OTT-EYM Mission 6 Flash Amongst The Piranhas 12th February 1917
The mission had seemed straight forward in itself and had gone pretty much routinely as far as Lt Terry Bull and AM.1 Jack Dawes were concerned. They’d reached their target unmolested, stooged about a bit ignoring the attentions of Mr Archibald as they took photos of troop concentrations in the area, exposed all their plates & stored them securely before heading back to the barn. That’s when the trouble started, a gaggle of dark dots appeared behind them, soon resolving themselves into a pack of scouts hot on their tail with evil intent.
Bull saw a possible means of escape through a cloud bank ahead and made straight for it. Flying into clouds is not advisable but needs must sometimes and if you can slip through the spaces between the high vaulted columns of voluminous mists it’s not all bad and can be quite spectacular. This time, however, it was not the case as it soon became obvious to Bull that he had unwittingly flown them into a dead end of some ominous looking clouds, he couldn’t find an obvious way out, or, around them, could not climb over them and having soon lost sight of the ground could not risk diving out of them as the storm, for that’s what it was, took them in its mighty icy grip.
Their “Big Ack” was flung about as if it were a child’s toy in a young boys nursery; the airframe creaked and strained, as did Bull as he fought the stick in a vain effort to control the machine, he felt his arms would be torn from their sockets as he vainly tried to control the whiplash effects of the whims of the winds and thought the wings must soon be torn from the fuselage and the skin stripped from its frame leaving them open to the elements as the plunged back to earth.
As suddenly as it began it ended and they were spat out of the clouds as the storm seemingly decided they were indigestible. They had no idea where they were, the compass was still spinning uncontrollably; the engine, maxed out for so long in their fight with nature, was not performing as well as it should and the over stressed airframe seemed to want to resist directional input. It would be hard work nursing it home. Taking a view of the sun, still veiled by cloud, Bull roughly estimated where west was and headed back in the general direction of home hoping to pick up a landmark that might give them a better fix on their position and the direction to take from there.
As they cleared a last remaining cloud fringe Bull realised they may have jumped from the frying pan and into the fire as he spotted scout machines swirling around the area they were about to transit.
There was some gaudy painted machine close to their left, another plainer type further off to their right.
Deciding to grasp the bull by the horns, so to speak, Bull headed straight for the patriotically painted Hun and each opened up at long range, it must have taken the German by surprise as no damage seemed to be done.
As they passed close inboard of each other Bull realised it appeared to be a Nieuport like the one the chaps at the Bulldogs usually flew, fortunately they managed not to collide.
As they separated Bull heard to stammer of Dawes’ Lewis gun as he sent the Hun on his way
Bull tried to haul the nose around to face the next opponent but the plane could not respond as it should. Light sparkled at the nose of the Halberstadt D.III, for that’s what it was, and he felt the rounds crash through their airframe. It should have been worse than it was. As he glanced to their rear he saw the Nieuport reverse behind them
Bull held her steady as Dawes went to work again, throwing a solid long range burst into the Halberstadt as they slipped past it’s arc of fire.
Looking over his shoulder as he pulled the Big Ack round to the right he saw Dawes put in second burst to the Halberstadt’s tail hoping that did some damage.
Pushing the aircraft as hard as he could Bull heard Dawes fire once again as he poured more rounds into the Halberstadt, surely the sheer weight of lead should take it down !
Seconds later it was clear the Halberstadt had control issues as the pilot continued straight ahead while his comrade in the Nieuport turned after them and opened up, damaging their rudder also.
Their enemy was not alone for long as a brown toned Halberstadt D.III joined the fight moments later
Dawes continued the exchange with the Nieuport until his gun jammed – finding the ammo all but spent he had to change out the ammo pan as fast as he could. More rudder damage…
Realising their predicament Bull yanked the stick to take them left and to help them further the Nieuport inadvertently covered their six from the onrushing brown Halberstadt
It seemed momentarily to throw both the German pilots off their game as the Halberstadt swerved left and the Nieuport slid off further to the right.
As Dawes replaced the pan on his Lewis the Halberstadt opened up but no damage became evident
Taking careful aim Dawes sent a stream of rounds into the Halberstadt but the pilot had got his eye in too and rounds smashed through their machine – unbeknownst to Dawes Bull let out a grunt as a round spun off the scarf ring and struck him high on the shoulder. He’d need to get home sooner rather than later.
Dawes stayed on target putting another accurate burst into the nose of the brown Halberstadt – with some satisfaction he saw a fire belch from under the covers
Bull turned into the rapidly closing Nieuport which missed it’s opportunity to fire but the Halberstadt stayed with them and loosed a close range hammer blow to the Big Ack. Dawes snap shot return fire didn’t seem much but it was enough to send the enemy earthwards in a welter of flame and smoke
As the Nieuport passed their stern, Dawes deftly switched targets and blasted it at close range – pink mist ! He’d got the pilot and left it trailing greasy grey smoke.
As the Nieuport left the fray two more belligerent’s made themselves known appearing magically off the right side of the stricken FK.8
Maybe recognising the frailty of the machine and his own situation Bull typically turned into the attack of the blue Halberstadt D.II. The brief exchange of fire caused no damage to either machine.
The following exchange, however, saw their chances evaporate as rounds crashed through the vitals of the Big Ack and it gently rolled on it’s back and headed earthwards
It was only later that I realised the error & remembered a rookie shouldn’t get a shot on a stall – annoying as the next card he would have drawn would have been the boom card and he would certainly have become another victim to Dawes’ gun at the next chance but with only 1 point remaining they would undoubtedly have fallen to someone before they could leave the table so I decided not to replay the closing frames over.
Butcher’s Tally:
Eaglets?:
Fritz: N.17 – FRTB-W / WIA 0 kills
Otto: Halb D.III (cdl) – RTB 0 kills (left - rudder issue)
Willi: Halb D.III (brown) – SD-FLM-FT 0 kills
Franz: Halb D.II (blue) – RTB 1 Kill (our heroes)
Max: N.11 (blue) – RTB 0 kills (no shot fired) Not pictured
Hans: Halb D.III (green) – RTB 0 kills (didn’t make the party). Not pictured
Bulldogs:
Lt Terry Bull: (P2) FK.8 – SD-ET / WIA 0 kills.
Rolled 4 -1SD -1WIA = 2 – Dead !
AM.1 Jack Dawes: (O) FK.8 – SD-ET 1 kill (Willi); 1 probable (FRTB-W Fritz)
Rolled 7 -1SD = 6 – Injured skip 1D3 scenarios, rolled 2 = Skip 1
E&E: rolled 6 -1WIC -1BEL = 4 – Captured and escaped – skip 1 D3 scenarios, rolled 3 = Skip 2
A win for the Rookies
An interesting game if a little fiddly with the -1+1's and rookie rules which I eventually fell foul of. I think the Germans might do well against more vulnerable entente types, the robust Halbs were a little too much for my chaps but they made a good showing overall I think. Shame to lose Bull, one of my stalwarts of the tandem crews, I will have Uncle promote one of the other chaps and get a new man in to partner Dawes.
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Not the result you would have wanted, but, hey ho, can't win 'em all!
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