Flint (#9)

Took off with Dawson#3, Fuches#4, Hudson#8, and Gun Jones#5. We planned a raid on Hun drome #20 and took off at first light. We cruised over NML at about 2000meters and quickly entered Austrian territory. As we approached the base I began scanning the skies below me and soon spotted a lone EA flying low below me.

Figuring he was a scout I decided to attack at once. I hoped we could gang up on him and take him out quickly before anymore could get airborne. My memory is a little fuzzy here but after thinking some more on it I believe it was the #11 alb I dove on and attacked. I made a couple of passes on him hitting him hard. I watched him fly off and saw #12 coming up to attack us.

I quickly turned my attention to #12 and never saw #11 again. After a couple of passes I heard the wing shred and could see he was about to attempt a landing. I pulled off when I noticed another Austrian scout(#13) enter the area. I believe #12 was finished off by Gun Jones as I engaged #13.

Austrian #13 put up one hell of a fight. He had at least 4 of us on him as we took turns raking him with our bullets. He gave out as much as he received though, even nicking me with a bullet after one pass. Eventually I got above and behind him as he was pouring lead into another spad. I hit him hard shredding the wing and judging by the black puffs of smoke spewing out, damaging the oil line as well. At once he broke off his attack on the other spad and began to head for his base. I turned with him and dove down after him filling him with more lead. He wisely put it down at this time. I tried to gather up the flight and return home but a few of the guys wanted to make sure our brave foe was really out of the fight and gave him a few strafing runs.

After returning to base I found I only had Dawson and Gun Jones with me. Hud and Fuches hadn't showed up yet, but we couldn't wait for their return. I ordered Dawson and Gun Jones to patrol some southern targets while I lonewolfed it up north.

I Patrolled for nearly and hour when I decided it was a good time to get fuel. It was only a short trip to drome 4 from the two factories I had been hovering over the better part of an hour. I figured nothing could happend in the 10 minutes it would take to refuel and get back on patrol. Boy was I wrong. As I neared the targets I could see flak firing off to the Northeast. I took a look at the south factory and could see flames below. The guns continued to fire to the Northeast so I took off in that direction thinking the Austrian bombers were headed home. Just then I had a feeling I should check the north Factory( saw a factory destroyed message).

Now heading west I quickly spotted a dark speck co-alt with me at my 12. He must of spotted me a few seconds later and any doubt in his identity was removed when he dove away from me and headed west. He dove down to the factory and I could see him fire off a flare. I then spotted a second plane flying very low over the Factory. Both of them began to head out to sea. I wasn't sure what I had here so I approached carefully.

Soon I came into visual range and could see they were both bombers. I foolishly thought I had a couple of easy kills, but they surprised me. Both put up a very good fight and were covering the other's rear nicely. I was even wounded for the second time on the day by #16 after I had made one of my many firing runs on 17. I was getting to the point where I just hoped I could get a few shots in everyonce in awhile and run them out of gas deep behind our lines. Things quickly changed though when in a turn #17 lost his upper wing. I had hit him the hardest of the two and perhaps had done structural damage to his plane.

I now turned my attention to #16 thinking 17 would either crash or land his crippled plane. I made a pass on 16 then climbed back up as he turned below me. I was just about to make another pass on him when I decided to take a peek and see what had become of 17. To my great shock the Austrian devil was limping back east with only his lower wing. Obviously these Austrian machines are well made to keep flying in such a state.

I decided to go after 17 and finish him. In his present state he could still easily make it home and already was well on his way. Thinking that I could find 16 again if he choose not to tag along, I dove after 17. It seemed to take forever to catch up. Almost as if the Austrian plane's speed had been increased without the burden of an extra wing. Eventually though, my trusty Spad overtook the crippled bomber. I began putting short bursts into him and realized I should be careful with my ammo. It was obviously going to take a pilot kill to bring this bird down.

At one point I hovered slighty above and to the right of him. I wagged my wings trying to get his attention. He was certainly a skilled and brave pilot to keep going for so long. I hoped to spare his life, but he stubbornly continued on. I now realized he was trying to buy time with his life and give his comrade a chance to escape. I got back in behind him giving off several more small bursts. Finally I saw a figure in the plane slump over and a mist of blood hit my goggles. I backed off thinking the poor pilot dead. The plane kept going though. At first I thought he had his plane well trimmed and now it flew by itself, but on closer inspection I could see the poor observer was dead. Not a very good one, for all this time he hadn't fired a single shot at me. I guess that's why I never realized he was there. I returned to the sad job of finishing off the Austrian pilot and a minute later I had put a round into the back of his head and put and end to his mono flying ways.

I knew I was low on ammo and the wound I had received earlier was hurting me badly, but I had a pretty good idea where #16 would try to cross NML at and I hurried there. I flew low over NML until I reached drome 22. I checked it out and saw no planes in the area. I wondered if he had went another way or had already been through here.

I gained alt and headed towards NML hoping he still hadn't crossed the lines. Seconds later I was proved right. I believe he spotted me at the same time and he quickly dove for the distant drome. After a brief chase I was on his tail and firing. I put a couple of rounds into him then climbed above him. I learned that my spad could climb better than the Austrian bomber and I held the alt advantage until I had a clear shot from behind. I dove in and mindful of my ammo state took careful aim. Not twenty rounds had left my gun when I heard them click. I reached to unjam them, but quickly realized my ammo had run out. I cursed for few a few seconds at stubborn #17 then decided to try and fool 16 into killing himself.

I made a couple of dry runs on 16, letting him take a couple of shots at me in hopes he would stall out and crash. He was a good pilot though and I realized this wasn't going to happen. I toyed with him some more though. We both knew I could do him no harm. On my last pass he began to pull up slightly forcing me to pull up hard and to the right. I laughed out loud at the pilot's bravery in pulling such a stunt. I got the message though and said my goodbye and headed for home.

Witnessed #5 down #12 and #9 down #13

We took off today with a flight of Spads and headed straight to where we thought the enemy might be. Flint called the attack and I saw GunJones take out #12 right away. We had a much harder time with #13 who evaded us until Flint finally brought him to the ground. I lost Hudson and Fuches in the battle and Flint, GJ and I returned to base.

Back at the base Flint decided to go North while GJ and I were to patrol south. We made a wide circle of our installations and bridges but saw nothing. We returned to base to find Hudson and Fuches there and learned that they had some luck in finding Austrian bombers..... Mechanics looked at my crate and told me it needed some work so I called it a day as the others went off to do another patrol.

Kills: shared kill #3 with Hudson, #6 with Hudson

Hudson, Flint, G.Jones, Dawson and myself left our field right at 9:00. We flew over the mud and approached drome #20 to ambush the huns. To our enjoyment we did that. I was following Flint as he dove down to address hun #11, he let lose a string of bullets pulled up as I was diving on 11 and started where Flint finished off, I then disengaged as I could count the threads on elevens rudders. By this time, 13 and 12 were airborne. Flint and I repositioned ourselves as Hudson, Jones, and Dawson played with 12 and 13. I then lost sight of 12, and saw a glimpse of 13 actually heard. The tear of fabric brought me back to reality. I jinked back and forth until Hudson engaged 13. I circled around and replied briefly to 13 with my own leaden words and veered off my attack, looking for that elusive alt. The battle between 13 and my squad was drawn out: a very commendable effort on 13's part. We finally did force him down 100 meters infront of his field. As Flint and I headed back to home base for ammo and ducttape, I noticed Flint was having engine difficulties was about to signal him, then noticed the same on myself.

My plane was refitted, refueled, and new ammo stached into the chambers. I had a hot cup of coffee sitting in the cup holder and a couple of donuts for the flight. The nurses again refused to play stewardess, so it was off into the wild blue yonder. Hudson and I left our base and headed west to make sure our factories and railroads were safe. The flight west was uneventful. As we were heading back to our drome, Hudson spotted an enemy aircraft below us. We circled around and Hudson gave the attack. Diving into #6, I let loss a volley of lead into his tail, as Hudson was doing the same. I was getting really close, and forgetting about throttle, I pulled away knowing that Hudson was shooting straighter than myself tonight. I circled around to give Hudson a hand, realign myself and #6 dives down to meet his demise. Wings peel off his plane as he spirals downward, and then that sickening explosion. Six was no more. Hudson and myself then head south to check out more potential targets and then we fly east towards drome 14. On our way, we meet up with #3 hun passing over us. We wing around and place ourselves nicely on his six. Both Hudson and myself let loose another crackling load of lead into the plane of our foe and in seconds, another bomber purchases the farm at a high price.

Hudson then leads us northwards for a few miles then back over to the mud. After a bit we head back home to get more fuel and ammo, or visit the nurses, can't remember which. As we are discussing strategies, Hudson about flying, me about the new blonde nurse, G.Jones flies in for a smoothe landing.

Fueled up, pumped up, and a date for Saturday, we head out, the three of us to circle drome 20. Our thought was that if we cap it, they will come. We circled that drome for 20 minutes at 2000. They didn't come. We circled it for another five minutes. All three of us dreaming about diving onto some unsuspecting hun coming back home thinking about the cold beer and warm fraulein waiting for him. They didn't come. Then Armistice is called and we head home, land our planes talk to the house officer, grab a wine, and a nurse and sing songs about our glories. The songs boisterous to hide the fear that one day, one of us might not come home. That is the report of Verreuckter Fuches.

Score claims:1, hun 12 in an Albatross V

Brief narrative: Left base 5 with 8,9, 3 and 4 to go at hun drome 20. Immediately enaged one there, hun 13. Although serevr credited me for kill of him it really goes to no. 9. After meching I returned to hun 20 and saw hun just landing or taking off on the groudn outside hun drome 20. This was hun 12. I dove down shooting at him and got a kill, reported by server.

Claims: share kill on hun #6 and hun #3 with allied #4 Fuches

Took off with a group of spads to an area in the hun territory looking to inflict some damage on them. We found the huns and a fight quickly occured. I was traiding lead with hun #13 for some time. He hit my engine and oil pressure was dropping. I pulled out and headed toward base to get repaired.

Took off with Fuches to continue to patrol our areas. We came upon sirens at the railyard near drom #9. I was looking for the hun and then heard him drop a bomb. Fuches and I were able to get on his tail #6 and start filling him with lead before he knew we were there. One of my bullets eventually hit the pilot and the plane went down. Then headed toward a hun drom and saw another plane taking off #3. We both started filling him with lead and he quickly hit the earth.

Returned to base and continued to patrol without seeing any more huns.

Rowland (#11): Claims witnessed: EA #7 shot down by AA EA engaged: #7 but AA got him

Took off alone to patrol area as in orders.Saw enemy bomber over RR yard in B3-8. Put some rounds in him but AA took him down before I could.The hole time I heard sirens but could not find the EA.

Targets Damaged: 1

Sir,

I departed from home base on schedule and proceeded to the area of "D2_1/2/3" to search for ground targets. I decided to take the bridge at "D2_3" first, because it was a railroad bridge and connected to the railyard at "D2_2". I figured that the other end must connect to another railyard. So my feeling was that if I took out this bridge, it would impede railyards on either end. The bridge was damaged but not fully destroyed. (I did observe a section of bridge down). I refueled at base "#7".

After departing from base "#7", I got a little more than halfway to the area mentioned above, when my plane "meched" out. Back at base, I gave the mechanics a severe tongue lashing for hampering such an important mission and was soon airborne again.

From home base again, I proceeded towards the factory located at "C3_9" to see what I could do there. I used up my entire load there without a direct hit that I could see. Some came pretty close, MAY have started a fire there, but I dared not going low enough to see, as AA fire was thick. Refueled at base "#9".

Shortly after departing that base, I heard sirens blaring from there. I took a good look around but did not observe any aircraft. I continued back to said factory to try again, but alas, I "meched" out yet again after dropping some unsuccessful bombs there.

Other than that, I have nothing further to report.

I took off from my home base alone and went XXXXX to redenvous with one of the heavy bomber. Reached there, escorted the bomber all the way to our target. Flak became intense, broke off to attempt to suppress the heavy aa guns. During dive, a lucky shot from one of the heavy guns graced my lower wing and under stress built up from dive, its collasped. Went in spun, barely came out of it when crashed, slided forward for 10, 15 sec until it stopped in front of an Austrian platoon. Became POW.