The army had placed a rather largish mortar in a extremely well concealed position in our sector. There was no way the Allies were going to locate this behemoth without a very low level reconnaissance.
Six Fokker D-7's in two flights (Ed and myself) were assigned to discourage any Allied attempt to locate this position.
Sheldon decided to try his hand with the Salmson 2A2s and received an escort of three Spad XIII's (John) to assist him in locating the "Baby Bertha" that had been bedeviling the Allied secondary positions in this area.
The Salmsons crossed no-man's land virtually unmolested but as they approached the German lines a swarm of Fokker D-7's were gathering on their left. The Spads abandoned the Salmsons and were flitting about at higher altitudes. It appeared the Fokkers were going to feast this day.
As my flight of Fokkers worked their way to a position behind the Salmsons, Ed's flight went straight in and hit the left most aircraft in their formation. A very telling burst saw the pilot slump forward over his controls. This particular aircraft was fitted with dual controls and the observer abandoned his guns and attempted to fly the wounded bird home. Dogged by one of Ed's Fokkers, the aircraft was
soon sent spinning into the craters of no man's land.
About this same time two of my Fokkers were jumped by a pair of Spads. The Fokker is much more maneuverable than the Spads but this doesn't help much when the Spads come falling out of the sky at high speeds -- especially when your pilots are moving into position to attack a couple of two seaters. Well, both aircraft weathered the initial beating delivered by the Spads and soon a pair of inconclusive dog fights developed. One in particular was of some interest in that the pilot thought he might have been wounded. A warm liquid was soaking his pant legs and seeping into his boots. There was no time to see how badly he was hurt as he jerked the nose of his aircraft to the left and spiraled down towards the earth. The Spad was unable to match the turning ability of the Fokker but due to initially holding a position of considerable advantage, the Fokker was unable to get a shot off at the pesky Spad. Unable to turn the tables, the Fokker
took off at ground level back for the German lines. The Spad pilot appeared to be taken by surprise when my Fokker broke off the action and this hesitation provided my aircraft all the time needed to beat a hasty retreat. As my Fokker approached the aerodrome, the engine began missing. It was about this time that the gasoline fumes became especially noticeable. My pilot was able to cut the engine and had
just enough altitude to glide in for a landing.
Of Ed's two remaining Fokkers, one ran off a Spad and the other engaged the Salmson on the far right. This aircraft over flew the objective but apparently didn't get a good look. When it attempted to make a second pass at an extremely slow speed, Ed's Fokker caught up with it and sent it spinning to the ground. A victory but also jammed guns!
This left my remaining Fokker and the Salmson Flight leader. I'm not sure what it is about the pilots I have been receiving lately but they all seem reluctant to engage two seaters. This pilot was no different. Playing cat and mouse, for some time, my Fokker finally caught up with the Salmson Flight leader directly over the objective.
Where the Salmson was located there could be little doubt he had located our gun position. This aircraft had to be taken out!! My inexperienced pilot let loose with everything he had, perhaps at too great a range. Minor damage was done to the Salmson as he closed but then, his guns jammed!!
Needless to say, my pilot's inexperience was not limited to his gunnery, he was also a hopeless cause when it came to clearing the gun jam as well. He never did get his guns working again and wound up flying back to the aerodrome.
For a moment it looked like the Salmson Flight leader would have easy sailing back to his lines. Only a pair of Ed's D-7s, one with jammed guns, could prevent his escape. The Salmson attempted to build airspeed while climbing at a very steep angle in an attempt to escape the pursuing Fokkers. In an incredible miscalculation the climbing Salmson stalled due to pilot error. Worse yet the pilot completely lost control of the aircraft and it tumbled out of control crashing before the bewildered Fokker pilot. Had he shot down a Salmson with his guns jammed??
The only other even of note occurred when Ed's second Fokker (in the vicinity of the Salmson) flew right into a friendly Archie burst. The damage to the aircraft was tremendous, nearly destroying one of the wings. It was a miracle that the pilot could maintain control of the aircraft and he was forced to put the wreck on the ground shortly there after.
ANALYSIS:
This was our final game before Enfilade 2008.
The Fokker/Spad/Salmson scenarios always seem to create a great game. This one was no exception. The Allied players were grousing about my introducing Archie in this scenario (1st time using those rules) but in the end, the only aircraft hit was a German aircraft.
The relative strengths and weaknesses of the aircraft were all exposed in this game. The Spads were able to hold the initiative so long as they could operate with significantly superior airspeed. The Fokkers dominated the close in work. All the Salmsons were shot down. One had the pilot killed and the other two were the result of being too low to recover from momentary instability. The Salmson Pilots were
not particularly experienced. Absent these events, the rugged Salmsons were able to shrug off the best the Germans were able to dish out.
It should be noted that Sheldon is a big fan of pushing his aircraft to extreme exertions. He also much prefers a highly manuverable dog fighter. This time it caught up with him as the Salmson 2A2, while a very good two seat aircraft, cannot be thrown about the skies in the same manner as the nible scouts Sheldon so enjoys. Well I guess that isn't entirely true, you can throw them about, but the results may be somewhat different absent a very good pilot.
12 Total Aircraft. Start time a little after 6 p.m. End time around 9 p.m.
mjc
speculates about post-Innsmouth gaming.
