I hate to admit it but I quickly ended the mission. The way the bombs were moving along the line, I feared that I'd be next.
I had clicked the box to start the sortie in the air, not on the ground. So you can imagine my surprise when the mission started and my Albatros was on the ground. "What the hell!" I thought. I switched to cockpit view, and just as I did I heard an explosion and the Albatros to my right flipped into the air. Then, as I watched, bombs started working their way along the line. My first thought was: "Damn! No f---ing way I'm going to allow my 30-kill, 100- mission Kanonen to die like this." So I hit the throttle button to end the mission twice.
I play with the Aces reduced to 100. So there was, at the time, only a single HA in Jasta 11, my unit. As it was, we had five non-HA pilots and Almenroeder killed, although he, of course, was resurrected. Had I not exited, I have no idea how many would have died. I think there were about ten planes in the line, with both flights ready for takeoff. As it was, Jasta 11 was well understrength for weeks.