OTTBYM Mission 2 - “All for One and One for all” - 12th October 1916 by Baz
Subtitle - “They’re Coming Home”
So all the elation and celebrating had just about stopped from the first mission and High Command was pleased as they now had some more good news stories for their propaganda machine and not least, had been fully justified in creating the new Jasta with all the best students.
ObLtn Tilkowski had been troubled since the mission with his wound so no friendly football matches had taken place. Instead he had managed a full morning workout of physical drills for the young pilots which he had told them would aid in their pilot careers as stamina and reactions were part and parcel of a skilled pilot too.
He had just completed another testing drill when the message was passed to him. “Gentlemen, we will postpone the rest of the drill and you will assemble in front of hangar 1 for an urgent briefing, you will be pleased to learn that we have been given orders for our second mission.” The men hurried to take their positions leaving the ‘limping Tilkowski’ to follow in behind. Tilkowski made his way to the front of the men and started his report:
“As unbelievable as this may sound, High Command have been notified of a joint allied bombing raid well behind German lines.” He paused while the men took a this in and let the murmur die down. “A massed air attack has been made on the Mauser Arms factory in Oberndorf and an unknown target in Donaueschingen this morning. We are led to believe that the bombers responsible will be passing back over the lines some time soon, and it is anticipated that scouts from the French Escadrille will be sent to escort them back. We think that Nieuports and Spads will be used for this and that Sopwith light bombers were used in the raid.”
“We have been ordered to scramble 3 planes every hour to hunt down and intercept any scouts or low altitude bombers that come back across in our sector and to bring them down before they can reach friendly lines. In addition, we have intercepted and received strange messages all morning that have been coming from the English across wireless transmissions non-stop. The repeating message is “It’s coming home, It’s coming home!” which we must assume relates to the bombers responsible for these atrocious acts against the Fatherland. The message is strange in that the actual truth is that a great number of enemy aircraft have been shot down or damaged already and just like English penalties, the bombers completely missed their intended target causing zero damage.”
“I will be unable to lead you today due to my leg injury, so the first squad today will be led by Ltn Franz Beckanbauer in the Albatros D.II. Who will take the central line, I am sure you will all agree that he has shown great leadership qualities and judgement in training exercises and has a cool head under pressure. His wingmen in the first flight will be Ltn Karl-Heinz Schnellinger in his green D.I and Wolfgang Weber in his mauve D.I. All other cress will stand ready to take their turn if required at hourly intervals. I do not know what enemy you will encounter if any, but please concentrate on any scouts or bombers at your own level and ignore any high flying targets that are out of range. Good hunting gentlemen, and bring back another good news story for High Command, I have every confidence in you.”
After a short while, the flight had just gained height when they encounter 3 French scouts at distance but closing rapidly. It seemed to be made up of a Nieuport 16 (2Lt Lionel Atkinson), a Nieuport 17 (2Lt Joseph Cameron) and a Spad VII (2Lt William Collins), worthy opponents for the young eagles.
The scouts close rapidly and in the opening encounter, Franz takes the full brunt of attacks from all 3 aircraft while his wingmen get in long range shots in return. Luckily, the gods are smiling on him and they cause little damage but succeed in jamming their guns. Minor damage is inflicted on the French aircraft also.
The young guns then show their inexperience with Karl and Wolfgang trying to occupy the same airspace and are very lucky to suffer no damage in the collision while Franz looks on in close attendance.
Little contact is then made while guns are furiously unjammed and positional manoeuvres are undertaken to try to gain an advantage, but even this proves fruitless.
At this point two high level Sopwith Strutter bombers enter at high level. The young Eagles remember their orders and stick to the scouts even though one of the bombers seems to have suffered damage with smoke billowing out behind it.
Whilst the bombers make their way across the terrain, Franz gets caught and suffers bullet holes along the fuselage, missing anything vital. In return his aim is astray but manages to jam the guns in the action.
Next moment Wolfgang is struck and suffers rudder issues but the N16 and N17 both take damage.
In the next engagement, Schnellinger takes a gun jam but uses his ‘bullet checker’ skill to ensure that no time is lost in getting them back up without any interruptions.
At the same time, the Spad gets hit for some serious damage from Wolfgang and Franz and smoke begins to pour from behind the engine area, it must try to limp home. Meanwhile, the bombers make it back to their line and home safely.
Next, the N17 takes some serious engine damage meaning it must turn for home and try to escape any more attention, however Karl is on his tail.
Sure enough, next instant Karl sends bullets thudding into the N17 causing it to spin down and crash into No-mans land close to the English lines.
Karl then sets off in pursuit of the damaged and smoking Spad and finishes it off with a double burst seeing it spin down close to where the other kill was made. This time however, he sees the pilot skilfully land the aircraft between the shell-pocked field and clamber to safety.
Alone against the 3 eagles the lone ageing Nieuport tries to outrun them but Wolfgang has him in his sights.
Close to home but badly shot up the D.I is relentless, in pursuit, the other two are too high to get any shots at range, but then a chance for reprieve with a gun jam allows the N16 to get closer to the lines.
With its last hope the D.I of Wolfgang fires on the departing N16 with his last working gun knowing this would be his last chance but causes no damage. The N16 returns to base severely damaged and the Albatri return home knowing they have made a difference.
Butcher’s Bill
Central
Ltn Karl-Heinz Schnellinger: (Alb. D.I green) RTB 2 kills
Result: All good
Ltn Wolfgang Weber: (Alb. D.I mauve) RTB 0 kills
Result: All good
Ltn Franz Beckanbauer: (Alb. D.II camo)RTB 0 kills
Result: All good
Entente
2Lt Lionel Atkinson: (N.16 camo) FRTB-D 0 kills
Dice rolled 1&3 no crash so lands safely (3 damage points left)
2Lt Joseph Cameron: (N.17 silver) SD-NML 0 kills
C & W Rolled 8-1SD-1NML=6 injured skip 1D3 rolled 3= skip 2
E & E Rolled 7-1WIC+1NML=7 Landed almost home skip 1
Result: skip 2 scenarios
2Lt William Collins: (Spad VII RFC Roundels) SD-NML 0 kills
C & W Rolled 11-1SD-1NML=9 All’s well when you land well
E & E Rolled 2+1NML=3 Captured and escaped skip 1D3 rolled 1= skip 1
Result: Skip 1 scenario.
Victory points
Central: scouts shot down (2) + 1 FRTB = 12
Entente nil
Win for the Eagles
Notes: a great mission to take on, took over 41/2 hours to play out with some tight finishes. I used Dave’s solo rules with altitude rules adding in climbs and dives where necessary and allowed. I rolled for random climb counters for each plane at the start from 0 up to max-1. Added the Sopwith in for effect but lost in foliage a lot as I played this outside. A fun game with a lot of 0’s and 1’s making a long game and no Boom cards showed! There is a missing 0 damage C card for Wolfgang on his final photo for the collision which I found on the floor whilst packing up! But doesn’t affect anything. Dave if you could check again my figures, thanks. I think some of the photos may have the wrong orientation again, but having started writing the report and 45/mins in losing the lot, wasn’t going to go in and change them.
‘Unlucky’ Baz
Reply With Quote
Well flown Baz & a great result for your young Eagles.
for his further victories for the Kaiser and the Fatherland 
Originally Posted by gully_raker
Maybe it was just a heavy night.
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