All Up In The Air Again

Richard's turn this week, and we were back up in the air on the Western Front, during The Great War.

I missed the last game, and there was much chatter about the need for the British to avenge a much loved companion, who apparently flew into a mountain whilst trying to bomb a German airfield. Make of that what you will.

For tonight Jon and I as Germans were again defending the airfield from Ian and Richard.

They caught us on the ground, due to a failure of the front line troops to call through a warning. Jon got up first in a two seater, and I was just behind him in an Albatross.

Our tardiness meant they had an uninterrupted first pass over the airfield, and they scored a hit on the fuels dump (see the little white "puff" on the ground). However, we were on them now.

The aircraft whirled round one another, as the British tried to position themselves for a second pass.

There were a few near misses.

The Brits thought they'd broken away from us, but we'd hit at least one of their aircraft a few times.

Through careful flying, I lined him up in the distance, and opened the throttle....

....a long stream of bullets hit the fuselage, and he exploded into a ball of flame. Finally. A game in which my guns didn't jam, and I've shot someone down. Jon then gave him a shot too, so he could claim a share in the kill.

Then another British plane turned up, and we were chasing them again.

Of course, it couldn't go on. A lucky hit made my engine catch fire, and much to everyone's surprise I attempted a controlled landing ("I can't think when anyone last tried to do this" said Richard). It was a tad tricky, seeing as how we weren't supplied with the rules so to do, and I got the approach a bit wrong, not being low enough and going a little too fast. Still, I did manage to land (you can see a black dot which is a small model plane just at the far end of the airstrip). I was wounded in the attempt, but was soon up in the air again.

This time I lined Ian up for a head to head. The Albatross has got better armament to its front than the Pup, but of course one of my guns missed and the other jammed. I swear I was close to chucking everything on the floor and storming off in a tantrum. That's three times in three games at least I've had a jam, and always when in a position of advantage. The odds are really long on this happening, so I consider myself particularly blessed.

And, of course, Ian got a lucky hit in the exchange that also jammed my engine (you don't want to know what the odds are of this happening with one hit are) meaning I had to make a second successful controlled landing in the game. Which I did.

So I survived, and with a kill. 

Meet Heimlich Mann Uveer, proto German Flying Ace