sukebeboy

or maybe I just got lucky. I could usually get 1-2 kills per mission (unless I was tangling with two seaters, they are my nemesis.) in previous versions, but I'd often get target fixation and usually got shot down as I'd quickly get separated from the rest of my flight in any furball. Well, I installed the patch and started up a new career with the RFC. Sick of being Fokker fodder in my usual Airco DH2 or SPAD VII, I decided to start a little later in the war and opted for a squad with the Camel. My first mission was to defend an aerodrome from the pesky Hun. Got on station in time to see a flight of 6 Albatross DIIIs from Jasta 36 diving on the field. I picked one out of the gaggle, got in behind him as he pulled out of a dive and gave him a good, solid burst into the centre of the fuselage. Turns out he was an ace! (can't remember the name though). He rolled left with full rudder as I went up into an immelman to roll back down on him. I'm used to having to expend 25%+ of my ammo to get a kill, so imagine my surprise when I saw he was in a flat spin and heading for the trees. I didn't follow him down but instead started checking six for his friends. Luckily, nobody seemed to think I was worth the effort and I was able to get on the six of a second DIII who was busy giving one of my flight the good news. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep the turn with them but I was able to get a good burst into his upper left wing. Again, I thought I'd have to get on him and expend a lot of rounds chewing him up, but he spun in as well. I repeated this three more times. Before the immediate area was clear. Sweet! An ace in one mission, provided I could get back. As usual, when the dust settled, I had no idea where any of my flight was, but I could see one plane off in the distance, just above me and heading away. I followed and eventually caught up to the one other remaining member of my 4 man flight, bravely continuing on with the mission. I was all for turning tail and heading home, but felt guilty about leaving him all alone (and more importantly, I didn't want to lose my witness) so I followed. Near the next way point, we were jumped by a flight of 3 more DIIIs, again from Jasta 36. I got into a scissoring fight with the lead low on the deck and he finally went in after I'd chipped away at him after half a dozen passes. His two wingmen were on my six, blazing away but scoring very few hits. My wingman was on the trailer and doing his best to ensure the German War Widows' Fund would not miss a chance to dole out another dispersement. I have to say, I love the Camel. It does have a tendency to nose up, but it seems like a very stable, agile crate and I was able to reverse on the Alb, get a good, long burst into his cockpit and rack up my 7th kill of the mission. 7 kills in one mission and still 40% of my ammo left! This is unheard of in my previous virtual lives. I was able to set my crate down with only a little more bouncing and flopping than usual (and a lot whiter knuckles) and write up my claim sheet. The game accepted 5 at 90% and 2 at 70%, so now I just have to await the results. Only downside is, now I'm afraid to go back up again!

Who's complaining? After rarely lasting more than 5 sorties in any of my previous campaigns, I suddenly felt all rugged and manly! (At least until my 3rd mission in the current campaign when I ran into a bunch of two seaters. Then it was back to business as usual. Downed one but got riddled by his buddies in the process and had to set down in a field.)