 Joe Gurman takes the opportunity to read the paper while Jim Barber makes his move. "The focus of a true champion," he said. Joe and Graham Cox flew DFW C.Vs back from a mission while Jim, their "escort" protected them in his Albatros D.III during the Vimy Ridge offensive in May 1917. |
With the two-seaters having about the same performance as their escort, it was no surprise when Joe had to consult a "fancy table" after a hit delivered by the two allied Sopwith Triplanes in turn 4. The crit took out his engine mount, limiting him to 60 mph. British pilots Chris Janiec and Marco Fabiani were all over the poor-maneuvering Germans. |
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Joe made good his escape at the end of turn 8, Graham four turns later, leaving Jim in a shot up Albatros D.III trying to get away from two Sopwith Triplanes that could smell blood. Seeing Jim's chance to escape, Marco commented, "This game will be over soon if Jim plays it smart." Here, Graham replied, "Then this game will go on forever." |
Joe was on call for NASA that day and had to monitor the conditions of one of their satellites. During game 2, in a near reversal of game 1 with Marco and Chris in Albatros D.IIIs and Joe in a Roland D.IIa/D.III against Graham and Jim in Sopwith Tripes, set only 5 days after game 1, we see Joe taking a break from the action to "fly his spaceship". Game 3 pitted Americans Chris in a SPAD S.VII and Marco and Graham in SPAD S.XIIIs against Jim in a big block Fokker D.VII and Joe in a Pfalz D.XII, Graham flew pilot George Varney (23/9), but despite the heavy hitter on the American side, there were no casualties. |
 Game 4 set Marco and Joe in Austro-Hungarian Öffag D.III series 153s against Chris and Jim in Hanriot HD-1s and Graham in a S.A.M.L. 2 (which, although it rhymes, is nothing like a Camel) on their way to photograph the target. Chris smoked both Joe and Marco, then Marco gave Chris a crit that jammed his ailerons in a left bank for 6 turns. Chris was left alone as he veered off out of combat, making the fight a little more even. |
Jim at 4,450' was tailing Marco at 4,650'. Marco chose a straight but Jim covered with an Up card. Marco did the straight, but Jim chose to climb. Marco ended up diving 50' to take a bottom shot on Graham's S.A.M.L. Jim's minimum climb took him above Marco and unable to follow up the tail. Joe commented about Jim, "Making the same mistakes for over four decades." On the trip home to Pittsburgh, Jim corrected Joe's statement claiming that he'd only been making the same mistakes for 35 years, not 40. Graham managed to escape in his S.A.M.L. with two nice photos intact. With such dedicated pilots, no wonder Italy won WWI. Well . . . you know what I mean. |
 Game 5 was a high profile one between the French and Germans where Marco's 3/0 pilot and Jim's 1/0 felt outclassed. Jim and Graham (flying as Victor Kauric 21/3) were in Albatros D.Vs against Marco and Chris in SPAD S.VIIs and Joe (flying as Gaston Napier 44/3) in a Nieuport N.24bis. Graham went up a table, as well as going up onto the table. |
Joe, who had expressed a desire to be able to shout, "Venez m'aidez!" on our May Day game day, decided he'd rather not have shout anything of the sort while flying a 44/3 pilot. The fight was over quickly as Graham took Victor Kauric from 21/3 to 22/4 when he shot down Chris' best pilot, 8/2 Henri de Trobriand. Poor Henri, who (it was pointed out to me) was selflessly covering Gaston Napier's tail, took a CW, then alternated between unconsciousness and uncontrollable spins, all the way to the ground. |
 Game 6 was short, only two turns. Two Brits in 150 hp Sopwith Camels (Chris and Marco) were tasked to defend a Harry Tate (Jim) returning from an artillery spotting mission. Graham flying as Willi von Braun (14/3) and Joe, both in Roland D.IIa/D.IIIs tried to prevent it. While the cloud bank below the flight allowed the R.E.8 to make good his escape, Graham was able to for the second game in a row, hit Chris' pilot, Stephen Greene (1/1). He took yet another CW from Graham with much the same results. Stephen Greene was killed, and Willi von Braun added a mission and a kill to finish 15/4. |
Graham won our May Day easily with two victories scored and no machines lost. And unfortunately (or fortunately for Gaston Napier) Joe never got a chance to shout, "Venez m'aidez!"
Graham Cox - two victories (Chris twice), none shot down Jim Barber - no victories, not shot down Marco Fabiani - no victories, not shot down Joe Gurman - no victories, not shot down Chris Janiec - no victories, two pilots shot down and killed
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