[Rain Man]

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B-17 #13 – Throw Bomba from the Plane

Pilot DaWolf (4)
Copilot LVNHACK (4)
Bombardier the Talking Can (4)
Navigator Ugly Duck (4)
Engineer Eric Draven (4)
Radio Op. Shakesthecat (4)
Tail Gunner Simplex3 (4)
Ball Turret Gunner mikey23545 (4)
Right Waist Gunner theultimatekcchiefsfan (4)
Left Waist Gunner Bunnytrdr (4)

Target: Amiens
Mid-formation horizontally and vertically (low vulnerability)

Zone 1 Out: Britain

No enemy

Zone 2 Out: English Channel

1 Me110 driven away by fighters

Zone 3 Out: France (Entering Target Zone)

2 Fw190s, 1 Me109, 1 Me110 attack – 1 Fw190 driven away by fighters

simplex3 fires, damaged Me109
Eric Draven fires, misses
Shakesthecat fires, damages Me109, which kills it after the earlier hit
Ugly duck fires, misses
simplex3 fires, kills Me110

Damaged Me scores 2 hits
-superficial damage to starboard wing
-port wing – outboard fuel tank hit – no fire or explosion, but it’s losing fuel slowly. The engine should have enough fuel to return to England, though.

Fw scores 1 hit
-superficial damage to port aileron

Fw circles, attacks again

Eric Draven fires, misses
Ugly duck fires, misses

Me misses, breaks off attack

Entering Bomb Zone
Good Weather
No Flak
Bomb run off target – 0% score

Zone 3 Back: France (Leaving Target Zone)

5 Fw190s attack – 2 are driven off by fighters

The Talking Can fires, misses
Eric Draven fires, damages Fw190
Mikey23545 fires, misses
Bunnytrdr fires, misses

1 Fw misses, breaks off attack

Fw scores 2 hits
-bomb bay – control cables are damaged
-nose – ugly duck loses most of his right leg in a direct hit – serious wound

Fw scores 5 hits
-bomb bay – doors are jammed and won’t open
-superficial damage to port wing
-pilot compartment – dawolf takes a serious wound through the left eye.
-pilot compartment – LVNHACK is seriously wounded in the right side of the face and the left leg
-starboard wing - #3 engine takes superficial damage but keeps running

2 Fws circle, attack again

With both pilot and copilot suffering serious head wounds and unconscious, the plane drifts down and to the right. The nearest crew member, Eric Draven, leaps forward to the controls and takes over.

simplex3 fires, misses
Shakesthecat fires, misses

2 Fws miss, break off attack

Eric Draven manages to level out the plane, but it is out of formation and he doesn’t know enough about it to get back in formation. He alerts the rest of the crew to the situation. Bunnytrdr jumps up from his waist gunner position to the top turret, in order to help defend the front of the aircraft.

Zone 2: English Channel

No enemy
Eric Draven nervously keeps control of the lone aircraft while everyone else mans the guns.

Zone 1: England

shakesthecat radios the air controllers for help. The plane is in reasonable shape other than the fuel leak in the port wing and some shaky control cables, but there are three seriously wounded, unconscious men aboard and two of those are the pilot and the copilot. No one on the plane knows how to land, though Eric Draven is the best candidate as the plane’s engineer.

Air control passes along orders from central command. Every crew member who can should bail out. Are the wounded men capable of being parachuted out? The answer is no, unfortunately. All three are too seriously wounded to survive a parachute fall. Central command then orders everyone to bail out, and lets Eric Draven know that he too can bail out. Draven refuses. He will attempt to land the plane.

As the B-17 circles, the talking can and shakesthecat work with Eric Draven to relay training in landing from ground control. Under direct orders, bunnytrdr, theultimatekcchiefsfan, mikey23545, and simplex3 all bail out over the English countryside. bunnytrdr, theultimatekcchiefsfan, and simplex3 land in open fields without incident. Mikey23545 lands in a small hamlet, bouncing off a roof on the way down. He is uninjured, though, and all four are safe in England as they fold up their chutes and say silent prayers for their crewmates.

The Talking Can and shakesthecat stay until the landing gear are safely down and the flaps are deployed, slowing the plane down. They reluctantly pat Eric Draven on the shoulder and wish him luck, then put on their own parachutes. Within a few moments, they both bail out, coming down safely in the countryside a few miles from the airport. They both look toward the airport, hoping to not see smoke or an explosion.

It’s now just Draven and the three injured, unconscious crew members, dawolf, LVNHACK, and ugly duck. The landing needs to occur quickly to save the injured men. The runways are cleared, and Draven lines up for his landing in beautiful clear weather. As instructed, he lines up parallel, then descends, descends, descends. The damaged control cables make the approach wobbly and fuel is still leaking from the port wing. 200 feet, 100 feet, 50 feet…

He touches the ground a bit too hard and bounces back up a bit too high and a bit too fast. After a stomach-lurching trajectory, Throw Bomba comes down again, hard and crooked with the right wing down. It bounces back up with even less control, and Draven has a bad feeling. When it comes down again, the right wing is way too low and scrapes the ground.

That’s all it takes. The B-17 jerks hard to the right and the nose slams into the ground. The plane cartwheels at 100 miles per hour, disintegrating and lighting up in a huge ball of flame. Four cartwheels later the remains of the plane end up upside down, a massive fire raging and the sound of fire engines drawing near. All aboard are KIA.

Aftereffects

Since more than half the crew survived, Throw Bomba From the Train II will fly next week.

Eligible for next mission

Pilot XXX
Copilot the Talking Can (4)
Bombardier XXX
Navigator XXX
Engineer Shakesthecat (4)
Radio Op. Simplex3 (4)
Tail Gunner mikey23545 (4)
Ball Turret Gunner theultimatekcchiefsfan (4)
Right Waist Gunner Bunnytrdr (4)
Left Waist Gunner XXX

Tough deal there.