aar OTT-FYM - Mission 5 - ‘Out on a Limb’ - 5th May 1917 - by Teaticket

[Teaticket]

FYM Mission 5 Report

 

Being the least experienced Bouledogue, Gerard Framboise flew behind and above the flight leader and the more experiences pilots. Louis Colvin led the way, flanked on the left by Constant Charbrier and on the right by Lucien Cordonnier. Gerard was on the far right and above, Lucien to his left. Before lift-off Louis warned that they would be flying to a heavily patrolled sector.  Meaning patrolled by the enemy.

 

As they approached the front, many fleeting black dots are seen amongst the broken clouds ahead. Louis signals to his boys that they will join in the fight. Their approach is along a break in the clouds and before Gerard knew it, they were in the middle of a swarm of hornets. Gerard tried to keep above and to the right of Lucien, but it was just not possible to stay in formation.

Two Hun popped out of a cloud with Lucien latching on to the tail of one. The second saw Gerard and turned immediately on him. Seeing he could not get into an advantageous position and quite the opposite, the Hun was getting the upper hand on him, Gerard saw he had no choice but to turn away and hide in a cloud.

 

Gerard was instantly disoriented. What, from the outside looks like a soft innocent white puffy cloud can be very different on the inside. Gerard fought with his stick as an updraft tossed him about like a rag doll. Spun and shaken, flipped and twisted, Gerard’s persistence paid off and he finally retrieved control of his Nieuport. What seemed like an hour maybe lasted a minute at most. A minute is a long time in an ariel engagement. When he emerged from the clouds Lucien and the rest of his flight were gone. It took a few seconds for Gerard to realize that he had come out of the clouds well behind the German lines.

 

In the distance over his left shoulder Gerard saw the Hun that had originally came at him.

“Looks Like I’m on my own”, Gerard thought. “Better keep an eye on this one”.

 

No friends in sight. He didn’t see the all black Albatros directly behind him or the white fuselage plane past the clouds to his rear.

 

“Lets just keep those clouds close enough in case I need to hide again”.

Quickly the three Hun made a beeline for Gerard.

 

 

The N24 easily keeps some distance and a cloud between Gerard and the Hun as they overshoot, guessing wrong where he would go.

The Hun leader in the black bird gestures to the others. They set off to trap the young Frenchman.

 

Gerard sees two Hun heading his way, where is the third? He decides to slip into a cloud to throw them off.

Gerard loses his bearing in the mist and comes out not where he had planned. As it turns out, he’s better off!

Ochs would have been right on his tail.

Konrad is a bit surprised to see the Frenchman burst out of the cloud on his flank. Lucky for him Gerard isn’t ready to shoot.

 

Girard reverses and gets in a shot at Ochs. (Ochs uses his firm hand to ignore the rudder jam.)

 

Gerard’s fearless acrobatic flying almost gets him into trouble. Somehow he and Ochs miss colliding.

 

Once again, the Hun gather to line up on the Frenchman. Are they ready? Gerard reversed and flies right at all three of them!

 

Wolf goes straight. Not wanting to bump into Wolff, Ochs heads left with Konrad bringing up the rear.

Gerard slips out of Wolff’s arc and hits him with a devastating blow.

 

The fire takes a huge bite out of Wolff’s D.III.

 

Gerard cuts in tight behind Wolff, hoping to get on his tail and finish him off, but Konrad pops out of the cloud just off his tail. Lucky for Gerard Konrad can’t shoot but he will have to let Wolff off the hook.

 

The fire flutters….will Wolff survive it? (Wolff has 1 hit point left)

 

Gerard loves the agility of his N24. He sets up his reversal as Konrad flies past. Time to use that acrobatic skill again!

  

 

Konrad gets off easy. He turns in tight towards Gerard and escapes any more French bullets for now.

  

 

The rest of the turn takes Wolff off board. His last fire damage more than takes him down.

With Wolff going down just off board I wasn’t sure how to handle it as Gerard was facing the opposite direction, maybe not seeing Wolff go down. I rolled a d6 and Gerard had to fly 4 more turns before having to head home.

 

Gerard is behind Konrad but too far to shoot. Time to close the gap. Now where is that third Hun? Oh, there he is.

 

Konrad Immelmanns and both of their long range shots do nothing of notice.

 

Fixated on trying to get in another shot both flyers come close to ending their day with a collision.

 

“I’m ready for a reversal, is this Hun?"

With a timely reversal Gerard rips into Konrad’s tail.

 

“Ah, there is that other Hun”. Gerard turns towards the clouds and away from Ochs.

 

The excitement gets the better of him and he can’t let Konrad off so easy. A tight right turn back after him will guarantee a shot at him.

The veteran ace Konrad knows what is coming and Immelmanns to spoil Gerard's plan, or so he hoped.

Gerard plays his itchy trigger finger and riddles the black Hun before he can shoot.

The incoming lead throws off the German’s firing.

(Konrad’s lucky pilot skill negates the 3/engine hit)

 

Gerard is shocked as Ochs turns away. He turns after Ochs as Konrad’s fireball whisks past.

 

Expecting Ochs to have been heading towards where Konrad was, his Immelmann catches Gerard and his rudder pays for his mistake.

 

Oops. I forgot to give Konrad his fire damage at the beginning of the turn so here he gets it at the end.

Konrad’s fire nibbles a bit of his Albatros.

 

Konrad’s overdive dampens the fire but does not put it out. (1 fire damage to go)

 

Now the fire takes a bigger bite before blowing out.

 

Konrad realizes his damage is too much for his aircraft to stay in the fight. He regretfully slips into a cloud giving way to the Frenchman. Maybe Ochs will get him.

 

Gerard, off by himself, now notices the black smoke trail leading down to the wreck of Wolff.

“Ha! I shot one of them down”!

Up north of the downed Wolff there are other planes still battling in the sky. “Could be the rest of my flight “, thought Gerard. “Can’t ignore the two Hun closest to me here, so I’m still on my own. Might be a good time to head for the barn”.

(Gerard doesn’t know Konrad must nurse his battered plane home leaving only Ochs to face him)

 

From a distance what looks like two Hun facing him, Gerard makes his move to head home.

 

Konrad also heads home while Ochs gives chase to Gerard.

 

Gerard uses a cloud for cover and leaves Ochs behind.

 

When Gerard gets back to the aerodrome he tells his story to all that will listen.

“Too bad you were alone. No one there to confirm your victory”, Oncle coldly pops Gerard's balloon.

 

Twenty minutes later the rest of the flight returns. Upon exchanging stories Louis Colvin adds, “Ah ha, I know I saw a plane go down leaving a long black streak all the way to the ground. It was off to our south. That’s where we lost you in a cloud. You did quite well to down one of them, we were up against a veteran unit! Well done Gerard”.

 

Later in the week Gerard's victory was more than confirmed when it was found that the German ace, Ltn. Paul Wolff had been the pilot shot down and killed.

 

Butcher’s Tally:

Buledogues de la Republique

Sgt. Gerard Framboise: N24 #15:  RTB / 1 Kill (Wolff), 1 Probable FRTB-D (Dahl)

 

Kaiser’s Eagles

Ltn. Paul Wolff:  Albatros D.III (wooden fuselage):  EXP FT / 0 Kills

C/W rolled 4 -3EXP = 1 - Dead !  KIA

ObLtn. Konrad Dahl: Albatros D.III (all black): FRTB-D  / 0 Kills

FRTB roll 1+2 = stuck the landing

 

Ltn. Lothar Ochs:  Albatros D.III (white fuselage): RTB / 0 Kills

 

[Teaticket]

Sgt Girard Framboise fared well for a non-ace vs 3 aces! He gains his 2nd inherent one time skill, Acrobatic Pilot. This may one day save his live with the +1 on the C&W rolls. Would not have been enough for poor Wolff.

 

[Stumptonian]

Nice one for your lone pilot, Peter.

Tough finish for Wolff 

Have some 'virtual rep'.

BTW it seems you have a stray photo at the end of your post.

[Teaticket]

Thanks Pete. Girard did well with the Acrobatic pilot and a lucky repositioning in a cloud!

So I deleted one of what was a duplicate photo. Of course the one that was in the correct place went away. Deleted the 2nd, now to put it back in the correct position again.

Yeah, no more REP. I guess we like posts now.

[flash]

Well, it's good to be back in action in the top office again and glad to see you're catching up Peter. What a tidy scrap, and Gerard has some fire in his belly. Very nicely done

Oncle says:

 

Well, you were lucky this time, mon brave and Colvin's keen eyes were enough to confirm your claim on this occasion, so well done, we'll see if we hear who you downed.

Sgt Gerard Framboise is awarded War Cross with silver star (Croix de Guerre étoile de argent) (CdGs)  for his victories for the Republic

On t'other side: 
Fwbl Olivier Näther joins the Eagles as a replacement 

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Well flown Sgt. Gerard Framboise. and what an enthralling story line Peter.

Rob.

[mikeemagnus]

That was a really good fight, Peter. Well played! Great use of the clouds, combined with a nice bit of luck with the fire damage going against the DIIIs. RIP Ltn. Paul Wolff Have some more "Virtual Rep".

 

[Teaticket]

Thanks Mike. Got lucky with the clouds right when I needed it! Ochs would have had me for sure. Giving out that pair of 4 point smokes was painful, and then immediately followed by a 5 for fire! Luck was surely on Gerard's shoulder.

 

I see REP is still on our home pages but there is no REP button to hit on posts. I guess it looks like REP = likes now?

[ShadowDragon]

Well done, Girard! 

Pity to lose Wolff, but them's the way of war. 

[Teaticket]

Thanks Paul.

Yes, tough one for Wolff, but if it means I'm one kill closer to having a French ace I'm all for it! Sorry Wolff.