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Hasse, wonderful write-up. That was a close one for Julius, I hope he recovers quickly and fully. Love the old photo.

Lederhosen, a trench of death from the looks of it. Also, if your Pfalz AI handles like our Morane L, I wish you luck when it comes to fighting off multiple attackers with it.

Raine, another great episode. Talbot and Gregg will be missed around camp - two more crosses in the graveyard, two more horrid letters for our CO to write. Glad Collins is enjoying the window. And Cpl. Wilson is right, it does give the place a focal point.

Carrick, I feel your pain when it comes to the weather. Very dreary.

Fullofit, looks like things are heating up in Gaston's sector. He best be ready for a long siege, it doesn't look like the madness will be stopping any time soon.

Scout, sorry to see Aleck is having to trade in his Fee for a Quirk. He'll need to prepare for a lot less air-to-air battle and a lot more bravely running away. Must be nice though to have escorts that actually engage the enemy and drive them away for you. Good screenshot looking through the bombsight.

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The dreary weather has allowed only two sorties for 2nd Lt. Swanson and his G/O in nearly a week. The first, which occurred two days ago, was a very uneventful visit of the Hun aerodrome at Houplin. No EA seen in the air, little damage done to the target. This morning's sortie however was nearly another ender. He and Captain Craig were sent to recce the trenches east of Givenchy and then up to Neuve-Chapelle. They had barely climbed to their working altitude of 6,000' and begun their job when a lone Eindecker came zooming down on them from out of the sun. Swany took immediate evasive action while the Captain jumped to the gun and began his work. The Hun circled around for a second pass and Swany turned into the threat to keep him from getting a shot. The two planes approached, each turning as tightly as they could. In the last moments before the merge, a wind gust joined the fray, and both pilots suddenly had to take evasive action to avoid a collision. They were not successful, and the left wingtip on each craft caught the other. The Eindecker immediately fell into a spin while Swany managed to keep his mount under control, but barely. He looked over to see the entire wingtip smashed, yet amazingly the bulk of the wires were intact and keeping the wing in place. Further assessment showed that, despite the now minimal ability to warp the wing, the plane could still be controlled by judicious use of rudder and elevator. Swany slowly got his bus pointed back towards camp and began looking for a suitable nearby landing spot. The young pilot gingerly brought the Morane down in a large open field near Givenchy. Amazingly both he and Craig were uninjured, and after they'd climbed out of their busted mount the Captain stated that he had seen their attacker crash just west of the trenches they had been planning to recce. Swany wondered if the Brass Hats would see fit to award this claim to them or rather give it to some infantry unit who had taken potshots at the Hun plane as it was falling out of control. He realized, at least for the moment, that he didn't really care. He was just glad to still be alive. This flying business was turning out to be far more of an adventure than he first imagined it would be, and the shine was starting to wear off of the whole affair.


Beware the Hun in the sun.
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The Captain gets in a shot.
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The second pass coming.
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What one would call "a bad merge".
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Praying for things to hang together just a little longer.
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A very, very good landing.
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