"Well, what on earth happened ?" Grumbled Uncle as he eased back in his chair and stoked up a fresh pipe full.
Still slightly stunned 2Lt Percy Veer tried to gather his thoughts...
"Well, Cam was leading, as you know, Bobby was on his left, I was on his right. He waggled his wings and brought his hand down straight ahead. I saw a long way ahead what turned out to be one of our Morane BB's being attacked by an Albatros which then climbed away. As we closed I could see the Morane was trailing a thin line of smoke and was staggering about in a circle. The Hun must have hit the engine, I should think."
(Nieuports L-R: 2Lt Robert Pynne, 2Lt Cameron Paine, 2Lt Percy Veer)
"We quickly realised the Albatros was coming back for a second pass to finish the Morane that looked a proper lame duck so Cam went for him."
(Obltn Hans Jörke)
"The Hun had some chums though and they swept down from our left. I saw Bobby turn into them to cover Cam's back. Brave move I thought."
(Ltn's Max Manschott & Hugo Stark)
"Cam swapped lead with our Hun and the Morane wasn't as lame as it appeared as he got a shot off as well which is more than I did as the slipped below me. I think Cam might have been hit."
"I saw Bobby had fluffed his approach and the Albatros with a checker board motif put a squirt on him".
"It looked like he was trying to pull his gun down to take on the Albatrii with the blue nose above him when the checker board chap closed up and hammered him"
"Bobby tried to shake him off but he was a wily type and stuck to him like a tic on a dog, firing all the time"
"Well, it was too much for his Nieuport and down he went " He sighed matter of factly.
"As we passed our Hun I looked back and could see he'd definitely been put off as the Morane dropped right in behind him and lit him up" he said with an admiring smile, "Our chap was up for a fight but he hadn't seen, or not been able to avoid, the blue nosed bugger that raked him stem to stern. I saw his gunner collapse into his cockpit." He added sadly.
"I saw our Hun limping away trailing smoke as the blue nosed chap finished the Morane in spite of Cam's best effort to intervene."
"I finally got in on the action and pumped some rounds into the blue nose at close range. I don't think it did much and it was too late to help the Morane which fell away rapidly." he said sadly.
"I saw Cam go for the checker board chap as he turned back toward the fight. It looked like only one of his guns was working."
"I tried to get on the blue nose chap and slid underneath him as he reversed which allowed me a last poke at the first Hun as he made off. I think it was a good hit as the machine dived away shedding fragments."
"I reversed after the blue nose only to find him coming straight back for me - we exchanged greetings and I might have hit the pilot and knocked his machine about a bit."
"I then saw Cam was in trouble with the checker board chap so I did my best to head him off "
"He got another shot in before I could intervene."
"I managed to get a solid hit in before my gun jammed"
"Alas it was not enough to deter the German who pressed on, with one gun it looked like, to finish Cam's run for home."
"I cleared my gun quickly as Cam fell away, I felt under the cosh as blue nose was heading back my way and the checker board chap had already knocked two of us down without as much as a by your leave."
"I turned in behind the checker board chap and my close range effort set him ablaze before jamming again."
He said ruefully.
"I was trying to fit a new pan when the blue nose bugger caught me and I stopped a round."
"I managed to get my fresh drum fitted and free my rudder up before I turned for home while the Huns cavorted about behind me."
"I'd managed to open a gap before they got after me; got my tail up and dived for home."
"My last look behind I saw the checker board chap go down a flamer. I think the blue nose chap seeing that gave it up as a bad job then and went home."
"Well done chap", said Uncle, "Now the MO has finished patching you up you'd better cut along to get cleaned up before tea, then we can celebrate your victory in the Mess tonight. Meantime I'll get on the blower and see if there's any info on our boys"
"Well," said Obltn Hans Jörke, "that was a near thing, that Tommy with two machine guns wrecked my engine in the first pass and his wingman almost did for me with a long shot before I could dive away for home. What happened to you after your kill Max?"
"That verdammt Englander had all the luck in the world Herr Oberleutnant, I reversed on him as you left and as well as damaging my controls he also wounded me as we passed. Not content with that he then went for Hugo who was chasing the other Nieuport. he couldn't save it but he then set Hugo on fire and sent him down before we could catch up with him and make him pay..."
"Never mind there will be another time, I'm sure" said Jörke, "Did you notice they managed to keep shooting longer than usual this time ? Perhaps I should go have a look at the crashed machines before it gets dark."
Victory Points:
Eagles:
Downed tandem - 6 pts
2 scouts downed - 8 pts
1 scout FRTB - 2 pts
Total = 16pts
Bulldogs:
1 scout downed - 4 pts
1 scout FRTB - 2 pts
Total = 6pts
Eagle victory !
Butcher's Tally:
Eagles:
Obltn Hans Jörke: AlbD.II - FRTB-E 0 kills
Rolled 6 & 1 - Landed safely
Ltn Max Manschott: Alb D.II (Blue nose) - RTB / WIA 1 Kill, 1 probable (Veer FRTB-W)
Rolled 3 +1RTB -1WIA = 3 Injured - Skip 1D6 Scenarios. Rolled 5 = skip 5
Ltn Hugo Stark: Alb D.II (checker board) - SD-FLM-FT 2 kills
Rolled 9 -2FLM = 7 - Injured Skip D2 scenario. Rolled 1 = skip 1
Bulldogs:
2Lt Cameron Paine: N.17 (#4) SD-ET / WIA 0 kills 1 probable (Jörke)
Rolled 10 - 1SD -1WIA = 8 - Injured skip 1D2 scenario. Rolled 5 = skip 2
E&E rolled 7 -1WIA -1WIC -1BEL = 4 - Captured & escaped, skip 1 D3 scenario. Rolled 1 = skip 1
2Lt Robert Pynne: N.17 - SD-ET 0 kills
Rolled 4 -1SD = 3 Injured - skip 1D6 scenarios. Rolled 2 = skip 2
E&E Rolled 6 -1WIC -1BEL = 4 - Captured & escaped, skip 1D3 scenarios. Rolled 4 = skip 2
2Lt Percy Veer: N.17 (#2) - FRTB-W 1 kill (Stark)
Rolled 6&6 - Crashed !
Rolled 9 -1FRTB +1RTB -1 WIA = 8 Injured - Skip 1D2 Scenario. Rolled 1 = Skip 1
Unknown Morane & crew SD-ET, gunner 2WIA, 0 kills
Undetermined result.
Nasty business, my two top aces down behind enemy lines and the subject of the journey lost to boot.
Not a good day for the Bulldogs. I flew Paine, everything else was AI, including after I was downed.
Played my alternate jam option and the larger pans for the Lewis which came in this month.
Thoroughly enjoyed the game in spite of the shocking result !
Bookmarks