2nd Lt Edward Buxton
60 Sqn RFC

3rd Mission

3rd April 1917

B Flight:

Lt Keith Coldwell – Flight Leader c/s B6
Lt George Lawrence Lloyd c/s B3
2nd Lt Geoffrey Pidcock c/s B4
Sgt CS Hall c/s A5
2nd Lt Edward Buxton c/s B11

All flight members flew Nieuport 23 aircraft except me.

Reconnaissance
Escort BE2 two-seater aircraft from 19 Sqn as they carry out reconnaissance of troop and vehicle movements around the areas of Armentieres.

Take Off: 05h23

Wind Speed 8 knots - Gentle breeze WNW
Operational height 8,000 feet

05h33 reached rendezvous area and joined up with the aircraft from 19 Sqn.

05h40 approached town of Bethune

As the flight got closer to the front lines, I could see heavy ground bombardments all along the front in the area of Lens.

North West of Lens as the flight approached Haubourdin/Phalenpin (indicated on the map by a black cross) my engine started to make a horrible noise. I noticed that my engine was losing fuel pressure.

I turned around and headed back towards Filescamp Farm. All I could think about was that the fellows in the squadron would think I lacked moral fibre and I was a coward.

5 miles from the aerodrome the engine cut out and I had to glide down, ensuring that I did not hit any of the many trees or fences that were in the area. I landed the aircraft safety and had a long hike to the nearest RFC unit.

The next day I was informed by the CO that my aircraft would take 5 days to repair and I did a good job in bringing her down safely. This made me feel a little bit easier.

The other fellows in the squadron made fun of me saying that the gods were conspiring against me. If it was true, they (the gods) have a funny sense of humour!

I dread to think what will happen on the next mission?

77 Scout: Thanks for the invite, you Dark Lord, I still need me visuals! I autopilot and time compress usually to the patrol zone and those little messages are the only way that I can catch an engine malfunction in time.

lederhosen: I hope you had fun anyway and will join us in future challenges!

corsaire31: I usually just fly through the clouds and hope I don't collide/they are still in the same part of the sky when I come out. Sometimes works, sometimes, not so much

Rover 27: My April 1 and 2 were cloudy, probably rain depending on where you went...

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loftyc, bad luck there. As other have noted, we’ve all been there. This is a very tough sim to survive in.
lederhosen, sorry to learn of the loss of your pilot as well.
Another pair of heros to fly with the angels.



And perhaps I could enlist you to do my videos, Robert.



CatKnight, I quite like your writing style as well. Be sure to post more of it in these forums.


Here is the link to 2nd Lt. Greene's latest adventures:

Fletcher Greene, 4 and 5 April 1917

(you'll need to scroll down a bit on the page to get to the post with Fletcher's story in it)

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Mission three saw us run into another flight of German two-seaters. These guys actually fought back aggressively.

Here is a video of the exciting bit, as our 4 Nieuports close and then the fight ensues.

Video Link

I think the video nicely shows (as does Rick's recent video) how very difficult it is to track your enemy in a dogfight when flying without the aid of magic labels. The lousy visibility of the Nieuport really becomes a factor.

Other highlights include the grunt of an enemy pilot getting hit by my bullets, and a DFW dogfighting me while his wingman stays right with him through the turns.

My hit percentage in this fight was about 1-in-4 (25%). I claimed one Rumpler, but looking at the video now I see that they were probably DFW's. Oh well, that's another historically accurate quirk that can arise when labels are off.

Nice aircraft skin and reports Lou.

I understand, it's just that I think at the time they probably avoided doing it as it is easy to loose control with the very basic instruments they had. Add to this (although not modeled in the sim) that you have often strong winds/turbulence inside the clouds and their planes were very light. If they would get caught inside a cumulus upwind, they would probably come down dead frozen after a trip to very high altitude...

Yeah, I remember the deadly clouds of OFF, I'm kinda glad those didn't make a repeat appearance. That's apparently what did the real Albert Ball in...


77 Scout: Great video! It's never fun to look back and see two enemy craft parked on your backside, but you handled it with poise! I was surprised that first two seater kept flying as long as he did! And the clouds and rain make for a cinematic fight, even if they do nothing for visibility

ARGH. Tore my right wing off trying to avoid a squadron mate just after take off. Augered in from three hundred feet. LOL. My score = 0

I'll be the one in the beer hall drowning my sorrows. Best of luck everyone still up and flying!

2nd Lt Edward Buxton
60 Sqn RFC

4th Mission

4th April 1917

B Flight:

Lt Keith Coldwell – Flight Leader c/s B6
Lt George Lawrence Lloyd c/s B3
Sgt Graham Young c/s C5
2nd Lt Edward Buxton c/s B11

All flight members flew Nieuport 23 aircraft except me.

Patrol Behind Enemy Front Lines – area of Haubourdin North of Lens
Take Off: 06h59

Wind Speed 8 knots - Gentle breeze WSW
Operational height 13,000 feet

Flight to the patrol area was uneventful.

07h21 the flight spotted 4 Albatros DIII heading North-East over area of La Bassee, at approximately 12,000 feet – just slightly above us.

Keith Coldwell gave the signal to engage the German aircraft. We circled to attack, but the German airmen must have seen us, as they turned to meet us.

We circled each other, each pilot attempting to gain some advantage. A German aircraft got on to my tail. I was able to turn before he could get a shot at me. Both of us now circled and passed each other a number of times. I noticed that the tail of the German machine was yellow with a black stripe on each side. The German airman was able to get the better of me and fired a number of bursts at my aircraft. I heard rounds hitting my machine. He was a most excellent pilot, and I was not able to fire any rounds at him - and I was well aware that if I did not do something he would finish me off. I dived into the cloud cover below me hoping that my wings would remain intake, and then immediately gained height. This seemed to do the trick as I lost him.

Looking around, I was now alone so I returned to Fairscamp Farm.

Summary:

My machine is moderately damaged and will take 2 days to repair.

Other B Flight members all returned safely.

George Lloyd claimed two German aircraft destroyed; Keith Coldwell claimed one German machine destroyed.

The German aircraft we encountered were from Jasta 28w.







Notice holes in the top wing!

Leaf sorry to read that we have lost yet another pilot.

Beanie, ya call those holes?? This is what I looked like after flight #1, which is the one that I got back alive in.

Looks like a bad case of moths to me

And perhaps I could enlist you to do my videos, Robert.


. [/quote]

Touchee!

'Ballsy' here to report another close call on mission #4. It was another 'patrol the lines' job that started at oh dark 30 in a freezing rain, wet snow.

As per usual spent thirty or so minuets flying about in the muck feeling miserable when we came upon a flight of Albatrosses and away we went. In what is beginning to be an all to recurring scenario I find myself with an Alb on my 6 that just wont give up. Has the back of my plane got a big 'hit me' sign on it?

Even worse this time he's not just putting holes in my plane but in me!

I dive for the ground having very poor control over the plane. All the time hoping the Hun will give up the chase. My craft keeps wanting to roll to the right. I slam her down into the ground just on our side of the lines. He flies over me and heads for home.

Fortunately a bunch of nice fellows run over and pull me into the trench before the German artillery lights up my poor craft. The doc says I'll be back in flying condition in 10 days.....

Woah, close call, be careful there!

Leaf, good try man, we'll catch you next challenge, should be a little "sturdier"!

Clive Milton Heath Mission 2:

A very early wake up call from my Batman,I was still nursing a terrible Hangover when i was woken at 4.30 this morning.My mechanic had worked all threw the night repairing my craft whilst i was getting drunk in the Mess.Having had little over 2hrs kip i very reluctantly stirred..I was going up with 5 other fellas at 05.13 for a very early patrol.I could,nt look at any food never mind eat but i slowly managed a couple of mouthful's of scrambled egg and some Coffee.I gingerly entered my Nieup and "contact" was heard.My engine kicked in and the noise in my head nearly split it into 2..i leaned over the side and vomited i really was,nt looking forward to this mission,i vowed never to drink again.The sun was just creeping over the horizon,the stars were still out apart from me feeling ill it was a beautiful morning.We climbed to 8000 ft and continued to our patrol area,passing over the trenches we noticed a major barrage going on,we could barely see the flashes as it was extremely misty down there but it looked like our big guns were doing some damage.. at 05.45 we spotted 6 big DFW CV,s and our leader signaled to attack.We all hit from behind and 4 of the 6 were shot down.I got one myself and should of left it like that..I went after another and still being a bit worse for wear i got to close.I hit him and whilst pulling away caught my wing with his and scraped the fusilage.I heard my fuel tank creak and instantly saw the smoke.Minor damage but it was enough for me to head to the deck.I managed to get just over a friendly field when i ran out of fuel,i literally just made it..I forced my craft down (it hit Hard) and the last thing i remember is passing out..i awoke in hospital after 2 days and was told id be in here for another couple of weeks yet..I was lucky to be alive.Lesson learned i hope..no more drinking and no more showboating...I earned th M.C for my actions and arrived back at Base to find id got a new Nieup 23.

Dirk McGurt Mission #5

April 5th.

Afternoon mission for once. Pidcock was feeling well enough to slither into the cockpit and join us. I have to say I kind of missed him... till he started pissing all over the quality of our brunch..."No caviar"...in the middle of a war!?!!?

Anyway, we were off to the other side of the lines for a balloon busting trip near Monchy:

George Lloyd is flying lead, I like him, a cool cucumber... It turned out to be quite a day over the front, the boys on the ground are getting it from all sides...

I couldn't help thinking those shells must be streaking past us somewhere at the top of their arc...shuddering, I pressed on. It was just the three of us over the lines, no top cover today...

This is not the balloon you are looking for...


Ok, so here's the video of what happens next.

You will notice that it ends rather abruptly. My game kept shuddering (you can see it a bit in the video) and it just stops right after this point. I edited 4 9 minute videos to put this one together and turns out I was out of hard drive space...that's why the sound is off and it is so jerky. As soon as I let everything settle down, I was able to proceed with the mission, but I couldn't get the rest on video.
Here's where we left off:

I had about 60 rounds left in the Lewis gun. Now, since I have no video, I guess I could tell you all the amazing things I did to survive, but the truth is, I did a half roll dive to get down to the deck and split for home. For the first time ever, it paid to be near ground forces as they really lit into the two Albatri that followed me, forcing them to turn back about 30 seconds later. I will strain your credulity by telling you that I ran into a Halberstadt at low level on the way back to base and we did about 1 and 1/2 turns about each other before deciding it wasn't worth it and went about our business. I managed to limp back to base with 1 balloon down en passant and one Albatros to my credit.


Pidcock didn't even thank me for scaring that Albatros off his butt. No caviar indeed!

Click on the blue link:

Charles Aubrey Ward's Mission #6

Say Adger, how did you manage to get an N23 on your second mission? I didn't get mine until mission #6. Lucky dog!!

Rick, that was a memorable mission you just had. Cudos on the kills and survival tactics.

Gee, that was close! Had my 3rd and almost last mission today. It was an early morning escort mission for a reccon flight of 3 R.E.8´s.




Our flight of 4 Nieuports (I was flying the only N17) was led by Lieutenant A.J. L. Jack Scott. We were forming up and went towards the SE to our rendezvous point with the R.E.8´s, together we went via Arras (or the ruins that had been Arras) over the front lines to the east. On the other side of the front, my leader started to weave around indicating enemy presence, we were engaged by several Albatrosses. How deadly fast they are, knights in the sky! One yellow painted Alb went after me, had some shots on each other. Stayed in the fight too long, unable to diseangage at some point. Found myself at low level, with bullet holes in my wings at lower energy state than my opponent and with very limited options, just trying to spoil his next shot. Astonishingly the Albatros pilot lost interest and disengaged.





Being on the wrong side of the front at low level I tried to gain some altitude to make my way back, but was not able to reach more than 1000 feet, not the best height for front crossing, indeed. Took some additional shots, but without consequences, fortunately. Landed at the first aerodrome on our side, Lechelle. I spotted some planes in the pattern, which turned to be my flight and the escorted RE8´s!

As I learned all flight members returned safely, with two damaged planes, we had some claims aswell.