OTT CYM Mission 6 Dog Days of August 11 & 12 August 1916 Vagabond
Attack on Dover
The great ferry port of Dover bears as little resemblance to my image as I do to Prince Charming but for this game you are just going to have to use your imagination. This to all intents and purposes is as near to Dover as my story is going to get. Indeed it’s a confused story, why are the Bulldogs flying anywhere near Dover when they should be on the western front fighting for King, Country and their lives and not necessarily in that order.
It goes back a few months, to the opening story of the Daring Young Men, long before the almost salacious tales of the current Cocky Young men, to a time that I took my first tentative steps becoming a member of C flight. My first mission was one of the most dreaded undertaken by any right thinking pilot and I will say in spite of some opposition, C Flight were mainly right thinking pilots, slightly eccentric it has been pointed out but certainly right thinking. Sorry but I digress a little.
Well on that flight Lt George Drummond and his Observer Frank Lawless had been shot down over enemy territory. George had escaped but Frank who was wounded had been captured. George never really forgave himself for leaving Frank behind, we all knew he had no choice but guilt plays strange tricks with a man’s state of mind and I don’t think he ever got over that.
This is George Drummond when I joined the flight, he was always a bit cold and aloof, a ladies man as well but a leader you would follow to hell and back but the incident with Frank changed all that. It’s a long story but eventually George was able to rescue Frank, it was a daring landing in enemy territory, it’s all documented in my diaries and some of you might remember the tale. He pulled Frank back from the clutches of the dastardly Hun and that might have been the end of it but in the first mission after this heroic rescue they were shot down again, their plane exploded and Frank Lawless was killed in the crash.
George survived but was badly injured and spent a long time in the field hospital before being returned to Blighty to recover fully. This proved to be an elusive task for the medical team in charge of his health. Physically things were going well, a certain Nurse Irene Brown was said to be responsible for his quick physical recovery, but he developed double vision and in spite of trying to hide it, the Doctors noted a tremor in his right hand as well a rapid and erratic movement of his right eye.
Strangely enough one of his Doctors was a certain Dr Robert Galbraith whose daughter was to eventually write children’s books about a wizarding school and one of her characters was developed from tales her father told her of a certain Mad Eye Drummond. I digress again but the essential point of my story is that Uncle had requested that two of C Flights Pilots who were due a weeks leave in England make time in their busy schedule of drinking, womanising and evaluating the best night spots in London to set aside a day to visit George Drummond. Tell him how the squadron and especially how C Flight were faring and report back to Uncle so he was prepared for the eventuality of Drummond returning soon or indeed if he wouldn’t return at all.
I’ll return to George Drummonds story later but for now I want to tell the tale of our pilots return flight from Blighty to the Western Front. This would ordinarily be uneventful, a tedious flight over the Channel only enlivened by the concern of engine failure and ditching in the cold dark waters and drowning with no help at hand. On the bright side you could look forward to seeing your mates (those that were still alive) and the joys of our local French village the good food, better wine and even better young ladies, ever willing to help spend our limited wages.
Having just flown over Dover, Lt Montague Anstruther-Browne (Biff) C Flights CO who had been showing one of our French Liaison Officers S/Lt Jerome Dupont the delights of London spotted 3 blips in the sky headed straight for the port and decided to investigate further.
These were new machines to him but the bold Maltese Crosses indicated they were German and obviously up to no good, as Biff turned towards the nearest one it turned away, more intent on its mission than dog fighting with a British scout.
Bullets were exchanged but little real damage done although Biffs rudder seemed a little unresponsive after the bullets struck his machine.
The Brown cameo German flew away from Biff towards the rest of his flight and the Observer continued to fire at the DH2 but caused no damage.
Dupont who was following Biff also turned in to attack the bombers and poured a withering fire into the brown cameo plane but received a fierce fire back from the leading blue plane.
A dramatized version of the previous rather distracting picture as Dupont attacks the 2 seat German planes but it continues on its bombing run.
I’m using the roundabout in the centre of the houses as the target area and I’m using my I to direct the AI to the right area and I will drop the bombs. The British planes are both flown by Dave’s AI which explains why they are doing so well at the moment.
This is only turn 2a and Dupont continues to fire into the Brown cameo plane setting it afire as well as jamming his guns solidly, as Dupont is on his first recorded mission with C Flight and because he’s French no one has told him about the mallet trick and so it’s going to take a while before he gets that gun unjammed.
I’ve obviously forgotten to add the +1 for shooting but unless I also forgot it later it’s not going to matter to the eventual outcome.
Biff has over flown the combat area and is going to be a long time getting back into the action.
Jinking quickly to the left Dupont avoids crashing into the German plane, the Hun can’t fire because his gun is jammed, so the Observer just shouts obscenities.
Ahead of these two the Purple cameo and the blue plane are on a collision course unless one of them backs off.
But that doesn’t look as if it’s going to happen. They get closer together as they approach the cliffs. That would be the pale brown cliffs of Dover that everyone knows so well.
Indeed could this be the lyrics for a song.
There’ll be blue Rolands over, the pale brown cliffs of Dover, tomorrow just you wait and see. It might need a bit of work but I’m sure there’s a song in there somewhere.
I think I said that I was the I in AI, they collide the Blue Roland explodes, so that’s maybe why it took another 25 years before they picked up on my lyrics, Blue Exploding Roland’s is not such a catchy phrase.
This is an overview at the point the Roland’s collide, both DH2’s are well away from the action, the good citizens of Dover are hoping the other two Roland’s will collide otherwise they are going to get bombed.
Both Rolands are lined up nicely, they are going to be right on target, all they need to do is jink slightly to their left, they are at altitude 4 and so the bombs will be in the air for 1 phase after they are dropped.
With the ride of the Valkiries playing at full blast the DH2’s are chasing after the Roland’s but have no chance of intervening before the bombs are dropped, unless the bombing run gets messed up.
Purple has dropped his bombs and this phase they land on target, the pilot in the brown cameo jinks left and is perfectly positioned to drop his on target as well.
However there is a rule about not flying in a straight line when on fire.
Which I remembered at the last minute and he jinks right and can not drop his bombs. There were a few expletives at this point.
A couple of phases later both German planes are facing back the way they came with the open sea beckoning. Off to the right the fire has gone out on the Brown cameo plane and he’s quite a long way from the pursuing DH2’s but he still has his full bomb load on board and so will have to fly back to Dover and drop them. Over on the left the Purple Roland is enticed by the beckoning sea but is going to have to face at least one of the British scouts before running for home.
Which is exactly what happens, Biff opens fire and hits the Observer in the Purple plane, the return fire is accurate but the pilot jams his gun in the process.
Biff has turned his DH2 right, to try and stop the brown cameo plane making it’s way back to the centre of Dover but the Roland Pilot is as plucky as they come, in spite of being on fire for most of the mission he now attacks Dupont head on, both planes cause and take damage but nothing substantial or serious is hit in the exchange.
Finally with a roar the bombs dropped by the purple plane explode and a plume of smoke rises into the air. (I forgot to put the smoke on when the bombs landed L)
The Purple plane is racing for home with a badly wounded Observer and Dupont over on the left is flying inland and isn’t going to catch him.
Biff and the Brown Roland are flying away from each other, which leaves the Brown plane a clear run for the centre of Dover.
This does him no good at all, as he makes a rookie error and drops his bombs too soon and misses the target. As some sort of cancellation prize, Dupont has done an Immelmann turn right in front of the Roland and takes a burst of gun fire but it causes minimal damage. Off to the right Biff has also Immeled but he is a long way from the action.
The final shots fired are from the Observer in the Brown Roland and unluckily for Dupont his DH2 catches fire. This means he has to fly around trying to put it out and the Roland escapes back across the Channel.
Reply With Quote
for his service to the Kaiser 
Originally Posted by ShadowDragon
Well that might not have been the result you were wanting John but it was a wonderful read as usual.
). Either way it matters not 'cos the locals are going to be outraged either way 
Bookmarks