OTT BYM Mission 2 All for one and one all - kustenjaeger

[Kustenjaeger]

12th October 1916

The drone of the Le Rhône engine of 2/Lt Eric ‘Pears’ Pearson’s silver Nieuport 17, newly arrived at the squadron and distinguished by its blue cowling (the fitters had some spare paint when it arrived on Monday four days ago) was almost lulling, but the cold air kept him awake.

To his left and slightly ahead his flight leader, Lieutenant Peter (Dabs) Dabeney also flew a silver Nieuport. On Dabs’ right was John Ackerman – dubbed ‘Ack Ack’ by the squadron of course. He was flying one of the older 17’s, still in the French camouflage.

Nothing much had happened since last week’s balloon run. They’d been told Hammy Forbes-Hamilton was a POW after his Morane blew up when they’d tangled with a couple of Albatri.

This morning Charmers, the record officer had had them rousted out of bed to fly escort to some bombers raiding deep behind enemy lines. So they’d taken off - seeing little but their fellows’ exhausts so early in the morning - and found nothing - they hadn’t been able to find the bombers – maybe the big boys had failed to get out of bed this morning? So they’d turned for home watching their fuel gauges.

Now the lines were coming in sight with the brown scar of No Mans Land and all the detritus of the summer’s battles – but wait, were there a loose row of dots ahead? Ahead Dabs rocked his wings and waved an arm in an arc. Well, at least this was a use for their Lewis guns.



Pears banked slightly left to engage a camouflaged Hun biplane – not a new Albatros but a radial – maybe a Fokker? Meanwhile Dabs was charging straight ahead – was that at the same yellow Albatros they’d seen last week?

They were quickly engaged, making head on attacks. Then, disaster! Pears saw Dabs’ Nieuport disappear in a flash, just like Hammy’s Morane a week ago.



Quickly the remaining five aircraft, the two RFC scouts and three Huns – one of them an old Fokker monoplane (flames licking along its fuselage Pears noticed) threw themselves into a swirling melee. Indeed a few moments later Pears and Ackerman only just missed colliding.

After a couple of minutes, the old German yellow monoplane broke off heading for home, smoking, while Pears feverishly replaced his Lewis drum as he described a right turn to get into the fight. Now reloaded he emptied his drum again into the brown and green biplane while Ack Ack duelled with the yellow Albatros, though Ack Ack’s plane was looking pretty shot up.

Finally, the yellow Albatros turned for home and Ack Ack did likewise, his kite weaving unsteadily as he tried to coax it home.

Pears by now had reloaded again and zoomed and Immelmanned to get on the tail of the brown and green job, pouring yet more rounds into it. Finally it rolled over and plunged earthward. Pears hoped the infantry would see it crash as, looking at his gauges, he too turned for home.



Landing at base, Pears was pleasantly surprised to see Ack Ack’s crate parked, rather than piled up. But the right hand wing looked decidedly wonky. Ack Ack himself seemed unfazed, reckoning he’d got two. Privately Pears thought that at least the yellow Albatros would gave for home OK. A more pressing concern was whether Dabs had survived his Nieuport exploding. Pears hoped that Dabs’ chair would only be temporarily empty.

Butchers Bill – Bulldogs

Lt Peter Dabeney: Silver N.17 no.1; SD-EXP-NML 0 kills
Crash – rolled 10 -3EXP = 7 injured skip D2 = skip 1;
E&E roll 5 -1EXP +1NML = 5 in hiding skip D2 = skip 1

2/Lt Eric Pearson: Silver N.17 no.2; RTB 1 kill

2/Lt John Ackerman: Camo N.17; FRTB-D 0 kills, 2 probables - FRTB-E, FRTB-FD
Landed OK.



Butchers Bill – Adlers

Ltn Wilhelm von Eschwege: Alb.D.II FRTB-E 1 kill, 1 probable FRTB-D
Landed OK.

Ltn Fritz Friedrichs: Fokker D.II; SD-NML 0 kills
Crash – rolled 8 -1SD, -1NML = 6 skip D3 = skip 2
E&E – rolled 7 +1 NML = 8 almost home skip 1 so net skip 2

Ltn Walter Altemeier: Fokker E.III; FRTB-FD 0 kills
Landed OK



Victory points

Bulldogs – shot down 1@5, FRTB 2@2 =9
Adlers – shot down 1@5, FRTB 1@2 =7

The Bulldogs scrape a win under the wire – which is what Dabs is doing at the moment and hoping it’s the British wire …. His Hussar tunic will never be the same.

[Kustenjaeger]

It may just be me but that’s the second mission where the first burst from an Albatros has been a boom card!

While my Shapeways Fokker E.III and D.II need a bit of fine tuning it was good to get different aircraft on the table.


Edward

[flash]

Nicely done Edward, could have done with a bit more meat on the bone perhaps but you got the story across succinctly and did a reasonably good job on the Tally. You might want to check where the boom card lurks in future !

Uncle says:

Well done chaps, shame you couldn't find those bomber boys but maybe you cleared a path home for them by tidying up that little lot. A close run thing but we edged it & Dabs will be back eventually so things to celebrate

Take a look at where I tidied the Tally - don't combine the final crash results into the first bit of the Tally, that should just show what happened to the plane and pilot in the air. Show any fire damage & +1's if any, and dice rolls for results please.

Meanwhile across the lines:
Ltn Wilhelm von Eschwege receives his pilots badge on his first victory.

[Stumptonian]

Short.
Sweet.
Result.


I need to hire your editor, Edward.
Mine was Lord of the Rings in comparison to your Hobbit.
(and I mean the books, not the over-bloated films)

Well done, and a good result for your Bulldogs, although the points were closer than it seemed.

[Kustenjaeger]

It was close indeed. Alltmeier’s E.IIi was on 3 while Ackerman only had one hit left …. Had Von Eschwege not picked up the engine hit he’d doubtless have taken out Ackerman and then Pearson would have belted off home without a kill.

Edward

[camelbeagle]

Sweet and to the point. Looks like a nice game!

[ShadowDragon]

We're all saying short and sweet, but it seems that there could be a few more action photos. For example, Ackerman has 8 damage cards in the Butcher's Bill, but only 2 shown in the action shots. I guess there's a bit of action in the "...while Ack Ack duelled with the yellow Albatros, though Ack Ack’s plane was looking pretty shot up."

Still looks like a good game and a good result for your chaps.

[Kustenjaeger]

We're all saying short and sweet, but it seems that there could be a few more action photos. For example, Ackerman has 8 damage cards in the Butcher's Bill, but only 2 shown in the action shots. I guess there's a bit of action in the "...while Ack Ack duelled with the yellow Albatros, though Ack Ack’s plane was looking pretty shot up."

Still looks like a good game and a good result for your chaps.

Indeed - there are plenty of photos - though five of Ackerman’s damage came from a burst while he was overlapped with Friedrichs so Ackerman’s model was moved to one side so wasn’t very photogenic.

Edward

[Baz]

Good clean fight and the tommies were up against it losing a plane in the first contact. Certainly could have gone either way at the end.

Have some REP

Baz

[mikeemagnus]

Like that result Edward. One for the Bulldogs

Thought it was going to go well and truly tails up when that Boom card came out, but the rest of the gang performed splendidly Glad Peter Dabeney made it ok and I'm sure he'll continue to wear that Hussar uniform with pride even if it is all patched up.

So congrats to your boys and also to your Adlers - two probables is pretty good news for them too I reckon - I like this new rule about probables - definitely adds something good.

Rep inbound and thanks for the entertainment. Mike

[tikkifriend]

Short and sweet Edward but a great read .

[malachi]

Nicely done, Edward! Those bulldogs are tenacious

[Hu Rhu]

Excellent little game, although over too quickly for one of your pilots.

[Vagabond]

I see you're conserving your storage allocation on the site, good idea.

Looks to have been a good dog fight with plenty of action.

[Teaticket]

A quick one and a squeaker. A good win for your Bulldogs, by a hair! Dabeney should know better than to wear his hussar tunic in the air. If he can clean it up he should keep it prim and proper for the evening mess after the day's flights.