OTT CYM Mission 10 - Keep on Trucking 12-18 Sep 1916 - by ShadowDragon
OTT-CYM Mission 10: Keep on Trucking – 12-18th September 1916 – by ShadowDragon
Original scenario by Tikkifriend
BRF OTTCYM - Mission 10 - Keep On Trucking - Sept 12-18th 1916 By Tikkifriend (wingsofwar.org)
Diary of Flight Commander Nigel Flashman, Royal Naval Air Service, 15th of September 2016.
What a fine day it has been! But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start at, well, the beginning, which is usually a good place to start unless you’re one of these modern novelists who will start at the end or even worse the middle.
We’ve been at this brilliant idea for a disaster called the Battle of the Somme since early July with the frontline advancing nowhere fast. Apparently that Churchill fellow instigated an idea to break the stalemate with something called a ‘tank’ whatever in Dante’s Inferno that might be but whatever it is it seems to consume more fuel than an entire squadron of aeroplanes. So these ‘tanks’ each require a long trail of fuel trucks behind them. Ideal targets for enemy aeroplanes. Hence our mission today was to fly around over one of these truck convoys and keep the Hun away.
Two of our better pilots were away – better not best as surely that would be yours truly. The Aussie, Bruce Dundee was off selling war bonds in Blighty while the Canuck, Jack Wilde was malingering in hospital from the merest flesh wounds. Well who could blame Jack? Pretty nurses and…well, pretty nurses. The other Canadian, Al Smith, was escorting our bombers, so that left three of us to watch over the flock of trucks – Jock, Fergis and yours truly.
I’ve had my differences with Jock but we’ve seemed to have gotten over whatever those might have been and one can count on Jock in a scrap. Fergis was another matter entirely. The old man, Rumsbottle, had specifically asked – even ordered me – to keep a close eye on him. Fergis was a mystery. He seemed a competent flyer but he was the only one in the flight without a score – even the rookie, Al, had a kill to his credit. Was he a spy? A secret republican? A coward? Maybe he just didn’t have the stomach for it? Whatever was his story, it was the three of us against the Huns and there they were – four of them. Fortune was with us as they were flying the old Fokker eindecker crates and not the newer Halberstadts, Fokkers or, heaven preserve us, an Albatros. Maybe we had shot down so many Halbestadts that the Hun had run out of them….Haha!
Soon enough the truck convoy entered the newly ‘liberated’ soil of France – aka a pile of trenches and shell craters that was yesterday’s No Man’s Land.
The four Huns and we gallant three flew straight at each other. I singled out a grey Fokker and was lucky enough to set it alight.
On the other side of the convoy, Jock was doing his bit against a striped CDL Fokker.
The Huns were coming on one after the other. After exchanging greetings with the grey Fokker I was firing at the second Hun – another CDL Fokker without stripes.
Jock was doing something similar with a green Fokker.
I glanced over my shoulder to see if Fergis had picked up the grey Fokker. Fergis was there but it didn’t seem like he was doing much about it as the grey ignored Fergis and strafed the lead truck.
And strafe the convoy the grey Fokker did - the first truck was already done in. [Note: I couldn’t find whether or not an aircraft got the aim bonus for firing at the same ground target but I played it that they did get the bonus. I also applied wounds, fire and smoke damage against the trucks as these seem to be applicable…just to make it tougher.]
At least Fergis was doing better with the plain CDL Fokker.
By now the green Fokker had joined the grey one in shooting up the truck convoy. [Note: having decided to use the aim bonus I promptly forgot about it and see that Truck 1 was already shot up before the green Fokker fired at it. Checking the results it made no difference in the end so I treated it as the green Fokker shooting at a ‘dead’ target – ‘overkill’ happens in war.]
As we had all flown past the Huns, the Huns were having a picnic roasting the convoy. The third truck was now ablaze.
But Fergis had doubled back – or in flying lingo, ‘immelled’, to get on the tail of the plain CDL Fokker.
Fergis must have hit the pilot of the CDL Fokker as I could see the pilot slump in his seat as his Fokker flew erratically. Well done, Fergis.
Meanwhile truck number 3 was a right Roman candle and the grey Fokker was flaming right along side of the convoy.
You might well wonder what happened to the striped CDL Fokker. It would appear that Jock hit some flying controls on the Fokker so that it had to fly around in circles and when it came fully around Jock was waiting for him. Boom! That was it for the old stripey.
Fergis was continuing to make his way down the convoy’s length, following the Fokkers. He should have had the green one. It was dead centre in his sights but none of the bullets seemed to find their mark.
At this point the Huns started to circle around – perhaps for another pass at the convoy or perhaps to head home as they had done a fair bit of damage to the convoy.
Truck 3 was doomed by the fire but the grey Fokker was still flying.
The plain CDL Fokker looked like the pilot had recovered somewhat and was heading for his aerodrome. Easy pickings I thought. Fergis went after the green Fokker, but why didn’t he fire??? Jammed gun? Or was he feigning it.
It looked like two of the Huns were out of the fight – the plain CDL and grey ones. That left only the green Fokker in the fight but it had eluded Fergis…or Fergis had let elude him.
I was having trouble catching the plain CDL Fokker but Jock was waiting for the grey Fokker and down it went. That was two kills for Jock on this mission. Darn, he was catching up to my score while I wasn’t making catching up to the CDL Hun.
I decided I had enough and…oh yes, I remembered there was a convoy to protect and it looked like the green Fokker would get there first.
The green Fokker did get to the convoy but the combined efforts of Jock and Fergis seemed to distract him.
062
Jock was having his own distractions. It seems the grey Fokker must have hit some leaking oil on the Nieuport which flared in a darn good blaze.
The green Fokker shook off Jock and Fergis and singled out Truck 4. Boom! We were down to just one truck left.
The truck veered to the right which gave me a chance to pick up the green Fokker.
I was blazing away at the green Fokker while Jock was doing the opposite – that is putting out his blaze. Haha.
The green Fokker was going shake me off they way he did Jock and Fergis. I had him!
I suppose I nipped the Hun pilot with a bullet as his Fokker suddenly ended up in front of my Nieuport. Both planes were damaged. The Hun went down and I wasn’t sure if I’d make it back to the aerodrome.
Well I did make it back and so did Jock although his Nieuport was as badly done in as mine but Fergis’s Nieuport was as pristine as when it left the aerodrome. Fergis confused me the whole mission. At times he seemed to be in the fight and at times not. Was it an act or just fortune. Well, I’ll sort that out some other time. I had my fifth kill….a proper ace, which is only as it should be. Still behind the Aussie but the war wasn’t done yet. I’ve just come back from celebrating at the wardroom – a fair bit that set me back, but now it’s time for some proper celebrating with some bubbly and the company of French ladies with less than proper morals. Haha.
Victory Points
Seadogs: 3 X 3 enemy aircraft downed + 1 X 3 truck reaching destination = 12 points
Adlers = 3 x 2 trucks destroyed = 6 points
Another Adler rout and we can put to rest the rumour that X Squadron can’t bring home the bacon.
Flying notes – I flew Jock’s airplane. I rolled for enemy aircraft and was ‘lucky’ getting all EII/EIII. The 5th plane called for in the scenario would have been an Albatros but it didn’t come into play.
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(we must get someone to do a single gun smiley !). What a romp, even Fergis got into it. 
for his fifth victory and service to King country. He is also to receive the Croix de Guerre with bronze palm 
Originally Posted by flash
Congratulations on the gongs and achieving Ace status - drinks are on you 
Perhaps Fergis will come up trumps yet - he wouldn't be the first Irish pilot to start slowly and end up with more kills than most 
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