"A Bridge Not Too Far"

Several weeks ago a small group of the Jackson Gamers joined in a Wings of War/Wings of Glory WW1 aerial game.  I decided to give one of my newly acquired "giants" an outing.  A Caproni bomber, escorted by two SPAD XIIIs was to bomb a bridge behind German lines to disrupt the flow of enemy reinforcements and supplies to a crucial section of the front.  The Germans spotted the approaching giant and scrambled four Albatross D-Vs to engage the bomber.  The ensuing action was captured by an Allied photo reconnaissance aircraft.

The Caproni and one of its SPAD XIII escorts in the foreground and the four German Albatross in the background.

As an Albatross draws a bead on the Caproni, so does its rear gunner on the Albatross.  Unfortunately the Albatross' machine guns jam!

And down the Albatross goes under the deadly fire from the Caproni's rear gunner.  Unfortunately the Caproni took some hits from another Albatross which wounded its rear gunner.

The SPADs engage the Albatrosses as the Caproni lumbers toward the target,

Reaching the bridge, the Caproni releases its bomb load, but its aim was a little off and it only crated the far side approaches to the bridge.  By this time the front gunner had also been wounded and the Caproni couldn't return any fire on the annoying Albatrosses.

One of the SPADs shoots down another Albatross as the Caproni, with an engine on fire, returns to the dubious safety of the Allied lines.

This was the first outing with a heavy bomber.  Although the target was missed, at least two of the German fighters were shot down.  I think that with more "practice" the bomb aimer can do a better job.