OTT-EYM Mission 1: When the Blood Runs Cold 5th January 1917 - teaticket
OTT-EYM Mission 1 - When the Blood Runs Cold - 5ht January 1917
The New Year started with a few days of dud weather. When it finally cleared air activity quickly ramped up. As it unfortunately happens, planes will fail to return to their home fields. One French plane not reporting back was flown by a cousin of the Bulldogs flight leader, Remy St. Martin.
After returning from his morning patrol, Remy heard the news about his cousin. With Oncle’s ok, Remy decided to take a look over no-mans-land where a French plane had been reported down.
Remy took off in his Nieuport 17 into a cold, clear January day. His old N17 had a new engine but didn’t climb any faster. It also didn’t give him the maneuverability advantage he wanted to have over his German opponents but it did give the extra power needed so he could carry a second machinegun to equal the Huns.
As Remy reached the front his eyes followed the trenches and scanned no-mans-land.
He flew straight and slow until getting dangerously close to German lines. He turned right heading south to fly parallel and closer to the French lines. Little did he know that behind him there was a plane slowly closing the distance between them.
Thoughts of his cousin filled Remy’s thoughts. He fondly remembered in the summer before the war when they played football in the farm field next to their grandfather’s house. Remy’s cousin Felix was quite competitive, much more than Remy. As the two were racing after the ball they didn’t notice everyone else had ran off and jumped the fence. Remy briefly looked over his right shoulder and saw why. A bull had broken out of its pen and was trotting after the two young men. Remy yelled to Felix who turned and saw the bull. Why the two kept kicking the ball while the bull picked up speed still is a mystery to him. He laughed to himself. Needless to say, they both made it over the fence safely with the ball.
The thought of the bull stuck in his head. Turning to look back expecting to see a bull he quickly came back to the present. A dark red plane was following him and getting closer.
Remy nosed down a little to gain some speed and turned hard to keep away from this German’s guns.
In his turn he became parallel with the red plane a chill ran down his spine. “The Baron”, he was sure of it.
Remy turned hard left setting up a reversal but the pilot of the red plane anticipated this and also turned away left.
Remy was confident of his flying skills and immediately turned left after his reversal, hoping to gain an advantage.
(using his acrobatic skill)
Turning in to what Remy expected to be his winning move he was disappointed as the Baron turned away setting up an Immelmann of his own.
Remy had to give in and make a head on attack knowing his opponent was a deadly shot. The Baron shoots quicker but does little to Remy’s Nieuport.
(The Baron uses both his Itchy Trigger Finger and Sniper, avoiding a gun jam)
Remy fires back but his nerves keep him from aiming true.
As they pass closely by each other, Remy looks at the Baron looking right back at him.
“He’s just a man like me, nothing more”, Remy thought trying, to calm his nerves.
Remy reverses and surprises the Baron with a shot to his tail. A couple of holes appear in the Baron’s wing.
The Baron coolly fires first again and his sniper skill saves having a miss tand puts in some real damage.
(The Baron again uses two of his skills)
Remy stays focused and this time he doesn’t flinch. He keeps his aim straight at the center of the oncoming Albatros. Flames quickly burst out spitting up from the engine up over the top plane.
(The Baron skips using his lucky pilot skill as it would only save him 2 damage points but he’d still be on fire!)
As the two antagonists pass, Remy briefly feels sorry as a fire is every pilot’s greatest fear. That sympathy is gone in an instant as Remy thinks about how many kills the Baron has notched on his belt.
The fire is not kind. No fire is.
Remy follows at a distance hoping the fire will do his dirty work for him.
The Baron shocks Remy with an Immelmann! Remy thought for sure he could tail him from a distance as the Baron would turn and spin to douse the flames.
(I use the ‘Ace’ charts I made which occasionally let AI planes not have to fly straight before or after an Immelmann. With the Baron’s Acrobatic skill he used this chart like it was made for him.;-))
The Baron’s fire begins to fade to Remy’s dismay.
Even though on fire, the Baron still lines up a shot. Struggling with the fire hampered his shot but his rounds hit home.
Remy hopes to return a favor but his guns fall silent half way through his pass.
Even with a gun jam Remy quickly reverses to keep in a tailing position. He’s hoping the Baron’s preoccupation with the fire would distract him enough to forget about him.
“Merde”, Remy thought as the Baron’s fire fades away harmlessly.
The Baron, seeing the French plane behind him, dives away for safety. His Albatros has taken too much damage so he knows its time to head for the barn. He’ll have to be very careful and somehow throw off the pesky Remy.
Remy drops down to the same level and adds another hole in the Baron’s canvas.
Catching the Baron out of position seemed too good to be true. Remy empties a whole drum into the red Albatros knowing it would surely go down. Somehow though, the Baron twists and turns and he avoids the Frenchman’s bullets.
(Lucky Pilot skill)
Remy expected the Baron to do something else but the crafty Hun turns away to the right and reverses. By the time Remy finds his enemy again he is quite far off and behind him.
Remy didn’t expect the Baron’s moves at all. A nod of respect to the Baron’s flying but Remy wasn’t giving up. He turned to reverse and have another run at him.
Remy is surprised to not see the Baron turning towards him. Maybe the fire did more damage than he saw? Or is the Baron setting up a surprise for him?
Remy noses down a little to gain speed and closes the gap. Remy sees his angle is getting him closer but begins to feel uncomfortable. Flying a bit low crossing behind enemy lines while alone is not what you are trained to do. But he has the Baron on the run!
Remy decides he has to get in one more shot. As soon as he believes he’s in range Remy pushes the trigger button.
The Baron’s Albatros shudders and noses down into a steep glide. Remy can’t believe his eyes.
Remy watches the Baron take a rough landing right behind the German lines. He takes one pass over the wreck and sees the red Albatross pilot quickly dismount and walk a short distance from his ruined mount. Remy waves his wings and salutes his worthy foe on the ground. The German pilot salutes back up to Remy as he flies off.
Remy can’t believe what just happened. Did he best “The” Baron? He shakes his head as he has no one flying with him to back up his claim. As he nears the French trenches he dips down to wave at the Poilu as he likes to do. This time there were more than the few waving back up at him. Just about all of the boys in the trenches were wildly waving helmets and rifles up to him.
“Maybe”, hoped Remy, “this victory will be credited”.
When he lands there is a large gathering at the hangar waiting for him. All the Bulldog pilots were there, waving as he neared the hangar.
Taxiing in Remy is sure word came in from the front on how he downed the Baron. As the propeller stops and it is quiet enough to hear, Henri Guerin and Jean Barbaza quickly approach Remy and yell, “He’s all right”!
Remy’s puzzled why they would be so happy that the Baron is ok.
“The plane that crashed wasn‘t him”.
“Ah”, Remy felt his balloon burst. It wasn’t the Baron.
“Your cousin ran low on fuel and landed 35 kilometers away in a farm field. It took a day for him to get back to his aerodrome. He got back just after you lifted off”.
“They’re talking about Felix! Thank the Lord Felix is ok”.
Henri had a car ready and the three of them drove off so Remy could see Felix. Felix was surprised to see Remy show up with two of his friends. They spent a couple of hours hearing of Felix’s exploit and sharing their stories.
Remy almost wasn’t going to mention his fight with the Baron but it slipped out. Felix, Henri and Jean listened wide eyed. When Remy finished the three burst out laughing.
“Ok, you really had us there. You sounded too believable”.
Remy turned red and though now he should have kept his story to himself. They all said their goodbyes and the three Bulldogs drove back to their aerodrome.
When they pulled up to the garage the rest of the pilots came running out. “The 321st Regiment saw it all! Remy, you downed the Baron!”
Henri and Jean looked at each other and then to Remy. “Are you going to laugh now”? Remy asked with raised eyebrows. Laugh they did and then they all raised Remy on their shoulders and carried him to the mess where the party began.
Butchers Bill
Kaiser's Best
M vR SD FT 0 Kills
C 11 -1(sd) = 10 Lands OK
Bouledogues de la Republique
Lt. Remy St. Martin RTB 1 Kill
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That was a close one.
Originally Posted by mikeemagnus
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