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The first full length Dawn Patrol campaign in Indy Squadron history began last month when Game 1 of 16 was flown in the new "Ludendorff Offensive" series designed by Indy's Rick Lacy. Your reporter does not have a copy of the campaign rules, but this much is known: the 16-game contest will be flown over 8 game days of combat, each day consisting of an morning and an evening patrol. The group had hoped to fly two campaign missions per gaming day in order to wrap up the campaign in 2010, but that looks unlikely since we only got in one game on the first go-round.

The British are flying a combination of Bristols, RE 8s and other planes, while the Germans are in Fokker DrI's and a mixed bag of other fighters and two-seaters. In Game 1, the British took to the offensive in the morning patrol. Wayne, Kevin, Garrett and Mike all crashed their two-seaters with only one English crew (Stephen's) surviving. The Brits chose to attack the German airfield with bombs, but the idea backfired as one by one, the Allied planes flew into the ground (trees, buildings, and whatever else they could find) while taking out only two German planes on the ground. While the Brits hold an early 25-0 lead, they are now at a tremendous disadvantage having dusted four of their own planes in the first mission. Game 2 - the afternoon mission of the first day of the campaign - is scheduled to be run at the next Indy gaming day on February 12th.

The only other game played on December 12, 2009 was a brief, four-turn affair featuring 10 players. Wes, Wayne, Kevin, Michael and Angie flew British Camel 130's against the Albatros DVa's of Stephen, Ethan, Rick, Mike Sr. and Garrett. The mission produced no kills although Wes' Camel pilot and Garrett's Albatros jockey were both forced to flee for home. The game was called after four turns in order to leave sufficient time for the first game of the new campaign.

January 16, 2010 Gaming Report

Outnumbered French Fight Germans to a Draw

Americans Lose Balloon to Attack, Top Ace to Retirement

The first gaming day of 2010 started with a whimper when an unevent, April 1917 mission was rolled up. The random mission scenario called for a trio of French Nieuport 17's (Mike Sr., Michael, Angie) to tackle five Germans - one Albatros DIII (Kevin) escorting four Roland CII's (Stephen, Wes, Wayne, Garrett). This game had potential to be very interesting had time permitted its conclusion. Several young Dawn Patrol players were involved, and several additional interruptions slowed the game to a crawl. After three turns it became apparent that we needed to call it in order to have a second game at all. All parties survived and no notable events occurred, except that Ltn. Buzza Dudlegorf (Kevin, 12/2) joined the ranks of ace/experienced pilots by surviving the mission. Vz. Hasso Tinglestad (Stephen's German two-seat pilot) logged his 12th mission as well in a Roland CII. In the sparse and casualty-ridden world of two-seater crews, that's something of an accomplishment.

The day's second and final game was everything that the first one wasn't... exciting and action-packed almost from the initial turn. Three American SPADs (Kevin, Michael, Stephen) tried to defend their balloon from attack by four Germans (the Pfalz DXII's of Sierra and Mike Sr., Wesley's high compression Albatros DVa and Wayne high compression Fokker D7 160). The lengthy, 13-turn dogfight began with the Germans flying straight through the American cover flight - or at least, as straight as possible, since the SPADs were firing at anything that moved. Kevin (Lt. Michael Jamison, 9/4) was cursed with abominable shooting, but Stephen's American ace (Major Harold Clark, 22/26) managed to pepper Wayne's Fokker with a boatload of engine hits. Wayne had no choice but to turn around and abandon the balloon mission after only three turns. Stephen's ace dared not leave his flight to close the kill since the balloon was still in danger. The remainder of the German flight to slipped through to the balloon without sustaining any additional casualties or critical hits.

Wesley and Sierra made quick work of the balloon. Attacking in unison from close range and good positioning (without coaching!) they pummeled the gasbag with 12 rounds in their first and only pass, Wes scoring 4 hits in his Albatros and Sierra adding 8 more in her Pfalz DXII. The balloon flamed instantly with the credit going to Sierra's pilot.

With the balloon dropping in flames, the Allied flight attacked once again. Mike Sr. and Kevin got into their own private battle, with Kevin receiving a critical hit that smoked his engine. He also jammed a gun and couldn't shoot the ocean on a clear day (at one point missing 4 of 5 consecutive 100 foot shots!), rendering him entirely useless as an offensive weapon. Still, his tenacity kept Mike Sr's Pfalz DXII at bay.

To this point the Germans had flown extremely well and accomplished their mission. But Wayne's demise had take away their numerical advantage. They were also some 45 squares behind Allied lines. And at this point, the Germans made a critical mistake - they attempted to outrun the SPADs rather than turn to fight them. The German flight lost initiative and made a bolt for the the front lines, turning tail to the enemy and failing to box. Stephen's ace and Michael's SPAD pilot jumped on Wesley's high compression Albatros, which surprised everyone with its improved performance. Although he put up a great fight, nothing outruns a SPAD. Stephen and Michael tailed the Albatros for three turns before its wings fell off, with the credit going to Harold Clark (Stephen) as his 24th victory. Wesley's pilot, Edmund Reinhold (6/1), was killed in the crash.

While Michael split off to join Kevin's SPAD in his attack on the Pfalz DXII of Mike Sr., Stephen's SPAD pilot continued his assault on Sierra's Pfalz. He fired four times from the tail, chasing Sierra all the way to the front lines and wounding her pilot, before sawing off a wing. Sierra's wounded pilot failed the bailout attempt and died as Harold Clark's 25th victim. Kevin, still seeking a fifth kill for his 9/4 American SPAD pilot, couldn't have had much worse luck.

While Michael lost initiative and Kevin dealt with a smoking engine and gun jams, the lone remaining SPAD (Stephen) then dove onto the tail of the lone remaining German (Mike) and opened fire. A 9-hit burst from the tail, combined with the damage already inflicted by Kevin's single-gun, compelled Mike to try and save his pilot by force landing just inside German lines. It didn't work. His Pfalz DXII flipped over on landing in Crash #4, again killing the pilot.

This gave Major Harold Clark 3 kills and one enemy forced to escape. Wayne's Fokker would have been the fourth kill but the SPAD pilot was unable to leave his own flight to pursue the victory early in the game. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (his second) and the Citation Star (another second) in addition to two minor foreign medals available after retirement. Since Eddie Rickenbacker's 26 kills were tops for an American pilot in World War I, Major Clark is now forced to retire. More on Clark's career and retirement is found in a separate article in this issue.