Berthold: The 'Iron Knight' Of Jasta 15.

A Mission for First Eagles:

 

Bucky's Quick Mission No.3: 'Berthold: The 'Iron Knight' Of Jasta 15'.

 

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This mission is a re-enactment of an actual aerial combat that took place at about

6.30pm on Wednesday, 29th May, 1918, between Jasta 15 and two unknown French

Escadrilles.

 

During this action, Hptm Rudolf Berthold, leader of Jasta 15 and Kommandeur of

Jagdeschwader II, flying his new Fokker DVII, brought down two planes within ten minutes of

each other: A Spad XIII and a Breguet XIV of two unknown French units. These were his

victory numbers; 30 and 31.

However, he was lucky to survive the combat as his machine gun interrupter gear

malfunctioned and he almost shot his own propeller off!

 

Berthold (44 victories), was a strict disciplinarian and was dubbed; 'The Iron Knight' by his

men. He accepted no excuses from them...Not even a gun jam or engine trouble was reason

enough to withdraw from a fight as far as he was concerned!

Although suffering many horrendous injuries during the war, he refused to stop flying...

Enduring agonising pain caused by an injury to his right arm that was so bad he had to fly

one handed!.

He survived the war, only to be killed by his own countrymen in 1920. Courageous to the

point of foolhardiness, his combat career makes interesting reading. Do a Google search and

be amazed!

 

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To set the scene:

 

At this time Berthold's Jasta 15 were based at Mesnil-Bruntel, a few miles east of Amiens.

Their Fokker DVII's were so new, it's doubtful if the red and blue paint used to decorate them

was totally dry! They had received them just a couple of days before.

The Aisne offensive had been launched by the Germans on the 27th, and was proving

successful, forcing the allies back about 20 miles. Jasta 15 were very much in the thick of the

action, opposed as they were, by three allied air forces: British, French and American.

 

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Mission guidelines:

 

Flying as Berthold, you're leading five wingmen of your jasta on the evening patrol. You're

approaching the front at approximately 9000 ft.

While busy contemplating how truly splendid your freshly painted, spanking new DVII's look

in the evening sunshine, you suddenly notice a group of aeroplanes about a kilometre away

and 1500 meters below, heading toward a German airfield....FRENCH BOMBERS!...

 

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Mission Requirements:

 

To fly this mission as intended, you'll need:

 

Flanders Terrain.

By Edward.

 

Jasta 15 skins X6

By Warbirds and JFM.

 

Breguet 14

By Capun and his team at Skunkworks.

 

Many thanks to all the above artists for their most excellent contributions to this great game.

 

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Compromises and game limitations:

 

1. During the spring and summer of 1918 the German offensive had pushed the allies back

much further than the actual front line depicted in the game. Also, the FE map is very

sparsely populated around the Soissons area where this combat actually took place. This

means that I've not been able to place the action as accurately on the map as I would've liked.

Never mind, it isn't that far away.

 

3. FE won't allow multiple 'named wingmen' in the players flight. This means the game will

recognise only the players plane. consequently, there will be no record of your wingmen's

actions in the 'stats' screen at end of mission. It also means you can't issue orders via the

'tab' button.

The good news is; this doesn't stop your wingmen from participating in the furball!

 

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Installation Instructions:

 

Install the mission by unzipping the downloaded file to the following path:

C:/Program Files/Thirdwire/WW1/Missions

 

Alternatively, you can drag and drop the MSN file directly into your 'Missions' folder.

 

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I hope you enjoy flying this mission and find it challenging enough to play it more than once...

I've tried to make it as accurate and authentic as the game will allow.

Feel free to change any of the parameters as you wish. In fact, if you have a low to medium

spec PC, you may wish to lower the number of aircraft used in the mission, to achieve

smoother frame rates.

 

I would welcome any suggestions or feedback, good or bad, via any one of the FE forums.

 

Happy hunting!

 

Bucky.

 

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