WATCH YOUR SIX – AAR – July 31, 2009
Zeebrugge Mole – February 1917
Finally we have some cause for celebration.
That idiot Schrieber's demise left a vacuum at the top of our unit. I should have been given the command but instead we were placed under the command of Oberleutnant Freidrich Chirstiansen – currently a flight leader in the Zeebrugge Naval Air Station. This outfit flies sea planes located on the mole. Christensen served in the merchant marine before the war and learned to fly before the war. He has been awarded the Iron Cross First Class for his patrols over the North Sea but has never scored a victory. Christiansen made it very clear that he had no intention of flying missions with us as he had not been relieved from his duties at the Naval Air Station. Indeed he considers us quite a nuisance.
The weather has been bitter cold with intermittent strong winds. Exposed as we are on the Belgian coast, sometimes these winds collapse the hangers and cause severe damage to our aircraft. Three days ago, we lost half of our Albatros D.3 aircraft in such a storm. Call it luck or call it fate, we still had three Roland C.III Whalfishe aircraft that survived intact.
This is how I (Jacobs) came to be the flight leader for the Rolands. Pippart was assigned the task of leading our small Albatros D.3 formation based on the fact that he alone in our unit has scored a victory.
Christiansen is big on formation flying. He maintains that when flying over open water it is essential that we stick together. In the event one of us goes down, the others can then quickly return to base and report the position of the downed aircraft. If that pilot is lucky he might be picked up by a nearby naval vessel. Personally I don't think anyone would last long if they went down at sea in these frigid temperatures. Still, it appears this kind of thinking is good for morale if nothing else.
February 10th, we received a report of a group of British Destroyers heading up the coast very late in the day. Christiansen felt we should just have enough time to locate and attempt to bomb these destroyers before failing daylight would force us to return. So off we went, Pippart's Albatri leading the way and my Rolands trailing behind.
When Pippart arrived in the area where the Destroyers were sighted, he didn't see any Destroyers but he did spot a flight of British Aircraft. After our recent string of losses when encountering British scouts, Christiansen and Pippart determined that we would rigidly adhere to tactics based on formation flying. In essence, Pippart would attack first, Laurad second and Hengst third. Once the initial pass was made, Pippart would engage the enemy and the other two would serve to ensure Pippart was not attacked from behind.
Pippart's group approached a formation composed of Sopwith Pups. The Pups didn't see Pippart for some time and when they did, they broke their formation, each aircraft seeking to attack individually. Pippart bored in on the nearest Pup. The hapless fellow had no intention of going head on with Pippart's Albatros and sought to execute a bank and peel off to his left.
The Sopwith Pup may be more maneuverable than an Albatros but is underpowered. This Pup's airspeed was significantly less than Pippart's aircraft. With a minor adjustment Pippart brought his guns to bear and dived on the Pup, delivering a long burst that ripped through the Britisher from stem to stern!
Pippart's aerobatics really are exceptional and he placed himself squarely on the tail of his wounded quarry. Unfortunately the other men in his flight lacked the skill or experience to duplicate his flying. While Pippart descended rapidly, the remaining Albatri, remained at 8000 feet attempting to locate their departed flight leader. From this point forward Pippart would be on his own.
We had flown into a carefully laid trap! It was odd the Destroyers would be covered by a flight of Sopwith Pups but when I saw a second flight to Sopwith Triplanes I knew we had been duped!
My flight of Whalfiche were positioned about 4000 feet below the Triplanes when they were first spotted. In many aircraft this is a position of tactical disadvantage but the peculiar characteristics of the Whalfiche, make such a position relatively neutral.
If nothing else Christensen is an experienced tactician. He instructed our observers to ‘fire as one' at the first enemy aircraft that came within range of their Parabellum guns. I didn't much care for this approach at the time he instituted the tactic but I must say I am impressed with the results.
The Triplane flight slowly descended to the level of our aircraft and their flight leader engaged my aircraft from about 10 o'clock. Normally one would have little to fear from such an attack but this triplane pilot was an exceptional shot and if that wasn't enough, he had two guns! My engine absorbed most of the damage from this initial insult. I then inclined my formation toward the Triplanes. This unnerved a most of the attacking aircraft except for the British flight leader, he blew by me and attempted to swing onto my rear. This placed him squarely in the field of fire of all three observers in my formation. The converging streams of tracers all found their mark and the two gunned Triplane literally staggered in the air and fell into a spin!
Then things went from bad to worse. My engine began failing! I signaled my men to jettison their bombs and make for home. I had no intention of testing Christian's ‘pick up at sea' theory – especially in an area that might be infested with British destroyers!
As my formation withdrew our new pilot, Gottsche was attacked by a Sopwith Pup that materialized out of thin air. No one saw him until Gottsche's aircraft heeled over and spun down into the ocean. There was nothing that could be done to help him. Horsa and I dived away and I prayed my engine would last long enough to get me to the coast. We were pursued by Sopwith Triplanes but these aircraft stayed well above us and turned away as the light began to fade.
This left Pippart and the other Albatri to deal with what was left of the British aircraft. The Brit's had altitude but lacked the iron resolve of Pippart and his men. After Pippart finished off the Pup he encountered the two gun triplane that my men had shot up. This aircraft had come out of his spin only to find itself squarely in Pippart's sights. A blast from Pippart's guns ripped into the Triplane's pilot, puncturing his lung and shattering his left arm. The British flight leader would only fly a short distance before he lost consciousness crashed into the sea. Luck was with him as his crash placed him quite close to a British Destroyer!
Pippart was far from finished but the British were beginning to have second thoughts about things. Both Hengst and Laurad had scored hits on British aircraft and were looking for more! As Pippart attempted to gain altitude, his subordinates chased off the remaining British aircraft. The Albatros may not be the equal of a Pup or Triplane in a dogfight but our pilots were certainly more than a match for the British airmen we encountered this day. Our Albatri quickly gained superior positions and the out maneuvered British could only climb away from our Albatri.
One would be hard pressed to find a more jubilant bunch in the entire army that night – well everyone but Pippart. Pippart is a hard man to figure out. He now has three kills and likely will become the leader of our KEK. But the man hardly ever speaks. If one attempts to draw him into a conversation he just stares with those steely eyes – I swear it's like looking into the face of death itself! Then he will utter a brief monosyllable and turn away, staring into his drink. I don't know what I fear most, fighting the British or serving under the command of Pippart!
Leutnant Jacobs
ANALYSIS:
This was the second game in our Destroyer Raid mini-campaign. The Germans had to attempt to bomb mine-laying British Destroyers. The player mix for the night left the numbers of aircraft relatively equal and . . . made bombing the Destroyers a pipe dream.
Up to this point the Germans had been scrambling individually or from different locations and had not been using formation flying. In this scenario the Germans relied heavily on formation flying and it paid some handsome dividends.
The Albatros D.3 is a rugged aircraft and boasts two machine guns. The British aircraft generally mount a single machine gun and if that isn't bad enough, they are all using the Sopwith-Kyper [sp] gear. This interrupter gear delivers a much reduced rate of fire compared to the German mechanism.
Pippart continues to be my star pilot. He scored a pair of victories in this game. His aerobatic abilities and luck have been exceptional. The Brit's will either be gunning for him or avoiding him in the future. If they focus on Pippart, I will be seeing some great opportunities for some of my other pilots.
My only loss was the new pilot to the KEK. If you have to lose someone, that's the guy you want to lose. My pilots are still a step behind the best British pilots in the campaign but on average, my pilots are at least as good if not better than the competition.
KEK Wertz is looking good right now. Hopefully I will be able to obtain my full complement of Albatros D.3s for the next game. We'll see how well the British fair when they try to take out my mine sweepers (who appear to have their work cut out for them).
Photographs from this game and a British AAR from this same game can be viewed on the Watch Your Six Yahoo Group:
link
mjc
