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Rick Wins RBF XXXIV ~ April 22 Gaming Report ~ Rick Wins Society Open ~ Movie Producers Express Interest in THE STAND ~ A Pair of Aces and a Trey

5/13/2023

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Volume 35, Number 5-6
Double Issue

Rick Wins RBF XXXIV, Charles Joins Squadron

The Indy Squadron celebrated 34 uninterrupted years of Red Baron Fight history on April 22nd by re-enacting Manfred von Richthofen's last dogfight yet again. For the first time since 2014, this year's event matched up Camels against Triplanes with no Albatri in the field.

Fokker DrI Triplanes - Ethan Skinner, Dory Oda, Bob Meister 
Sopwith Camel 150's - Charles Teague, Stephen Skinner, Rick Lacy  


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News & Notes for Red Baron Fight XXXIV ~ Flying the Fokker DrI at Dawn Patrol Rendezvous 2022

4/20/2023

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Volume 35, Number 4

News & Notes for Red Baron Fight XXXIV 
  • As the winner of the Whosyercon Open earlier this month, Ethan Skinner is now the only person capable of earning the Indy Squadron Triple Crown (winning the Whosyercon Open, Red Baron Fight and Armistice Day Fits Tournament in the same year). 
  • Dory Oda is the defending Red Baron Fight champion and she will be gunning for her third career RBF title this weekend. 
  • 2021 RBF co-champ Stephen Dale is working in Kentucky this weekend and will be unable to pursue his fourth Silver Goblet. ​


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Ethan Nets First Open Title at Whosyercon ~ April 7-8 Gaming Report ~ House Rule Update ~ Original Mercedes DIIIa Engine in Fokker DVII

4/9/2023

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PictureThe Top 3: Rick, Ethan, Nate
Volume 35, Number 3

Ethan Nets First Open Title at Whosyercon

With a squadron championship and two Red Baron Fight Silver Goblets already in the bank, Ethan Skinner has won all of Indy's three major events after scoring his first Whosyercon Open title last weekend. The game featured a mixed bag of Italian Front fighters in a five-player scenario: 

Italians: 
Rick Lacy, Ansaldo Balilla 
Stephen Skinner, Ansaldo Balilla 

Austro-Hungarians: 
George Henion, Oeffag Albatros DIII 153 
Ethan Skinner, Phonix DII 
Nate Pantinas, Berg 185 




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SE 5's Destroy Balloon Train ~ Feb 18 Gaming Report ~ 100 Year Old SE 5a Flies Again ~ Book: Military Aviation of the First World War

2/19/2023

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Volume 35, Number 2

​SE 5's Destroy Balloon Train 

Jonathon Shepherd designed a fun and unique mission for the Indy Squadron featuring a German train carrying supplies for balloon units at the front. Jonathon, Benjamin and Ethan flew SE 5's (not SE 5a's) carrying four bombs each, opposed by Rick, Bob and Stephen in Albatros fighters. 

The German flight struck first, with Rick and Stephen's Albatri attacking Benjamin's SE 5 from top and bottom. Benjamin's airplane took 18 total hits, his pilot was wounded and his engine caught fire. Things only got worse when his pilot passed out and crashed to his death and Bob's Albatros pilot scored a 9-hit burst in Ethan's SE. 




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5th Whosyercon Title for Stephen ~ Whosyercon Open Suspended ~ Tournament Escape Rule Challenged ~ Evolution of the WWI Fighter ~ Gaming Report, Dec 31, 2022

1/8/2023

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PictureSame winners, different order. This photo from Whosyercon 2021 shows the same top 3, with Stephen (R) taking top honors in '22 and AJ (center) finishing 2nd.
Volume 35, Number 1 

5th Whosyercon Title for Stephen in Final Event

Stephen's inexplicable good luck in the Indy Squadron's Whosyercon Open continued this year with the 5-time champ scoring the game's only air-to-air kill and cruising to victory in a lopsided battle set in October 1918. Rick Lacy designed a great scenario with some unique airplanes: 

Allies: 
Bob Meister, SPAD XIII (US) 
Rick Lacy, Sopwith Dolphin (2 deck mounted Vickers) 


Germans: 
AJ Meister, Fokker DVI
Stephen Skinner, Junkers DI 
George Henion, Pfalz DXII 
​


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Rick Wins Closest Armistice Tournament in History ~ Nov 19 Game Report ~ Laser Dogfight Between RE8 and DRI ~ Archeology of the Royal Flying Corps

11/20/2022

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Volume 34, Number 7 

Rick Wins Closest Armistice Tournament in History on Explosive Final Turn 

The Indy Squadron's Armistice Day Fits Tournament has produced some incredible games in its 34-year history, but perhaps none more exciting than the game that decided the 2022 Indy Squadron championship and the latest player to earn Indy's Victory Medal. 


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Fall Game Dates Set ~ Benjamin Scores Pair of Kills, Jonathon Learns to Fly ~ Video, Massive WWI Air Battle ~ Gen Con Removed From Indy Calendar ~ Book Review, Winged Sabres

10/30/2022

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Volume 34, Number 6 

Fall Game Dates Set

​Indy Squadron gaming dates have been set through early 2023 and posted on the home page of IndySquadron.com. The fall season began in Lewisville, Indiana on October 29th with five players gathering for 4 games (see article in this issue).

The 34th annual Indy Squadron Armistice Day Fits Tournament will be held on Saturday, November 19th in Lewisville. We are expecting a large field of competitors this year, possibly as many as ten. This year's winner will receive the third of four medals from the historic Charles Becker collection from the 1950's.

The 9th Whosyercon Open is set for December 10th with the squadron's annual New Year's Day gaming tradition slated for January 1, 2023. The venues for these two game dates have not yet been established.
​


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Action Opens on Palestine Front ~ Indy Gains New Recruits ~ May 14 Gaming Report ~ Rick Lacy on Mini Con '22 ~ VIDEO: Fokker DVII in Flight ~ BOOK: "The Mountain War"

5/15/2022

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Volume 34, Number 5 

Action Opens on Palestine Front

​The Indy Squadron held its first-ever game set on the Palestinian Front during May 14th gaming in Union City, Indiana with a pair of British SE 5a's (Stephen Dale [LT James Wright, 9/2] and Rick) against a Turkish LVG CV (Ethan) and a captured Nieuport 17 flying for the Turkish army (Stephen). The Brits were flying some two miles inside enemy lines and it was this fact that eventually saved the Turkish effort in a game that lasted only four turns. 

The Turks were caught napping at 3,000 feet over the Arabian desert but the SE's couldn't capitalize, missing one shot and scoring minimal damage on the other. Ethan's LVG missed a head-on shot at Rick's SE, which jammed its deck gun while attempting to return fire. Stephen's captured, single-gun Nieuport fired a bottom shot at Rick and scored five hits. Rick was forced to fly the rest of the game with only his upper wing Lewis gun still functioning. 

Stephen Dale's SE 5a (LT James Wright, 9/2) lined up for a bottom shot on Stephen's Turkish Nieuport and squeezed the triggers. Seven bullets ripped into the captured airplane and it exploded in a flash with critical damage to the engine. Stephen's Turkish pilot fell 1,900 feet into a pile of soft sand, miraculously surviving the fall and making a cross country trip through the desert to rejoin his outfit. 

Stephen Dale's SE pilot collected his 2nd kill in 9 missions. Rick escaped soon after due to gun jams and Ethan's LVG crew escaped unscathed from the Indy Squadron's first foray over the Palestinian Front. 


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Dory Wins Silver Goblet in RBF XXXIII ~ "Ammunition Barge" and April 16 Gaming Report ~ Fokker's Last Great Fighter ~ Book Reviews: "I Served With Hitler" and "Dreadnoughts" ~ House Rule Amendment: Victory Credits

4/17/2022

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Volume 34, Number 4 

Dory Wins Silver Goblet in Red Baron Fight XXXIII 

By winning her 2nd Red Baron Fight in Lewisville, Indiana on April 16, 2022, Dory moved into a five-way tie for fifth on the all-time win list with Ethan Skinner, Scott Jones, Michael Morgan and Graham Shepfer in the Indy Squadron spring classic that replicates the battle in which Germany's leading ace lost his life on April 21, 1918.

This year's result came via an overwhelming and unlikely win for the Germans. Red Baron Fight had been a five-player battle on seven previous occasions with the outnumbered Camels winning 4 Silver Goblets outright and never finishing below second place until this year, when the British suffered a historic defeat. The 33rd Red Baron Fight matchup was as follows: 

Germans:
Stephen Skinner              Albatros DVa 180 hp 
Ethan Skinner                  Albatros DVa 180 hp
Dory Oda                         Fokker DrI (all red) 

British:
Rick Lacy                         Sopwith Camel 130 hp 
Stephen Dale Skinner      Sopwith Camel 130 hp 


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"Train of Gold" Explodes Under British Attack ~ Video: Pfalz DIII from "The Blue Max" ~ Game Report, March 26 ~ Book Reviews: "Gotha Aircraft," &  "German Army on the Western Front"

3/27/2022

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Volume 34, Number 3 

"Train of Gold" Explodes Under British Attack

June 1918... a German train laden with ammunition and gold bullion was headed east, where it would stop on a bridge and have its cargo loaded onto a barge which would then make its way along a canal to German headquarters. A British two seater unit was scrambled into the air under orders to destroy the Train of Gold at any cost, or at least find a way to prevent the gold and ammunition from reaching its destination. The British flight consisted of two Bristols (Joe, AJ) and a DH 9 (Bob). If they couldn't destroy the train itself, they were ordered to sink the barge or demolish the bridge in order to prevent the gold and ammunition from reaching its destination. 

The German Jasta charged with protecting the train's cargo was grounded by a heavy rainstorm, so two ace fighter pilots who were visiting a nearby two-seater squadron were ordered to round up whatever airplanes they could find and get into the air immediately. LTN Nicholson Bob (Ethan, 15/2) found a 160 hp Fokker DVII in a nearby shed while VZFW Gerald Holzhauser (Stephen, 14/3) was offered the unit's only stand-by Fokker DrI. 

The Germans tried to engage the attacking British two seaters but were plagued with missed shots. Bob's DH 9 dove into the canal and scored three direct hits followed by Joe's Bristol, which added two more. The barge was decisively sunk before it could even reach its rendezvous point to pick up the gold and ammunition. 

AJ's Bristol had circled south to line up a bombing run on the train which turned out to be tremendously successful. With the help of a secondary munitions explosion, his crew took out five of the six cars on the train, leaving only the engine to arrive at the rendezvous bridge two turns later. 

But the anti-aircraft fire had taken a toll, especially on AJ and Bob, who were fleeing in opposite directions while the last remaining Britisher (Joe's Bristol) succeeded in destroying the locomotive to make the British victory complete. Nicholson's DVII (Ethan) pursued AJ's Bristol and managed to score two long-distance bursts with maximum damage, but the Bristol refused to go down. Both AJ and Joe would save their crews and return home safely. 

But Bob's DH 9 had already sustained four engine hits from Flaming Onion AA fire. Holzhauser's faster Triplane closed the gap and scored 9 hit factors with a 50 foot bottom shot that gave the DH 9 its 6th and 7th engine hits. The engine damage roll turned up a pair of "1's" ("Roll high, Bob!") and the DH 9 disappeared in a massive explosion. And since Bob's De Havilland was the only plane with a mounted camera, the Brits had no photographic proof of their overwhelming victory and their hopes for a bravery medal were snubbed by the English high command. 



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    Reigning Champions

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    Rick Lacy
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    Ethan Skinner

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    2023 Calendar

    February 19
    Official gaming 

    Lewisville IN

    April 8
    Whosyercon 
    Indianapolis IN 

    April 22
    Red Baron Fight XXXIV
    Lewisville IN

    Sept 9
    Official gaming 
    TBA

    October 29 
    Official gaming
    TBA 

    November 19
    Armistice Day Fits Tournament 
    Lewisville IN

    December 10
    Official gaming
    TBA 

    January 1, 2023
    New Year's Day gaming
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    ISD Staff 

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    Editors Emeritus: 
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    Terry Phillips

    Editor-in-Chief: 
    Stephen Skinner

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