A single kette will be sent on this first mission. Randomly selected, it turns out to be Kette 2, led by the fanatical Leutnant Gustav Taeger, which has the honour of encountering the enemy first. Using a customised mission table (below) I roll a Fighter Sweep against a Spanish Republican reconnaissance aircraft escorted by two fighters. Nothing special happens in the pre-game events for this mission.
The Fight
This first action for the Jagdstaffel occurs in the afternoon of 1 November 1936 over the front lines near Madrid, around 5,000 ft. Lt. Taeger’s planes were conducting a patrol over the front, while a Spanish Republican Breguet XIX, escorted by two Hispano-Nieuport NiD.52 fighters, slipped in to photograph Nationalist frontline positions. The Republicans spotted the Condor Legion fighters and tried to sneak in low and fast. Taeger eventually spotted the enemy, but by this time the Republicans had already begun to take photos of the target! Taeger and Feldwebel Mitschke gained height to get on top of the escorting Hispano-Nieuports while Unterfeldwebel Willi Kittel confidently raced toward the reconnaissance plane. To avoid an overshoot, Kittel swerves to starboard, but this turns out to be a mistake as one of the Nieuports (‘Red Leader’) gets on his tail. The green pilot of the other Nieuport, ’13-10’ attempts a Split-S to pursue Kittel as well but in his confusion ends up facing the wrong way.
The Spanish Republican lineup
Kette 2, J/88.
The He.51s from J/88 close in on the Republicans while the Breguet XIX reconnoitres the objective.
Red Leader fires on Kittel (who keeps his head low in the
cockpit and starts to accelerate away, trusting in his higher speed aircraft
and that his staffel mates will come to his aid). Mitschke speeds over the top
of Nieport 13-10 and attempts to get in position to attack the Breguet recon
plane as 13-10 tries to attack him (but is in a disadvantageous power position
after his failed manoeuvre). Taeger moves in behind Red Leader to help Kittel
out. Bullets fly but everything misses.
Kittel (bottom right) chases the Breguet XIX while staffel mates head toward the Nieuports.
Kittel escapes into a nearby cloud while Red Leader gives up
the pursuit, instead turning to protect the Breguet. Taeger dives in
aggressively, making a slashing attack on the enemy fighter. Mitschke overshoots the Breguet but will try and line up for another pass.
Kittel heads for the clouds.
The Republican Breguet XIX has now completed its
reconnaissance of the front lines and has started powering away. Changing
targets, Taeger makes a diving attack on the Breguet but misses. Both Red
Leader and 13-10 get on Taeger’s tail.
Red Leader shoots Mitshcke down.
Kittel by this stage has emerged from the clouds and starts
chasing the Breguet, while Taeger and Mitschke tangle with the enemy fighters.
Red Leader pulls a stalling Immelmann to come up directly in front of
Mitschke’s plane, shooting him down with point blank fire! Taeger manages to
inflict airframe damage on Red Leader but 13-10 gets on his tail, beginning a
tailing chain.
Taeger, heedless of danger, chases Red Leader
Taeger gets his kill, but moments later is shot down by Nieuport 13-10 on his tail.
Red Leader tries to get away into the cloud bank that saved Kittel from his guns previously, but Taeger eventually finishes him off. However, before Taeger can even take in his victory he is in turn shot down by the Nieuport 13-10.
Just as Kittel gets into position to fire on the Breguet, the plane suddenly explodes! It has been hit by Nationalist anti-aircraft fire. The mission is therefore a success, but Kittel feels robbed of his potential victory.
The Breguet recon plane is destroyed by Nationalist AA fire before Kittel gets a chance at it.
Kittel skirts around the clouds, searching for the Spanish Nieuport.
The fight now comes down to the two survivors: Nieuport
13-10 and Kittel’s He.51 ‘Roundel’. The two duellists start to climb and
accelerate for position. 13-10 makes use of the nearby cloud formation in an
attempt to confuse Kittel. Kittel skirts around to the west of the clouds,
searching for his foe. As he rounds to the north of the cloud, the enemy
Nieuport suddenly appears. The two fighters dive directly at each-other,
opening up point-blank. Kittel’s rounds find their mark and the Nieuport pilot
banks his damaged plane away to hide in the clouds again.
After stalking the Nieuport, Kittel inflicts damage in a head-on attack, diving away to port.
Doubling back, Kittel accurately predicts where the Nieuport
will emerge. When it does, it is directly in front of his guns. The shot seems
perfect. Kittel opens up with everything he has, expending the last of his
ammunition. Unfortunately his rounds inflict no further serious damage. In
despair, Kittle, lacking any further (sensible) means to down his opponent,
climbs away and returns home.
Kittel fires the last of his ammo at the escaping Nieuport without scoring a shoot-down.
Aftermath
Both Lt. Taeger and Fw. Mitschke bailed out successfully over
the frontlines but have been wounded. They are now recovering in hospital.
Taeger will hopefully be wiser and more careful for the experience (but as he’s
a fanatic, I doubt it). These two will miss at least one mission.The result is a very narrow victory for the Condor Legion. The enemy photographic reconnaissance plane did not return with its pictures of the Nationalist positions (a victory in Squadron Forward terms). The Republicans lost two single-engine aircraft destroyed and one damaged against two single-engine aircraft destroyed for the Legion (a 9-8 victory for the Legion in CY6 terms). The Condor Legion expects much more from its pilots, so despite the ‘win’ I would think it impossible for any glory to be earned. Two of the staffel’s eight He.51 fighters have been lost. Another ‘win’ like this and I suspect glory points could in fact be lost.
Post-combat events
As this is the first mission I will roll once on the
Squadron Forward Fixed Events table, and also take an additional roll once on the Introduce
New Non-Player Character (NPC) table. The fixed event I get is an Non-Player Character (NPC) action.
The NPC is a Mission Planner, Leutnant Hans Herzog who knows Oberfeldwebel
Richard Fuchs from Kette 1 quite well (he has a positive attitude toward
this jovial character and by extension the rest of the Staffel). Lt Herzog is a
cultured man, motivated primarily by wealth who is a Veteran (+2) pilot. He is
otherwise an average type of man with no special skills. Lt Herzog will assist
Fuchs’ flight’s planning in his upcoming mission – he knows the relatively
inexperienced staffel needs a helping hand.
The other NPC generated this mission is a fighter pilot from
one of the other Staffeln in J/88, also flying the He.51. Leutnant Vincenz Hack
is an associate of Max Mitschke (they share a strong belief in the
Government) but he is an obnoxious individual – a green pilot with no special
skills and an unremarkable background. While he visited Mitschke in hospital he
gave him a bit of stick for his being shot down without scoring a victory. Let’s see
how long the ‘association’ lasts.
