allard but Konrad is in his way.
The Nieuport’s engine turns rougher, the vibrations tells Allard he has little time to get home now.
Konrad turns to get behind the sputtering Nieuport but it stalls and they keep position.
Lothar, Paul, Remy, Noyer, all take a deep breath before closing in again.
Allard fools Konrad and gets past him making his run for home.
Paul gets caught in the sights of two Frenchmen. His engine does not respond well to being hit and starts to misfire. Paul knows how valuable this aircraft is and immediately decides to get the new machine home.
Lothar slips behind Paul to have a go at Noyer.
The new Fokker, definitely less nimble than the Nieuport but a more stable gun platform, gives better than it receives.
Paul barely evaded Remy. This is Paul’s opportunity to limp away and he takes it.
Konrad gains the attention of Remy St Martin to no good end. Remy does not miss an opportunity to punish an enemy.
They pass by as if in a ballet, almost touching wingtips.
Lother times his Immelmann perfectly. He lets loose into the back of Noyer’s Nieuport.
Noyer’s riddled plane somehow survives the stress of his reversal maneuver. In a long range exchange with Lothar, Noyer takes a bullet to the chest as his rounds find a weak point in the new Fokker. The D.I collapses and drops to the earth with Lothar fighting the controls all the way down.
Allard and Paul both limp home with their damaged engines doing their best to keep them aloft.
Hans doesn’t give Noyer a second to relish his kill and scores a minor hit at long range. The surprised Noyer looks up from the falling Ochs and wildly pulls the trigger.
The bullets from Hans are the last the Nieuport can take. Unseen to Hans, Noyer doesn’t even try to keep the Bebe from falling. The blood loss from his chest wound is too great and Noyer passes out.
Just as the two falling planes hit the ground a second trio of Nieuports appear on the scene.
Konrad spots the new arrivals. With two to one odds against, Konrad knows the situation is not good. He sees Hans heading towards him and thinks he may not be aware of the new trio. Konrad fires a flare letting Hans know its time to head home.
Konrad turns to face Remy with the intent to chase him off. Hans needs a clear path home and Remy is the only one who has a chance to stop him.
Konrad has to take fire on his approach but his well aimed shots damage Remy’s controls.
Remy is gutted that he can’t turn into the Huns. The only thing he can think of is to turn away and reverse.
The trio close in and Guerin in his excitement takes a very long shot.
When Konrad and Remy pass, Remy gestures his frustration at the Hun.
The cluster of three Nieuports are a bit too close to each other. They jostle for position and waste a bit of energy and time to avoid each other. Hans doesn’t look back and puts some space between him and the trio.
Remy turns off to set up his reversal while the Eagles make haste for safer skies.
Joubert and Dubois try their best to catch the fleeing Hun.
As they get closer Konrad signals Hans emphasizing the importance of getting out of this fight.
The four Frenchmen join up but its too late. The pair of eindeckers make their escape.
Konrad doesn’t know what to make of the performance of the new planes. What he witnessed was not conclusive. Paul had to leave the fight early and Lothar, what happened? Konrad hopes Lothar survives with a bit more conviction than usual. He hopes for the best for Lothar, but he also needs to know what happened to the D.I.
Butcher’s Bill
Bouledogues de la Republique
Lt Remy St. Martin RTB 0 Kills
S/Lt Allard FRTB 0 Kills
S/Lt Joubert RTB 0 Kills
Sgt Henri Guerin RTB 0 Kills
Sgt Marie Dubois RTB 0 Kills
S/Lt Noyer SD WIA ET 1 Kill
C 4 -1(sd) -1(wia) = 2 KIA
Kaiser’s Eagles
Ltn Pfeiffer RTB 1 Kill
ObLtn Konrad Dahl RTB 0 Kills
Ltn Paul Wolff FRTB-E 0 Kills
Ltn Lothar Ochs EXP FT 0 Kills
C 6 -3(exp) = 3 injured, 2 = miss 2 missions
Final score
Bouledogues
1 shot down, +3
1 FRTB, +2
Eagles
1 shot down, +3
1 FRTB, +2
5 each, draw
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Ye Gods. You had more Jambs that at a Farmers Market!
Originally Posted by ShadowDragon
Might have been a very different outcome otherwise. Well fought 
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