The Twenty Minuters, part 4
NOTE: to see what happened last time in this Wings of Glory battle report, go to here.
TURN 7
Berty searches quickly around for any sign of Captain Flashheart, but to no avail. He then focuses on the White Albatross ahead of him attempting to Tail his opponent by anticipating the Bosch's moves.
Phase 1
Berty closes the distance on the two interloper German Albatross aircraft whilst the Brown Albatross, having completed his reconnaissance run, turns back towards the German lines and safety. The White Albatross, seeing his comrades' manoeuvre, also begins to turn for home.
Berty continues to Tail the White Albatross. In an attempt to close in on that aircraft, he misses the fact that the Brown Albatross is closing in on him. The White Albatross ducks under the Brown Albatross and Berty finds himself face to face with the oncoming Brown Albatross.
Berty kicks himself for this Rookie mistake and hammers the trigger of his guns just as the sound of the ratta-tat-tat from the German aircraft cracks across the intervening distance. At Close Range both aircraft pummel each other with machine gun fire. Berty's aircraft suffers another two points of damage and smoke begins to issue forth from his engine. The Brown Albatross meanwhile receives four points of damage.
The Brown Albatross now has eight points of damage and an injured pilot. Berty however looks around at all the holes in his aircraft and smoke and oil issuing from the engine. At the eleven points of damage, his Sopwith Camel is not in good shape.
With a smoking engine, Berty can no longer Tail the White Albatross and may need to pull out of this fight and let the Germans escape. "Where are you Flashheart?" he says under his breath as he wonders what to do next.
Phase 3
Berty and the Brown Albatross now pass each other as Berty continues to follow the White Albatross.
As Berty now finds himself to the rear of the Brown Albatross, the unwelcome sound of another ratta-tat-tat is heard from that aircrafts' rear gunner. Berty meanwhile also fires on the White Albatross ahead of him.
Again, the shooting is at close range from both aircraft. Berty receives another two points of damage and his rudder jams so that he can't make either left or right rudder manoeuvres. His beleaguered aircraft has now suffered a total of thirteen points of damage.
The White Albatross however suffers another three points of damage, taking it to a total of nine points of damage overall.
TURN 8
Berty's aircraft is shot up badly and his rudder is now completely jammed. Meanwhile his engine is smoking. As such, he is limited to only moving straight ahead this turn. On the positive side, Berty is facing his own lines and so can make it back to his airfield safely enough if he disengages now. The Germans likewise and facing their own lines but will need to cross No-man's Land to get back to safety with the reconnaissance photos on the Brown Albatross intact.
Phase 1
Images of Lord Flashheart fill Berty's mind, and he begins to fear that his mentor and hero may have been shot down as he is nowhere to be seen. He is also keenly aware of the British PBI's (i.e. Poor Bloody Infantry) below him watching this sceptical unfold and no doubt cheering him on. Anger stirs in the Englishman and decides to attempt an Immelmann Manoeuvre. If he survives, he'll be back on the Bosch tail and will try to make Lord Flashheart proud of him by taking down one of their aircraft.
The Germans meanwhile aim straight for home, eager to get their intelligence to their own command.
As no aircraft are either in range, or firing arc, no shooting occurs this phase.
Phase 2
Berty survives the Immelmann Manoeuvre as his quarry flee for home.
But again, none of the aircraft are in range and so no shooting occurs this phase.
Phase 3
The chase is on once again.
On the Brown Albatross, the gunner yells out to his pilot, "Fritz, zere zeems to be a small cloud chasing uz." Fritz looks over his shoulder and sees the speck of the Sopwith Camel coming after them and growing steadily closer, a trail of smoke issuing from its beleaguered engine.
Can Berty, in a crippled Sopwith Camel, chase down the Germans and exact revenge for the loss of Lord Flashheart's aircraft? Will the Brown Albatross make it across the German lines and thus escape with vital intelligence of the Entente lines?
Stay tuned!
