Fwbl Stefan Maier peered through the early morning mist, cursing under his breath. Here he was far over the enemy lines trying to locate a British aerodrome with a low lying mist and he was late.
His day hadn’t started well having been assigned the oldest Halberstadt DIII on the Jasta roster, given he was the newest pilot. He was up an hour before dawn, with a plan to be over the lines in darkness and to drop the wreath over the airfield at dawn. He knew that the Tommies always flew a dawn patrol and he didn’t want to meet them as they took off.
However as they say …’the best laid plans’….his chief mechanic reported that they couldn’t get the engine to start. Working really hard, they finally coaxed it into life 40 minutes later and it was already dawn as Maier crossed the lines. Thankfully he met no Tommies and before long he was nearing the aerodrome. It was now full daylight and he felt completely naked this far over the lines.
At last, a break in the mist allowed him to spot the ‘drome and executing a stall, Maier tossed out the wreath to commemorate the death of Lt Arthur Knight, who had been shot down the day before by ‘The Baron’.
Maier wasted no time in executing an Immelmann turn and headed for home. As he did so he spotted a strange aircraft approaching from the North. The unidentified plane had three wings and realising that it wasn’t a German, Maier turned towards it.
As the two aircraft closed, Lt Basil Blenkinson who was flying the newest machine to come out of the Sopwith stable, their new Triplane realised that the lone aircraft was a German Halberstadt and engaged. Both planes fired at long range, with the Halberstadt taking minor damage.
Then they were past each other but to Maier’s horror he spotted two more British machines approaching from the South. Two Sopwith Pups flown by 2Lts Arnold Arnold and Huw Evans, were returning from a dawn patrol when they saw the dogfight ahead.
Although quite far way, both turned their machines to cut off the Halberstadt.
What no-one had noticed was that two more German planes had entered the fray. Ltn Karl Ziegler the Jasta’s only ace, freshly returned from a short stay in hospital, was flying a brand new Albatros DIII, whilst his compatriot Ltn Dieter Roth was in his favourite Albatros DII.
Evans now spots the two Albatros, noting the rather strange design of the plane with the red fuselage, and turns to engage.
His Pup and the DIII exchange long range fire. Ziegler gets a minor flesh wound which puts him off his aim but Roth in return sets the Pup alight.
Arnold now follows up to support Evans but has totally forgotten about Maier. Having out-manoeuvred the Triplane, he turns towards the Pups and finds himself in a good position to engage Arnold and damages his rudder.
Ziegler and Arnold flash past each other and Arnold gets the drop on Roth and deals out heavy damage. However, Maier stays on Arnold’s tail and delivers heavy damage at close range.
Evans finds the fire difficult to control as he weaves around trying to put out the flames.
Ziegler having swept past the Pups he sees Blenkinson , who by now has caught up. He engages at long range damaging the Triplanes rudder and taking some minor damage in return.
With his rudder controls damaged, Arnold has no choice but to try a sharp right turn to try and throw Maier off his tail. It also has the advantage of getting in a shot against Roth whose engine starts to emit dark, oily smoke.
However, his manoeuvre fails to shake off Maier who sticks like glue to his task and the Halberstadt pours another heavy burst into the sagging Pup. It’s too much for the fragile machine and Arnold plummets to the ground in No-man’s land. Kill to Maier (his first).
Evans who is still wrestling with his fire swings his plane around and gets a long range shot at Roth, jamming his gun in the process. Maier also fires at Evans but his gun jams too.
Blenkinson and Ziegler narrowly miss each other as they flash past.
Evans is flying superbly as he gets in a great position to engage Roth but curses his jammed gun.
It seems like he is getting the fire under control.
However, in his attempt to keep the flames down he overturns which allows Roth to get a good burst in at close range, albeit at the expense of jamming his guns.
Turning sharply again, Evans avoids colliding with Roth but opens himself up for a long range shot from Ziegler who had Immelmanned. More fire springs up and this is too much as the Pup turns turtle and plummets into the ground in No-man’s land in a ball of flame. Kill to Ziegler.
Ziegler Immelmann’s again and finds himself facing Blenkinson, who by now realises that he is the only aircraft left facing three Germans. He turns away but not before Ziegler catches him with a long range shot that does very heavy damage.
It is now a race for home as Ziegler attempts to put the Triplane down before it can get too far ahead. He catches again it with a long range shot and scores more heavy damage.
Blenkinson can feel his controls getting soft and realises that he has very little time to get away. He uses his new machine’s acrobatic skill and outmanoeuvres the Albatros, which is fast but turns more slowly and suddenly Blenkinson has thrown him off.
Ziegler pulls his machine around but it is clear that he will not now catch the Triplane and reluctantly turns for home.
Meanwhile Roth and Maier head for home to a well-earned breakfast. As he crosses his own lines, Maier reflects on the act of chivalry that almost cost him his life and vows that in future he will a little less keen to do something so foolish. ‘After all,’ he thinks, ‘I can always drink a toast to the fallen, in my own mess’.
Butcher’s Tally
Adlers
Fwbl Stefan Maier: Halberstadt DIII – RTB 1 Kill (Arnold)
Ltn Dieter Roth: Albatros DII – RTB 0 Kills
Ltn Karl Ziegler: Albatros DIII – RTB / WIA 1 Kill (Evans)
C&W Rolled 11 -1WIA +1ACE +1RTB = 13 All’s well when you land well!
Bulldogs
Lt Basil Blenkinson: Sopwith Triplane – RTB 0 Kills
2Lt Huw Evans: Sopwith Pup S – SD-FLM-NML 0 Kills
C&W Rolled 7 -2FLM -1NML = 4 Injured - Skip 1D6 Scenarios. Rolled 2 = Skip 2 scenarios
E&E Rolled 6 -1FLM +1NML -1WIC = 5 In hiding - Skip 1D2 Scenarios. Rolled 1 = Skip 1 scenario
2Lt Arnold Arnold: Sopwith Pup 4 – SD-NML 0 Kills
C&W Rolled 5 -1SD -1NML = 3 Injured Skip 1D6 Scenarios. Rolled 3 skip = 3 scenarios
E&E Rolled 10 +1NML -1WIC = 10 They didn’t even see me!
Victory Points
Adlers
2 aircraft shot down – 20 pts
Wreath plane returns safely – 15 pts
Total 35 pts
Bulldogs
Nil
Adler Victory
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