ONE MORE TO OUR TALLY!
STORY MAC MACDONALD ART REZZONICO COVER IAN KENNEDY
S WELL AS THE OVERWHELMING ARMOURED PUSH A ACROSS EUROPE AND IN TO FRANCE IN 1940, THE GERMANS ALSO HAD THE LUFTWAFFE TO CALL ON FOR THEIR ASSAULT FROM THE AIR. PILOTS WHO HAD SEEN ACTION IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR AND THE ATTACK ON POLAND HAD THE EXPERIENCE TO TROUBLE AND DRIVE BACK THE FRENCH AIR FORCE CREWS.
4 THIS MESSERSCHMITT 109E PILOT WAS SOON CONCENTRATING ON SAVING HIS OWN SKIN AS A DEWOITINE 520 ANGLED IN TO STRIKE. SECOND-LIEUTENANT MARC LEBEL WAS RAW AND GREEN, BUT HE DID NOT LACK CONFIDENCE AND HE DID HAVE A NATURAL FIGHTING ABILITY...AS WELL AS A HATRED OF THE ENEMY.
A LITTLE LOWER AND I WOULD HAVE CRIPPLED THE NAZI. I’LL GET HIM YET, THOUGH.
TEUFEL!
THE KILLING BURST CAME FROM MARC’S MENTOR, LIEUTENANT GAEL DRENNES. A CHEERFUL, LARGER-THAN-LIFE CHARACTER, HE HAD FLOWN AS A COMMERCIAL PILOT BEFORE THE WAR, TRACING ROUTES ACROSS THE WILDS OF AFRICA AND SOUTH AMERICA, AND HE WAS THE MASTER OF ANY AIRCRAFT HE TOOK ALOFT. THE DEWOITINE’S 20mm CANNON IN THE ENGINE HUB AND FOUR 7.5mm MACHINE GUNS IN THE WINGS WERE ENOUGH TO FINISH THE JOB.
AAGH!
THAT’S HOW IT’S DONE, YOUNG LEBEL.
5 THE LUFWAFFE PILOTS WERE LOW ON FUEL BY NOW AND THE CLASH BROKE UP. ONLY THREE DEWOITINES WERE STILL FLYING AND THEY TURNED FOR BASE WITH GAEL BOOSTING THE MORALE OF MARC AND THE OTHER PILOT IN HIS OWN PARTICULAR WAY.
YOU DID WELL, YOU TWO. AND THAT’S A SHARED KILL TO YOU, YOUNG MARC. YOU SERVED THAT NAZI UP ON A PLATE FOR ME.
MAYBE SO, BUT I SHOULD HAVE GOT HIM MYSELF.
THE SENIOR PILOT CHUCKLED. THAT’S THE WAY TO THINK! WE CAN BEAT THESE BOCHES IN THE END, MES AMIS.
A RADIO MESSAGE FROM THEIR BASE STOPPED ANY IDLE CHATTER. THE AIRFIELD WAS UNDER HEAVY AERIAL ATTACK. WE CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT. SPEED IT UP...
6 THE DAMAGE HAD BEEN DONE ALREADY WITH JUNKERS 87 DIVE-BOMBERS DOING WHAT THEY DID BEST...ATTACKING AND DESTROYING. THE AIRSTRIP WAS ALMOST BEYOND USE ALREADY. OUR WORK IS DONE. PREPARE TO RETURN TO BASE.
THEE VENGEFUL FRENCH PILOTS, LED BY GAEL IN FRONT, PUT IN THEIR APPEARANCE THEN, THEIR FIGHTERS’ HISPANO-SUIZA ENGINES AT FULL POWER. THE LAST STUKA CREW LAUNCHING THEIR DEADLY DIVE WAS THE FIRST TO REALISE IT WAS NOT GOING TO BE THEIR DAY. GET BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM!
7 THE EIGHTY-SEVEN MIGHT HAVE BEEN A SUPERB GROUND-ATTACK AIRCRAFT BUT IT WAS NO MATCH FOR A WELL-FLOWN FIGHTER, ESPECIALLY WHEN OPERATING WITHOUT TOP COVER. MARC SOON HAD A KILL OF HIS OWN TO CHALK UP.
IT’S FINISHED.
AAGH!
IT WAS A BITTER VICTORY FOR THE FRENCH, HOWEVER, AS THEIR AERODROME WAS TOO BADLY DAMAGED TO ALLOW THEM TO LAND. AT LEAST A RADIO ON THE GROUND WAS STILL WORKING AND THEY RECEIVED ORDERS TO HEAD FOR ANOTHER AIRFIELD. UNDERSTOOD, BLUE ONE. WE HAVE ENOUGH FUEL... JUST.
AU REVOIR THEN AND BONNE CHANCE.
8 THEY MADE IT WITH VERY LITTLE JUICE LEFT IN THEIR TANKS. EVEN GAEL WAS NOW BEGINNING TO THINK THAT THE BATTLE FOR FRANCE WAS CLOSE TO BEING LOST.
THEY HAVE WON THE FIRST ROUND BUT WE WILL FIGHT ON, FROM ENGLAND IF NEED BE.
AS IT WAS WITH EVERYWHERE HE WENT, GAEL KNEW SOME OF THE PILOTS. HE TOOK ALONG MARC WHEN HE AND HIS OLD ACQUAINTANCES WENT TO THE CAFE IN THE NEAREST VILLAGE. WE BEAT THE BOCHES BEFORE AND WE WILL DO IT AGAIN. MY YOUNG FRIEND HERE AGREES, DON’T YOU?
DARE I DISAGREE?
ONLY IF YOU WANT TO FIND YOURSELF TARRED AND FEATHERED BY YOUR TRUSTY LIEUTENANT!
9 BUT THE LAUGHTER OF THAT NIGHT WAS SHORT-LIVED WHEN IT BECAME CLEAR THAT THE ENEMY ADVANCE COULD NOT BE HALTED. THE BRITISH BEGAN TO EVACUATE THEIR FORCES BACK TO ENGLAND, ALONG WITH MANY OF THE FIGHTING MEN OF THEIR ALLIES. GAEL, MARC AND A FEW OTHER PILOTS HEADED FOR THE CHANNEL WITH HEAVY HEARTS. WE WILL BE BACK ONE DAY, OF THAT I AM SURE. WE WILL NOT LOSE THIS WAR.
WE ALL HAVE TO BELIEVE THAT BUT THE FUTURE DOES LOOK GRIM.
GRIMMER THAN MARC REALISED, IN FACT, AS Me109Es SWOOPED FROM THE CLOUD OVER THE ENGLISH CHANNEL TO ATTACK. THEIR FOUR MACHINE GUNS, TWO 7.9mm ABOVE THE ENGINE AND TWO 20mm IN THE WINGS, PACKED A HEAVY PUNCH. LET’S HELP THEM ON THEIR WAY WITH SOME CHOICE GERMAN STEEL!
AAGH!
10 OTHER LUFTWAFFE PILOTS LAY IN WAIT AND THE FRENCH FOUND THEMSELVES IN A ONE-SIDED DOGFIGHT. GAEL ROSE TO THE OCCASION AS HE HAD ALWAYS DONE.
GET OUT OF HERE, MES BRAVES. I’LL HOLD THEM BACK AND CATCH UP.
MARC, FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE, COULD HARDLY PROTEST, AND ALREADY THE EXPERIENCED GAEL WAS SHOWING WHAT A GIFTED AND FEARLESS PILOT HE WAS AS HE LOOPED DRAMATICALLY TO CLAIM THE NAZI HOUNDING MARC.
AAGH!
MA FOI, GAEL WORKED A MIRACLE THERE.