I swear my observer will be the end of me yet. Completely unpredictable, that man!
Perhaps transferring to a single-seater unit would offer me a greater level of safety.

Third sortie took us over the German lines for the first time, bombing a Hun airfield at Bapaume. With our spiffy escort of 3 DH2's we headed out and found our target easily enough. Dropped my payload on the leader's signal and destroyed some hangar's on the field. As we turned and began our way home we were approached from behind by two Fokker machines, our escort now separated from our view, and they took no time at all to close on us.

The closer they got the more nerve-racked I became. The leader and my winger seemed content to hold course all the while I'm getting more and more twitchy, speeding up, slight left, right, up, down. Flak taunts with ominous booms constantly closer to our formation. Abruptly one of the Hun lost his taste for the odds I suppose and broke away to the left. The fellow with him seemed unwilling to retire and was lined up squarely on my 'quirk' and closed to such a distance i felt I could see the bugger's flight goggles.
I kept semi-frantically looking over my shoulder, and forward again, trying not to crash into my own flight as I watched my tormentor's devilish figure closing behind me.
I d e s p e r a t e l y wanted to dive away, but didn't want to abandon my formation. I thought any moment, he's going to open up with that gun and send me down before I can get safely across the lines, the tension in those ten or twelve fleeting seconds was almost unbearable, I was a shallow breath from breaking and diving away in near panic....

A sudden rip of machine gun fire literally jumped me 2 inches out of my chair!

My cheeky observer Leif Frehley finally fired a burst to dissuade our pursuer from his mission. I kicked the rudder to the side slightly and he fired a gain, this time striking the fokker with a few rounds, which seemed to be enough for the fellow and he broke off in the direction his winger had taken to.
As for me, I GRUMBLED all the way home. What a fright! Perhaps the chap staring me in the face couldn't get a clean shot, but he could've said SOMETHING! pitchafit


I've been flying OFF since phase 2, and I've never been that nervous! A very bittersweet moment that was, I'll not forget it anytime soon.

My sincerest thanks to the tireless efforts of all contributors, big and small, who continue
to make this the best engaging flight sim I've ever had the pleasure to fly.

Thank you, Thank you.
Cheers mates, best of luck in the air.

-Jenks


RAF28Jenks
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RBWL 3 - 2002