Billy Bishop's Dawn Raid

A mission for First Eagles.

 

Bucky's Quick Mission No.4: 'Billy Bishop's Dawn Raid'.

 

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Introduction:

 

This Mission is a re-enactment of an action that took place at around 5.00am on Saturday,

2nd June, 1917.

 

On this day, Canadian, Capt William Avery Bishop attacked an unknown German aerodrome

(Estourmel?) near Cambrai, single handed, shooting down three German planes that had

attempted to take off to intercept him, and inflicting damage on parked planes and equipment

on the ground. For this action he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

 

Bishop, was at this time in 60 Squadron, flying a Nieuport 17 (serial No.B1566). He had been

promoted to Captain and given command of a flight after just one month of flying at the front.

A remarkable feat in itself.

He survived the war as the leading British and Empire ace, with a total of 72 victories. It has

to be said though, that none of his claims have been verified by documented German losses.

Indeed, the action depicted in this mission can't be corroborated by any witnesses

whatsoever, and it's a strange fact that he was awarded the VC on just his word alone...

Something never achieved by any other VC winner, before or since!

 

I would recommend doing a Google search for the full story, then make up your own mind

about him...

 

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To set the scene:

 

At this time 60 Sqn was based at Filescamp Farm, on Le Hameau aerodrome, a few miles

west of Arras. Bishop had for some time been planning an audacious dawn attack on an

enemy aerodrome...Originally, he was to be escorted by another famous VC winner; Albert

Ball, but he had been killed (in controversial circumstances) on 7th may 1917, so now Bishop

planned to go alone...

 

At about 03.45 hours on Saturday, June 2nd, 1917, Bishop set off from Le Hameau in his

Nieuport 17. It was still dark, misty, and raining.

Soon after crossing the front lines he came across an enemy airfield but found it devoid of

activity, so flew on in search of a better target.

At about 5.am, just as the sun was rising and with the bad weather clearing, he found exactly

what he was looking for...Ahead was a German aerodrome with seven parked machines,

being made ready for the dawn patrol by several mechanics and groundcrew.

 

He made a low, sweeping pass, strafing the row of Albatros D.III's and generally causing

mayhem...As he turned to repeat the manoeuvre, he saw one D.III taking off to intercept

him. Bishop lined himself up behind the German and shot him down.

Moments later, another D.III was attempting the same thing... Bishop again manoeuvred

his Nieuport into position, but in his excitement, missed from quite close range. However, his

fire unnerved the German pilot, who lost control and steered his plane into a tree.

 

Bishop turned again toward the airfield and this time he saw two D.III's taking off at the

same time,...in opposite directions. One headed for Bishop while the other tried to gain

height to launch his attack. He was now in a turning fight with the nearest Albatros.

Managing to turn his more agile Nieuport inside, he fired a long burst into the enemy plane,

which then crashed to the ground just outside the airfield perimeter.

 

After an intense but indecisive combat with the fourth D.III, and worried that he was

dangerously low on ammo, Bishop hightailed it away quickly, even throwing his Lewis gun

overboard to gain speed. He was chased by more enemy fighters all the way back to the

front line, but got back safely to his aerodrome.

His mechanics couldn't believe his Nieuport had made it back with so many bullet holes...

It was literally riddled!

 

Bishop describes the action in great detail in his book 'Winged Warfare'. A WW1 air war

classic.

 

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Mission guidelines:

 

The mission starts a short time after Bishop had found the first inactive German airfield...

You'll be at about 1500 ft.

Keep to a heading of around 80 degrees. You'll see Cambrai on your right as you approach

the main Cambrai to Douai road. You should soon be able to see the aerodrome at the

1.00 O'clock position.

 

How you approach it is up to you, but Bishop descended to 300ft to achieve the maximum

surprise. Get to the airfield quick, and the action should pan out just as it happened to

Bishop.

A few last words of advice though...ZOOM 'N DIVE,...BOB 'N WEAVE...DO NOT FLY IN A

STRAIGHT LINE!!

 

If you find the mission too hard:

Go to the game's 'Missions' folder, open the Bishop mission, then find the line;

EnemyAirDefenseActivity= and change the 3 to 1 or 2. Then save and exit.

 

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Mission requirements:

 

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

 

Flanders terrain.

By Edward.

To be found in the Combat Ace, Downloads, 'Maps/Terrains section.

 

Nieuport 17

By Tex Murphy & Monty CZ

To be found in the Combat Ace, Downloads, 'Add On Aircraft' section.

 

Albatros D.III

By Capun and his team at Skunkworks

To be found at the Skunkworks site. (Registration required)

 

Active Battlefield for First Eagles Version 2

By Heck.

To be found in the Combat Ace, Downloads, 'Maps/Terrains section.

Not sure if this is essential but it's a great mod and highly recommended

anyway!

 

PLEASE NOTE: I've tested this mission with Gr.Viper's excellent 'FE-Simple Machine Gun

Mod' installed, and found it exciting, but unfortunately, next to impossible!

So if you have this mod in your game, you may want to disable it to play this mission with

any chance of survival!...Or give it a try if you're feeling particularly brave!

 

For maximum realism, the mission should be played with all gameplay settings set to 'Hard'.

 

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

 

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Compromises and game limitations:

 

The only compromise to historical accuracy in this particular mission is that Bishop's Nieuport

17 was actually armed with a single overwing Lewis gun, as opposed to the Vickers supplied

with Tex Murphy and Monty CZ's excellent version. A bit of a shame because Bishop had to

reload a new drum onto his Lewis gun three or more times during the action, and it would

have been nice to be able to replicate that.

Never mind though, you should still have more than enough ammo to cause just as much

mayhem and destruction!

 

The good news: The RFC Nieuport actually depicts Bishop's Nieuport 17, serial No.B1566!

 

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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 unzipped MSN file directly into your 'Missions' folder.

 

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I hope you enjoy flying this mission and find it both challenging and enjoyable enough to play

it more than once...I've tried to make it as historically accurate and authentic as the game

will allow.

Feel free to change any of the parameters as you wish.

 

I would welcome any suggestions or general feedback, good, bad or indifferent, via any one

of the FE forums.

 

Be Lucky!

 

Bucky. 3/5/07

 

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