EXCERPTS FROM THE SECRET DIARY OF GEFRITER GROSS MECHANIC FOR LEUTNANT JACOBS:
We were up most of the night again! Jacobs insisted we completely overhaul the Mercedes engine on his Albatros D.III. Then he comes waltzing in and finds oil smears on the engine block. Now there's a surprise considering we just replaced every gasket in his engine! Jacobs flew into a rage accusing us of failing to properly recondition his engine and ordered us to do the entire job again before his mission tonight!
The man is intolerable. I cannot help but wonder how much better our lives and the lives of the junior pilots would be without him. I hear they are going to be flying well into the channel tonight. Pity if Jacobs didn't come back.
Later:
Mein Gott! Leutnant Jacobs appeared as the aircraft were being fueled and insisted that the tank containing my special fuel mix' be topped off with more gasoline. He then sat there while we fueled the aircraft. I had no choice but to continue to use the same tank to fuel the aircraft of Lauraud and Pippart as well as Jacobs'. If I didn't he would know something was wrong. Lauraud and Pippart are fine officers! I am beside myself.
EXCERPTS FROM A LETTER FROM LT. JACOBS TO HIS BROTHER.
Hans,
I joined the army to be an officer and a great warrior. Instead I constantly find myself at the mercy of incompetent mechanics, spies, and watered down fuel.
Yesterday we were ordered to sweep the skies of British reconnaissance aircraft over the channel. Flight leader Pippart lead out our entire unit in a Kette formation. This is an uneven V' with one aircraft trailing on Pippart's left and the rest deployed in a single wing to his right with the exception of myself. My job was to trail the formation at a higher altitude and engage any aircraft that attempted to take them from behind.
As we went into the Channel at 12,000 feet, a flight of the new British Triplanes appeared from the north – coincidentally at 12,000 feet. Given the late hour of the day their appearance was either very fortuitous or they had been tipped off about our mission. Initially Pipparat forged ahead and began a dive that would allow him to engage a flight of Sopwith Strutters that were patrolling the Channel.
About this time Pippart, Lauraud and myself all developed engine trouble nearly at the same instant! Our peril could not be greater. The aircraft of our three best pilots were simultaneously rendered impotent well over the lines and over water at that!
One of the Triplanes left his fellows and went after me. Try as I might, my sputtering engine was unable to produce much power and I was a sitting duck as he bored into me from about 2 o'clock. The Albatros D.III is a heavy aircraft and I was able to lift my nose at the last instant which slowed and lifted my plane just enough to avoid the tracers of the oncoming Englishman. I had avoided disaster for a minute but my situation, if anything, was worse. With my airspeed much reduced, the Triplane whipped around for another pass. I had but one option and put my plane into a steep dive. This is a risky move in an Albatros D.III as a prolonged dive can result in wing collapse.
My maneuver was a success. Not only did I gain a great deal of airspeed but the Englishman failed to anticipate my move and made no attempt to follow me down. Instead he broke off and made for the rest of our formation. With a failing engine I made my way home. I had not fired my guns and not a bullet touched my machine.
Lauraud's engine was failing badly and he left the formation and headed for home long before the Triplanes could near our formation. This left Pippart, with a bad engine, leading a formation consisting of Hengst (a competent pilot of 4 pilot's dice with some talent) and a couple of new pilots (two pilot's dice each).
Under the circumstances, to continue after the Strutters would be to invite disaster. Pippart signaled the formation to break up and turned to take on the Triplanes. Every pilot in the formation responded to Pipart's move and did likewise.
Pippart's group found itself at a disadvantage because they were well below the Triplanes at this point (4000 feet) and the tight turn cost them airspeed. Further, the other pilots were unaware of Pippart's engine problems and were reluctant to abandon him. This allowed the lead two Triplanes to dive on the Albatri to initiate the combat!
While the Triplane's flying was suburb, their gunnery was another matter. Ostmann's aircraft took a few hits to his tail but otherwise the pair of Englishmen failed to score any hits.
In the ensuing melee, Pippart locked onto the tail of one Triplane and, with a sputtering engine, followed him up to 14,000 feet. Just as he stalled Pippart unleashed a short burst into the tail of the Englishman but lacked the power to continue on and finish the job. The Triplane continued up and executed a turn to leave Pippart well behind.
Hengst fired at a diving Triplane but this aircraft zoomed underneath him apparently no worse for wear. Hengst then attempted to support Pippart and let the diving Triplane travel on his downward course.
Deprived of leadership and the trained eye of a veteran, the two new pilots soon lost track of the combat and the other aircraft in the formation. Each made his way home separately. All things considered this was probably a wise move for each. They would have stood no chance if they had remained.
This left Pippart and Hengst battling a trio of Triplanes. Pippart was beset by two of the Englishmen while the trailing Triplane attempted to engage Hengst.
Through skillful flying, Pippart avoided a complete stall and put his plane into a steep spiraling dive. A steep spiral actually preserves airspeed and is a much safer way to descend but requires a highly skilled pilot to pull it off following a near stall. The pursuing Triplanes were confounded. One completely lost track of Pippart while the other declined to attempt to match Pippart's madness. Once Pippart pulled out of his spiral, and headed for our lines, the remaining Triplane began a series of dives in an attempt to increase airspeed and close the distance. In response Pippart abruptly brought his nose up at the last instant and watched the Triplane flash beneath him. Now the Englishman thought he had him as Pippart had little remaining airspeed and there was no way an Albatros was going to out climb a Triplane at that altitude! As the Englishman attempted an abrupt climbing turn to position himself for a shot, the crafty Pippart put his heavier Albatros into a steep dive. Once again the Englishman was frustrated, as Pippart forged out ahead of him. The momentum achieved by Pippart's dive developed more airspeed than the draggy Triplane could match. Try as he might the Englishman was unable to gain any ground as Pippart put his nose into a gradual dive and sped for home.
This left the duel between Hengst's Albatros D.III and a single Triplane. This was the same Triplane that had attacked me earlier. Hengst is a good pilot but not a great pilot. Try as he might, Hengst was never able to line up a shot on the slippery Triplane. Indeed the Triplane seemed to be gradually gaining an advantage. This Triplane pilot was more than willing to sacrifice some maneuverability to maintain airspeed, and, unlike the earlier combat, This Triplane attempted to follow the Albatros in his dives. These tactics resulted in the Triplane actually overshooting the Albatros on two or three occasions and only by extreme exertions was the Triplane able to avoid being shot up by the trailing Albatros. In the end the Triplane gave it up as a bad penny and let Hengst break off and return home.
ANALYSIS:
The British claimed victory in this scenario as the Germans failed to even engage the observation aircraft. The Germans claimed a moral victory as not one of their aircraft was lost despite having half their force (and their best pilots) disabled by engine problems.
Watch Your Six! allows mechanical problems to affect both individual aircraft or an entire group. Today we were dealing with the latter situation. When these kind of things happen, it instantly changes then entire mission and presents some unique challenges. In a way it was probably better that the best pilots were the affected aircraft. The Germans had no chance of winning when this happened but they had a good chance of survival (always a good thing in a campaign). If the mechanical trouble had beset aircraft flown by inexperienced pilots the Germans would probably have lost two or three of them.
This action highlights the good and bad points of the Sopwith Triplane. This is a highly maneuverable underpowered aircraft. Structurally, the Sopwith Triplane is weak. Further the aircraft's rate of fire is limited by the Sopwith-Kauper interrupter gear -- producing a relatively lower rate of fire. The Allied player didn't do anything near what the German player attempted in this game but almost had a Triplane come apart in the air just the same. This near disaster undoubtedly affected the Triplane player's later game play.
The Albatros D.III has only one real advantage over the Triplane a higher volume of gunnery. Outside of that, all the advantages lie with the Triplane. The Albatros is a relatively heavier and more aerodynamic aircraft compared to the Triplane but suffers from a defect in it's wings. The lower wing begins to vibrate/oscillate uncontrollably in a prolonged steep dive which can result in a wing collapse. So even though the Albatros D.III can dive better than the Triplane in theory, in practice trying to out dive a Triplane can be risky business.
The Watch Your Six! rules place as much emphasis on the pilot as they do on the aircraft. This game was a good example of some great flying compensating for an outmatched aircraft. The Triplane pilots were pretty good on average, better than the Germans. The fact that the Brits tried to shoot down the better (crippled) German Pilots probably cost them a couple victories. A wounded eagle is more dangerous than a untouched sparrow. Had the Brits concentrated on the inexperienced German Pilots things would probably have played out much differently.
Pictures with summaries by the Brits will probably be up very soon on the Watch Your Six Yahoo Group
link
Enjoy!
mjc
checks out some 10/15mm railroad tracks for wargaming.
