Mission 3: The Hunter in the Skies (Central Powers)

[Watchdog]

THE HUNTER IN THE SKIES

Personal log of Leutnant Isztvan Laszlo, pilot of Flik 61J, now serving with the famous Jasta Kaiser's Adler on the western front:

Jasta 24 „Kaiser's Adler“ aerodrome near St. Caronne, France, 31st October 1917: Finally, I am back with my comrades from Jasta 24. After a “lecture“ from Wachtmeister Tlutschorsch about my careless flying that had resulted in writing off my trusted green Albatros D.III I was assigned a replacement machine. The Wachtmeister refused to get me any green paint, saying that I did not deserve it after what I had done to my previous one. As if I was the one who had pulled the triggers onboard those Sopwith Camels. The replacement Albatros D.III used to belong to Hauptmann Godwin Brumowski who had spent some time training with our German allies too. Apparently he had just finished painting this machine red when he was transfered back to Italy. He even painted his personal emblem on it, a skull. Oh well, I thought, I am going to look like a big flying radish...

Today, late in the afternoon, I took the new bird for a flight, to see if I was in condition for combat. The Jasta commander, Hauptmann Willi Gabriel, told me to fly low to the area near St. Caronne, where the skies should be full of our scouts and two-seaters, so that no Englander should be able to intercept me, unless I flew too deep behind the enemy lines. Well, at least that is what he thought.

While nearing the frontline I really saw quite a few of our patrols circling high above. When I was over the no-man's land, just after I had crossed the small river to the west of St. Caronne, I looked above and behind me to check on our patrols again and that probably saved my life. I spotted an enemy biplane diving on me, guns blazing!



I breaked right, but it was too late to avoid the fire and my Albatros shook heavily under the impact. I groaned to myself imagining Wachtmeister Tlutschorsch's faces after seeing me having brought my new machine back full of brand new bullet holes.



I think the enemy pilot had expected me to turn in the other direction, since he climbed sharply and performed an Immelmann's turn.



He then started circling to the right, while I circled to the left to meet him.







To my surprise he perfomed an Immelmann again and turned towards me.



We met head on and exchanged some fire. He missed me by an inch while I scored some hits on him.



I saw a piece of loose fabric flaying from his rudder as we made a pass so close I would have seen whether he had shaved that morning, if not for his pilot mask. He was flying a SPAD XIII, in colours I did not recognize. He certainly did not belong to the Bulldogs, our usual adversaries. He climbed a bit while I dived to gain speed for an Immelmann's turn.



While I turned around, the enemy side slipped and turned right to avoid my fire.



I turned around again and saw the enemy circling to the right again.







I kicked the ailerons controls and sideslipped to the left just a second before he would have gotten me into his sights again, I sent a burst his way, but I missed. Damn, this enemy pilot was good.



I turned around again while he started circling to the right. He was apparently too fast! Maybe I could use this to my advantage. When I saw another burst missing him, I thought that he was not only fast, but also damn slippery.





And another burst avoided by a rough side slip! The enemy pilot was not only good, he was very good.



As I saw him circling I thought that this was probably my only chance.



I was in a good and reliable machine, but the Albatros D.III was not exactly an even match for the newer SPAD XIII. I pushed the flying stick to the right as much as I could and I started circling in the same direction as the enemy, only my circle had a significantly shorter radius.





I was right! I was soon able to fire a few deflection shots. Too hasty shots though, as I only saw them making a few more holes in his rudder, but he did not seem to really care.



He kept circling with me on his tail. As my next deflection shots missed him, I remembered what Oberleutnant von Skrbensky told me when we had last gone hunting wild ducks and I corrected my aim. This time I hit the tip of the enemy's left wing.





More corrections and spot on! I hit the fuselage just in front of the cockpit and some of my shots penetrated his fuel tank. For a brief moment nothing happened, apart from the appearance of a visible trail of leaking fuel.





A few heartbeats later the enemy airplane cought fire at the same time with two bursts of my twin Schwarzlose machine guns now hitting hard. Suddenly, both machine guns stopped firing at once. I checked the guns, while keeping one eye on the burning enemy and I realized that I had already ran out of ammunition. If he turned on me again I would have been defenceless and done for.



I kept pursuing the SPAD and he breaked right and dived, waving his wings. The enemy wanted to surrender! I would have respected that even if I had any ammunition in my guns.



I saw him attempting to land the flaming machine along the edge of a forest, when suddenly his engine stopped and he crashed in the field. My third victory!



I circled around and I saw a figure on all fours crawling out of the heap of firing rubble. I looked around and seeing no apparent enemy positions or units nearby I thought, what the hell, I could as well land nearby and see if he was alright.



After I had landed, I got to meet my former opponent. He introduced himself to me as Major Gervais Raoul Lufbery, an American of French ancestry, serving with the French. We shaked hands, he presented a bottle of cognac and I shared slices of spiced Hungarian meat suasage with him. We had a short chat and he congratulated me on another victory and laughed heartily when I showed him my empty guns. He told me he was already considered one of the aces of the Entente. No wonder he had managed to avoid my fire.



I then climbed aboard my Albatros again and headed for home, while he, after checking the direction in my map, went for the closest known positions of Entente soldiers.



Even now I still cannot get something out of my head though. I suspect that he thought I was someone else. He looked at the skull on the fuselage of my airplane as if in confusion and said he did not know I used such a symbol. He also told me he would have expected a triplane and that nobody was going to believe him that he actually had a drink with me.

I know that our K. u. K. Luftfahrtruppen uniforms are much better looking than the German ones, and that Major Lufbery told me that my accepting his surrender had been a noble act fitting for an aristocrat, but was this really the reason why he kept calling me “baron“?

Mission Result:
Central Powers victory, the ace went down in flames.

Central Powers:
Leutnant Isztvan Laszlo – returned to base with damaged Albatros D.III, 1 victory (SPAD XIII)


Entente:
Major Gervais Raoul Lufbery – shot down in flames in his SPAD XIII, but he survived the crash


OOC notes:

I chose a SPAD XIII as an opponent, as I wanted to try my theory that if I get him to a circling dogfight, I would gain the upper hand. None of the two airplane types have any special manoeuvres, but the SPAD XIII is more durable and significantly faster.

My expectations proved true, though it could have all gone wrong for me. The +1 on each hit for the enemy is a killer. The SPAD XIII has problems to keep slower airplanes in its sights though.

I chose Major Gervais Raoul Lufbery since he was an American (my only non Italian SPAD XIII is in American colours) and since he had already achieved the ace status before October 1917.

I gave the enemy Dedicated Ground Crew II as the optional ace skill to avoid all gun jams. The Lucky Git I was used to avoid the first 3+Engine Damage card taken. I forgot to use the Aiming rule for the hit that caused 2+Fire and 3 damage points in turn 8 move 2, but I hit it hard again after the next manoeuvre and the second fire damage did the rest.

After seeing all the flames, I think Leutnant Laszlo is going to go for Chivalrous Aptitude if he manages to achieve two more victories and survive.

[Nightbomber]

Excellent read, Baron! I'm affraid there is not a slight chance on my side to match you in quality of fluff you present here!
A great achievement of the Adlers

Question 1: Am I right you collided in the air, or it was just a close passing? I apply collision rules when one of the bases can not be placed because of the other base's peg. Then draw C damage cards for both planes.
How about you?

Question 2: Did you use the revised AI tables of Quim? On picture 4 Lufberry is making an Immelmann after "enemy closing", like in Quim's AI cards, is that right?

[Watchdog]

Thank you, Andrzej. As for the fluff part, each of us has his own style. I like all the AAR's.

I do not use collisions and explosions are taken out of my decks, so that the game can last longer. I take it that the pilots always manage to make a close pass.

[Nightbomber]

Ha! Interesting! Didn't know that! It's great everyone of us could tune the rules to meet our own enjoyment. That's a part of personal creativity we should be proud of!
I went the other way around, however, trying to simulate the brutal reality of the fights (considering my PC may eventually die) and did like that:
1) 2 A damage decks shuffled with 2 explosion cards.
2) apply C damage card to each colliding aircraft when bases can not be placed upon each other bacause of the pegs. As I remember well, Herr Oberst introduced such collision rule in the KotA campaign he runs.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

That was an entertaining read Jan, and very well illustrated. I'm going to have to revise my idea about taking the cards out of the pictures. You have proved that they make following the plot so much easier.
As you know from my AAR, I keep in the "Bang" card, but did allow a little leeway for the use of Lucky Git to avoid it for my scenario. The rule that I use vis collisions is the same as Andrzej, base to post. This keeps it in line with my shooting rule of post to base. Simples! I can remember that better.
Rob.

[Watchdog]

Oh, I overlooked your other question, Andrzej. Yes, I used the upgraded AI table by Joaquim. It is much more challenging than the basic one. It still does not cover all possible situations perfectly, but it makes the enemy react much better.

Rob, I always shoot from the peg stem to enemy base.

If I used the collisions, many more airplanes would have gone down in flames, I am afraid. I prefer the combat to be determined by shooting, not by flames, like this one.

[Blackronin]

Excellent report, Jan. Very entertaining and very well written. The photos are very good and easy to follow. And I loved the Baron twist and the slices of spiced Hungarian meat sausage (I would try those, but I would rather prefer not to be shot down before...)

[Watchdog]

Excellent report, Jan. Very entertaining and very well written. The photos are very good and easy to follow. And I loved the Baron twist and the slices of spiced Hungarian meat sausage (I would try those, but I would rather prefer not to be shot down before...)

Thank you.

You see, it is always a good idea to carry a small snack with you wherever you fly, you never know when you might suddenly get hungry...

[flash]

Nicely done Jan, loved the twist at the end too Herr Rittmeister !

[Marechallannes]

You turned a nice Immelmann-Party in a dirty curve fight.

...but the result counts. Good job, Jan.

[Beer&pretzels]

Nice job, Jan. Any particular name (or style) to that Hungarian sausage? A few of the independent butchers/sausage makers atound here offer a Hungarian hot sausage, but it taste more like a bratwurst liberally seasoned with cayanne pepper. Quite different from the Hungarian sausage that used to be available from Czech and Hungarian sausage shops in Chicago years ago.

I liked your write-uip , but Lufberry getting shot down by a D.III while he was flying a SPAD XIII? Sacre bleu!