Prologue
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Lt. Reginald Fife-Brand MC, CdG was feeling "Cock O' the Hoop" as he flew towards Bentangles Aerodrome, home of 52 Sqd the Bulldogs.
He had recovered from his wound after 2 weeks in hospital & had been granted a 14 day furlough in London before returning to duty in France.
He had been feted by the London "In Crowd" due to his newly earned Ace status & had even been invited to receive his MC medal from the King himself.
Now it was back to reality but at St Omer he had been allocated a spanking new grey Spad VII to use as his own aircraft & it was in this plane that he now approached the home of his beloved C flight. He had been impressed by the rugged beauty of the French aeroplane & the fact that it had a synchronised Vickers machine gun fitted. No more fiddling with Lewis drums in the midst of battle!
He banked towards the drome & commenced his landing approach.
As he landed a group of pilots rushed from the C Flight mess hut to welcome him.
He noticed a group of the venerable old DH-2's & some Nieuport 17's plus a well used camo painted Spad VII with freshly painted British rondels over the original French markings.
He climbed from the cockpit to receive handshakes & pats on the back. Uncle was waiting in the wings & when the excitement had died down caught Reg's attention & beckoned him towards Uncle's Office. "Welcome back Reg! Now time for some business. While you have been swanning around in London like a celebrity the Trench Lads have put a dent in the Hun's line & they are desperate to get it back. Our Air forces have stopped them from getting photos of our front line but they have just brought up an observation balloon to observe the situation & call in Artillery barrages on our PBI".
"HQ want that balloon destroyed so at dawn tomorrow you will lead an attack on it with a Nieuport armed with incendiaries & another scout as escort. The jolly old Hun will be sure to have fighters protecting it as they have not yet been able to bring up flak or AA guns". I will leave it to you to choose your other pilots".
Reg called 2nd Lt Dusty Rhodes & Sgt Bran Stark who was the Flights top scoring Ace to a briefing.
"Dusty, thanks for filling in for me whilst I was away! I would like you to fly a N 17 armed with incendiaries to go after that balloon as the Nieuport's manoeuvrability will be an advantage & Bran you can fly that other VII if it has been properly checked over as we will need every advantage if we come up against those new 2 gunned Albatros D.II's"
We take off just before dawn to try to catch them unawares"
THE MISSION
As the Sun began to rise the trio of British aircraft crossed the lines & spotted the balloon. They also could see through the darkness two German aircraft flying at angles towards the balloon. Ltn's Gerhard Brünig, flying a reddish brown coloured D.II & Otto Schoenfelder in a yellowish fuselage D.II were swiftly coming to the balloons defence!
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On the Right hand side of the battle Bran Stark & Dusty opened fire on their targets. Bran caused some damage to the German Albatros but its return fire stopped. A Jam!
Dusty's shots did no damage to the balloon but the winch crew immediately began to winch it to safety.
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On the other side Reg & Brünig exchanged shots but it was Fife-Brand who suffered a jam whilst the German pilot missed completely.
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As they passed each other the German ripped some holes in Fife-Brands new Spad which caused Reg to utter some choice expletives! @*#%*
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Dusty had flown under the nose of the balloon pulled an Immelmann & this time scored some good hit but they did not cause any great damage.
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The adversaries now had to regroup to re-join the fight & Dusty took the opportunity to change the drum on his Lewis.
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Fife-Brand & Brünig again exchanged shots but not much damage resulted.
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Reg cleverly stalled to allow the Albatros to pass him & using his Ace Sniper skill blew the German Aircraft out of the sky!
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Dusty had preformed a Split S to match the balloons height as the winch crew continued the job of lowering the balloon.
As he fired he was rewarded by seeing a spurt of flame issue from the body of the sausage.
Immediately both the German Observers jumped out of the basket & parachuted to safety.
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Reg now turned to re-join the main action as his battle with the Albatros had taken him away from the area of the balloon.
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Dusty continued to attack the balloon which continued to burn slowly.
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Sgt Stark landed some good shots on the remaining Albatros who was unable to return the favour as the Spad was out of his firing arc.
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As Dusty closed for another close range shot the gas in the balloon suddenly ignited with a mighty roar flinging the Nieuport into the air & raining small pieces of burning balloon skin onto the wings of his aircraft. Reg who was also close by was buffeted but suffered no damage.
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Otto Schoenfelder in the remaining D.II realising he would now be facing 3 British aircraft decided discretion was the better part of Valour & it was too late to help the balloon headed off towards the Eagles Nest & Safety!
Victory Points
BRITISH
Balloon Destroyed = 20 points
1 German Scout Shot down = 10 points
TOTAL 30 Points
GERMAN
NIL
BRITISH VICTORY
Thoughts & Observations
Well that early Explosion Card certainly helped the British win that one.
My Camera was playing up again & I lost the pic of the engine damage card that started the second fire on the balloon. I also had to photoshop some of the shots which overexposed with the flash. Think its time for a new camera.
I used Dave's D8 charts & an amended version of Zoe's Altitude rules. First time I used a Split S to advantage too!
Great to get the first of the BYM Missions under my belt & I love not having to change drums on the Spad's!
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