(This is a report from a game held at The Soldiery's new Kettering store. C.J. says it was part of a Red Baron campaign they're running there. -- Editor)

Time: September 1918.
Place: Sector 5, near Centreville, France

Dramatis Personae
Plane	Pilot	Player
Spad XIII	Eddie Rickenbacher	John Martin
Nieuport 28	Gilles le Breton	Mark Lauber
SE-5a	Harry Leeds	Andrew York
Bristol F2B	Giles Naughton	CJ Suchyta, Riley Chipton
Sopwith Camel	Clark Bar	Bob Campbell
Fokker D-VII	Franz Holeinman	Darryl Smith
Fokker E-VIII	Johan von Falkenburg	Matt Davidson
Fokker Dr. I	Robertus von Mills	Bob Mills
Fokker Dr. I	Patrick Malone	Evan Maloney
Fokker D-VII	Karl von Ludhelm	Darryl Smith, Karl Soderholt

Autumn. Time for an air battle. A BIG air battle.

The Allies were out to sweep the Germans from the skies. They sent a multinational patrol deep into German territory. The main flight consisted of: Eddie Rickenbacher in the lead, flying a Spad XIII; Gilles le Breton on the right, flying a Nieuport 28; and Harry Leeds on the left flying an SE-5a.

The Germans sent a four plane flight to intercept them. Franz Holeinman lead the flight in a Fokker D-VII, with Johan von Falkenburg in a Fokker E-VIII and Robertus von Mills in a Fokker Dr-I as wingmen. Patrick Malone, part of a covert training operation for the Irish Republican Air Force, was bringing up the rear ir another Fokker Dr-I. (He didn't like the Germans or their regulations. He just wanted to kill some English.)

The Allied flight was flying east as the Germans approached from the north, several hundred feet above the Allied planes. As the pilots from each flight spotted the opposing planes, they turned toward each other to engage. Johan, the first to spot the Allies, tried a diving pass on the SE-5a and the Spad but missed as they flew under him.

While this was unfolding, Franz formed a simple plan in his mind. As the Allied planes turned to engage the other planes in his flight, he would fly past them and half loop in behind. He rolled the plane on its back, pushed it through the loop without losing control, and found himself right where he wanted to be with one exception. The Nieuport 28 had not turned toward the other planes, but was tracking him. He looked to his left and saw the angry flashes of twin Vickers machine guns blazing at him from only 400 feet away! The bullets shredded the dumbfounded Franz and his plane, killing him instantly.

As colorful pieces of a Fokker D-VII gently floated to earth. the other planes began to engage each other. Robertus dove in on the SE-5a and traded long range, head-on shots with it. Little damage was caused to either side. As both planes continued forward, Robertus decided to execute a full loop. (His report failed to give an adequate justification for such a fanciful maneuver).

While he was at the top of his loop, hanging upside down, he had a perfect tail shot on the SE-5a and took it ("See, I meant to do that"). The shot was not perfect, but it was effective. The Lewis gun was sheared clean off its mounts. Robertus completed his loop and found himself the target of Spad. Several bullets lodged in the engine, causing it sputter, but more importantly, a bullet deeply grazed his left forearm. Ouch!

Meanwhile, reinforcements for both sides arrived. Giles Naughton (pilot) and Riley Chipton (observer) arrived in a Bristol F213 followed at a ccnsiderable distance by Clark Bar flying a Sopwith Camel. Karlvon Ludhelm joined the battle in his Fokker D-VII. He had heard that Franz had copied his paint scheme and wanted to see for himself ("Strange. I don't see him anywhere").

While Gilles was savoring his kill, the Fokker E-VIII was slipping in behind him, Johan tried a long range shot but only succeeded in jamming one of his guns. Gilles soon found himself at the head of a long parade. Johan trailed Gilles at quite a distance, followed closely by Eddie, followed closely by Patrick. Johan held his fire convinced that he could never hit anything at 400 yards. Eddie fired at Johan but the shots went wide. Patrick shot at the Spad, hitting the engine and causing it sputter. Eddie's left forearm was struck, too, wounding him.

Now Karl joined the hunt for the Hun killer and Gilles found he had 3 German planes (Karl, Johan and Patrick) on his tail (albeit at over 300 yards away). Some tried shooting but were too far away to have any affect. With the Germans focused on Gilles, Eddie tried to slip behind the Germans.

While Gilles was franticly dodging most of the German Jasta, Robertus decided that engaging the rest of the Allied planes was a life-shortening career move. He decided to dive to safety, but passed a bit too close to the Bristol on the way down. Riley let loose with the twin Lewis guns. The Dr-I took little damage but two bullets lodged in Robertus' right leg. Robertus fought the pain and blood loss to remain conscious.

The escaping Dr-I caught the attention of Clark and so both planes circled earthward as the Camel followed the Dr-I down. Clark continued to hound the Dr- I for well over a minute and was even able to get off a few shots at it but he was unable to bring it down before he jammed both his guns. He had no choice but to let Robertus escape.

Meanwhile, Gilles had somehow managed to elude the 3 planes chasing him and turned to face his pursuers. Shots were exchanged but no real damage occurred. Eddie managed to get off a couple shots at the Germans, which served to divert their attention from Gilles, but caused little other damage. Harry was completing his wide left turn to rejoin the battle and even the Bristol was climbing to join the fray.

The Bristol arrived just as other planes were leaving. Both the Spad and the Nieuport were diving away from the Germans and the D-VII was chasing the Nieuport, but was a long way behind it. The Bristol began to close with Patrick's Dr-l. Patrick tried a long range, head-on shot but caused no real damage. Giles held his fire until he was closer to the Dr-I and was able to cause much more damage, which included wounding Patrick.

As Giles was firing on the Dr-1, Johan was firing on the Bristol but his single machine gun (the other was still jammed) could not hit the big target. As the E- Vill passed by the Bristol, Riley fired his guns at the E-Vill and managed to wound Johan. The drums were empty so Riley had to reload. Patrick decided to take his crippled plane back to base but Giles would not let him get away that easily. Giles chased the Dr-I all the way to the ground, peppering the plane with bullets as he went but never causing enough damage to finish off the Dr-I. Eventually, the front gun ran out of bullets. Giles turned the Bristol so Riley could have one last shot but it failed to bring down the Dr-I and Patrick escaped, cursing the British as he left.

The remaining planes spent several minutes circling each other and taking low percentage shots until they were almost out of ammo. No significant damage was inflicted. The pilots then shrugged their collective shoulders and flew home. The Allied pilots celebrated their good luck when they got back and Giles was buying.

Result: One German plane shot down.