4 November, 1918 14:20 afternoon mission Montingen, Verdun Sector Jasta 18 Rittmeister Klaus Gustav Raben RAO AO PLM HHO EK1 EK2 Fokker D.VII 178 confirmed kills Awaiting one claim confirmation
The episode in which Klaus has too many dance partners.
In the afternoon, for their second sortie of the day, the Schwarm was sent to patrol enemy frontlines between Thiaucourt and Pont-à-Mousson. Schwarm Eins in their three-ship formation raced ahead and were soon caught in a furball with a bunch of SPADs. When Klaus arrived with Schwarm Zwei, they had the enemy already at their level and easy to get their hands on. Klaus picked a solitary machine which started to run when he noticed he had a Fokker on his tail. The wind buffeted his Fokker and made it difficult to place an accurate shot, but somehow, more through dumb luck than skill, he was able to hit something on that SPAD that sent it spinning down all the way to the ground. Klaus quickly found another target to play with and along with a second Fokker made the enemy pay for his indiscretion.
When Klaus was done with this foe, he looked around, but there were no more enemy planes in sight. In fact there were no friendly machines either and he decided it would be best to return to base. As he was getting close to home he noticed behind another plane following him. He made nothing of it, thinking it was one of his wingmen trying to rejoin, but the plane in question was approaching too quickly to be a Fokker. Klaus decided to investigate and turned his plane around. As he did that, bullets started to fly from the plane that followed him. A SPAD! Raben wasn’t worried, he’s dealt with these flying bricks many times before. The enemy was rather agile for a flying brick and Klaus had difficulty catching his opponent. The Franzose kept his height advantage and had no problems with turn fights. There was another issue. His friends arrived to join the games. All five of them. “- Scheiße!” Klaus had six SPADs in total to deal with and no wingman in sight. His only choice was to bring the fight as close to the ground as possible. He scored a few hits on one of them, but had to quickly disengage to avoid the rest of his friends trying to latch on to his tail. It was all civilized. They didn’t trip over each other to get at him, like his wingmen usually do. He was in trouble, he definitely was up against the Experten. His fight was becoming desperate, when one of the SPADs finally made a mistake. The Frenchman lunged at Klaus and went by with little altitude to recover. His plane stalled and smashed into the ground. “- Ha! Only five to go.” Klaus was congratulating himself even though he didn’t shoot him down. When he looked around he could see the rest retreating. All of them. They were probably low on fuel and rather deep into enemy territory.
Klaus made an attempt to follow, but it was a lost cause. Or was it? He spotted one of the enemy machines high above and behind. Raben quickly raised his nose to gain height. It wouldn’t be enough to get on his tail, but it would get him close enough to take some potshots. He watched the SPAD overtake him overhead. He then pulled up even more and sent a series of bursts into the enemy. He either hit him, or caught his attention with near misses. The SPAD came around. Klaus was waiting for that and would not squander his chance. Whatever he did, he would make sure to stay as high as possible in case the enemy decided to run. He took a few shots at the enemy. He seemed to make progress and finally the SPAD went down. When Klaus looked up he had to swerve out of the way of another SPAD coming right at him. Did he also come from behind, or did he turn back to help his wingmate? In either case he was too late. Klaus went after, but the enemy was already too far ahead. Even sending more volleys his way did not entice the enemy to turn back and fight. Klaus was satisfied with his results. Now, only if he could find witnesses for his claims.
"Take the cylinder out of my kidneys, The connecting rod out of my brain, my brain, From out of my arse take the camshaft, And assemble the engine again."
