f/o charles driscoll - I appear to be lost
The telegramme said "report to St. Omer upon return" so there he was, wondering about the many permutations that message contained.
"Name"
"Driscoll, Charles"
"Driscoll, Driscoll, Driscoll, Ah, there you are." The Admin Officer looked up. "Report to Hanger 23, ah like we've got a present for you. Next"
After a few wrong turns and asking a few people, he arrived at 23. Outside the hanger were three planes that he hadn't seen before. Two had just finished engine testing and as the engines stopped, the familiar smell of castor oil and fuel filled his nostrils and he was back home.
"Drizzy, hey Drizzy" He looked and saw a pilot leaping from the cockpit of one of the planes. "Arn't they beauties? Twin guns. This will give us a fighting chance now" said the excited pilot.
"Hello Reggie, calm down. I this the new Nieuport 17 that everyone's been talking about?"
"You bet. Flight Leaders have been flying in them for for a week now and the rest of us have been dying to get our hands on some more. We've been transferred to our new airfield to our new airfield to counter the threat of a new German scout in the area. He paused.
"Oh sorry Drizzy. How was your leave? All's well back home?"
"All's well back home. Parent's are well and safe"
"Flying Officer Driscoll" a firm voice shouted
His back stiffened "Yes Sir"
"Good man. Glad you've arrived". Driscoll looked and saw a man in a battered, badly oil stained and scorched flying suit. Clear blue eyes looked at him from within the pale area left by goggles, in an otherwise oil stained face.
"You've got about two hours to familiarise yourself with the plane before you, Corchoran and O'Neill will take these three planes to your new airfield at Soncamp. Your baggage will go by truck. You'll have to borrow some flying gear. Oh, and try not to break it, there's not many about at the moment. Off you go"
A stunned Driscoll asked "Who was that"
"You mean you didn't recognise the Old Man" Corchoran laughed "That was Osbourne, the C/O, our C/O".
Just over two hours later, refuelled and re armed, the three planes were heading South to Soncamp airfield. Driscoll was keeping a close eye on Corchoran, who was leading the flight, as he didn't want to get lost. Corchoran waggled his wings. Cutting across their path were three aircraft that Driscoll didn't recognise but he did recognise the black crosses on their wings and the chase began.
As they closed, the Observer in the two seater fired a warning shot and the two German scouts reacted by turning to face the danger. Driscoll saw O'Neill turn across the back of their flight, which confused him a bit. Corchoran lined up the Hun scout and fired (Explosion 7) The two planes continued towards each other. There was an almighty crunch as the two planes collided (Corchoran 6 Engines Damage, Unknown Pilot 2 - 0) "Corchoran" yelled Driscoll. The Observer fired on Corchoran (2 Fire)
Corchoran - Fire 2 NRR. The Hun plane flew past Corchoran only to find himself directly in the path of O'Neill, both pilots fired. O'Neill felt his rudder go stiff (0, 0 NLR) and when he opened his eyes, he saw the enemy plummeting below ( 5 Pilot Injury, 3 Engine Damage) As O'Neill continued his path, he hauled the stick over to the right to avoid Driscoll, only for the Observer to send bullets pinging off the engine cowling and sending splinters off the wood work (3) Then fired snap shots as he whizzed past the other
German scout (Unknown Pilot 1) (0, 1) causing minor damage. Meanwhile Driscoll also had his hands full with the German scout. He felt bullets fly past him (0) Both pilots briefly flew towards each other and fired. Driscoll caused minor damage (0, 1) whilst taking more (3, 1) Oh my God thought Driscoll, the C/o's gonna kill me.
Corchoran - Fire 0. O'Neill shot past the scout only to fall foul of the Observer (who seems to have been having a field day) (1 Fire) As he tried to turn away, the Observer again caused more damage (1 +1). Driscoll franticly tried to get back into the fight.
Corchoran - Fire 4. O'Neill Fire 4. Corchoran's plane can no longer survive the damage and falls from the sky. O'Neill tries to pull away from the two seater as the Pilot fires but misses. As the Pilot of the two seater fires again, he succeeds in destroying the plane and O'Neill's day is finished.
Driscoll begins what he knows is a futile chase after the two seater and it gets away with whatever information it was sent to gather. As he turns Westward, he passes the other enemy scout but neither has the chance for a shot.
As the turmoil of the encounter passed and his thoughts calmed, Driscoll took stock. Everything was happening faster. His plane and those new Hun machines. The loss of Corchoran and what was his name? O something. Then a new thought occurred. He didn't even know where Soncamp was? About the only ray of sunshine was he was the Entente side of the lines, which was quickly extinguished as he noted he was low on fuel.
He spotted another flight of N.17s and tagged onto the rear of the flight and twenty minutes later he landed at their aerodrome. As he taxied to a stop, a couple of the other pilots came over to his plane.
"Who the bloody hell are you?"
"Charles Driscoll of the 95th. I appear to be lost"
Butcher's Bill
Charles Driscoll RTB
Reggie Corchoran C&W Rolled 10 Flamer -3 = 7 Injured Skip 1d2 Rolled 5 Skip 2
Ralph O'Neill C&W Rolled 6 Shot down whilst burning -3 = 3 Injured Skip 1d6 Rolled 1 Skip 2 1 kill (Unknown Pilot 2)
Unknown Pilot 1 RTB
Unknown Pilot 2 C&W Rolled 7 Shot down -1 Wounded -1 = 5 Injured Skip 1d3 Skip 2 E&E Rolled 4 Wounded -1 Behind Enemy Lines - 1 = 2 Captured. For you the war is over
Tandem - Unknown Pilot RTB 1 kill (O'Neill)
- Unknown Observer 1 RTB
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