M
Mk2
Guest
Combat Report: 7 enemy Fokker DVIIs
Well my 1st pilot , who had survived 20 hours of combat , spent the balance of the war in confinement after I botched a rail yard strafing mission. I was simply lucky to survive setting down my wounded bird in enemy territory . I only spotted an enemy flight with that pilot one time in 9 flights but it was a lot of fun.
My first mission with my second Pilot made up ten fold for the lack of aerial combat in the first campaign.
I tried something different and made myself Captain and flight leader as I started another career with the 94th Aero squadron . Our first mission was to Patrol behind enemy lines. The other flight joining us was comprised of Aces Rickenbacker, Coolidge and Cook of the 94th. As we reached the lines I could see a ground battle going on and Archie in the distance. I spotted what appeared to be 7 specks flying at a slightly higher altitude but coming directly for us . There was not much time and I ordered an attack (trying to get better position at this time would have been folly) and tried to hail an affirmative from the rest of the flight...I did not get any but I suspect they were too busy staring at a stronger force, heading right for us, at point blank range
The two flights closed in on each other in just a few seconds . I found myself reflexively holding the trigger down and hearing my twin guns firing away at the oncoming enemy Fokker DVII (I fly at 100 realism but love the labels turned on because I figured I could see and then later research the enemy aces ) a name flashed by as the enemy crate sped past....Jasta 77 Robert Mosbacher....I turned hard , sticking the flight stick right in my gut and slamming the rudder. I maneuvered behind Mosbacher and hammered him cleanly...I was happy with this as I was scoring hits the very first time I had fired the guns in combat while in campaign.
The enemy AI maneuvered frantically and wonderfully at the same time and managed to momentarily get away. Out of the corner of my eye , on the right side of my screen, I see a Spad spiraling down trailing a thin plume of smoke. I snapped my view in that direction and I see the Fokker continuing to fire even as the SPAD kept going down( I was positive he was lost). I was not going to get there in time to help him as they were already well below my height. I concentrate on Mosbacher again, I pick him up , turn hard and hit him a third time ...surely he is about to fall. He manages to shake me momentarily once again and I decide its a good time to look behind me. I see a SPAD and to the left a Fokker DVII coming up behind me and the Fokker seems to be angling for the other SPAD...great another enemy ace...Jasta 77's Max Gossner. I pray that my wingman is alert and awake.
In the time it took me to make one turn and search for Mosbacher, whom I was sure was to my left at a lower altitude...I find myself under attack from Gossner. He must have broken off thoughts of hitting my wingman and came directly for me to save his squadron mate. Artificial intelligence like that is just great in a flight sim, and whether it was by design or sheer luck , it made for an exciting next couple of minutes.
I see the damage scroll on top of my screen, left wing structure hit, rudder cable hits, etc etc. I was getting shot to pieces. I went down under control in a tight twisting turn. Gossner continued to hammer me...all seems lost ...I pick up more speed and still feel the crate responding...another barrage of bullets...now I know what it feels like to have been Mosbacher...whom by the way I have obviously lost complete contact with...maybe he did go down.
Lower and lower I go, I see Gossner hanging in there but not firing..maybe his guns jammed, maybe I am just out of reach..maybe he already knows I am done for ..in any case I was not looking that gift horse in the mouth. I actually (if it is even possible) have other things to worry about..I orientate myself and figure I am near the lines in fact I am probably just inside allied lines. The ground is rushing up quickly, the motor is either cut off or quit (I could not remember if I had turned it off or not but it was off), I try to come out of the controlled turn, the crate is sliding to the left, the stick feels dead and slushy, I am straightening out slightly but still at an angle ...I might make it...trees coming close...the impact will be hard...BANG..Bang...bang..CRUNCH.
I was happy to see the next screen. I was still alive, in fact I was unhurt and able to fly the next mission. From what I could gather from the after action report the wingman I had seen going down was hospitalized. I was glad he was alive and only wounded. I did not receive a request for a claims report so Mosbacher must have made it home. Our 2 flights had two claims , so at worst we had evened the odds in the scrap.
I guess it is time to brief for the next mission but first a stop off at the duty room to have a word with Captain Rickenbacker and try to piece together who claimed what kills.
What a game.
I only had time to snap a couple of pictures, these are cropped from the original size screen. I will also research Mosbacher and Gossner in the book Above the Lines (the label idea worked for me just fine).
Mosbacher comes under attack
Gossner spotted for the first time, he would shortly claim me on his list of victories.
Well my 1st pilot , who had survived 20 hours of combat , spent the balance of the war in confinement after I botched a rail yard strafing mission. I was simply lucky to survive setting down my wounded bird in enemy territory . I only spotted an enemy flight with that pilot one time in 9 flights but it was a lot of fun.
My first mission with my second Pilot made up ten fold for the lack of aerial combat in the first campaign.
I tried something different and made myself Captain and flight leader as I started another career with the 94th Aero squadron . Our first mission was to Patrol behind enemy lines. The other flight joining us was comprised of Aces Rickenbacker, Coolidge and Cook of the 94th. As we reached the lines I could see a ground battle going on and Archie in the distance. I spotted what appeared to be 7 specks flying at a slightly higher altitude but coming directly for us . There was not much time and I ordered an attack (trying to get better position at this time would have been folly) and tried to hail an affirmative from the rest of the flight...I did not get any but I suspect they were too busy staring at a stronger force, heading right for us, at point blank range
The two flights closed in on each other in just a few seconds . I found myself reflexively holding the trigger down and hearing my twin guns firing away at the oncoming enemy Fokker DVII (I fly at 100 realism but love the labels turned on because I figured I could see and then later research the enemy aces ) a name flashed by as the enemy crate sped past....Jasta 77 Robert Mosbacher....I turned hard , sticking the flight stick right in my gut and slamming the rudder. I maneuvered behind Mosbacher and hammered him cleanly...I was happy with this as I was scoring hits the very first time I had fired the guns in combat while in campaign.
The enemy AI maneuvered frantically and wonderfully at the same time and managed to momentarily get away. Out of the corner of my eye , on the right side of my screen, I see a Spad spiraling down trailing a thin plume of smoke. I snapped my view in that direction and I see the Fokker continuing to fire even as the SPAD kept going down( I was positive he was lost). I was not going to get there in time to help him as they were already well below my height. I concentrate on Mosbacher again, I pick him up , turn hard and hit him a third time ...surely he is about to fall. He manages to shake me momentarily once again and I decide its a good time to look behind me. I see a SPAD and to the left a Fokker DVII coming up behind me and the Fokker seems to be angling for the other SPAD...great another enemy ace...Jasta 77's Max Gossner. I pray that my wingman is alert and awake.
In the time it took me to make one turn and search for Mosbacher, whom I was sure was to my left at a lower altitude...I find myself under attack from Gossner. He must have broken off thoughts of hitting my wingman and came directly for me to save his squadron mate. Artificial intelligence like that is just great in a flight sim, and whether it was by design or sheer luck , it made for an exciting next couple of minutes.
I see the damage scroll on top of my screen, left wing structure hit, rudder cable hits, etc etc. I was getting shot to pieces. I went down under control in a tight twisting turn. Gossner continued to hammer me...all seems lost ...I pick up more speed and still feel the crate responding...another barrage of bullets...now I know what it feels like to have been Mosbacher...whom by the way I have obviously lost complete contact with...maybe he did go down.
Lower and lower I go, I see Gossner hanging in there but not firing..maybe his guns jammed, maybe I am just out of reach..maybe he already knows I am done for ..in any case I was not looking that gift horse in the mouth. I actually (if it is even possible) have other things to worry about..I orientate myself and figure I am near the lines in fact I am probably just inside allied lines. The ground is rushing up quickly, the motor is either cut off or quit (I could not remember if I had turned it off or not but it was off), I try to come out of the controlled turn, the crate is sliding to the left, the stick feels dead and slushy, I am straightening out slightly but still at an angle ...I might make it...trees coming close...the impact will be hard...BANG..Bang...bang..CRUNCH.
I was happy to see the next screen. I was still alive, in fact I was unhurt and able to fly the next mission. From what I could gather from the after action report the wingman I had seen going down was hospitalized. I was glad he was alive and only wounded. I did not receive a request for a claims report so Mosbacher must have made it home. Our 2 flights had two claims , so at worst we had evened the odds in the scrap.
I guess it is time to brief for the next mission but first a stop off at the duty room to have a word with Captain Rickenbacker and try to piece together who claimed what kills.
What a game.
I only had time to snap a couple of pictures, these are cropped from the original size screen. I will also research Mosbacher and Gossner in the book Above the Lines (the label idea worked for me just fine).
Mosbacher comes under attack
Gossner spotted for the first time, he would shortly claim me on his list of victories.
