Mission 6:
November 23, 1917

It should have been a simple mission. Two man patrol consisting of me and my new best friend Sergent de Pradine, go over to St. Mihiel, watch the Germans for awhile, then go home.

It was a grey, though dry day at ground level. As we rose through the clouds, I could see the sun trying to come out from behind the clouds.

I've always been fond of 'sunrises' in games - usually space combat. There's something about the first rays breaking free of an obstacle (planet, moon, cloud) that I find very beautiful.



Not bad.

So we're at St. Mihiel, when I notice two planes above me and to my right heading eastward. This is a bit troubling: I'm already at 13K feet, so how high are these jokers? I zoom in: Germans. Just so.

I brace for the expected bounce, but they don't see me or don't want to fight. Two seaters? Prey? I want to find out.

Slowly I turn after them and climb up...14K feet. 15K. Perhaps it's my imagination, but it certainly sounds like my engine's starting to have oxygen problems. Perhaps not - historically the Spad VII had a ceiling of around 18K.

At 15K I match their altitude. They've pulled ahead by 1500 yards. Now it's time for a slow, determined chase.

That's when I notice that even at this great height, we're not alone. A plane shoots across in front of me going left to right. It appears to ignore me, and as it's not my prey I ignore them.

Then I notice that plane has a friend who's turning right turn me. And the plane which had passed me on the right is now circling back to try and take de Pradine and I from the rear.

Crap.

I turn into the plane charging towards us. Albatros D.V. Jasta 21. Historical ace - Hermann Leptien. Just so.

I get a few shots into him, then suddenly bullets are striking my fuselage from behind as his friend catches up. I turn into him, while I think dePradine decides to chase Leptien. The one shooting at me is piloted by Oskar Freiherr von Boenigk - another ace.

A few turns and wild shots later, I realize I'm in a bonafide furball at 15,000 feet! I apologize for the lack of pictures: I was too busy trying to survive. It was de Pradine (HA) and myself vs. Leptien (HA), von Boenigk (HA), Bernard Kilian (HA) *and* Fritz Hohn (HA). An entire squad of aces, and while the SPAD is good, I don't think it's 1:2 odds good against the Albatros!

The next several minutes of my life are a blur. It's a swirling, vicious fight. I'm proud to say they never hit me again. I'm not so proud to say that my accuracy sucked - there was no time to line up shots. As soon as one of them appeared in my sights I fired a short burst.

I noticed de Pradine was holding his own against two a short distance away. The third was circling around to get to my rear, so I had several seconds alone with Herr Hohn. I must have hit the pilot, because his plane rolls and drops earthward in a death spiral.

Holy cow! Who's next? I turn into the man on my tail, then zip past him to help de Pradine. I get there just as one of the hostiles enters a flat spin and drops from view.

It's 2:2 now, but these people are serious. One - I think von Boenigk - makes a determined effort to circle around on my tail. I know it's going to throw me into a spin, but I match his turn rate. As expected I tumble out of the fight. He chased me. I managed to fire a few leading shots, but here comes Leptien diving down on me, guns blazing. Another hard bank out of his way, and for a moment I think this is my own death spiral. Even with a hard rudder and roll it takes several precious seconds to straighten my craft out.

By the time I level out I've fallen to 3K feet ... and the Germans are leaving. They've had enough, and I don't know where de Pradine is: As it turns out, probably still up there with them.

I did what any sane man would do after surviving 1:2 odds against 4 aces: I ran away.

As I circled one of the border aerodromes shedding energy to land, I saw an aircraft approaching rapidly. I sighed and turned to face him.... de Pradine. He shot down two aircraft, and my lucky shot had answered for Hohn leading to my sixth victory.

....Wow.

I think your last comment is right : Wow !
Congrats on surviving this encounter ! There are quite a few tough german pilots in this corner of the woods...

Definitely quite the "Challenge 4" CatKnight! It's amazing how they always seem to be coming at you from above. I feel the same way. Maybe we should fly at max altitude and get the advantage for a change.

Ok, I reckon I been slack, but I was out of the "office" quite a bit this week. Anyway, I went back over the last several pages and the survey results and updated the chart on pg 1. There are still several pilots I don't have data on. So if you want your pilot to get his full accounting for, alive or dead, please fill out the survey on the first post of this thread a couple of times a week. (If you die, just fill it out one more time with your final information...)

Mission 6

I hear other planes!
They they are...




I put several short bursts into one





I quickly pull out of that attack and turn left almost colliding with another german 2 seater, most likely Rumplers. That plane put rounds into my engine caussing it to knock and emit sounds of wet farts. I made it back to a friendly airfield, no claims for me, but my 2 squad mates each had 1 claim.

Paz de Problemme Mission #7
Nov. 8

Another balloon busting mission, this one north of the lines:

Sharp-eyed viewers will note that the balloon we were assigned to take down was VB 2112, which should make our French-Canadian flyers happy!
I was in charge of the flight (never a good idea, in my mind...) and for wingmen I had Adj. Allesandro Mathusiere and Sgt. Marcel Dhome. whom I have come to view as a very capable and reliable chap...

I knew I had to head across the front to the north and then cut east till I hit the river. Following it north, it should take us right to the balloon. We made it across the front in good shape and were following the river when, as usual, my wingmen spotted trouble off in the distance. I swung around to follow them as eventually, a couple of specks resolved themselves to my eyes. One of the specks descended on us and Mathusiere and Dhome seemed to have him well in hand as I stayed above to pursue the other scout. After a few minutes chase, I had him.

I then saw what he was running to: several more enemy scouts out of the corner of my eye. Still, I was determined to give this one a good dose before I left. I lined up on him and fired, only to see my tracers go wide. I adjusted and fired again: another miss. In frustration, I followed this fellow far too long, ignoring the other enemies I knew must be closing on me. Finally, I ignored the sights altogether and simply closed and fired getting some hits. At this point, I looked back to confirm the enemies I knew must be there. They fired right at that point, hitting some control wires coming out of the cockpit and sending splinters of wood and shards of metal into my left leg. Going down into a left side dive, the enemy scout followed me, still firing. I threw the controls over to the right, putting me into a spin and throwing off my enemy.

Continuing to dive, I headed south with one enemy a/c pursuing me. After a bit, I decided to turn on him and see what he was made of. My left-hand controls were damaged, so I came around on the right. Suddenly, as he passed, I started taking fire from the ground! In frustration, I left him behind and headed back south across the lines and landed at our aerodrome. In frustration, I pulled myself gingerly from the cockpit and hobbled over to the machine gun fitter's workstation and sat myself down in his calf-skin chair, bleeding all over it. Maybe that will teach him to check those sights better. The C/O gave me 5 days off for my wound, plus the six I never took for my acedom. The good news is that Dhome shot down the Albatros they were tangling with and while we were screwing around with the enemy fighters, "A" flight swooped in and got the balloon. So a successful mission despite my poor leadership...

Here's some video of the whole miserable affair.



Non-character thoughts:

So the gun sight is frustrating, the fact that it is just slightly off center is really annoying! Plus, FaceTrackNoIR is great, but it does have its drawbacks. You can see in the video when I am lining up my sights, my "head" will twich left or right for just a second. I'm not actually moving my head, the light glints off my glasses and makes the program think I am moving, which, of course, is the last thing you want happening when you are trying to aim! So I was actually staying with that guy too long because I was frustrated with not hitting him! Hopefully, I learned my lesson. (Probably not though )

Glad you lived to fight another day, Rick_Rawlings

Question, May I fly in WOFF until the end of the Challenge, even if I go into December in WOFF?

Rick, I had a similar problem using some reading glasses until I tilted them down slightly which caused the reflection to miss the trckIR receiver. It worked for me. Give it try or move the light source that is hitting them if possible.

Now, to more important things (Watching your vid)!

In terms of "scoring", you can fly a total of 19 missions. If through wounds and leaves that takes you into 1918, that's fine...is that what you were asking?

Pretty much...hope I don't get wounded again and advance a week in WOFF, but a day IRL.

Rick: You are very lucky to still be with us!

Paz de Problemme Mission #8
Nov. 17, 1917

So, the machinist must have complained to the C/O, 'cause today we drew a late afternoon mission, which in mid-November France is basically a night mission. An airfield attack...

They wisely put Sous-Lt. Marcel Hugues in charge with myself and Adj. Herbelin and blah blah blah Pradine as his wingmen. Everything started off fine:

As we got closer and closer to the front, I got this sinking feeling in my stomach that grew in direct proportion to the degree the sun went down. It looks beautiful, but say "goodbye" to the end of your useable light, boys!


For a good while, I had this wonderful "rosy glow" to contend with on my already overly busy windscreen:

We passed an observation balloon on the way that I considered attacking, just so I could say I did something productive on this mission. I had little hope of seeing anything at the aerodrome to shoot at...

Ahhh, another time, mon Cherie...

So we went to the airfield, did our stuff (which I'll talk about in a moment) and headed for home. On the way back, Ar-chez-beau was going crazy and I was thinking "How do they have any idea where they are shooting. Turns out they were doing a pretty good job, though:


Ok, now I'm going to throw up this video, more as a joke than anything, but let me preface it by saying that I was in this mission, and I still have no friggin clue what was going on most of the time... I hope I was shooting at an enemy a/c there... I did throw in a few video wipes, since Robert liked those last time and I figured than anything worth doing is worth overdoing, so there's that.

Just for the truly masochistic, the last few minutes is me landing at what I believe to be a friendly field. I went around once just to try to see anything useful (there wasn't anything, I mean, didn't they used to light gas cans or something?) and then came in for real. I started landing where I thought the field was and tried to avoid the trees on the other side, hoping there weren't any fences in-between...




Oh, and while we were blundering around in the dark, "A" flight snuck in again and shot up the place, so we got a successful mission rating, no thanks to me!

Rick, my heart was in my throat when you were landing!!
I don't know if the sim screen was a grainy as the vid, but it was nigh unto impossible for me to tell when you were about to touch down! Scary, man!

I also noticed it took a hell of a lot of rounds to down that DV. I thought he would never drop and most of your rounds were on target. They must be putting titanium Albs in the sim now!

Further note to your previous mission when you got shot up. What I saw in the vid was that it was not possible to outrun the Alb in a dive. He styed with you most of the time until you started your spins and breaks. I thought we were supposed to have a speed advantage, but maybe not in a dive it seems.

Best Regards;

Thanks Robert, it was a little clearer in real life, 1900x1200 instead of 1080, but still very hairy! With the guy today, I think I was hitting behind the cockpit at first, where there's not much structurally vital to hit. Once I kicked the rudder over to the right a bit, he seemed to go down fairly quickly. With regards to the previous video, I don't think you are supposed to dive straight down, since the enemy is using the same gravity you are using. I believe you are supposed to do a more shallow dive and use your speed to get lateral separation, but if they are right on your tail to begin with, you are going to have a pretty squirrely minute or two trying to get that separation!!! Maybe someone more versed in WWI tactics than me will chime in on that.

The harrowing tale of Maurice Glubbiere and his only flight...

Dude, I'm sorry your pilot died, but that was seriously AWESOME!!!!! Like Alex Raymond Flash Gordon awesome!

Glubber: I'm surprised his mustache didn't absorb the impact!

*******

November 24, 1917: Mission 7

Still alive, and I'm not quite sure why.

Today was a simple escort: I led a flight of two to carry two Strutters over the line, let them bomb...well, something. I never found out what. And bring them home.

Since I'm lead, I fly right into the midst of their formation and do my best to stay there. My plan is simple: If we're attacked, then having us all together might force the Strutters to defend themselves. I know they're capable!

So we're flying over German airspace when I notice two specks ahead and to the right. At first they appear to ignore me, so I'm prepared to return the favor. Then they slowly turn towards me in a long, graceful arc.

The Strutters seem content to keep going, and I think my plan is working. My wingmate decides to go over and discuss matters with the Hun, but he needn't have bothered. Within moments the Huns were among us. At last! Between my wingmate, myself, and these two Strutters we should make short of...

The Strutters simply turned...and left. One of the Germans broke off to chase them. I'm not sure where my teammate went. For that matter, where is the last...

A steady stream of gunfire pours into my tail. Tearing fabric, the international signal that means 'Time to go home.'

But...it's too late. The other German gave up on the Strutters and came back, and here come two more - and damn me if I'm not up against a team of HAs again. This time it's Siegfried Buttner, Julius Fichter, Ernst Pabst and someone whose name I never caught.

This is different from yesterday though. Yesterday I was never seriously hurt. Now I'm having trouble keeping up with their turns, and another burst tears into me. More ripped fabric, and from the fact it threw me into a tailspin I'm going to guess it's the wing.

The fight devolves into two separate 2 on 1s, and I lose track of my wingmate. In the distance I can see the Strutters just leaving us to our fate. Thanks guys. That leaves two aces and they're BOTH on my tail. I'm weaving left and right like a drunk boxer trying to spoil their aim.

I have one chance. I have to convince them they're forcing me to land. I dive. They dive. More gunfire over my head. I hit the deck at 500 feet and surge on. This convinces one of the Germans, who simply leaves. Herr Buttner is still game though, and he's 178 yards behind me. Furthermore, because of my previous damage I am not pulling away. If anything he's gaining very slowly.

Merde.

Still, at first he's content to follow me around. At one point I climb to overshoot some trees, and he lets me have it. I can't believe I'm still up, but here I am. Unfortunately my nose dips and I clip a tree. STILL alive. Still alive and running straight towards the rail yard southeast of Verdun.

I'm still not losing him. My only chance now is to dart across the lines and hope he won't follow at this altitude. I pass over the railyard at about 600 feet. There's a steep hill to the west of the yard that I just barely clear. Random shots over my head, but no hits.

Into no man's land. I pass over the German trenches, and they're so startled no one bothers firing. No Man's land at 500 feet, and My God what is...

A tree! A stunted, lifeless tree! I clipped it with my left wing, one more horrifying tearing sound, but I am STILL alive!

This seems to convince Herr Buttner that today is not his day, for he turns back at the border. I have no time to breathe a sigh of relief. The aircraft's actually not handling badly, but climbing is a real issue now, and I don't dare turn quickly.



TAC thinks I should flee for the nearest airport. I think it's right, and slowly inch my way onto course. I'm able to slowly gain some altitude and pass over the wrecked buildings of Verdun itself at about 1,000 feet. Ah, there's Vadelaincourt aerodrome. All I have to do now is line up and...

That's when I notice two dots flying over Vadelaincourt. No problem - maybe the Strutters are landing. This is their home field. Wait - they're not circling the field. They're circling each other.

MERDE.

Zoom confirms my fears - one German, one Allied. Fortunately they're above me and far too busy with each other to worry about a crippled plane sneaking in. I begin maneuvering for a good approach pattern, and next time I spot them they've brought the fight down to my altitude.

Thanks guys.

I've just lined up with the runway when one of them...force lands I assume. The other one has noticed me and is heading right in my direction. Oh great. With any luck I can be on the ground and jump out of the cockpit before he can do any more harm.

Then I notice the other craft break off and begin circling the field. Allied, and as it turns out my lost wingmate.

Land. Ctrl+Shift+Q. Stare at the results screen for a long time. Remember to breathe. I'm shaking.

Glubber:


Love the Comic Book flight good job,

Rick, that was really masochistic to watch the landing in your video! Well done, Sir!

Glubber, a pity that your pilot fell so early - he would have had good chances to become
one of those many famous French comic authors! His last thought - hilarious!

Cat, after reading I'm almost shaking too - my morning coffee too strong?
Good read!