OTT FYM - Mission 2 - Close air support - April 12th 1917 by Tikkifriend

[tikkifriend]

RFC

Lt Timmy Harper: Nieuport 16 (rockets)

2Lt Charles Fritz Wagner (P2) & AM.1 Harry Jones (O): F2A Bristol Fighter

s/Lt Guy Bordeaux: Sopwith Pup (w/Incendiary Bullets)

2Lt Quinten Marsh: Sopwith Tripe

Central Powers

Obltn Heinrich Barnekow: Albatros D.II (Red) [Flight Leader]

Ltn Werner Thomas: Albatros D.III (Green)

Ltn Friedrich Koch: Albatros D.III (Blue)

Ltn Bernhard Wenzl: Albatros D.III (Red tail)


Job for you Timmy my lad, spot of banger busting with those rockets you like. Got to clear a path for old Fritz Wagner and his jockey to bomb some depot .
Possibly a bit of Archie as well, and the usual Hun scouts so Quinten and one of those Frenchies will be going up to cover your backs. Good luck and be careful out there.


The barrage was a formidable one. Cables were strung between each blimp stretching almost to the ground


Puffs of AA fire burst menacingly behind this line of defence,


and Harper could see a circling Albatros.
Still, Harper reflected, he's a caged bird behind the wall of wires and fabric.


Bordeaux opened up with incendiary rounds (2+Fire,2)


With that Harper fired his entire payload of rockets but it was the rockets that had the most effect (EXP) .


The barrier down the Koch was free to attack. The rest of the German flight began to emerge from the surrounding cloud cover.


Using the remaining balloon as cover against AA the Frenchman turned his pup towards Koch, only to see 2 other planes in the distance.
Harper had seen the Alb in his mirror and flipped his rudder left .
A puff of Archie burst in front of his Nieuport, the shrapnel whistling by


Then a few rounds from Wenzl however struck home (2)


As Koch came out of his Immell Bordeaux fired hitting the pilot(3+Pilot)


Bullets tore though the Pup's rudder from a burst from Thomas. (1+LRD).


Marsh and Wagner now entered the fray.
Thomas was close enough to the Tripe to pepper its rudder before his guns jammed (0+GJ,2+RRJ)


only to have his tail hit from rounds fired by Harry Jones in the Bristol (1+RRJ)


Bordeaux had to pull out all of the stops to avoid colliding with 2 Albi.


Battery A, now reloaded was only just short of range for a pop at the Nieuport.
Battery B had little chance of firing due to the melee of planes, both friendly and enemy in the sky above.
Jones managed to get off a round or 2 before his gun jammed. Anyway the target was coming up fast so he had other things to concentrate on.(1+GJ)


Bordeauxs shots at the crippled Koch missed. (0) Koch was on a collision course with the remaining balloon, but for the grace of having Immelled his fate would have been sealed.
Thomas deftly swept around the balloon looking to attack the 2 seater as it began its run at the target..
Koch turned for home, bleeding from a chest wound.
Harper, aware of the fragility of his plane decided to stick close to any enemy crate he could find to avoid an artillery shell. as one burst near him for a second time.
Wagner could see he was off target and began a sequence of manoeuvres to get him on line. This freed up Jones to drill the red albatross of Barnekow as he swooped down on them. Flames lit up the Germans plane (2+Fire),
but not before the flight leader had hit the Bristol's tail (1+RRD)


Bordeaux was still darting around , taking shots at whatever flew near him. Barnekow was his first choice sending an incendiary bullet into his engine (2+ED)



Battery A fired.. The shell at such short range fell directly on the Bristol, the shards cutting through its wings like a knife through butter (EXP) the stricken tandem fell not more than 100 meters from the triumphant gunners.


Marsh failed to hit Koch as he sped past him and back to his lines. Wenzl, however, caught the Nieuport in his sights and hit a fuel line (2+Fire, 2+LRD).


The Frenchman, still tailing Barnekow jammed his guns. Moving to free them his plane pitched right, just as a shell from Battery B exploded (0)
Harper began to panic. On fire his tiny Nieuport had taken a lot of damage. He decided to head for home.
Marsh could see there was no hope of completing the mission now the Bristol was down. He quickly looked around and saw Harper trailing smoke from his burning crate. Bordeaux was out of site, probably hidden by the remaining balloon. His first thought were to cover Harpers escape, that meant getting Wenzl off his wingman's tail.
But it was too late for Timmy Harper. With one final burst which saw his guns utterly destroyed Wenzl brought the Nieuport down (2+GJ 2+GJ) Kill Wenzl




Bordeaux stuck close to Barnekow to avoid any more Archie, but his guns were still jammed and by the time he had them operational Barnekow had him in his sights
(0,1).
Marsh found himself alone, the 3 remaining Germans closing in on the Sop Pup.
Thomas and Wenzl opened up on the Pup, but it was Thomas's bullets that sealed the Frenchman's fate (EXP) cutting the Pups upper right wing in half. Kill Thomas.


Seeing that Marsh opened up his throttle and headed for home.


Butcher's Tally:

Central Powers:

Obltn Heinrich Barnekow: Albatros D.II (Red) FTRB-E / 0 kills
Rolled 6+5 = Stuck the landing.

Ltn Werner Thomas: Albatros D.III (Green) RTB / 1 Kill (Bordeaux)

Ltn Friedrich Koch: Albatros D.III (Blue) FTRB-W / 0 kills
FRTB rolled 5+2 = stuck the landing
C/W Rolled 9 -1WIA +1RTB = 9 - All well when you land well

Ltn Bernhard Wenzl: Albatros D.III (red tail) RTB / 1 kill (Harper)


RFC
Lt Timmy Harper: Nieuport 16: SD-FLM-ET / 1 kill (Balloon)
C/W Rolled 5 -2FLM = 3 - Injured - Skip 1D6 Scenarios. Rolled 5 = Skip 5
E&E Rolled 8 -1FLM -1WIC = 6 - In hiding! - Skip 1D2 Scenarios. Rolled 6 = Skip 2

2Lt Charles 'Fritz' Wagner: (P2) F2A Bristol Fighter: EXP-ET / 0 kills
C/W Rolled 8 -3EXP = 5 - Injured - Skip 1D3 Scenarios. Rolled 1 = Skip 1
E&E Rolled 9 -1EXP -1WIC = 7 - Landed almost home! - Skip 1 Scenario

AM.1 Harry Jones: (O)F2A Bristol Fighter: EXP-ET / 0 kills
C/W Rolled 8 -3EXP = 5 - Injured - Skip 1D3 Scenarios. Rolled 5 = Skip 3
E&E Rolled 5 -1EXP -1WIC = 3- Captured and escaped! - Skip 1D3 Scenarios. Rolled 3 = Skip 2

s/Lt Guy Bordeaux: Sopwith Pup (w/Incendiary Bullets): EXP-ET / 0 kills, 2 probable: 1 FRTB-E (Barnekow); 1 FRTB-W (Koch)
Rolled 7 -3EXP -1ET = 3 - Injured - Skip 1D6 Scenarios. Rolled 2 = Skip 2
E&E rolled 10 -1EXP -1WIC -1BEL = 7 - Landed almost home! - Skip 1 Scenario

2Lt Quinten Marsh: Sopwith Tripe: RTB / 0 kills


Victory Points:

British:
5 points per target point destroyed = 0pts
-5 points for each bomb that completely misses the target (i.e., hits civilians) = 0 (none dropped)
5 points per barrage balloon destroyed = 5pts
5 points per AA Gun destroyed = 0pts
5 points per enemy aircraft forced to return to base (FRTB) that also makes it home (even if it crashes on landing). x2 = 10pts
10 points per enemy aircraft lost (including those that fail to find a way around the barrage) = 0pts
5 points per ace lost (shot down or fails to find a way around the barrage) = 0pts
TOTAL = 15pts.

German:
5 points per target point still intact = 20pts.
5 points per enemy aircraft forced to return to base (FRTB) and makes it home (even if it crashes on landing) = 0pts
10 points per enemy aircraft lost (including those that fail to find a way around the barrage) x3 = 30pts
5 points per ace lost (shot down or fails to find a way around the barrage) = 0pts
TOTAL = 50pts ?

Enough said, a clear win for the Central powers and a massive loss to the Bulldogs.

[ShadowDragon]

Well that was a doozer of a fight....great planes and special effects but, alas, also a great win for the Adlers. Three Bulldog pilots KIA!!! It was all going so well until after a hole was made in the barrage the the Adlers got let out of their cage with Archie putting a word in.

Ooops! It seems the pilots are not quite dead, yet. Yay! Something to celebrate - well, one has to find something with such a catastrophe. But...nice planes.

Have a pint in consolation.

[Baz]

Hi think you may have a reprieve, doesn’t get flamer and explosion, just the explosion?

[Hu Rhu]

Well that was quite brutal for the Bulldogs having lost 3 of the 4 planes on the mission. However as I am sure Uncle will explain, your C&W rolls are a little severe and I doubt that you will have lost three pilots dead.

Also, unless I didn't read it correctly, Barnekow landed safely (Rolled 11) so won't miss a mission.

All in all a rollicking tale and some nice machines. Rep on its way.

[flash]

So good to see you back in the fray, Paul, the results were not as bad as you first thought, or, as bad your Tally, but it's been quite a while ain't it !
Anyway, Uncle knocked it into shape using what little info he could pull from the original and the body of the AAR.

Uncle says:

What a bloody disaster - and not just the after action report - planes downed all over the place, chaps badly knocked about or lost behind the lines. This won't stand. We must do much better if we hope to prevail. Not much to celebrate bar Marsh bringing his kite back - not much but worth raising a glass to !

On t'other side of the lines:

With all machines and pilots back in the nest, wounds not as bad as first thought, the party starts early..

Ltn Werner Thomas is awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class on the occasion of his third victory for the Kaiser and the Fatherland
Ltn Barnhard Wenzl picks up his pilots badge on the occasion of his first victory for the Kaiser and the Fatherland

[mikeemagnus]

Great to see you back in the saddle, Paul. Hell of a fight. Went badly for our boys but then it does happen to be Bloody April after all! Good of Uncle to pull your lads out of the frying pan. I was a little confused by all this chat about dead pilots strewn all over the show, but by the looks of things, that was all false news Nice fight! Most entertaining, and congrats at least to the enemy for their gongs. Drinks on them I assume