homepage Forums Air Combat & Civil Aviation Wings: Over Flanders Fields The "DiD Campaign Revival" - Intro, Rules, Reports & Records Chart

Thank you, guys - we are getting there.

Extremely hard recon mission this time. Three newbie Aviatiks from FFA 33 departed Menen (or Menin) airfield in North Flanders´dawn, June 10th. Skies were cloudy, with rain menacing...



It was an apparently easy mission, when, after 12 minutes over No Man's Land taking the valuable photos of British positions, 2 DH2 scouts climbed ,slowly towards us, it was then when Aviatiks main drawback was painfully apparent. "What?", you may ask, well, simply put, it CAN´T defend itself from attackers coming from strict 6 or 5 o´clock, from under the tail, a single Lewis can make an Aviatik impossible to handle after some hits. The observer is in front of the pilot but can´t look over the wings, to sum up, I was a sitting duck, I was dead ....

Soon after, tracers were all around me, my engime got some hits, my petrol tank was praying for mercy, my pilot was shocked, my observer injured,...my screen full of blood spots,...


Pilot the plane or shoot? F6 or F10? For me it was, in a 5 seconds reaction,...shoot them down!! So I spent the majority of my Parabellum ammunition trying to stop those DH2s,...and eventually, miraculously,..the lead DH2, caught fire and spiralled, crazily towards mother Earth.

I managed to dive, desperately, towards the nearest airfield, whichever it was, and,....after some very scary , radical manouevers, landed the Aviatik beautifully, with my pilot bleeding almost to death,...but...ALIVE.

Once on ground, on my way to hospital, sharing the stifling space of the truck, in another stretcher with my observer, we realized that we may have downed that damned DH2 after all...



7 days in hospital and 2 more after recovery with observers NOT available in the squadron,...all in all, 10 days without flying,...SIGH...

We had our claim confirmed after all,...it was nice to know our effort wasn´t fruitless, it was a British ace!!!





And, after SO MUCH suffering,...a gauntlet,...Thanks,....I should say...




See you on the skies on the 20th of June,....(:( )

Ah, the first award - please report, everybody, when you received awards -
best take a screen capture of you pilot book, awards page.

Great report Arisfuser, and congratulations on your victory and award. It seem a lot of us are convalescing.

THANKS guys, but 10 days without flying,...I thing it was too costly....

yes but that makes these pilots soooo special

The thing is,...I have to wait 10 (ten!) REAL days without flying in this challenge. I am moving to a new house at the end of the mointh, them holidays at the sunny beaches of Spain. (Minorca), my pilot is not going to be scouting the skies very much this summer...

The lethality in WOFF is quite hard; that's why I said we should put the "guns accuracy"
to "less accurate" - I had hoped that the attackers would hit us less hard.
But it seems hardly to be possible NOT to get wounded, once there is a scrap.

I have started a new pilot, and the feller lived to tell the tale - but in hospital (until 13 June).

*****

PILOT NOTES
Bernhard Harms, Kasta 18, Pronville, Flanders
10. Juni 1916

On my first sortie with my new Staffel, Kasta 18, I had the honour to lead a flight of 2 Roland C.II and 2 Aviatik.
We climbed north 'till we hit the road Arras-Cambrai; then we followed it to Guémappe southeast of Arras.
Our recon area was between Guémappe and Croisilles, and we collected some good information and photos.
But then we came under attack - three Sopwith Strutter made any further reconnaissance impossible, and I fired a
green flare for "return to base".
Then I saw Holzmann's Aviatik in distress. A Sopwith peppered him from close on. I went to help, and I fired at the
Englishman and shot some pieces of fabric off his wings, which made him think of having tea time rather.
But Holzmann went down steeply and crashed - there was nothing I could do, and the helplessness felt very bad.
In the next moent though, I had no more time to think about it: another Strutter opened fire on us, and I pushed
stick forward and dived back over the lines. One round hit my shoulder, before my gunner could drive the Tommy off.
Now I have to remain quiet with a bandaged right arm for three days - which means: office work.
I hate the office stuff. I want to go back out and pay them back.

Better in the Wahlfisch than in the Aviatik !

My pilot is not due to get a Roland until September - but he will been long dead by then!

Well done ArisFuser on getting the first award in the campaign.

Great chart Olham. I've gotten my career underway, and look forward to seeing my name on you're snazzy billboard. That's assuming I am still alive at the next reporting date (Wednesday).

It looks like you have increased the points for victories ... nice try, but you will not tempt me into an early death with your promises of glory (grin).

Beautiful chart, Olham! It's a great summary of how everyone is doing!

Just wanted to say im enjoying all the reports and screenshots from this DID campaign.Im still a little busy at the moment with Rick,s "Albert Ball" challenge.Im still barely alive in that (ive spent most of my time in hospital) so good luck to one and all.P.S..... Olham and Jim Beautiful work guys

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Wow! Nice chart Olham and Jim, very nice indeed.

Excellent reports fellow DID flyers. Many thanks for sharing.

BTW Olham, would you like me to put together a campaign ribbon and/or a medal for this ongoing event? Let me know.

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Thanks again Olham and Jim. Great Chart. This is a load of fun. Great work folks!

Using my trusty German dictionary it seems 'Ehrenbecher' means 'Ehren' honour + 'becher' cup, beaker, goblet.

So it is an Honour Cup. Well done ArisFuser

Thank you for compliments and your great offer, Lou - but you may know the saying:
"He who offers a little help, will get engrossed in the works!"
(was it from the "Old Testimony", "Lord of the Rings" or "A Thousand Tips For Restant Bachelors (1st Edition, Grumsby & Mouldsworth, Boston 1894)

Well, since you offered it - could you perhaps make 3 medals?
One for - say - 25 hours; one for 50 hours, and one for 75 and more?

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I'll work on them this weekend Olham.

Artemus Burroughs just finished up his two assigned missions for today and now I have to go on my assigned mission, down to Iowa. Be back late tonight.

Fly smart everyone!

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Good luck for your trip to Iowa, Lou - don't fly too low!

Austustus Mueller mission today was bombing of enemy air field at Avesnes-le-Comte. Bombs hit enemy targets, but his was the only aircraft to make it back.

No flying due to the lack of pilots until 14 June!?