Albert, flying away from Strutters ain’t an option. They are faster than you and they’re more accurate with their gun fire while chasing you down more so than any scout. Klaus is more afraid of the Strutters than any other flying machine and that’s saying a lot. Kevin on the other hand has no such problems with the German two-seaters. They behave properly. What rotten luck. Another one of those white knuckle balloon busting missions with minimal numbers. Good thing the Huns stayed away. Then that unconfirmed two-seater. The weather really did help the other Hun get away. Rather miserable times for RAF.
NR, yup plenty of reading material to catch up on. I hear the weather is rather nasty everywhere. If it’s not a heatwave, then it’s a deadly flood. Topsy turvy world this is. Klaus has definitely missed the opportunity to make that aerial tic tac toe game a hit. He just needed one more kill. No matter. There’s plenty more of that where these came from. So, Baptiste’s hellbent on bringing down the Hun menace. Good for him, his heart is in the right place at least. The victories will come to him and the christening of his crate as well. And speaking of victories, it looks like Baptiste has set his sights on a blue rudder. Perhaps a souvenir? Alas, it wasn’t to be. The PanzerHun evaded Leander’s for quite some time before meeting an arboreal end. Tough luck with the confirmations but this seems to be the case when dropping an enemy over the lines. He’ll definitely get the Boches again. Then in the afternoon a bit of good luck meeting a flight of blind Huns. They probably were Raben’s Schwarm Eins from the looks of it. Then the next day ended up being rather easy on the Escadrille. No losses. That’s a good thing. A great opportunity to replenish and restock.
Epower, first Klaus needs to shoot down two enemy planes with 40 bullets - two three-second bursts, then the Countess will follow. As for the meeting with Kaiser, well … his mind was preoccupied and he only could think of Strutters. What should he have asked for? His daughter’s hand in marriage? She’s already married (rotten luck). Ah, so you’ve picked up on the beer shortage. Perhaps that’s why Jasta is so grumpy. And you are right, the French recruit their rear gunners in all sorts of strange places. As for Oliver, the things you learn at a wake. Right? Let’s just hope Oliver leaves it at that and doesn’t get involved in some government coverup. He may find himself with a year old filter on his machine one of those days.
Kebab, so Goering is gone. Happy days! Looks like Schutzmeier is also getting the preferential treatment by treating himself to better equipment. Let’s hope it’ll serve him well.
So Raine, what would you say the total age under your roof is with all these people around. Are you breaking 400? So, good news and bad news. A proper roof over Robert’s head, but not many people to share it with after that mauling. The Brisfits are wonderful machines, but even they can’t do wonders against superior numbers. Congrats on the confirmed kills. It gets easier.
Both early bird Amerikaners from yesterday have been confirmed. This morning Jasta 18 was sent to patrol over Metz railyard. It was another strangely quiet mission without spotting any enemy planes. Perhaps the large grey rain clouds had something to do with it? Schwarm Eins disappeared somewhere into the clouds again. After landing Leutnant Wilhelm Kühne who was leading Schwarm Eins questioned Klaus why he didn’t come and aid them fight the Strutters. Klaus simply shrugged. Let someone else fly with a target painted on their back for a while.
In the afternoon they were off to patrol the Front sector along the friendly lines from Marbeche all the way to Lunéville. More rain and more grey clouds but they soon left it all beneath their wings. Close to Nancy the Schwarm encountered a flight of bombers and quickly eliminated them all. Klaus followed one in a dive firing at it until he was sure the beast was dead. He then pulled up from his dive and spotted another bomber going down. He sent a few parting rounds in his direction and took stock of the situation.
They were now under the clouds and just about to climb back up and above them when Klaus spotted a trio of low flying biplanes. SPADs! Certainly the escort of the doomed bombers. Raben would not let this opportunity pass him by and dove after the enemy planes. They’ve spotted him and one of the enemy planes was already turning around to meet him. Klaus was sure he scored some hits as he went by head to head. He then quickly turned his Fokker around to get on the SPAD’s tail. He continued to track his target and another burst or two brought his adversary spinning down into the ground. He soon spotted his wingmate and faced him. The new SPAD tried to out climb him, but was unlucky enough to be hit with a burst in the exposed belly, killing the pilot instantly. Klaus watched it go down beside his fellow pilot and at the same time spotted the third enemy coming right at him. Raben had him in his sights and was about to squeeze the triggers when something told him there was something not right. The shape of the SPAD was wrong. He held his fire and allowed the machine to get closer. It was a Fokker. Klaus was glad he listened to his gut.
The two were now approaching the enemy airfield at Manoncourt-en-Vermois. And with that, more SPADs greeted them. They’ve set to work and began to clear the sky from the French menace. One came from above at Raben firing his guns, but thankfully missed. After avoiding the attack, Klaus turned the tables and was now chasing his attacker. It was then he realized it was an Amerikaner. The pursuit was short and the enemy was presently falling out of control to crash near its own airfield. He crashed near the road to Lunéville. He then turned towards the aerodrome and immediately picked up another SPAD. This one came at him from above and was even able to fire off a few rounds that harmlessly pierced nothing but the air. He then came around for another round, but Klaus fired a few rounds as they were passing each other head on and spooked the Yankee. He tried one of the fancy maneuvers to shake Raben off, but he was too low to manage anything effective and the Fokker remained on his tail. Klaus continued to pummel his target and eventually brought it down. This latest Amerikaner fell on the other side of the road, across from the previous crater.
By now Klaus was thinking to himself he should quit while he was ahead, but just at that moment he spotted yet another SPAD entering landing pattern. Raben could not pass an opportunity like that and gave chase but he had to be careful. The SPAD was now between Manoncourt and Azelot airfield and could easily drag Klaus over either of them. The German wasn’t keen on flying through a wall of bullets the anti-aircraft crews were just waiting to throw his way. Instead he decided to bide his time and when the enemy cleared one of the airfields and began to lose altitude, he had to strike. It was now or never. He aimed carefully and sent a burst into the SPAD. Klaus registered hits and the Amerikaner banked to avoid further fire. Raben ruined with him and sent another burst. This was the killing blow and the enemy machine careened down towards the ground where it smashed in full view of the airfield ground crews. This time he definitely overstayed his welcome and quickly put some distance between himself and the airfield. The Flak followed him for some time while Klaus gained altitude before crossing the Front lines to avoid being targeted by the Poilus below. Raben has not encountered any more opposition on his way back to his base and was able to touch down with only drops left in his petrol tank.
"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."
