Waldemar Kurtz 1 Posted July 26, 2009 SORTIE NO.1 let's see, the first sortie was a scramble (man, I hate those things!!! ) so I'm getting ready to take off and head to the front with some bombs (I'm trying to pretend we had plans, and got caught by surprise). so I find myself in 70 minute long dogfight against 6 SPAD XIII from Escadrille 3! I managed to shoot down two of them before I got SOO frustrated I gave up and landed. those SPADs just wouldn't not fly away and leave me alone... but they wouldn't attack me either. so I had two guys trying to shoot me down and another guy who wiped out the rest of my flight--and three guys just wandering around up above me making it impossible for me to escape towards the front lines. so, FINALLY, after blowing off about 1100 rounds (with the front gun and the observer) I shot down two of them and landed. (I got one of them confirmed, and the other rejected--even though they both crashed right in the middle of two different German aerodromes!) SORTIE NO.2 a ground attack near the trenches west of Cambrai. I blow up 7 entrenched troop positions, a couple of machine gun nests, and cripple a wave of attacking British infantry before flying home. SORTIE NO.3 another annoying scramble mission. I run like hell to the lines--hoping to either catch some friendly infantry, or drop some bombs on the British advancing army. the Camels wipe out my wingmates (who I don't have a chance in hell of saving) and follow me 7 miles to the front, shooting all the while. I finally cross the trenches and am flying SO low that when I drop my bombs on the British advance troop positions that the frag-pattern blast nearly blows me out of the sky. I hit the ground, bounce really hard, and level out. I strafe a British tank in front of me and then I see a wall of machine guns opening up right in my face. my engine cuts out and I crash in the British trenches. (I figured, "WOW, this must be the shortest career ever") and then I get told "you escaped captivity after 19 days!") SORTIE NO.4 (it would have been a scramble but I thought, "screw that!") and hit time advance! then I find myself on an arty-spot. as we're approaching Douai, getting ready to head towards the line our paltry flight of three DFW C.Vs gets attacked by 6 Sopwith Camels! these guys were shooting us up badly. one of them get so close his right wing-tip hit my left wing and he ended up ripping about 20 percent of his right wing off. miraculously he seems to have suffered no deterioration in performance--whereas I had quite a bit of trouble. my observer shot up a few other guys, and I spiralled to the ground--getting shot up by Camels all the while. I crash-landed behind our lines and found myself thinking.... "I am not long for this world, am I?" this has been the exact opposite of my otherwise pleasant and unexciting early war BE2c careers! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted July 26, 2009 Hey, Waldemar Wouldn't you like to make brief combat reports about your "Roland-carreer" in the "Peports from the Front" sticky? We don't have so many two-seater reports yet, and especially German ones (I think Rickitycrate made the last ones). I would like to put you into our OFF Pilots map. If you send me a PM with your hometown and country/state, I'll do it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Check Six 2 Posted July 26, 2009 Waldemar Kurtz, It seems to me that if your aerodrome is being attacked in a scramble mission (or the enemy are approaching) you first priority is survival. I know some pilots here do not fly scramble missions, thinking they are suicide, and run straight to the slit trenches (which is probably Standing Orders). I choose to fly all assigned missions, and therefore, I'll try to get aloft in those circumstances. Like I said, your main objective is to survive intact if possible. When you have fired up your engine, check to see where the attacking aircraft are. Are you able to take off and extend out immediately ahead as they come in from behind you? If so, do this. The attacking aircraft will most likely attack the planes in front of the hangars and the aerodrome buildings (although some may come after you). If they attack the aerodrome, and not you, you can choose to fly away, or wait until they are occupied, and sneak in and attack them. In a two-seater, this probably isn't a good idea. "let's see, the first sortie was a scramble (man, I hate those things!!! ) so I'm getting ready to take off and head to the front with some bombs (I'm trying to pretend we had plans, and got caught by surprise)." "another annoying scramble mission. I run like hell to the lines--hoping to either catch some friendly infantry, or drop some bombs on the British advancing army." It sounds to me that you entered a dogfight with your bombs attached! Ouch! Get rid of those things, man! They weigh you down and adversely affect your performance, not to mention what happens if one of them is hit by a stray bullet, or if your controls are shot away, and you struggle to land with full rudder etc, but come in rough...it's gonna blow you to smithereens! Fly a little bit away from your aerodrome and jettison them in a field. Don't go into a dogfight with ordnance slung below your machine. Survival is your first priority. If you choose to fly and fight, give yourself the best chance of making it back alive. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Waldemar Kurtz 1 Posted July 26, 2009 (edited) I've been taking your advice on taking whatever they give me--but 80 percent of my career has turned into scramble missions where I get shot down inside of 10 minutes--and if I'm lucky, I just start landing before I get killed. not a lot fun, to be honest. maybe that's how it was in late 1917 for a German two-seater career--but... I wouldn't want to make a habit of that. unremarkably, I got shot down by a swarm of SPAD VIIs from Escadrille 153 near Arras. I was supposedly going to bomb the railyard west of the city without any sort of escort. we all got wiped out in about 45 seconds. I lost control of my machine so I just pointed my nose at the nearest British trench and BOOM! at least I took somebody out with me! Edited July 26, 2009 by Waldemar Kurtz Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Creaghorn 10 Posted July 26, 2009 I've been taking your advice on taking whatever they give me--but 80 percent of my career has turned into scramble missions where I get shot down inside of 10 minutes--and if I'm lucky, I just start landing before I get killed. not a lot fun, to be honest. maybe that's how it was in late 1917 for a German two-seater career--but... I wouldn't want to make a habit of that. unremarkably, I got shot down by a swarm of SPAD VIIs from Escadrille 153 near Arras. I was supposedly going to bomb the railyard west of the city without any sort of escort. we all got wiped out in about 45 seconds. I lost control of my machine so I just pointed my nose at the nearest British trench and BOOM! at least I took somebody out with me! from the historical point of view even scouts very rarely to none scrambled scouts. only when twoseaters where loitering in the area they went up (take a short look who's up there before getting airborne), but not when scouts are attacking your airfield. going up in twoseaters to scramble scouts is pure nonsense. that never happened. i would suggest to leave the mission immediately if there are scouts up there. do with two seaters missions they are made for Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted July 26, 2009 Waldemar, perhaps you start another carreer elsewhere? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Waldemar Kurtz 1 Posted July 26, 2009 from the historical point of view even scouts very rarely to none scrambled scouts. only when twoseaters where loitering in the area they went up (take a short look who's up there before getting airborne), but not when scouts are attacking your airfield.going up in twoseaters to scramble scouts is pure nonsense. that never happened. i would suggest to leave the mission immediately if there are scouts up there. do with two seaters missions they are made for speaking of which, would it be possible for me to edit the mission files to simply remove scramble missions from the list of available bomber missions? I notice I get a crap-load of scramble missions and have yet to get a single "close air support" or escort mission. for a Schusta this would have been unusual. the Schlasta were basically dedicated close-air-support, ground attack types that also did escort work for other two-seaters. and yet I find most of this career has been frittered away on scramble missions. I've also noticed that bombers are never given "Ground Forces Attack" missions--and yet I get them in the SPAD VII a lot. which doesn't really make sense to me. a Hannover CL.III squadron should be getting that mission a couple of times a day. I've tried adding "Ground Forces Attack" to the "GermanyBomberMisssionTypes1918" but I ended having the careers crash because of it. apparently just doing a cut-and-paste of the necessary text data doesn't quite work! oh yeah, and I'm staying away from the Battle of Cambrai until I get better, lol! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
