April 26th 1917 and flying with 56 Squadron.
The previous day, in the rain, I was rudely shaken out of bed with a report of incoming enemy aircraft. Scramble! Jumped in my trusty Se5 and take off with several others.
Circling the field in the rain, trying to gain altitude and find the enemy, I observe bomb explosions on my field. 2 buildings (mercifully not my quarters!) and two hangers go up in smoke and flame. I look straight up and see 4 dots just below the clouds at high altitude. Nice bombing! And no way are we gonna catch them in this weather and I was right. Well the Squadron CO (who lost his office I guess) is not taking this lying down and the next day, in the rain again, he orders an airfield attack on a German 'drome southeast of Douai.
I follow Captain Ball, with others, to the target but in the rain he has a tough time seeing it or has his own ideas on how to attack. As is typical for this area there are multiple airfields in sight. Perhaps he is confused. I peel off for some payback.
German Airfield #1: Dive on it and, cutting my throttle, line up parallel to the line of hangers and give the whole area a good peppering with my Vickers and Lewis as I fly down the row hammering the lot.
German Airfield #2: Honking up at full throttle to escape the now angry ground gunners I see another field nearby with 4 Albs lined up for take-off on the far end. Pick the Alb on the right (which was dumb as the senior man was probably on the left but hey, its raining) cut my throttle and dive on him guns a'blazing. See bullet impacts in the dirt all around him and adjust my aim continuing to close. Zoom over his head and try to turn away from the ground gunners as I observe the third airfield which is the actual mission target.
German Airfield #3: As I close on it at about 1000' I observe an aircraft circling. Hoped it would be my flight but as the ground gunners weren't potting away I suspected a Hun and I was correct. I, with the advantage of speed, turned after him and he, in his V-Strutter, attempted to maneuver but was much too slow. I closed on his rear quarter, cut my throttle, and rode up on him nicely machine guns flashing. After about three seconds of this he rolled over and went down to crash in a large plume of dirt, mud, and dust about a mile outside the airfield perimeter. Huzzah! First victory!
Turned back toward the enemy field and, in a repeat of the first, I see another Hun over the mission target but he doesn't see me. Close up on his unsuspecting rear and, knowing my ammo must be getting low, want to surprise him at point blank range. See a third plane real close in front of my intended target (which turned out to be Captain Ball - perhaps the Hun was after him) but don't think much of it in the speedy Se5. I close up and let him have it. Hard to see well in the rain but pieces fly off him, there is a minor explosion, and he loses both wings and crashes down right into laps of his pals below. After a slow start, mostly due to the weather, I am finally on the Victory Board in the Ready Room. Assuming they are confirmed of course. Fly back with Captain Ball, who crosses NML at a rather low height, and I pick up some bullet holes for my trouble.
On a game note I look at the after action report in the Campaign Screens (having claims set to "Easier" so the claim form pops up automatically so I don't forget it having blown by it in the past) and see I am eligible for 3 claims?!? Apparently strafing an aircraft on the ground counts for a possible victory,q We will see. Wing is looking at my stuff now.
