Well, John Krotello's Mission 4 was also his last.

He died seconds after losing his lower wing in a high G turn. No more words, the movie will show how stupid I actually was and how I was avenged by my friend and wingman Sebastian Fulke (also his last mission). Now we're sitting on a cloud together and talking about the ocean. In heaven that’s all they talk about - the ocean - and how wonderful it is. (c)

Good luck to all fliers out there. Be smart. Thanks for your reports and support. See you next time.

Hi Robert i havent flown the 23 yet Bud.My 1st 2 missions were in the 17,a hard landing and 2 weeks in hospital later and i get back to find ive been given a brand new Nieup 23,i sure am one lucky S.O.B

@Rover unlucky mate..I to nearly bought the farm on my last mission,collided slightly with a big fat DFW CV 2 weeks spent in hospital and a new Nieup 23.Maybe the gods are smiling for once.Good luck in the next Challenge

Beanie;

Nice detailed reports. All the facts and essential data are there. The C.O. will be pleased!

Rover;

We will continue to fight the good fight in memory of Crotello! Save some of us a space on that cloud mate and have a cold beer waiting!

Thank you for your kind comment Robert. I wish I had the penmanship to do a better job so I have kept with reports. There are so many excellent write ups

Cheers

Rover - It is only by luck that I have not also lost a wing. As Robert has already said, make room on that cloud I have a feeling that there will be a lot more joining you soon!

LoftyC - And I thought I was having a bad day. I dare say that between the two of us we are keeping the fitters and riggers very busy!

Firing up the engines

Notes of 2nd Lieutenant Geoffrey Mac Leod - Filescamp airfield - April 3, 1917 (Mission 3)

7 o'clock this morning and April showers haven't stopped yet ... it starts being a real problem for all operations on the front. At least we can say we're much better off at the airfield than the poor guys in the trenches.
I explained yesterday when I landed back alone why I couldn't keep up with the Nieuports 23, hoping they would find one for me in the reserve pool. Instead, I am still ordered to fly my old Nieuport 17 A-6673, but this time I am leading the mission with Pidcock and "Charlie" Hall, so the 23s will have to ease up on their throttle and stay behind !

Today we fly in our lines and are tasked with flying CAP over Marieux airfield. It is situated near the town of Doullens, almost straight south of us. While sipping my morning coffee, I prepare my flight plan because of the miserable weather conditions. We will fly under the clouds ceiling around 5000 ft and I can take fixes on the way on some airfields : Avesnes near the Robermont woods, then La Bellevue farm, cross the road from Arras at the Watron woods, from where we should see Doullens.

We are already soaked when we start our engines and run down the airfield for take off. A couple of turns around Filescamp to let the guys catch up, and 190° heading on the compass. Once at 5000 ft I throttle down to 75% which keeps the plane level. Following the plan, I find all marks and we arrive over Doullens. After a first circle above Marieux, I notice two specks under the clouds coming from the east. Could be enemy two seaters on a bombing mission ! I lead the flight towards them but as we close in they turn out to be a pair of Nieuports returning from their mission. We flew a little north of Doullens to identify them so I bring everyone back to Marieux airfield. On the way I spot near the airfield some white puffs around a plane close to the ground. It is a lonely Albatros DII on its way back to the front lines and we go as fast as we can on an intercept course. Once again the 23s are faster than me and Pidcock is the first to catch him. He probably didn't see us coming and after a short fight the poor guy hits the dirt.

Running after him has taken us down to ground level and a couple of miles east of Doullens, so I regroup everyone and we head again towards Marieux airfield on a steady climb. As we get back to Doullens, I see 3 planes above us heading east towards the front, probably some of our guys heading out on their mission.

False again, two of them start swooping down towards us, Albatros DII ! My wingmen are quite aggressive and despite being lower don't hesitate to engage each one of the Albatros. I always fear collisions in this type of fight and as they seem to be doing good, I keep climbing above the fight to keep an eye on the third one who will at some point come down to help his wingmen. But to my disappointment he doesn't and keeps heading east. May be he was already damaged ? No way I can catch him with my 17, so I let him go... In the meantime my two boys have promptly dispatched their opponents.

Once more I regroup everyone over Doullens and we resume our patrol over Marieux. After 20 minutes seeing nothing more, I signal we are going home.

Same navigation the other way around and we are soon over Filescamp where I circle while my wingmen are landing. I rejoin them on the ground, landing in the middle of water splashes as soon as my wheels hit the ground. We hand the planes over to the mechanics and run to a dry place and something to warm up (one of us who had to land in the country yesterday brought back from the farm a few bottles of "eau-de-vie de poire" !) Now if only the bloody rain would stop for a while !



Marieux airfield SW of Doullens

Corsaire, Nice mission report, hang in there as there is a N23 coming your way!

Click on the blue link:

Charles Aubrey Ward's Mission #7

Rover, I almost made the trip to your cloud!!

Wow Robert, those Albatrosses wanted to kill you badly. Every time you looked back there was one tied to your tail. I said 'oh #%&*$#' about seven times throughout you run for the ground!

Edit: Haha, apparently you can't post the word shight

You know, I was so busy that after I landed I didn't know if I would be captured or die until the sim told me I landed on our side of the lines and was sent to hospital. I only got 11 days, not much time to spend with Nurse!!





I didn't know that! You learn something everyday it seems! I wonder if "#%&*$#" is ok?
Apparently not!

Nice defensive flying, Robert, this one was close !

Aw crap. Dead on mission four.



I stupidly tried to play this afternoon, even though it is a bright sunny day here ... TrackIR was flakey, screen was hard to see, like flying half blind. Lesson learned!!

Anyway, I got ambushed from behind by an Albatross. Never saw him coming. The rest was like Roberts video, except with me dying.

4 missions, 2 confirmed kills, 1 medal = 13 points

Ahh, sorry 77_Scout, a good run though!

Scout, but for that proverbial angel, I might well be with you on that cloud!! The fates have given me a third chance. I hope I don't waste it!

Dirk McGurt Mission #6
April 6th

Yeah, this is going to be good :

Command decides that I am so awesome that I can handle escorting a flight of B.E.2s across the lines all on my lonesome...
Yay me?

After having a good, long conversation with myself, we decide to go northeast, meeting up with our recon flight just west of No Man's Land. The survivors later told me that they felt much safer with me escorting them...

As we meandered over the lines, my head was on a swivel, wondering what to do if I encountered anyone. Of course, the smart thing would be to go huddle up with the recon craft and focus our 6 guns on the enemy fighters. Of course, fate had other plans in store for 2nd Lt. McGurt...

(77 Scout, you can see I had my own problems with tracking in this one. It is from the reflection of the light off my glasses, not sure what to do about it, playing with contacts dries my eyes out...)


Heading back across the lines in my best-guess approximation of where the recon craft went, I saw this in the distance:

Friend or foe, I couldn't tell, so with about a drum and a half of Lewis ammo left, I kept on trucking. I never caught up with the recon craft, but I did see an Albatros go screaming for home about 2000 feet above me, so they must have held their own. Confident in my spelling prowess this time, I landed at Ablainzeville Aerodrome.

After re-fueling and re-arming, I made my way back to Filescamp, where my Commander congratulated me on my success. I put in a claim for the Albatros, but with no known witnesses, we'll have to see what happens...

Tough break Scout. We'll keep up the good fight for as long as fate allows. I'm six flight in and still kicking and when I get some time I'll post a report.

Rick, nice restraint and accurate shooting.

Robert, that's some crazy stuff you're showing)) A real roughty-toughty, so to say. Even I was about to start sweating all over while watching your #7 video.