Wings Of Glory (Anton)

[Nathan Whyte]

Time: 1548
Date: August 29th
Weather: Cloudy, low chance of rain


The pilot gently pushed down on the throttle, accelerating his Spitfire through the clouds. He eased the joystick backwards, allowing himself the altitude to clear the low cloud. Feeling a bit showy, he did a lazy roll around the protruding mountain of the Italian landscape. From this altitude, it looked uncannily like a large pimple on the soft skin of the country. He let a small smile spread underneath the oxygen mask strapped tightly across his face at the though and pushed on the switch for the radio. "This is November, recon shows no enemy movement on the ground, nor is their any in the sky. I'm going to begin my return. I should be on tarmac within half an hour."

With major ground offensives taking place over Europe, it was essential that a clear zone was kept in the sky over the Allied troops on the ground. The idea of being bombed wasn't one that many infantry men liked, and there were many threats to Nathan that if he didn't perform up here, he may find himself strapped to one of the bombs over the Germans. Lone flyboys doing reconnaissance was not uncommon, and one of the things Nathan had noticed since the full-on land attack had begun was that the locals seemed to take a lot less notice of the planes these days. In Nathan's mind it was quite rude. It wasn't easy learning to fly these metal machines, and the least the locals could do was to wave a hello. Ungrateful Italian bastards.

The pilot decided it would be best to keep up international relations as he flew over a field of workers, dangerously low. With a slight flick of the controls, he was upside down, pulling the fingers at the workers below, an evil smile dominating his features under the mask. He pulled himself up to a sensible altitude, correcting his yaw going through the thick clouds. His small laughter stopped abruptly as the shape of a Messerschmitt emerged in front of him. ”Air Controller, I have a bogie. Will engage.”

OOC: Descriptive first post, please. Time to start a new IO era, spearheaded by me, of course. Perhaps I should go into the hall of fame for this….

[anton]

Anton’s finger slowly intertwined around the KG13A Control Grip of his Messerschmitt 109, nicknamed "Black Demon". The gentle white clouds were quite a contrast for his black Me-109, as he pushed the throttle to his side down, and began to cut through the clouds. The German pilot was now a thousands of feet in the year, going about 310 mph, a cruise speed as he flew reconnaissance over the Italian country side. The Allies had actually landed on the beaches and were making there way in land, so naturally the Italians would need all the German help they could get. Anton had was suppose to go on leave, for his valiant service in the Western Front and Eastern, but he volunteered to take his men down to Italy in order to help. Most of the men had been joking that this was a leave already. Barely any planes every in sight, nor infantry troops. Italy was a beautiful country in the first place, but even more beautiful were the women. Or so his men said. Anton hadn't left the barracks since they arrived here. He wasn't interested in getting romantically involved, he was interested in the war that was currently in progress.

The sleek wings of the Me-109 sliced the cloud in half as it finally exited out into the open sky, no clouds in sight so far. Neither were any planes. Or infantry. Hell, Anton was starting to wonder if Italy was actually getting invaded. The German pilot began to push the control grip down, slowly losing altitude. During his descent, he could see some Italian children congregating in the street and cheering and hollering. Anton grinned a little bit. He always felt good to know that some of the people out there appreciated what he was doing for his country and their allies. He waved for a split second, doubting anyone would see it anyway. As he swiftly flew soared over the Italian village, it was clear there was no American or British opposition in the area.

"Wolf reporting in. So far no opposition in the area. Nothing in the sky nor on the ground. I'm going to continue my journey down to the next two villages in the cover of the clouds." Ramsden pulled back on the grip and began his climb back up into the clouds. His engine roared as his propellers rotated faster and faster. Anton's grasp tightened and he pulled back even further. Any further and it felt like the grip might snap. Finally, "Wolf" was in the clear...not literally. While he had the time, he began to calculate the distance and the return distance and then the fuel. He should be able to make it with plentiful fuel to spare, so even if he encountered enemy resistance, he would still be able to make it back.

Anton breached through the cloud into open air space again. Below farmland stretched on for a mile or so, and then in the distance there was another town. But a while ahead, Anton could see a British Spitfire appear from out of some clouds. There was still a distance between them, and Anton had an attitude advantage. "Wolf reporting in. I'm approaching a Spitfire, preparing to engage. Looks like its on a lone reconnaissance mission as well. Only enemy in miles. Probably scouting ahead to prepare for an attack."

Anton began to push down on the grip, beginning to perform a dive. His right index finger pushed down on a trigger on the grip, his four MG 131s lighting up and sending a volley of bullets down to the pilot, from overhead. Anton was going for precision here though, not just a spray to startle the pilot and alert him to his presence, however if the man was any good of a pilot he would be alerted by now. Looking down the sites attached to the controls of his Me-109. He was aiming for the cockpit first. If he managed to sustain injury on the pilot, it could be over already. As his dive began to straighten out again , he would go for the the tail fin, hoping to hit the fuel line. Once he finished his dive, and straightened his plane out, he soared into the clouds. He swooped around to the right, and breached outwards, wanting to to keep the Spitfire in his view.

OOC: IO history .

[Nathan Whyte]

OOC: Just so you know, the Spit's fuel tank was next to the engine

Nathan swore as the German plane went into a dive. He had quite obviously spotted him and was going in for the kill. So much for an easy recon. Pulling back on the controls, the plane smoothly rose up to 25,000 feet. It took a good thirty seconds to reach the altitude With the distance between him and his foes plane, it would be near impossible to get behind him. But why get behind him when his engine was upfront? The German must be quite close now, and Nathan doubted he would have stayed lower. The Flight Sergeant had flown up nearly 15,000 feet after all.

He started flying into a loop, but as he reached the crest of the circle, he went into a half-roll, straightening the aircraft out, facing the direction his opponent would be coming. He craned his neck, looking for some sort of sign. The clouds were already beginning to lazily fold back over the imprint he had left in them and the plane moved forward at a casual pace. Nathan's fingers were wrapped around the throttle, the second he saw a plane it would be pushed forward, hurtling the plane towards his foe.

Nathan spotted his target. He was still behind him, but the New Zealander couldn't tell if he had increased altitude or not, but he was definitely below. Now for the chase. He pushed forward on the throttle and the controls, causing the plane to hurtle downwards on an angle of interception at 450 MP/h. As long as the other pilot didn't see him, a few seconds before he entered his recticule, Nathan would squeeze the trigger, sending eight lines of death dancing towards his foe.

OOC: I think this is an appropriate place to leave for a mod-mark, seeing as the marker would need to say whether or not I intercepted Anton, seeing as we would both be moving.

[PuNk! ™]

Moderation Post:[/b]

Anton made an Offensive move, it should have been modded before you posted really.

Anton Ramsden:

• Spraying a volley of fire downwards upon the unsuspecting Allied Spitfire, the bullets clicked and clunked as a few bounced from off the exterior of the left wing, travelling across the body of the aircraft.
  
  - A few puncture holes were made upon the left wing, but other than that, nothing serious has occured from the quick strafe of fire. Most of the bullets missed due to the speed of the attack, which clumsily meant the bullets were shot in haste...
  
  
• Nathan Knight
  
  - Realising the enemy threat immediately, Nathan Knight's counter move was Partially Successful and has managed to gain a "rough" position upon Erik's tail, due to a quick reaction time in diving after the foe.
  
  - Spraying a volley of rounds towards the enemy spitfire, the bullets once again clipped and clunked against the opposing aircraft exterior, causing minor damage due to the majority of the bullets missing (not precisely upon his tail to have effective accuracy).
  
  - The bullets clanged against the body of the aircraft and a couple of punctures have been made to the tail of the German Aircraft, causing a dampen upon the speed of the German Spitfire, but nothing major.
  
  NEXT POST, ANTON RAMSDEN!
  ~Danny

[/color][/li][/ul]

[anton]

OOC: Bit confused. At first I thought you got behind me, but now I believe you basically repeated my move correct? If wrong just tell me and Ill edit the post.

Anton pulled out of the clouds only to find out that the Spitfire was no where in sight. He cussed under his breath and scanned the azure sky, looking for the Brit. Or whoever was in that damn cockpit. The German pilot's eyes glanced upwards and saw the British Spitfire coming down at him from above at an angle of interception. Repeating Anton's own attack? Interesting. Anton took the blunt of the attack, in hopes to use it to get around to the pilots rear, and wreak some havoc on anything his bullets could hit. Wings, tail, fuel line, whatever the man was lucky enough to hit that could potentially take the pilot out of the sky.

The pilot began to twist the controls, quickly turning his plane so that it ran parallel to the horizon. Slowly, he curved his Me-109 around, so that he didn't wind up soaring past the enemy aircraft. No, he needed to be hot on his tail or playing a good game of chicken with the fellow pilot. Hell, if Anton was unsuccessful at getting behind the British pilot, and instead came in head on as the Brit pulled out of the clouds... it was a damned good chance to panic the other pilot into trying to escape the doom Anton would bring upon him. He swerved and straightened out his plane, before beginning a quick climb in order to gain lost altitude.

Anton tracked the Spitfire with his eyes, trying to get in good firing rang from behind. If the Brit decided to keep on course, he would cut into the clouds. If he decided to swoop around outside the clouds, Anton would blindside him as he slowed to swerve his plane. The German pilot steadied his plane, grasped the controls tightly, and licked his lips.His finger slid over the trigger, as he grew anxious to blast the Brit out of the sky. Wolf had taken over the German man. He had gotten the nickname for loving to hunt down enemy aircraft and pounce on them. And now Wolf's keen eyes were glaring at the Spitfire, and he was getting ready for the pounce.

Entering range, Anton got on target and began to open fire. If the Spitfire had decided to keep on going, and headed for the clouds, Anton would position himself behind the Spitfire and open fire on the plane's wings, hoping to inflict enough damaged to snap one off, sending the Spitfire spiraling down to his death. If the Spitfire had managed to cut into the clouds, and come around for a second run, Anton would play peek a boo and blast the man up front the second he broke the clouds. And if the Spitfire was turning, Anton would hit him hard as he did so. Either way, Anton was delivering a beating as his finger pulled back down on the trigger, and he lined his sites up.


OOC: Not really sure I could just say that Nate just went straight, or went into the clouds, or turned. So I guess you can decided Punk, what Nate did and how bad I hit him.

[PuNk! ™]

Moderation Post:[/b]

I have to agree, I'm getting quite confused with some of the moves made; So any way of helping to explain the maneuvers made with images or external links, would be well appreciated. As it's quite hard to understand who's where at times, taking into account there is no map/drawing to revert too.

At this point, I'm very confused with your post Anton. You have mentioned on a move of playing chicken (heading straight on) and then you've suddenly mentioned you're going in from behind?

Anton Ramsden:

• Successfully managing to maneuver the spitfire into a quick elevated turn on chasing down the enemy (after a blinding strafe across Anton's aircraft), Anton managed to get hot on the heels of the Allied Spitfire with a quick retaliation.
  
  
• Shooting at the enemy aircraft, a little too late, Nathan predicated the German's move on chasing after him - textbook procedure and therefore had the slight advantage in evading the German's offensive move...
  
  (You have to remember Anton, the two of you are moving continuously all the time, Nathan would have expected you to try and chase him after strafing by and the time you managed to turn the aircraft around and get onto his tail, Nathan would have been performing acrobats to get you off his tail - so I've decided that Nathan would have had the small advantage of being able to evade your move, due to the predictable circumstances of you chasing him - you wouldn’t have kept on flying now for another attack to happen on you, would you?)
  
  
• Anton’s firing zipped on by the Allied aircraft in mid procedure of a retaliation to gain control of the situation again; Prime position. However, not all the bullets fell on deaf ears, as two rounds punctured through the glass cockpit (not quite bullet proof yet), that happened to be on minor display due to Nathan’s retaliation of pulling up into the clouds.
  
  - The first bullet merely punctured the glass, causing a dense suction of air to be pulled from out of the cockpit and the second bullet punctured through the glass and hit the main controls. Although no major damage has occurred, the altitude meter has been broken and therefore Nathan’s moves in rising or falling in altitude, will be inaccurate for the remainder of the thread.
  
  - Also, due to the glass being punctured in two areas, any high rise in the altitude may cause it to shatter.
  
  
• Anton, your tailgate is flimsy from the prior attack and therefore, any quick movements with your aircraft - as you’ve just performed (quickly turning), may cause it to break…
  

Remember guys, Pilots don’t gain special privileges as of that to an infantryman. If your aircraft is to become quite damaged, you will be put into a situation, that could cause you to crash land, at this point, there is no possible way to retreat and a successful crash landing, means you are eligible to try and retreat on foot - otherwise, an unsuccessful crash landing, would result in you either dying or being knocked unconscious.

Pilots can not take other pilots as POWs, but during situations of being knocked unconscious or forced to the ground, any infantry units during the battle, could try to take you as a POW or worse still, shoot you.

A new line of rules will be added to help you understand these procedures a little better, but put it this way, when you’re in the air - I won’t be advising you of a retreat. It’s up to you to assess the damage and pull out when you feel is ready.
~Danny [/color]

[∬: Erik Schneider]

Sorry I confused you there Punk, but I didn't want to god mod. I mean after all we're not suppose to just say we turned and shot at him from behind, because I didn't know exactly what he was going to do after the attack, so I said I was going to attack depending on how he reacted after he strafed me. And yeah it gets confusing, not being all knowing about aircraft combat or anything. Hehe, anyways after seeing this post you can delete it, don't want to spam up the board.

[Nathan Whyte]

The Spitfire banked right, the left wing rising upwards and the plane decreasing altitude as the German began firing. Nathan’s eyes watched the altimeter, 25000…..24000…23500

The pilot threw himself backwards in shock as the Plexiglas of the canopy and dial shattered. He swore as he realised the altimeter was broken but quickly brought his plane back under control. He levelled the wings off, the simulated horizon coming back down as his right hand came up to his oxygen mask, checking the strap was secure around his face, it would be necessary for a few more thousand feet, before wrapping his fingers around the sliding window set into the cockpit. He pulled it backwards, allowing the pressure inside the plane to equalise with that outside a lot easier. He flicked down the mirror on the top of his cockpit and looked behind. The German was their, and as Nathan moved, his barrels copied him. He would need to try something a bit trickier.

Looking sideways, he saw the white crest of the mountain he had flown around earlier and moved towards it, pressing in on the rudder to control to make his plane turn around 30^o before Nathan pushed hard on the stick, plunging the plane forward into a steep dive of an easy 60^o. The wind whistled in the cockpit as Nathan manipulated the controls jinking the plane (moving violently from side to side in random and unpredictable methods) as he went down. He had a plan, and it involved waiting until the last second, the last few hundred metres before pulling up. He had practised this move hundreds of times, and he knew how to judge it. He gritted his teeth against the whipping wind and he waited.

And he pulled, the plane leaving the dive, the emerald turning to sapphire as his view changed from the ground to the sky. The Italians had long since disappeared from the firing and now, barely one hundred metres above the soil, Nathan pulled out the throttle, accelerating the plane towards the 378 MP/h ceiling. The ground flew underneath at a blistering rate as Nathan continues to put in evasive manoeuvres before preparing for the real part of the plan. While in dives the Spitfire and the ME-109 were similar, it was in turning and tight manoeuvres that the Spitfire excelled, and Nathan planned to take advantage of this completely.

*****

No offensive actions made, I’ve just done a lot of evasive moves, turned about 30 degrees and dropped to a few hundred metres and accelerated, putting the Spitfire in a situation where it is superior to the ‘Schmitt

[PuNk! ™]

Moderation Post:[/b]

Alright, let's get this thing whipped.

Nathan Knight:

• Plummeting downwards in a dive, Nathan's risky move (with no Altitude meter) was cocky, but just paid off. At the last moment, Nathan Precisely pulled up, but two tree-tops broke against the rear tail from the long swoop of pulling the spitfire upwards away from the ground.
  
  (I know you was a couple of hundred meters from the ground, but due to the excessive acceleration and no real way of knowing your altitude, you came quite lower than anticipated)
  
  
• Veering off upwards, the German has lost complete sight of Nathan; Who has become somewhat a phantom.
  
  
• You've used a lot of fuel with your evasive movements, any more fast paced maneuvers and you may begin to run dry...
  
  - Also, I know Pilots don't get retreat warnings, but Nathan has disappeared up into the clouds, with your broken tail-gate Anton, you would not have been able to pursue with the sharp movements without fault.
  
  - You may attempt to try and find Nathan in your next post, but I would suggest a think of your other options also.
  

~Danny[/color]

[PuNk! ™]

Moderation Post:[/b]

Closed due to Anton/Erik unable to continue posting;

CP Handouts:

Anton Ramsden: 8CP
~ Detailed posts, lengthy, tactical, everything needed for a perfect spree. Unfortunately, this thread died prematurely and I'm unable to issue full blown CP as if the battle was seen through.

Nathan Knight: 11CP
~ Again, Detailed posts, lengthy and nothing wrong. Everything required for a blessed sum of CP if this thread hadn't have died prematurely.

~Danny[/color]