'In the Nay-vee...' - WW1 seaplane action in First Eagles

[33LIMA 972]

Life and virtual death on and above the ocean waves in Ojcar's 'Unsung Heroes' seaplane campaign

 

 

Rise of Flight is not the only WW1 flightsim to feature seaplanes. Thanks to modder Stephen1918, First Eagles/FE2 also got its feet wet, with a series of floatplanes suitable for the Channel coast and a 'terrain' package, complete with some shipping. Fellow-modder Ojcar then provided us with a campaign to complete the scene.

 

The aircraft are available here...

 

http://combatace.com/files/category/360-first-eagles-add-on-aircraft/

 

...the terrain is here...

 

http://combatace.com/files/file/14129-north-sea-terrain/

 

...and the campaign is here:

 

http://combatace.com/files/file/14164-unsung-heroes/

 

The campaign needs a separate install of FE, which for FE2 is just a matter of copying the game executable, renaming and running it. This creates the 'mods' folder where you install the new items. The drill for FE(1) is slightly different but equally simple. You can combine the seaplanes in a normal install, but this campaign really needs a separate one, to avoid oddities like vehicles or landplanes moving on the sea surface. This limits the campaign to aero-naval action but it's nicely done and makes a fun and interesting challenge, nevertheless.

 

The campaign is set in 1917 and the briefing sets the scene nicely, with some short but interesting historical background to help you get 'in character'. The Germans, having occupied a stretch of coastline running from the eastern end of the English Channel to the southern end of the North Sea, are contesting the British and allied blockade and running some naval operations of their own. Both sides have the support - for this campaign - of seaplane tenders and their aircraft. Which is where the player comes in, of course.

 

I elected to fly for the German side, in a late-model Albatros W4. This was a fighter, basically a scaled-up Albatros DII with two large floats. For our first mssion, dated 1 November 1917, two of us were detailed to fly a defensive partol around our tender, the SMS Answald. I could have increased our strength by selecting more pilots from the squadron roster, but I thought we'd stick to a twosome. That was my first mistake.

 

Anyway here we are, ready for the 'off'. If you don't have an air start selected, FE, logically enough, starts you on the ground. Also logically enough, if there's no ground - as in, the middle of the North Sea - you're started on the water. Like so.

 

 

The ship in the background isn't our tender - which vessels were the progenitors of proper aircraft carriers - it's our surface escort. WW1 warship identification's not my speciality and it may be a representative type rather than a model of a real vessel but it looks suitably Victorian. I suspect FE doesn't model sea states which is just as well as I had enough trouble with all that water, in the 'dead calm' we got.

 

Getting off the ground - sorry, water - was the first challenge. Basically I opened her up and when it felt right, pulled back on the stick to increase the angle of attack and get a bit more lift in an effort to unstick. This worked...eventually. But my W4, once airborne, soon confirmed my suspicion that she was going to be rather less tractable than the scouts I was used to flying. She felt somewhere in between one of those, and a two-seater. Slow in the climb, ready to buffet in an impending stall if I increased the AoA too much, but reasonably willing to turn without behaving badly.

 

As you can see, you don't get a wake effect (unless I've not installed something somewhere, must check...) but the sea surface and our little flotilla made a nice backdrop for Stephen1918's beautiful plane, as myself and my wingman - the AI manage water takeoffs just fine -  climbed slowly away.

 

 

In a nice touch, our ships fly the correct Imperial German ensigns at stem and stern (the former being the pointy end, I believe). Behind us in the pic below, you can see both our escort and our seaplane tender.

 

 

As I orbited, slowly gaining height and getting a feel for my machine, the gunners on both our ships decided to give me a little surprise by commencing some brisk shooting. Fire and smoke bellowed from every barrel and tracer fire sped up and past us, directed at a target or targets which I had not yet seen. Obviously, our patrol was going to be no mere sight-seeing trip...

 

 

...to be continued!

[33LIMA 972]

'This is not a drill...'

 

As it happened, we were far from the only enterprising naval fliers in the air that day. Some of our friends were airborne, including a pair in Rumpler 6B1s - a single-seat fighter adaption of the same company's C-type machine which pre-dated the more successful Albatros I was flying:

 

 

There was also this rather less friendly pair. Although they were headed in the direction of us and our ships, these Sopwith Babies were not the target for all the anti-aircraft fire which our vessels had unleashed.

 

 

My wingman seemed to see them before I did. Looking up and quarter left, I could see the flak bursting in the sky, tracking steadily and menacingly straight at us.

 

 

As the range wound down, the two specks at the head of the trail of flak bursts resolved themselves into the form of two floatplanes in echelon formation. I nosed up towards them, knowing that they were high enough to fly right past us if they were on a bombing run. No way was I going to be able to save our ships from being bombed, if that was what these two had in mind.

 

 

Fortunately, perhaps, it was us they were after - me and my flight-mate, not the ships. They accepted my challenge and dived straight for me, guns soon blazing.

 

 

For the avoidance of doubt, I gave my flight-mate a hasty command to attack. In no time, the four of us were whirling round and round in a merry little dogfight.

 

 

It did not take me long to realise that these enemy pilots were either very skillful or they had machines which were rather more nimble than mine. My flight-mate went for one of the Sopwiths, but as you can see from the pic above, the second enemy machine whipped around and was on his tail in an instant. Here's my chance, I thought, to save my comrade and get an easy kill.

 

The first bit went as planned; the second did not. I managed to shoot the Sopwith off the other Albatros's tail but I then found myself in a turning fight with an agile foe I could only manage to hold in my sights for the briefest of intervals.

 

 

I got quite close at times, despite the flak bursting merrily all around me. I knew I was hitting him, but he seemed somewhat reluctant to go down.

 

 

After a final burst at close range, he started trailing smoke and I saw his propeller grind to a stop. He sideslipped away, down and out at last.

 

 

One down, one to go!

 

...to be continued!

[33LIMA 972]

Come on in, the water's lovely!

 

At this point, flushed with success, I blundered across the nose of my flight-mate, who was being hotly pursued through the flak-bursts by the other Englishman, in the second Sopwith Schneider - for that is what these aircraft were: floatplane derivatives of the the same company's pioneer little Tabloid landplane. A little out of place in the skies of late 1917, perhaps, but these two were flying like that thought had never occurred to them.

 

 

My comrade broke away and down, with the Spowith behind him every step of the way, undeterred by the pool of oil on the sea which marked the grave of his friend. I banked around, then dived in for a quick pass, before pulling back up to re-assess.

 

 

Re-assessing the situation didn't take long. Though I had got him off my flight-mates neck, the Sopwith was still very much in action. Next thing, the two were back up at my level, snapping at each other's heels.

 

 

Knowing better by now than to get into a turning fight with these nimble little Britischers, I 'extended' then came back in for another pass. Once, twice, a third time. The Sopwith banked and dived out of my way each time, on the last occasion pulling up just as I thought he was sure to pile into the sea.

 

 

On my fourth pass - by which time, I was beginning to get worried that he might nail my flight-mate in between my attacks, if we let this go on much longer - he turned into me. All right, head on it will be, then, I thought to myself. My two guns against his one. I lined him up and held down the trigger. At the last moment, he seemed to veer slightly sideways. I was determined to get him this time and I kept my nose onto him, taking advantage for that fraction of a second of being out of his line of fire and having a slightly-bigger target for my own guns.

 

There was a bang and my machine lurched, then started to roll to the left. A collision!

 

 

By crossing my controls I managed to stop my kite rolling over and throttled back as I steered desperately for the sea, minus a large section of my port mainplanes. As I came in, I could see that my nose was yawed well off my direction of travel, as in those crazy crosswind landing clips you see. I planed to kick her straight with the rudder just before touch-down but I over-did it and lost the deflection I had needed to keep the wings level. Too late to correct, my machine rolled hard left at the moment of landing...bang! All over!

 

To cap it all, the Sopwith whom I'd bashed into - though damaged enough to quit the fight and head for home - had obviously come off best.

 

As he flew off, there was first one and then a second violent spash, as two other aircraft hit the sea, not far apart. The Sopwith Babies had arrived, and as I found out later from the debrief, my flight-mate, not to be out-done by his leader, had collided with one of them.

 

 

Evenyone else just went about their business, including the two Rumplers, another pair of Schneiders, and a bloke in a two-gunned Hanriot floatplane, who would likely have been a much more dangerous foe than any of the Sopwiths. You never know with FE, though; the variable AI means you can come up against a variety of skill levels in the opposition you meet.

 

 

This was my first mission in an FE seaplane campaign and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it. The 'air-to-air' was typically First Eagles, close up and personal, a dogfighter's dream (or nightmare, depending on result). As an areo-naval sim, FE evidently has its limitations. The seaplane tenders and their consorts may be potential targets but are I think static, placed like airfield buildings in a conventional landscape. There is no land in the North Sea 'terrain', nor any landplanes in the campaign. And the planes there are, are a bit of a mix as regards era; and no two-seaters or flying boats (yet, anyway!). But they are really lovely to look at and excellent foes or mounts, as you like it. Ojcar's campaign with Stephen1918's planes, ships and terrain are an excellent way to experience a dimension that so far only RoF amongst current WW1 sims can manage. Highly recommended!

[+ojcar 157]

Hello, friend!

 

I know it's a little out of its time, but I decided to add the Schneider to the campaign neverteless, because:

 

-It's a very nice model. It was a pity not to have it in any campaign.

 

-I gave it bombing and recon missions mainly (with a few fighter missions).

 

-To add  some variety to the campaign (very limited planeset, you know...

 

-Not a great difference between the Schneider (100 Hp) and the Baby (110 Hp)

 

-It's a semi-fictional campaign, after all (most German seaplanes operated from land bases)

[33LIMA 972]

Yes the Schneider is too good a plane not to have in the campaign! It may have been an older model, but the two guys we fought did just fine in it!

 

Next time I will try flying the Schneider myself, and maybe get to bomb some of those ships instead of defending them!