Rescue the Two Old Duffers - Part 2

 This is a follow on to my previous post and probably gets even more confusing as it progresses, take heart and be of good cheer, charge into the breach and damn the torpedo's.

Just a quick re-cap, Vaggers and Sally are in the Newsagents not far from the centre of action, close to the crossroad Cross in Greater Snoring, Spankers disguised as a nun and Nicole a French lady from France disguised as a Girl Guide have been accosted on the street by Silvano Bertone and his patrol of Italian soldiers. He has decided they are – how shall we say – persons of interest and he’s going to take them to Head Quarters for further questioning. Before he does that, and in my opinion a very sensible decision, he decides he should have them searched, one never knows what is to be found in the undergarments of a Nun. Before anyone asks – no - I’ve no idea, although it is an intriguing question, however in this particular Nuns undergarments is a pistol that is going to be difficult to draw quickly and if found will be difficult to explain, especially without resorting to schoolboy humour.

 

I’m using the townsfolk to provide encounters that will hopefully impart information to the Rescuers to enable them to carry out a rescue but why wouldn’t they act independently of my game plan? A few dice later and Colonel Mustard, Professor Plumjobveski  and Mrs Peacock are creating a fuss and demanding that Silvano will leave these two innocent women alone.

 

As has been pointed out Spankers is a Catholic Nun and Silvano must be a good Catholic so unless he desires a metal rules across the knuckles he will back down. The dice on this occasion agreed with the general gist of this nonsense and he ordered his men to return to their posts.

Also here’s the town plan, allowing anyone mad enough to read this to follow the rambling action. Just to add a little confusion Auntie Betty became Aunty Edna and some times Auntie Edna after I’d drawn the map. Auntie Edna’s is the base the Rescuers are using.

With the ice broken the townsfolk are more amenable to Spankers questions and gradually they impart various bits of information. Prof Plumjobveski tells them about a German fuel dump by the barn on West Way but the most important titbit comes from Gladys Peacock who mentions that the Gestapo are holding two men prisoner in the Antiques Shop just next door to Fords the Grocers and they are stood outside Fords the Grocers. She has no idea how many guards there are but it’s not a big shop so maybe 4 or 6 men, maybe more, maybe less. The Reverend Green doesn’t say much, but then again he’s a Protestant Minister and doesn’t approve of Catholic Nuns, although he does approve of the Girl Guide Movement but we won’t go into that. However he’s not going to inform on Spankers just because of a centuries old argument between the two Churches.

Drawn by the noise of the confrontation between the townsfolk and the Italian Guards another patrol of Italians move up West Way to see what the fuss is all about. They are guarding the fuel dump on the left of the picture and we already know that there are German Army Regulars in the White Swan on the right of the picture.

 

The patrol is led by Primo Agosti, he is in overall command of the Italian contingent and no fool.

He marches straight up to the group and demands an explanation from Nun Spankers. He’s also a good Catholic boy and ignores the Reverend Green and the rest of the party although his senior NCO Luca Cotichini takes an appraising look at Nicole in disguise as a Girl Guide.

 

Ms Spankhurst playing the role of a demure Nun to perfection explains the situation, apologises for the gathering and agrees that they will disperse immediately. He’s not entirely satisfied but accepts that his commands are being complied with and lets them go with a caution.

Vaggers and Sally emerge from the stygian gloom of Cartwrights newsagents where Vaggers has completed the purchase of his favourite tobacco Rough Shag and they’ve had a very interesting conversation with Cartwright who informed them that there is a section of Afrika Korps troopers billeted in the Apple Tree Florist.

Realising Spankers doesn’t need their help to deal with the Italian’s the duo walk briskly down West Way noting the fuel barrels as they go. Sally is aware that Primo is following them so they refrain from questioning Cartrights daughter and carry on hoping that they won’t be stopped.

Primo having done his duty by dispersing the crowd takes up his position guarding the fuel and the townsfolk go about their business.

This leaves Sally and Vaggers to continue with their circuit of the town trying to put together a clear picture of the location of the enemy troops and anything else that will help in the rescue attempt.

Seeing a young woman, Miss Scarlet, standing outside the Swan, Spankers decides Nicole will get more information girl to girl so they split up at this point. A good decision because Miss Scarlet tells Nicole all about a beautiful, Arian woman, Rachael Weiss who has taken up residency in the house next to Auntie Edna.

 

Rachael Weiss was one of the Gestapo who captured Snappers and Dougers in the first place and set this whole sorry storyline in progress and so has a lot to answer for.

 

There’s a bit more going on here than meets the eye because Scarlet works for Section Q, one of the sections associated with Room 40, but the dice decide that she won’t reveal this piece of information, nor the fact that Scarlet has a room in a townhouse so she can keep a check on all of the German troop movements in and out of Greater Snoring. She also knows the whereabouts of Snappers and Dougers but doesn’t reveal this either, she’s playing a very deep game here.

Spankers is surreptitiously examining the Antiques shop and sees that there is no door at the front, just a big glass window, but there are steps leading from an alleyway between the shop and the next building, the Apple Tree Florist so there must be a door there.

Turning away from the target building she approaches a scruffy ex seaman but before she can ask him anything 2 German soldiers emerge from the side entrance of the Swan. These are our old friends from last night Eckard Unger and Michaela Stoltz. Ekard is marginally suspicious of a Nun and Seaman in conversation by the gate but as we’ve already established, he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer and doesn’t challenge them but Spankers cuts short her conversation without learning anything new.

Sally and Vaggers have almost completed their circuit of the town and turning the corner into South Street they run into Liam O’Rorke. Liam is the Reporter for the Snoring and District Gazette, and not recognising them as locals he’s immediately suspicious and doesn’t believe Vaggers cover story of a pigeon fancier trying to find a lost pigeon.

 

Liam is pretty bright for a resident of Greater Snoring and not a very nice man. Fortunately he didn’t inform the Germans of his suspicions but decided he needed to keep an eye on the pair of reprobates and make whatever capital he could from the encounter.

Leaving Liam behind Sally gives Vaggers a piece of her mind, she’s plenty to spare as she is the brains of the partnership and he’d better let her concoct the next lie or they’d be in serious trouble. As they reach the original guard post they greet Paolo and Guiseppe like old friends. Vaggers offers Guiseppe a pipeful of Old Shag and they leave him coughing and spluttering trying to get the moist tobacco to burn as they continue along the road to Auntie Edna’s.

Nicole and Spankers have joined forces again and decide they must take a closer look at the building that they hope holds Snappers and Dougers prisoner. They establish that there is a side door to get into the shop and as they pass by Spankers tries the handle but it’s locked.

 

No one hears or sees her do this which was a bit of a relief.

They have a good look at the back of the shop and the adjoining ones before making their way back to Auntie Edna’s with the information they’ve gathered.

 

OK so that completes Part 2 of the game, the Rescuers have sussed out the town and gathered all available information. There is some information they’ve not gathered and as this is a solo game I know what it is but not where it is. Now I need a rescue plan and my original idea was that I would play the game out to this point and then post it and ask for views on the best way of rescuing Snappers and Dougers and then enact that.

 

Time got the better of me and I had to devise my own plan and carry on without you but I would be more than interested to see if there was a better way to try and rescue the old duffers than the one I came up with.

To help with that here’s an overview of Greater Snoring.

And the map orientated in the same direction.

 

I know that Snappers and Dougers are in building 4,  the Antiques Shop, there are some Gestapo guarding them but I’ve no idea how many. Next door in building 5 is a section of Afrika Korps troopers, in building 7 is another section of AK troopers. The White Swan building 15/16 has the German Army and I know there are at least 3 of them.

Rachael Weiss is in building 20, the Photographers which is next door to Auntie Edna/Betty.

 

There are 3 piquet guards of Italians, 2 on South Street, 3 on North Gate and 3 by the Fuel Dump on West Way.

 

Each of my enemy units are between 4 and 5 strong and I’m going to roll a dice to see how many are actually there once they come into play, I will use an average die so there will be a minimum of 2 and maximum of whatever the maximum is.

 

There are a few elements I didn’t find, The head of the Gestapo, Herman Wenke, an Army Officer with a briefcase with the invasion plans in it, and finally an Arms Cache so basically a remarkably good haul.

 

I have 8 Rescuers:-

Johnny ‘Vaggers’ Vagabond, disguised as William Morgan - Sawn-off double barrelled shotgun.

Bunty Hampster-Crust disguised as Hazel Arnesen – Automatic Pistol

Ms Spankhurst ‘Spankers’ – Luger and Fighting Knife in her right boot.

Nicole Boursier - .38 Revolver

Isabelle Deforet – Smg

Mad Bad Patsie Jones – Big Ass Automatic Pistol

Barbera Vasseur – Pump Action Shotgun (Not sure when they were manufactured)

Sally Brown – Automatic Pistol

In addition I have 2 grenades.

 

I decided on a night time attack with all the Rescuers starting from Auntie Edna’s house. I estimated distances and the time it would take for my various attacking elements to get to their jump off points and started everything from the 1^st element moving out on turn 1 then the next element going on turn 1+X etc.

 

The enemy has about 30 men maximum but it will be less than that, on the day it was about 24 so I’ll be outnumbered 3 to 1 and they are better armed.

The Italians should have night guards in place at their 3 locations. However there was a chance they would be asleep or even not at their post, I only checked this when one of my figures came into line of sight of where they should be seen.

There were a couple of roving encounters that might trigger noise and also at critical points I checked to see if the Rescuers made a noise eg climbing a wall that sort of thing and if so did the enemy hear it and react.

Once shooting started then every individual enemy had to react, get dressed, armed and get onto the street, this would take a variable time for each man and was an accumulation of points so that I didn’t know in advance when they would emerge.

 

It would be really interesting to get your ideas for a rescue plan as it was for your ideas on how Spankers might get out of the predicament of being searched, although from what the Mad Lord has told me about Ms Spankhurst there would have been blood on the carpet and it would have been Italian blood.

 

In the end I drew up 5 plans and rolled a dice to see which one to adopt, but please let me know how you would have planned the attack.

Sorry about the last bit being a bit more garbled than usual but wine and nibbles time is fast approaching.

Cheers

Rescue the Two Old Duffers - Part 1

 

To the Rescue – Part 1 

Snappers and Dougers Need Rescuing, check the link to see why.  http://vagabondswargamingblog.blogspot.com/2022/03/hello-hello-this-is-nighthawk-calling.html

Johnny Vagabond first world war scout pilot and more latterly an active member of S.I.S. and the Royal Amateur Society for Collecting Arachnids and Lepidoptera Specimens, was thinking about the world in general and cameras in particular when a strange pigeon landed on the loft roof. The pigeon looked around slowly as if getting its bearings and flew down to where Vagabond was feeding the rest of his flock and started to peck at the grain. 

By eck it’s Binky, I’d recognise them markings anywhere and he reached down and picked up his pigeon, the one he’d not seen for almost a year now and undid the message capsule from its left leg.

Reading the note put all thoughts of cameras and pigeons out of his mind shutting his prize pigeons in their loft, he mounted Black Beauty, and pedalled furiously for home with a determined look on his grim visage.

The world was a poorer place for the untimely arrival of Binky because Vagabond or Vaggers as we will call him for the duration of this current tale was musing on the possibility of mounting a camera onto a pigeon as a form of unmanned, airborne reconnaissance vehicle or Drone as they would eventually be called.

The problem, apart from flight control was the weight of the camera and he’d wondered if a bigger bird would be the answer, but then something like a Swan would be easier for the enemy to shoot down, as well as supplementing their rations so maybe not.

This is of course all academic because of the message and it was left to a Dr Julius Neubronner to patent a miniature pigeon camera activated by a timing mechanism and Neubronner’s Pigeon Picture Cards would make him famous and the toast of Europe, a success that could easily have been Vaggers, such is life.

The long hill on the way home slowed his progress a little but allowed him time to compose himself for the inevitable clash that was to come. I’ve mentioned that he’d flown Scouts in the Great War and as a member of the S.I.S. faced his share of danger in the past but the forthcoming meeting with Bunty Hampster-Crust the love of his life, filled him with dread. If you are familiar with the Snapcase Chronicles then you will be aware of Vaggers ride into the face of the Basmachi Hordes to rescue Bunty, a story of bravery and daring that in the area known as the Back of Beyond is still referred to by the local tribesmen as ‘The Demon Ride’.

The Demon was actually a Royal Enfield Model D 488cc Motorcycle that he still kept in the shed at the bottom of his garden but that is beside the point.

The message he’d received was from Spankhurst, an enigmatic character that Vaggers had met during his work for the Royal Amateur Society for Collecting Arachnids and Lepidoptera Specimens, a bit of a mouthful and usually shortened to R.A.S.C.A.L.S. this was a pseudonym for one of the Field Departments of the Admiralty Unit for Naval Tactical Intelligence, who were sometimes also referred to as AUNTY, wags at the Admiralty often called them Aunty’s Rascals, they don’t get out much at the Admiralty and sense of humour isn’t a pre-requisite to work there.

Spankhurst or Spankers was an associate of the Mad Lord Snapcase or Snappers and Vaggers thought she was still in Germany but the message proved otherwise. The message reads :-

Snappers and Dougers taken prisoner by Gestapo. Meet me at Aunty Edna’s, Greater Snoring, 21:00 Tuesday night. Spankers.

The message left a lot of questions unanswered but he’s have to get his skates on to make it in time, especially as he knew there were elements of the German Army between himself and Greater Snoring. The question uppermost in his mind though was how he would explain to Bunty that this was man’s work and she couldn’t come because it was too dangerous.

An hour later the sidecar was packed and Bunty had bagged the drivers position, Vaggers thought ruefully that he would get some protection from the elements riding pillion but map reading would be a bit of a bugger.

I’m sorry if this is a little confusing if you've not read the post linked above but the short version is that the Germans have invaded East Anglia to create a 2^nd front after Dunkirk then 2 old duffers tried to stop them and were taken prisoner by the Gestapo. The old duffers are Snappers and Dougers but you probably worked that out and they are being held prisoner in Greater Snoring, somewhere in the Fens and we are going to mount a rescue attempt. We, being Spankers, Vaggers, and Bunty, there will be a few Girl Guides from the village of Much Piddling in the Marsh, the local school teacher and Resistance Fighter Molly Martin and I don’t think that Aunty Edna May White will be active in the rescue attempt but you never know.

Greater Snoring early Wednesday morning before any of the inhabitants are out on the street. The small town has been garrisoned by troops from various parts of the German war machine. The regular army have made no secret of the fact that they are billeted in the White Swan, the large white building in the centre of the town but the whereabouts of the rest are a mystery. We know that there are elements of the Gestapo and Afrika Korps but for some unknown reason there is also a detachment of Italians under the command of a pair of pompous officers. A couple of other figures that may appear to be important have also been seen, but their whereabouts is also unknown.

The town is awakened to the sound of deep throated engines as regular troops pass through.

But just as soon, silence returns as they leave by South Street and quiet descends on the town.

The evening before, on Tuesday night, Aunty Edna May White with dust pan and brush in hand inspects her front yard for any debris that dared to spoil the orderly configuration of her grounds. Although in reality she is looking out for the visitors she is expecting.

And the first to arrive are Sister Monica, Isabelle Deforest and Nicole Boursier. Isabelle is obviously not carrying her sub machine gun as openly as the picture would imply but it is in a bag slung over her shoulder. They have walked through the town and luckily didn’t encounter any of the occupying troops. Their guns would have been difficult to explain to the enquiring mind.

Sister Monica is none other that the enigmatic Spankhurst in disguise and although Nicole and Isabelle might appear to be Girl Guides (if you have a vivid imagination) they are actually French Freedom fighters and have some links to Snappers that I’ve yet to work out.

The next would be rescuers to make their way thorough the town towards Aunty Edna’s house in the north east quadrant are Patsie Jones and Barbera Vasseur. Patsie is an American and I’ve no idea what she’s doing in East Anglia, maybe she’s attached to one of the American airbases, if you can come up with a reasonable explanation please let me know. Rumour has it that she’s as mad as the hat she wears and her past actions tend to support this view.

Unfortunately as they reach the White Swan a small patrol of soldiers appear through the door from the Swan.

This leads to an encounter and I’d like to go through the details of the encounter because I’m making this up as I go along and would be interested in any thoughts that might improve the process. Note it’s a solo game and so anything to increase the tension for me is good.

Each character has a card that detail their attributes, these are all created with an average die roll so between 2 and 5 with a preponderance of 3’s and 4’s, high is good. Barbera takes the lead and she is going to try and charm Eckehard using her Charisma. He will try and see through this by using his Awareness. If he is successful he will roll against his Brains to indicate his likely course of action.

Barbera rolls 1D6 a 1 plus Charisma 3 = 4, not good.

Eckhard rolls 6 plus Awareness 3 = 9 He is immediately aware that there is something wrong and he challenges the pair of them. This could turn ugly, especially as both women have their guns concealed.

The next step is to see what he might do, I roll 2d6 and he needs to get equal or less than his Brains score. If he succeeds with both dice he will arrest them now, carry out a weapons search and take them into custody for questioning. If he passes 1 dice he will still take them in for further questioning but won’t carry out a search. If he fails both dice he will let them go, thinking they are just overawed by his good looks and charm. Not being the sharpest knife in the drawer with Brains 2 he rolled double 6 and so totally failed. They carry on to Aunty Edna's as Eckehard reflects on how his animal magnetism attracted these two young ladies, it was no wonder that they appeared a little nervous when he questioned them.

The next pair to make their way through the small town are Vaggers and Bunty. You will I hope, recall Vaggers past history and so will appreciate that he is travelling incognito i.e. under a false identity for those who don’t understand Latin. I may have overlooked the fact that Bunty also worked for the Spooks, usually as Vaggers handler a position he both enjoyed and deplored and she has taken on the persona of Hazel Arnesen, one that suits her statuesque physique, not to mention her Nordic features and blonde hair.

The final participant in the rescue attempt is also the Ring Leader, Molly Morris or as she is also undercover she will be known as Sally Brun.

With all 8 of the would be rescuers ensconced in Aunty Edna’s back room, each with a cup of her fragrant Darjeeling tea by their side they start to plan how they will endeavour to rescue Snappers and Dougers. This is going to be a difficult operation because Aunty Edna knows that the German regulars have based themselves in the White Swan, a fact that Patie and Barbara can confirm she does not know where any other troops might be, how many there are, what units they are from and worst of all she doesn’t know where Snappers and Dougers are either.

Sally Brun takes the lead and decides that first thing in the morning the rescuers will have to reconnoitre the town, talk to the inhabitants and try and get more information on which to base a rescue attempt.

Wednesday Morning

After the armoured vehicles had passed through Greater Snoring, the peace and quiet was broken once again by the sound of large numbers of diesel engines and the rescuers could see that the enemy had requisitioned all the civilian trucks and their owners had abandoned them throughout the town.

The citizens of Greater Snoring are early risers and many of them are already out on the streets, Aunty Edna’s house is at the far end of East Street (The rather desirable timber framed building beyond the green truck)

A better view of High Street and the chaos caused by inconsiderate parking. The Germans are going to have difficulties moving tanks and armoured vehicles through the town now, what were the citizens of Greater Snoring thinking of.

Reverend Green discusses with Gladys Peacock how they can increase the chaos.

As Miss Scarlet peers through the window of the White Swan we are left wondering if she is an Agent Provocateur, an innocent bystander or has some other reason for her interest that we can only guess at.

Maybe she’s interested in the back yard of the Swan rather than the blonde muscular soldiers who currently reside in the Inn, maybe we’ll never know.

Sally Brun (Molly Moris) has decided that the rescuers will go out in 2 teams of 2 and cover as much of the town as possible. It’s decided that Nicole will accompany Spankers (Sister Monica) and Vaggers (William Morris) will go with Molly. I’d rather go with Spankers but I’m not given a choice.

Molly and Vaggers lead off and decide Augustus Dingle looks to be a man of importance and so may be of some help to them.

Each citizen figure may be an encounter, I’m using half a deck of cards, Hearts = no encounter, 2 to 10 Spades are a citizen encounter and Ace, Jack, Queen and King of Spades is an enemy encounter. Cards obviously shuffled and 1 drawn for each figure once within  6” of a Rescuer.

Similar idea as the encounter with the German troops earlier. Sally uses her Charisma to try and put Dingle at ease and he uses his Brains to decide if she is trustworthy or not. If she wins I check his awareness to decide if he’s seen something that might help and is aware of its importance. Then a roll on a couple of tables to see what it is and where it is.

An immediate success, he’s flattered that this young lady is interested in his ferrets and is happy to impart the knowledge that there is a small section of Afrika Korps soldiers billeted in No 7 and that they are standing outside No7 right now.

The encounter on the opposite side of the road is a patrol of Italians, Giuseppe Strambini and Paolo Baldini, Giuseppe decides they should check out these two civilians and they start to move up the street.

At this point I checked to see what Sally and Vaggers would do, Sally is not as brave as she is charming and hesitated but fortunately didn’t move away or run. Vaggers is brave even if not too smart and so he stepped forward to greet the Italians. He’s also very charming and puts Giuseppe’s mind at rest when he tells him in halting Italian that they are going to the Newsagents to stock up on pipe tobacco, his favoured brand being Rough Shag but Giuseppe has never heard of it, he’s more of a Balkan Sabranie man himself. After an exchange of views on pipe cleaners the Italians walk back to their guard post at the end of South Street and Vaggers and Sally retrace their steps to the corner of High Street and go west to the Newsagents.

In the mean time Spankers has buttonholed a couple of likely looking characters outside the florist but they aren’t prepared to impart any knowledge to a Nun (Bad dice rolling) It was so bad that there was a possibility that they would inform the German Authorities but fortunately for the game they didn’t.

Sally and Vaggers have already passed along High Street and so Spankers follows on.

They have  no luck with Colonel Mustard or the Professor and are making their way to the Rev and Gladys Peacock when another encounter resolves itself.

Bugger it’s another Italian patrol and Bugger their suspicions are also aroused and they stop our intrepid heroines.

At this point Vaggers and Sally have entered the Newsagents.

There’s a long and fruitless exchange between Spankers and Silvano Bertone, however he makes it known that they must accompany him to Army Headquarters for further questioning but he makes the astute decision that the Nun and Girl Guide must be searched by his men.

This was astute because I’d explained the opening of the game to Mrs V and asked her if the Rescuers should wander round the town either armed or unarmed and in spite of the fact that she’s strongly against guns she said armed. So Spankers has a pistol strapped to her ankle and Nicole has one in her bag and whilst a search of Spankers might not reveal the ankle holster under all that black cloth the one in the bag would be easily found and unexplainable.

So I’m going to leave it there, this is the situation so far in the game, a puffed up and angry Silvano and his 2 men are facing Spankers and Nicole. They are at Snoring Cross, behind them is the White Swan and across the road on their left is the Newsagents Shop and you can see the Grocers No 3 on the map to help place the location.

If the women are searched they will be in big trouble, if they try and draw their concealed weapons they will be in big trouble, if they run away they will be in big trouble. Anyone have any idea how they can get out of this predicament bearing in mind that the total information amassed so far is the location of 2 guard posts and a section of Afrika Korps with no sight or sound of Snappers and Dougers.

I knew they shouldn’t have been carrying J

Thoughts greatly appreciated both on the current situation and how I'm trying to create a game with a high level of uncertainty but hopefully some amount of information so that a rescue attempt can go ahead. It will be a bit of a bugger if I don't find out where Snappers and Dougers are being kept.

Bandits

 “Skipper bandits at one o'clock, I repeat bandits at one o'clock, same height as us, I repeat same height as us” Crikey that woke me out of my reverie, “Skipper acknowledge please” Good grief why do I always get the pedantic ones.

“Ehh alright I’ve seen them, there’s no need to shout now, tha’ll only deafen me tha nose” “OK we’ll engage head on, you just stay on my starboard wing and it’ll all be OK. That’s my right hand side”

“Wilco Skipper”.... “Pedantic b***tard” I heard him mutter before he remembered to cut the transmission.

We were patrolling 5 miles offshore, 15 miles west of the Isle of Wight and to be honest I was surprised to see any bandits but there they were, 2 black specs in the sky and closing fast. If it hadn’t been for me daydreaming about the pretty little bar maid at the Old Dog and Bone I would have seen then 5 minutes ago, but there was still plenty of time to sort ourselves out before we started to mix it with these Jerry’s.

Today I’m flying with a miserable bugger called Binky, I know he has a proper name but I don’t know what it is. He’s recently joined the Squadron and he has a strange accent so he might come from one of the Colonies or maybe Lancashire who knows and I certainly don’t care. All he has to do is stick like glue to my right hand side and we might make it back home.

As we drew closer I could see the black specs were a pair of Me109’s, fast and nimble and would give us a run for our money, - if we let them.

I could see tracer spit from the one on my right and when I looked over at Binky…. Well…..

There was black smoke putherin from his engine, but the miserable bugger just said “ I think I can get on the one in front of me, is that OK Skipper” over.

“Aye lad that’s fine” I don’t really have much of a Yorkshire accent but I put it on because it does get up the noses of some of the toffee nose fops we get posted here from time to time and so it sort of comes natural like.

Things were going down the pan quickly, the chap who I had my sights on, also had his sights on me, which can be quiet uncomfortable at times.

Binky pulled his plane to the right,

Well actually it’s only because I liked this picture that it’s here, unfortunately it doesn’t enhance the story but by now you’ve probably realized not much is going to do that.

The pair of bandit’s pulled their noses up and were obviously going to do an Immelmann turn and come chasing back on our tails.

For some reason they didn’t and one started to turn to starboard, (that’s right to Binky) but give him his due when I had shouted over the radio “Immelmann” he had responded straight away and we were now behind the two bandits.

Well until one of them also Immeled but his wingman continued to do a slow starboard turn right in front of us.

Binky caught him with a long burst and he started a long and inevitable dive down to a watery grave.

I saw him hit the waves with a big splash of water and he disappeared within seconds.

I might not have taken to Binky but give him his due he was sticking to my right wing like treacle to a spoon. There were clouds of smoke still coming from his engine and I wondered if it was an oil leak, then how long before his engine seized up.

“OK Binky cut for home and I’ll finish this poor fish” No reply.

“Over” I said thinking he was a radio protocol nonse. No reply.

“Binky cut for home now, do you understand” Still no reply.

I got on the tail of the last ME and fired a long burst and his plane just exploded in mid air, no parachute, nothing - then he also hit the sea.

I knew I was low on ammo and so turned for home and Binky followed.

When we landed I strode over to his plane, it was full of holes and demanded “Why didn’t you respond to my radio call telling you to go home”

He looked a little shaken up and his face was as white as a sheet, “I couldn’t reply, I never heard you” and he pointed at the shattered wreckage of his radio, indeed his whole instrument panel. Then I noticed the small red patch on his flying suit and thought. 

“He’ll do”