NAVAL TEN
THE BLACK FLIGHT CAMPAIGN
A variant for Wings Over France allowing players to fly the Sopwith Triplane and Royal Naval Air Service Pilots
Naval 10 formed
Re-equipped with Sopwith Triplanes
by
15 pilots
First Squadron Commander C.D. Breese
Second Squadron Commander B.C.Bell
A Flight Red
B Flight Black
C Flight Blue
Entered combat June 1917
B FLIGHT "BLACK FLIGHT"
Flight Sub-Lieutenants Raymind Collinshaw Black Maria
34 Kills / 60 Total
Flight Sub-Lieutenant W.M. Alexander DSC Black Prince
10 Kills / 22 Total
Flight Sub-Lieutenant G.E. Nash Black Sheep
6 Kills / 6 Total Shotdown by Jasta 11 in June 25th (POW)
Flight Sub-Lieutenants E.V. Reid DSC Black Roger
19 Kills / 19 Total Shotdown by flak on
Flight Sub-Lieutenant J.E.Sharman DSC Black Death
7 Kills / 8 Total Appointed Commander of C Flight 30 June, Shotdown by flak July 22nd, 1917 (KIA) Some accounts claim
structural collapse, others say a Jasta 11 pilot shot
him down.
Flight Sub Lieutenant Desmond Fitgibbon
Reserve (English all the others Canadian)
Run B Flight "Black Flight" in place of of one of the Flights from 23rd RFC and play the game normally. If a mission required two-seaters. You receive two Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutters with Sergeant-Pilots from A Flight. These aircraft are not part of your Flight and represent aircraft from another Squadron you are escorting. They are considered generic and replaced if lost (you still lose the victory points)
Total Triplane losses for the month of June were 9 including 4 from Naval 10.
You receive no replacement pilots but may activate the reserve pilot if anyone is permanently lost. You automatically get a new Triplane the next day to replace aircraft to damaged to fly. Roll 2D6 on a 2 or 12 it is a twin gun variant. If any pilot achieves 5 victories he is transferred. Collinshaw went back to England for Instructor Duty, Sharman became C Flight Leader.
Victory Conditions
You can keep running missions as long as you have 2 pilots. You win if you have a positive victory total.
WINGS OVER
Pilots
Collinshaw Pilot 6 Firing A Bravery B * flies twin gun variant
Alexander Pilot 3 Firing C Bravery B
Nash Pilot 2 Firing C Bravery B
Reid Pilot 4 Firing B Bravery B
Sharman Pilot 2 Firing C Bravery B
Desmond Pilot 1 Firing D Bravery B
Sopwith Triplane with twin Vickers armament
10,000 feet and above -3 to Initiative Roll
10,000 feet and below -1 to Initiative Roll
Both Pilot and aircraft ratings are not play tested and feedback from other players would be appreciated.
ONE GUN VERSE TWO GUN TRIPES
"It may not have been feasible to have equipped the early Triplanes, which had the 110hp Clerget, with Twin Vickers, but I can think of no reason why the 130hp models which 'Naval 10' flew could not have had two guns."
"Some of the pilots considered the extra firepower would be more than offset by a reduction in its performance at height as result of the added weight of the second machine gun, and its ammunition."
"I found, in fact, that although there was a definite loss in performance above 10,000 feet, it was relatively slight and having twice the firepower at my command that I had had before made a big difference"
Ray Collingshaw quoted in Sopwith Triplane Aces of World War I Norman Franks
{Alexander another Black Flight Pilot felt the second gun was not worth the loss in performance}
SOPWITH TRIPLANE LOSSES 1917 {Sixty-nine}
Unknown Eight
French Three
Naval 1 Twenty-Eight
Naval 8 Ten
Naval 9 One
Naval 10 Nineteen
April {3}
Naval 1 (1)
Naval 8 (2)
May {8}
Naval 1 (2)
Naval 8 (6)
June {9}
Unknown (1)
Naval 1 (3)
Naval 9 (1)
Naval 10 (4)
July {18}
Unknown (1)
Naval 1 (7)
Naval 8 (1)
Naval 10 (9)
August {12}
Unknown (3)
Naval 1 (2)
Naval 8 (1)
Naval 10 (6)
September {14}
Unknown (1)
French (3)
Naval 1 (10)
October {5}
Unknown (2)
Naval 1 (3)
Historical Notes:
Total Sopwith Triplane production totaled 150 including 6 two gun variants.
One French Escadrille stationed near Dunkerque was equipped with Sopwith Triplanes
Russia received one Sopwith Triplane N5486 which served with the Imperial Russian Air Service, equipped with ski landing gear, it survives to this day.
Sopwith Triplane N5456 a veteran of Naval 8 and Naval 10 was exhibited in the United States in December 1917.
Aussie Ace Captain R.A. Little, Naval 8, had eleven confirmed Jasta 11 Albatross kills
The Fokker Dr1 Triplane was first flown by
Manfred von Richthofen The
Red Baron
He shot down one Sopwith Triplane
The Sopwith Tripe was being withdrawn as the Fokker Triplane was being introduced and despite a two month service overlap there is no recorded instance of them meeting in combat