Wulfe, great to see Fullard back in the thick of it Sorry about Devienne though. Excellent writing!

Fullofit, he may not get credit for that one, but yet again you have a pilot who seems destined for greatness, and not just in the boob department!

Raine, great story and excellent historic info. By the way, congrats on actually managing to get one of those sausages! I can't believe you actually managed to find one in the darkness! Hope your man enjoyed the Château Ausone smile

Lou, congrats on the DSO and another fine story. Swaney is so damned assured and charms all the ladies. He's like a WW1 version of James Bond smile


Feldwebel Lazlo Halász,

Jasta 1, Bertincourt, France
August 28th 1916

Lazlo's arm ached. His first encounter with the French had not gone at all according to plan. They had set off in near darkness that morning and were only a couple of hundred feet up when, just like that, three N17s swooped down on them. A hail of bullets met each machine. Lazlo had been slightly slower to get airborne than the rest of his flight, and could barely make out the fact that his comrades were executing some very strange manouvers up in front, but he couldn't figure out why, until he saw a French biplane flash past in front of him, chasing one of the Halbs. Then he heard bullets whistling past and he took evasive action. He was so close to the ground, however, that the EIV simply tipped onto it's side and lost the precious little altitude it had gained since takeoff almost immediately. Whump! The craft slithered sideways into the turf and then sat up on its nose, pitching poor Lazlo right out of the cockpit. He landed badly, crashing onto his left shoulder. A jolt of pain went through his forearm as catapulted through a thicket of bushes and ended up in a dazed heap. The sound of sirens was everywhere and people came running from all directions.

"That's one way to get out of your cockpit without using a ladder, I suppose", said Cedrick the mechanic, hurrying over to the prone giant.

"No jokes, please", Lazlo exclaimed, "I am too much hurting for the jokes!" Cedrick and two other mechanics gingerly carried Lazlo back to the officer's mess and helped him to settle onto a couch. Moans and groans could be heard around the room, as other members of the unit were brought in to receive treatment. Luckily no one was seriously hurt, but their pride was badly wounded.

"No flying for you, Big Red, not for the time being at least", the local doctor had told him. "You need to keep it as still as possible to let the bones knit well. That's quite a severe fracture you have there. As for the external damage, that'll heal quite quickly. Come back and see me in a week's time and we'll take another look, OK?"


To be continued......

n.b. I thought I had recorded this, but I can't find the video. I realize now that I have the ME set to a very small chance of an ambush upon takeoff. I think I'll disable this in future smile Out for 8 days, and when Lazlo gets back he'll have another surprise waiting for him!



Last edited by HarryH; 08/30/19 03:20 AM.

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