Dayton Seminar report

[Alan Christensen]

During the League of WW I Aviation Historians Seminar at Dayton Ohio we managed to fit in seven games of FitS. Here’s a report on them. Since I wasn’t planning on this my only source is my mission logs so it may be a bit short on other pilots doings.

Sept 24 1 game. (June 1918) Dave Barnes and Al Christensen in French SPAD XIIIs vs Carl Priest in a DFW and Mike Carr in a Roland D VIa, We surprised the filthy bosche and I managed to put 16 hits into Mike’s plane in three shots. Unfortunately he and Carl both rolled low initiative on turn three and escaped. My pilot was Lt Bernard de Bazelaire 17/6. After the mission I discovered that both Carl’s crewmen were also experienced.

Sept 25 1st game. (July 1918) Dan Polglaze and Mike Carr in American SPAD XIIIs on a balloon attack mission vs Carl
Priest in an Albatros D Va and Al Christensen in a Pfalz D IIIa. The Americans started lower, so went in on the balloon immediately. They could only dive to 1200′ so they took a 400′ top attack on the balloon and both missed with the defences doing inconsequential damage (they almost shot down Mike, but then we realized there was only one onion, not two, and a random die determined that the onion that gave him a fuel line hit was the one that didn’t exist). On turn two the Germans came down but couldn’t get close enough to shoot. The Americans pursued the balloon down to 650′. Mike missed, but Dan hit it for one hit factor and deflated it. Turns three and four saw ineffectual dogfighting and the battle split up on turn 5.

Sept 25 2nd game. (Dec 1916) Dan Polglaze in a SPAD VII and Mike Carr in a Nieuport 17 were surprised by Carl Priest in an Albatros D II and Al Christensen in a Albatros C VII on his way home after an Art Obs mission. My pilot was Vzf Jacob Caspers 21/3 and my observer was Ufz Franz Richter 15/1. The two modifiers gave us a surprise attack. However the most significant result of the surprise attack was that my pilot jammed his gun and was unable to fix it. We skirmished for four turns. I was able to score 10 HF on Mike, but missed Dan twice. Then suddenly Carl’s plane began to smoke and he dove for the clouds 3000 feet down, but his engine quit before he got there due to the oil leak Dan gave him. Carl crashed and died. Seeing the writing on the wall I dove into the clouds and escaped.

Sept 26 1st game (June 1918) Mike Carr in a Brisfit and Mike Vice in a Camel vs Carl Priest in a Fokker D VII 200 and Al Christensen in a Pfalz Dr I. On turn one Carl and I sandwiched Mike V. I jammed a gun and missed, but Carl gave him a critical wound. Mike C dealt me two hits. Then on turn two Mike C. escaped.

Sept 26 2nd game (Oct 1917) Stephen Skinner, Carl Priest, and Mike Vice in Camel 150’s vs Greg in an Alb D III and Mike Carr and Al Christensen in Alb D V’s. On turn one the Brits went first and the Germans dropped on them for 100′ shots. My pilot, Ufz Ulrich Leo, 31/6, hit Stephen and rolled a 6 for damage but only got 7 hits instead of 9 because his left gun jammed. I successfully tailed Stephen on turn 2 and since he stopped to take a tail shot on Greg I was able to get a 100′ tail shot, and hit for maximum damage, which was only 7 because of the jammed gun. After putting in 14 hits from the tail (It should have been 19!!) and getting no pilot chances I knew he was in a bad way so I tailed him again. I was successful but my 100′ tail shot turned into a 450′ tail shot which I missed and jammed my other gun. On turn four all three Albatri moved last and escaped.

Sept 26 3rd game (March 1918 Italian Front) Stephen Skinner, Mike Carr, and Mike Vice in Oeffag D III 153 vs Carl Priest, Greg, and Al Christensen in French SPAD VII 180’s. The Austrians were surprised and due to good initiative I was able to stay on my target for turns 1 and 2, giving Mike V a total of 8 hits in three shots. However at this point Stephen dropped on my tail and gave me a no right turns critical hit. I immediately went to the standard SPAD evasive tactic – straight and climb. In this case I climbed because we were at 4450′ and I believed (correctly) that the Oeffag could accelerate to 110 mph with me on the first turn of flight. I hoped that when I climbed above 5000 his speed would drop to 100 while mine stayed at 120, but it didn’t (and I took a second critical which cut my dive by 100′ so I had to keep climbing. Fortunately Stephen missed his shots at 400 and 500 feet because by that time I had ten hits in my left wing and seven in my right. I was able to land safely at home after escaping, as were both my wingmen after several turns of ineffectual sparring.

Sept 27 1 game (May 1918) Stephen, Stephen-Dale, and Ethan Skinner in Camel 150’s vs Mike Carr, Mike Vice, and Al Christensen in Albatros D III. I don’t think either Mike will believe me about getting us a good plane next time! Then they surprised us. On turn one Ethan went first. Mike V was tailed by Stephen-Dale. Fortunately I was able to get a 150 top shot, climbing the extra 50 feet to prevent Stephen from staying on my tail so Stephen also dropped onto Mike V. Seeing that Mike V’s tail looked wobbly Mike C. charged in for a 200′ head-on on Stephen-Dale, which shot his fuel line out, with an assist to me. However that was the last good news for the Germans. For the next three turns Stephen and Ethan took turns shooting at me. By turn four I had 30 hits. Fortunately only one in the engine, but I managed to get a 5% engine crit #3. The worst part was I also got tail crit 3/3, elevator jammed up, which meant I couldn’t do any falling leafs so I died (Vzf Ludwig Eckert 3/0). Both my wingmen managed to escape and Mike C made a 40% roll for credit for Stephen Dale.

[Chuckmedic]

Thanks Al! Did you enjoy the seminar and airshow? I’m sorry if I missed a write up on these events that you’ve posted elsewhere.

[Alan Christensen]

The seminar was good. There was some good stuff in the airshow displays, but not as many planes as I expected. The ones that were there were pretty decent though.

[KelScaneulaNL]

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