Epower - It's as though the Huns are trying to go out of their way to tease. Indeed, chasing people alone, especially bombers, is usually fatal, but what can one do with one angry pilot. Dean may just have to learn the hard way. Indeed though, thouse machinegunners need to learn their target recognition. And as for the engines, well, I'm sure flying in terrible weather for days on end wears the engine down plenty. Besides, as the saying goes. If it can fail, it will fail. What a song, I'm sure Dean would be humming that the next time he flies over a Hun field with a bunch of bombs.
Great screenshots, and a good few missions. Well, with the exception for the losses of course, which are most saddening indeed! But what's this! Your man is an utter predicament and this is certainly not looking good... Blasted boches! Surely he can pull through... Just maybe...!
RAF - Well, at least the bombs didn't get accidentally released on the ground! Indeed, Hayden is being cautious enough, but for ideal success one would imagine you want a good balance of self preservation and glory seeking to make it as an airman, eh? And yup, certainly lucky enough in that regard. Would've been a sad end, dying to a friendly bullet while trying to land with a broken engine.
45 minutes is better than no minutes! Here's to a speedy recovery for Abbott
Tross - True, true. Of course such logical reasoning would still leave vengeful Cunningham frustrated, but it is indeed a valid point. Several angry gunners aren't anything to joke about.
Jacob getting to have a test run of the newest toys, eh? Must be quite an exciting opportunity for him. Now to last long enough for those to get rolled out everywhere...!
Carrick - Unfortunate losses, though at least not for nothing!
Fullofit - I reckon that Dean would very much approve of such a course of action at this rate, for such missed opportunities. The Huns really have been quite passive though, but it seems like this may just be about to change...
Congrats to Rudi on the confirmed claims and a very much good job with the new ones too. What a nasty collision, but hey, best their men than yours having accidents like that!
Raine - Indeed, better on own sides than over Hunland. In all honesty, HQ needs to be reminded of a whole lot of things when it comes to the 64th... Like those 3 missions a day, hah.
Congratulations on the 49 kills, but holy. What a dreadful situation to find oneself in, with a literally missing wing! Thank goodness MacAlister managed to get out of that alive.
2/LT Dean Andrews Cunningham №64 Squadron RAF Izles-Les-Hameux, Flanders April 26th, 1918.
Today marks another dreadful day for the 64th, and for me. Today, I must confess, I had taken a life in cold blood, and not just one but two. It wasn't out of a sense of duty. It wasn't out of a need to save a mate. It was done out of a desire for vengence and perverse satisfaction over making the Hun pay in blood.
Despite the terrible weather throughout the day our first mission was a morning patrol of the enemy lines. Both flights took off and headed over without issue, going back and forth above the Hun land, getting a respite from the constant rain in our faces as we climbed higher above and out of the clouds. During the patrol we managed to fly parallel to a Hun flight, though it seems like they opted to ignore us just as much our flight lead opted to ignore them. Despite my desire for a fight, I had no choice but to follow in formation and in another half an hour we turned to head back for home and landed without issue. It was only after we arrived home that I noticed we were short a man during our flight, as a Liuetenant had his engine malfunction shortly after takeoff and had to drop out of formation. Bringing back memory of my own misfortune with the engine, I could at least feel happy for him as he did not have his cut out above Hun lines.
The second sortie of the day however was when everything changed. Seeing the worsening weather with ever growing clouds and pouring rain we were prepared for flights to get scrubbed when suddenly we received a transmission from the lines. Enemy planes were spotted over the lines, and we were to mount an intercept immediately. Due to the emergency and urgency of this situation, it was only B flight consisting of 9 men that was prepared for a flight, and thus we headed out into the sky and climbed... Cutting through the rain, we flew higher and higher, eventually reaching our destination when we finally saw them. Off in the distance and coming towards us from Hunland was a flight of Albatrosses, a couple hundred feet above us. We turned for them and they turned for us, and soon enough the fight begun.
Wary of repeating the last time, I stuck off at a corner of the fight, waiting for one of the Huns to come down so that I could greet them instead of trying to climb towards them myself, and soon enough I seen one diving for another SE5. Picking him as my target I sharply turned and flew towards him, taking over as the SE5 took hits and fled while I closed in on the Alb. I took a moment to appreciate the paint. A pale white fuselage with a blood red nose, ominous black raven painted at the sides. Why is it that we can't indulge in such fancies and paint ourselves colours... Dismissing those petty thoughts, I was overtaken by determination and a desire to finally get payback after my trip for the hospital and dove on the Hun, firing once and then again. He desperately tried to get away, spinning and turning but I wasn't about to let him get away and cut my engine, turning with him and hanging on his tail as I shot burst after burst into him while we dove lower. Unfortunately for me, during this time I had the misfortunate of overshooting him ashe was uncontrollable while I fired, and he managed to get a lucky burst into me before we both fell into a cloud and I lost sight of him.
Cursing my fate, I climbed out of the cloud and suddenly saw another Albatrossed in the distance, wounded and alone, clearly heading for home. In that time I didn't even bother reflecting on my situation. I seen an opportunity, and thinking back to just how I was mercilessly hounded down into the ground flew after him. Even as we crossed into Hun lines, I knew I had both enough fuel and range to follow him in and put him down before I had to turn away, and carelessly ignoring the bursts of Archie below me I followed him, closing the distance right over the Hun field and firing into him. He broke, turning away and I twisted the yoke, pulling my SE5 into a turn with him, firing a burst straight into him and then climbing away as he circled lower and lower until he went out of sight in a patch of woods. Then I simply headed for home, using the low clouds to hide from a returning flight of Huns heading back for home, no doubt wanting to count their missing comrades...
The joke it seems was unfortunately on me. Returning home, I was told that I was the only one to come back from the fight so far. As minutes turned to hours, a car arrived from La Gorgue airfield, carrying one mildly terrified and brown-pantsed Lieutenant Quentin Shaw. As it turns out, while I was busy diving after my first Hun and then chasing another one over the lines, our flight was further jumped by another flight of Hun triplanes. B flight simply stood no chance against such odds, and by the time the smoke cleared the only one left was Shaw, who managed to take his wounded machine back to the nearest field of La Gorgue and crash there. Out of the 9 men in B flight that took off, he and I were the only ones left standing. Several wrecks have already been reported and recovered, as the fighting was contained mostly over our lines, though the search still continues.
Quentin, himself reduced to a wreck, requested immediate leave and was granted it. Who can truly blame him? On the topic of wrecks, deciding to try my luck I had submitted a claim for the first Alb who I lost in the clouds, and to my surprise it was confirmed over by our boys at the front. They say they were trying to keep themselves dry from all this mud and rain when all of a sudden a red nosed Hun came tumbling out of the sky and slammed into the trench. While they did not see me deal any killing blows, the location and the timing seemed to match up, so I was granted my first official kill. As for the second Alb I chased down, I did not bother as there was no way anyone would be able to confirm it right over their field. Besides, after what had transpired to our flight today, the knowledge alone that I sent him off to hell was enough for me... Tommorow will not be a good day.
"Those who survive a long time on the battlefield start to think they're invincible. I bet you do, too, Buddy."
