Lt Foldes had taken pity on young F/Sgt Bobby Pynne - he was down and frustrated as, despite having put in a lot of effort, he was yet to score his first victory, so Bill Foldes decided that he would fly with him in one of the old DH.2's to see if he could bolster his spirits and perhaps assist him in his quest to break his duck.
Uncle had informed him that his opposite number in the Bull Terriers, the tandem squadron co-located with them, was out on a pretty important long range recce mission, so he thought he'd take young Pynne up to see if the could assist and see them home in one piece.
To that end they were over the lines just after lunch looking for their tandem cousins and it seemed they had arrived just in the nick of time as the Hun was about to give them a hot time of it.
Lt Bill Foldes pilots his unarmed & heavily laden FE2b with AM2 Jack Dawe in the front jammed between camera gear head straight for home as ther escort 2Lt Chris cross piloting a new Sopwith Strutter heads off an incoming Fokker heading in from the left. Ric Shaw the gunner can be seen preparing his weapon as they turn.
Being a little above the action Foldes in the all green DH.2 on the right & Pynne in the all cdl DH.2 on the left nose down and make a beeline for their friends but a dirty red Fokker appears to have other plans for them and peels off from his wingman to head straight at them
Ltn Kurt Bertram Drekmann in the plain Fokker cannot believe his luck when he spots the tandems dead ahead, he can see Hugo Stark's green Fokker approaching from the other direction. His wingman Max Manschott, in the dirty red Fokker, had fired a burst to get his attention and jabbed his finger towards a pair of lattice tails coming in from their right. He chopped down an open hand indicating he would attack them, Kurt waved his acknowledgement and pressed on after the tandems hoping to catch them between fires.
Cross opens up on the green Fokker landing a close range burst - his gun almost immediately jams.
Stark returns fire at a long slanting angle and jams also.
Foldes, Pynne & Manschott close on each other rapidly, the DH.2's dropping from above
Maybe realising his peril the dirty red Fokker side slips right under the nose of Pynne's DH.2; he cannot get off a shot himself but Pynne curses under his breath, another opportunity missed.
As the Strutter passes the green Fokker Cross sideslips left giving Shaw a raking close range shot at it - he tatters the enemy's tail but his gun jams before too much damage can be done.
Witness to all this Bull & Dawe can but curse their lack of weaponry & thank their stars the Hun has jammed his !
Drekmann powers on toward the melee
Manschott pulls up and round, opening fire on Foldes' DH.2 as he passes - Verdammt ! His gun has jammed.
Pynne spots the green Fokker appears to be struggling and flying in a dead straight line - he needs no second invitation, eases his nose downward and stitches a long range burst into it.
Guns unjammed as they circled back Cross spots a plain Fokker angling behind the Fee and takes a long range pot shot that seems to do little to it.
His subsequent close range burst is somewhat devastating however, especially when combined with the long range effort of an incoming Bulldog ! The Fokker blooms smoke then flame, staggering under the onslaught
(9 points of damage...Ouch !)
Shaw tries to add to it's agonies with a close range burst as they pass each other but it's not to be & his gun jams again !
Pynne turns after the green Fokker and lands a body blow of his own at close range.
Suddenly Bull is out on his own, the dirty red Fokker loops in behind him, the plain one trailing flame and smoke is there also - they must surely catch him...
Pynne loses the angle on the green Fokker but he has scored a number of hits & he has at least one more burst before he must change pans on the Lewis.
The situation looks grim, the Fee out on it's own, his escort & would be saviours going the wrong way, a brace of Fokker's closing on his tail, another rolling in behind
But all is not lost - suddenly the plain & green Fokker's are turning away - Pynne is wrong footed
(randomly diced for direction green Fokker would take to escape)
The dirty red Fokker is in range and the first bursts crackle around the helpless Fee - it can but power on.
Pynne, reversing direction, gets in a lucky shot with his last burst as the plain Fokker runs past his nose for home - fire does for him & down he goes !
(wrong fire card & totally forgot Pynne's ace skill which would have given this result on the last burst anyway)
Manschott is incensed - he's been banging away but cannot seem to damage the Fee - finally he sees splinters fly - another shot before he must adjust the angle and... His gun jams again !
The green Fokker slips away from Pynne as he reloads - another sure victory eludes him
With the rest of the Tommy forming up behind him Manschott must break away too as the Fee escapes west.
Butchers Tally:
Eagles:
Ltn Kurt Bertram Drekmann: (plain Fok E.III) SD-FLM-FT 0 kills
Rolled 6 -2FLM = 4 - Injured - Skip D6 scenarios. Rolled 4 = Skip 4
Ltn Hugo Stark: (green Fok E.III) FRTB-D 0 kills
Ltn Max Manschott: (dirty red Fok E.III) RTB 0 kills
Bulldogs:
Lt Bill Foldes: (green DH.2) RTB 0 kills
F/Sgt Bobby Pynne: (cdl DH.2) RTB 1 kill
Lt Terry Bull: (P2 FE2b #4) RTB 0 kills
AM1 'Jack' Dawe: (O FE2b #4) RTB 0 kills
+1 damage from previous action
2Lt Chris Cross: (P2 Strutter) RTB 0 kills
AM3 'Ric' Shaw: (O Strutter) RTB 0 kills
+1 damage from previous action
Victory to the Bulldogs & Terriers
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