The first mission of the day pitted two S.E.5s (Jim Barber and Marco Fabiani) against a Hannover CLIIIa (Chris Janiec) two-seater and a Pfalz D.IIIa (Graham Cox) in May 1918. The Germans boxed up just above a cloud bank. Marco came in on the Pfalz and Jim went low to get under the Hannover, but flew into the clouds. When Jim came out, the Pfalz, piloted by Graham, was gone. This is Graham rolling a critical wound on his pilot, who had a few "spells" and finally went in at full throttle. He never even fired a shot. |
Graham fared little better the second mission, flying a British 130-hp Sopwith F.1 Camel along with Jim and Marco against three Pfalz D.IIIs piloted by Chris, and the two recent arrivals, Bob Stiegel and Jay Mischo in the early Autumn of 1917 during the Battle for Polygon Wood. Here's a shot of the meat of the Grahamwich . . . |
. . . made up of Chris and Bob. Graham made it home from this one, but one of the Germans didn't. Jim lightly wounded Bob's pilot, who left the battle and piled his Pfalz up just on the German side of the lines, giving Jim credit for the kill. |
Mission three, just before Christmas 1917, wasn't a balloon busting mission per se, but there was a balloon in the setup, and so it turned into one quickly. Graham was already lamenting the fact they'd be flying assorted Albatri while the British had 130-hp Camels again. This shot was taken as he said, "As if three Camels weren't bad enough, there had to be a balloon too." |
Chris was the first to pay the price of fighting a Camel in an Albatros when Bob and Jim both filled his engine full of British lead on the first turn. This is Chris' reaction to learning that his Albatros had just exploded in mid-air on turn one. |
Graham was right to be upset about Camels protecting a balloon. Jay stayed high to draw off some of the Brits, while Graham made the only pass on the balloon. Archie was particularly brutal to him, critically wounding him on his pass. He immediately landed and was taken to a British hospital where his pilot subsequently died. |
Here's a shot of Austria-Hungary's finest, Bob, Graham, and Jay. At Carlisle, we usually have one Italian Front mission each game day. They're very popular. (?) I can't print the slang term for these missions as they might offend me (but they don't). Set in April 1917, this one also turned into a balloon mission, the Austrians flying Hansa-Brandenburg D.Is, known to its real-life pilots as the "Flying Coffin", against Italian Nieuport 17s armed with combinations of wing-mounted Lewis guns, Vickers deck guns, and in one case, both! Still, it was a big improvement on the un-unjammable Austrian wing-mounted Schwartzlose. |
Graham and Bob both made a pass at the balloon, causing it to explode (credit going to Graham). Italian flak isn't nearly as accurate as the British kind, as they all got away rather unscathed. Fighting Italian Nieuports in Spiders at very low altitude (I think Graham got grass clippings stuck in his wheel spokes) isn't such a good idea, so they all ran after the balloon went down. Bob was quoted as saying, "It hurts that we're running away from Italians." |
Jim, the Italian flight leader, but flying an Italian Nieuport armed only with a wing-mounted Lewis, got frustrated at his equipment and said, "I'm very upset with the Nieuport Company. I'm writing them a letter immediately." |
The day's fifth mission in June 1918 pitted two Albatros D.Vas (Graham and Marco) and a Pfalz D.IIIa (Jim) against three more of the ever-popular 130-hp Camels, only this time they were Belgian. Marco's Albatros' left wing was barely attached when he luckily escaped being tailed by Bob and turned for home mid-game, leaving the odds three on two, and not looking good for the Germans. |
Jim is not happy with the 10 hf in one turn inflicted on him by Bob and Jay, or as he put it, the "Jim Barber for lunch bunch". The three Camels pounded the remaining Albatros and Pfalz. Jim, overdiving his Pfalz, broke apart. He hit the silk only 200 feet from the German rear trenches and drifted down several thousand feet to safety. |
Jay, secure in his Belgian Sopwith, watches as the Germans are crushed. Bob received credit for shooting Jim's Pfalz down. Graham also managed to escape and make it back to base. Albatrosses aren't any good any more, by summer of '18. |
Even Jay and Jim look pained as they realize the extent of the damage they caused to the French. The opening of the last mission of the day, mission 6, set in May 1917, saw three German Albatros D.IIIs piloted by Jay, Jim, and Graham, surprising a high-altitude flight of one-gun French SPAD VIIs over No Man's Land. |
Jay and Jim both rolled for a surprise attack on Bob. Here, Bob watches in quiet disbelief as his French pilot takes 17 hit factors on turn zero. Things went downhill from there. After several turns, Bob was forced down inside his own lines with a dud engine and a wounded pilot (who survived, credit went to Graham) |
Normally the Albatros D.III is a bit of a dog, even moreso at 17,000', but in early 1917 against under-armed French SPADs, they're great. Here, Chris inadvertantly tries to move Jim's Albatros counter instead of his own SPAD counter. Everyone wanted to fly the Albatros in this mission. Before it was over, Chris' magneto was hit and his throttle controls were shot off, while Marco's intake manifold was slightly damaged and his shot-up ailerons prevented him from making left hand turns. Chris and Marco both escaped into the undercast. |
In the end, it appeared that Jim Barber was the day's big winner with two kills and no pilots lost: Jim Barber - two victories (Bob and Chris), shot down once (pilot bailed out) Marco Fabiani - one victory (Graham), never shot down Graham Cox - two victories (Italian balloon and Bob), two pilots killed Jay Mischo - no victories, never shot down Bob Stiegel - one victory (Jim's Pfalz), shot down twice (one pilot killed) Chris Janiec - no victories, one pilot killed |
