29 July, 1916 06:10 morning mission
Proville, Flanders Sector
Kasta 17
Feldwebel Otto B von Kenobi
2 confirmed victories

A new man arrived this morning. Vizefeldwebel Sieghold was placed in lead of Obi’s flight. Thiede flew on his own in Kette Eins. Suppose that’s better than letting the new man fly on his own. It was a routine bomb run of enemy factories at Mont St. Boi. They’ve arrived over the target and dropped their first bombs. Obi looked around for any enemy activity but didn’t see any, apart from angry bursts of Flak. They turned around for their second run. Again, Otto made sure they will not be ambushed by the enemy scouts. The bombs went off with little success. They went around one more time and dropped their bombs, scattering them wildly all over the French countryside. They were down to their final set of bombs. Just one more run and they’ll be back for lunch. Otto came behind the leader and was waiting for signal to let his remaining bombs loose when a Nieuport showed up out of nowhere and started to shoot at Sieghold. He could see them being peppered with bullets. Otto pulled the trigger and hit the intruder. The enemy disengaged, but von Kenobi had bigger problems now. He looked back to see another Nieuport on his tail getting in range. He instantly pulled on his yoke. The Walfisch went into a tight banked dive with the French scout easily keeping pace and firing volley after volley. Gunther’s gun was silent. In the corner of his eye Obi saw his observer fight with the machine gun. He was beating the breach with his mitts. The gun refused to cooperate. It was up to Otto to keep them alive. He made another crazy maneuver and it seemed to confuse his pursuer. They were now on the opposite sides of the circuit, chasing each other’s tail. At least the Nieuport wasn’t in a position to fire his gun, but neither was von Kenobi. It was a stalemate until one of them blinked. The German pilot had to do something and quickly , otherwise more French planes will show up soon. He decided to do another crazy stunt and stood his Roland on its tail, he then went upside down at the top of the climb and dropped like a leaf. They were now head to head with the enemy scout firing wildly but not hitting anything. “- Good. Good!” Otto thought to himself. He must be getting frustrated. “- Release your anger. Let the hate flow through you. It will only make me stronger!” The French pilot made another error and Obi was able to fire for the first time. The Nieuport started to evade. Either hit or out of ammo, von Kenobi smiled to himself: “- I have you now!”
French scout was running away with Obi firing constantly at him. He knew he had little chance of catching the quick sesquiplane and soon gave up the pursuit. He suddenly remembered he still had one bomb left. Otto looked around and found the undamaged factory with all the smoking craters scattered around from the earlier unsuccessful attacks. His plane was now diving at the target.
“- Los!” The final bomb was away. It was a direct hit! Obi could see fire spreading everywhere. Smoke and dust covered the factory and the surrounding area. It was a shot in a million.
After returning home to Proville, Otto found out Vizefeldwebel Sieghold was taken to the hospital. That initial attack wounded him and killed his observer. The afternoon show was canceled. There weren’t enough active gunners to scrape up even one Kette. Something had to be done.



"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."