28 January 1917, Verdun. Jasta 10 had just received the Albatros DII a few days before. My flight of four was tasked with an early morning escort mission of two DFW's from FA(A) 274. Reached the front and was jumped by two Nieuport 17's. Turn, shoot, turn, shoot, turn. This is no rookie. Lots of hard turning and twisting. Lost him. Just then two more 17's dove down that was escorting a flight of Sopwith 2 seaters . Turn, shoot, turn, shoot, turn, no outcome. The Nupe decided to break it off. Turning north I saw a lone 2 seater heading south. Gave chase and shot him down just over the lines. I was rather low over the French side and decided to turn north, gain altitude and head home. Checking my six I saw a 2 seater chasing after me. At first I ignored him thinking he would leave me alone, but no, he followed me over to my side of the lines. Well then, he'll just have to pay for this impertinence. He flew his crate very well as we turned and turned. The rear gunner peppered me a few times but eventually I shot him up and he dove down. That's it for him I thought. Nope. I then heard the sound of fabric ripping and wood splintering as the rear gunner was letting me have it but good. I broke hard to get out of the line of fire and luckily my machine was still flying ok. My blood was up now. You wanted this fight. Ok, now you're going to get it. I got in close behind and plastered him until he burst into flames. As I flew along side the rear gunner, with flames around him, shot me up again before going down. Enough excitement, time to go home. My aerodrome is 15 miles from the front. I was a few miles out and starting my approach when I thought I heard the sound of another engine. In past missions, when a good distance from the front, I always flew home in peace. I turned and saw what I thought was one of my flight returning. But wait, that doesn't look like an Albatros and the engine doesn't sound right. Oh no, it's four Nupes closing in on my tail! I was a second or two away from getting shot down. I dove for the deck. Flying just a few feet off the ground I headed for my drome hopping over fences and trees. Reaching the edge of the field I cut my engine and coasted to a stop. The Nupes flew around a bit then turned south and left. That's what I get for being careless. Of course I'm preaching to the choir here but this is why I love WOOF. Below are a few screenshots from the flight.
I can't help but look at current screen shots and compare them to whats coming in WOFF 3. I'm hoping that what we are seeing is actual battle damage. Only time will tell, but if it is I can't wait to see how amazing it will look to see battle damaged planes flying around....some with dead rear gunners! That would tell you a lot about if it's a highly vulnerable two seater you can pick off relatively easy or they are fresh and full of ammo!
That was a good one! I hate two seaters (as a German fighter pilot) and 'Strutters' are second on that list just behind 'Brisfits' in being deadly adversaries!
Hello to all, I don’t intend to make a running series out of the adventures of my current pilot Justus Heldmann. He may not live very long. It’s very rare that I record during a campaign but I’ve enjoyed Hellshade’s action videos so I decided to make a few clips. However, I got a little carried away and cobbled together the video with some screenshots to accompany the write up. Spur of the moment thing. In retrospect I should have put the first report as well as this one in the Reports from the Front thread but it didn't occur to me at the time. Anyhow, my flight had been tasked with a high priority balloon busting mission the day before. On the way we met a flight of Nieuport 17’s. I wasn’t attacked directly so I decided to let my flight handle them while I continued on to the balloon. Here, I agree with OldHat. This mission's objective comes first and must be completed successfully. I flew straight south to the area of the balloon (using one of Lou’s wonderful maps. Much thanks!) but I couldn’t find it. I was too high so dropped in altitude and located it. Five or six passes later it blew up. The debriefing said no damage was done and the claim I made was denied. I can live with that since in real life the balloon would have been hauled down during my many attempts or not been destroyed at all. In Carl Degelow’s book, Black Fokker Leader, he recounts how Jasta 40 was tasked with destroying a balloon. He riddled it with over 250 bullets on three passes but it didn’t blow up. He gave up when it was hauled down to safety. After he returned to his aerodrome a “mole” of an officer from 4th Army HQ called and demanded to know, in a shrill voice, why he didn’t set fire to that balloon. Degelow replied in as calm a tone as he could manage. “I don't know. Why don't you tell me after you have found the answer?” A few days later Degelow went back and dispatched the balloon. Unlike Carl Degelow we were directed to destroy our balloon the next day. I decided to try something different this time. Instead of following the waypoints south to the balloon, I would fly south easterly, put the Meuse River on my right, turn at the appropriate time and attack with the sun behind me. From the previous day I knew exactly where it was. This worked perfectly as we had no encounters on the way and I flamed the balloon on my first pass. My kite was hit by mg fire but it was nothing serious. I lost sight of my comrades and not wanting to hang around I gained altitude and headed north. I made it back over the lines about 5 miles or so when I spotted a flight of Nieuport’s escorting some 2 seaters high above me at 11 o’clock. Being alone I wanted them to pass by without incident. As they flew overhead their flight separated a little bit but they didn’t seem to pay much attention to me. Except one 2 seater. He turned and dove for me. It’s incredible how aggressive these French 2 seaters are! Turning, shooting, turning, shooting, but I got careless. I stayed too long in the gunner’s sights. Blood splattered my goggles as I was hit more than once. I turned away and luckily the Frenchies had had enough as well. Perhaps I had wounded one of them. Checking and seeing my health at 43, I wasn’t sure if I would make it home. I might with some luck or I could land near a farm house and seek medical care. My engine decided for me. It started running very poorly and loosing power. I put her down just past some trees, cut the engine, coasted to a stop then passed out. I spent nine days in hospital and a little longer convalescing (I’ll bump the time a few weeks). The staffel debriefing stated that the balloon sustained no damage. This must have been from a preliminary report since the Kommandant has told me that my claim has been approved. I really must be more careful in the future.
