A scramble against Rhys Davids

[Olham 164]

I'm working with three good pilots recently, so that one may last long enough

to find entry in Siggi's "DiD-List".

 

But then, I shouldn't have taken part in this scramble we just had.

Our 5 Albatros DIII were attacked by 10 S.E.5a from RFC-56 - Rhys Davids was

with them, and some other aces! MvR never did scrambles, as they are suicide really.

But I played the heroe and did (by then, I didn't know who they where).

 

Now, I made it out alive (as the only German - see: Combat Reports sticky thread),

but to make it long enough for Siggi's list, I shouldn't have done it at all.

 

All who have such a long lasting pilot: how do you act in such a situation?

[Macklroy 2]

Poor Toddrick Macklroy played the hero on his second combat flight. Took his flight of three against a group of albatross DV of twice that number. Things weren't too bad untill Manfred and his flight of six alb DV jumped in. 2 v 1 odds is about my limit. Going 4 v 1 is certain suicide. I'm going the cautious route with the other three brothers. Sometimes it's best to come back and fight another day.

Edited May 28, 2009 by Macklroy

[Bullethead 12]

All who have such a long lasting pilot: how do you act in such a situation?

 

I NEVER do scramble missions. The whole concept of taking off while enemy scouts are strafing your field is not only suicide, it's historically way off base. Sure, a very few guys in real life (when compared to the total number of pilots available at all airfields ever attacked), who had more cajones than brains, tried this in real life, but only a very small fraction of that few lived to tell the tale. The majority of them ended up as crispy critters about 1/2way down the runway. Everybody with 1/2 a brain knew to sit in the bomb shelter or slit trench until the attack was over.

 

A real life "scramble" mission, even in WW1, was a launch against enemy planes that had been spotted far away. The interceptors were launched when they had the time and horizontal separation to gain the necessary altitude to do any good.

 

I've heard that some scramble missions are against high-altitude 2-seaters, except of course they're practically overhead to begin with so you have no real hope of stopping the bombing. That's better than trying to take off with 3 enemies on your tail before you even pull the chocks, but it's still pointless and unrealistic. But there's no real way to tell what's going on until you fly the mission, and if it's not 2-seaters, it's a vulchathon with you as the idiot dweeb. So the best bet is to abort the whole thing and hope to be dealt a better hand next time.

Edited May 29, 2009 by Bullethead

[Olham 164]

Thank you for rating my intelligence so accurately, Bullet. Lol!!!

Edited May 29, 2009 by Olham

[Red-Dog 3]

Scrambles aren't so bad, the last mission i flew was one,after 10 hours of not seeing a thing i thought 'this time' anyway the thing i found is best,is to fly low,just enough to miss anything on the ground and straight out from the field for about 1 mile then turn back.By this time most of the enemy will be engaging your mate's and you can take your pick.My new man got his first 3 kills,so bring it on.

[Olham 164]

RedDog: the thing i found is best,is to fly low,just enough to miss anything on the ground and straight out from the field for about 1 mile then turn back.By this time most of the enemy will be engaging your mate's

 

That's what I tried, but some Maxwell (?), one of the aces, followed me with his wingman.

It's good to know tricks. And it's great, that this sim still makes it so unpredictable!

[Hasse Wind 46]

I don't usually do scramble missions if I have a good pilot going - for example my longest-living pilot ever (in Jasta 10) has never done any scrambles, because that would be suicide in the Pfalz which needs speed and altitude to have any chances against the late war Entente fighters.

 

But there are some exceptions to my rule, mostly when I'm in a squadron equipped with Nieuport 17s. That scout gains altitude so quickly and is so deadly in turning battles that I don't have too much fear if the field is under attack by Eindeckers or Halbs. But I freely admit I'm always being stupid when I do this even with the Nupe, because it doesn't take many hits to bring that butterfly down (but hey, it can be so much fun!). I've lost one promising Nupe pilot in a scramble mission when I became stupidly reckless and attacked a big flight of Eindeckers. One of them hit my plane, I lost control and because I was so low I didn't have any time to try to make a safe landing or recover from the spin.

 

I'd like to see someone try a scramble mission in the Quirk or the Fee, preferably against Alb D.IIIs.

[NS13Jarhead 6]

I love scramble missions! None of that lollygagging around waiting for a chance encounter. I usually can get four or five kills per mission. The key, I've found, is to wait until the enemy makes the first pass and then go airborne, extend in the opposite direction, gain altitude and THEN come around for the fight. The biggest problem I have is my own gunners shooting me instead of the enemy when we pass over the field.

 

You just have to pretend you're Ben Affleck in "Pearl Harbor". I know, it's the wrong war and not as historically accurate as "Flyboys", ( ) but it'll have to do.

[Olham 164]

Well, as I said - I tried to get away sideways first, to gain altitude, climb into the sun, and come down

on them from there - but an ace and his wing followed. I think, RFC-56 is just an elite unit, you can't

fool so easily. Also did they outnumber us 1:2

 

Scrambles I would take on:

 

Albatros DII - any opponent

Albatros DIII - any opponent

Albatros DV and DVa - SPAD XIII, all Nupes, S.E.5a, all two-seaters but the "Biff"

Fokker Dr.1 - any opponent

Fokker DVII - any opponent