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. 

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 

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. 

Volume 34, Number 2 

Analyzing Graham Cox's Analysis
by Stephen Skinner
​
The Indy Squadron has used its “Instant Start” system for easy, quick game initiation for many years. Instant Start was introduced to the Fits Society in the fall of 2017 via my article of the same name in Aerodome 176.

My original article made three specific claims: 

1. Instant start is quicker than “Quick Start,”
2. Instant Start assures that the flights will start closer together in altitude, and
3. In most cases, Instant Start prohibits the pre-game identification of aces. 

Rather than withholding comment to permit play-testing to proceed without bias, Aerodrome immediately published a follow-up article in the next issue (#177, Spring 2018) that discouraged the adoption of Instant Start before any significant society-wide testing period could occur.

Authored by Graham Cox, “Instant Start? An Analysis” contained numerous logical inconsistencies. The biggest and most puzzling inconsistency was Graham’s dismissal of his own research which demonstrated that Instant Start was indeed faster, started the flights closer together and preserved limited intelligence exactly as advertised. Let’s examine each of Graham’s findings...

Volume 34, Number 1 

A.J. Meister Scores 1st Title in Dominating Day

A. J. Meister had played Dawn Patrol since 2014 without scoring a tournament win or a single confirmed aerial victory. But all that changed at the Indy Squadron's traditional New Year's Day gaming at the Meister's home on January 1, 2022, when A. J. not only won the 8th annual Whosyercon Open but shot down three enemy airplanes throughout the day as well. 

Rick Lacy devised a fun mixture of aircraft for the Open, the second of three games played. 

Germans:
Bob Meister, Fokker DVI 
Stephen Skinner, Pfalz DXII 
A. J. Meister, Fokker DVII 200 hp 

Allies: 
Chris Burlingame, Sopwith Camel 110 hp 
Ethan Skinner, SPAD XIII
Rick Lacy, Sopwith Dolphin 

The first turn was exciting when all three Allies attacked Bob's Fokker DVI. Stephen's Pfalz fired head-on at Chris' Camel but the English pilot would not be dissuaded from pressing his attack on the Fokker. Bob breathed a small sigh of relief when Rick's Dolphin missed, but Chris and Ethan combined for nearly a dozen hit factors into Bob's Fokker, which sustained a jammed rudder and banked helplessly out of the fight. 

Volume 33, Number 6 
Published November 14, 2021 
​
German Comeback Falls Short in Armistice Tourney 

The 33rd Indy Squadron Armistice Day Fits Tournament was held in Lewisville, Indiana on November 13, 2021 with the following teams competing for the Victory Medal: 

Germans
Dory Oda                                   Fokker DVII 185 
Stephen Dale Skinner               Pfalz DrI 

Allies
Ethan Skinner                            Nieuport 28 
Rick Lacy                                   Morane Saulnier AI 
Stephen Skinner                        Sopwith Camel 110 hp 

Despite the fact that Dory's Fokker scored a light wound on Rick's Morane pilot on the opening turn, the Germans found themselves in serious trouble almost from the outset. Stephen's Camel hammered Stephen Dale's triplane for 11 hits, inflicting a rudder jam that forced the German outside the tourney box. It was ruled that according to squadron precedent, he would be allowed to rejoin the fight if he returned to the box immediately after fixing the rudder. 

Volume 33, Number 5 

Armistice Day Tourney Set for November 13th 

The 33rd annual Indy Squadron Armistice Day Fits Tournament is set for 12 noon at 110 Market St, Union City. We expect a slightly smaller crowd, so it may be your best bet to win a championship in recent years. If possible, please bring $10 per person to cover the food and snacks that will be served throughout the day. 

Due to the discovery of the Becker medals, this year's Victory Medal will break from tradition and sport a gold and white ribbon. The medal dates to the 1950s and was originally won by Mr. Charles Becker in western Ohio. The squadron approved the temporary alteration due to the rarity and uniqueness of the Becker medals. The first of four Becker medals were awarded to the 2020 squadron champion. 

The Armistice Day Fits Tournament is Indy's most important event and the highest scoring eligible player will be named the squadron champion for 2021. 

Volume 33, Number 4
Published May 12, 2021

BLAZE OF GLORY
​Skinner Bros. Sweep RBF XXXII

Bob Meister said it best after Stephen Dale and Ethan "The Python" Skinner became Red Baron Fight co-champions with just 59 points each. "The Indy Squadron has reached a new low." 

Indeed, 59 points is the lowest winning score in the 32-year history of Indy's spring classic, easily undercutting Rick Lacy's 73-point victory in 2013. Ethan became only the third Albatros pilot in history to win RBF and the first since Graham Shepfer in 2003. Research may eventually show that Stephen Dale is the only flyer to have ever won the Silver Goblet after being shot down. And the Skinner brothers are just the second co-champions in the game's history and the first since the epic showdown between Scott Jones and Terry Phillips in 1995. 

All this, plus the Silver Military Medal and Military Cross were awarded in the aftermath of the fight. The intriguing and record-setting match-up started like this: 

Volume 33, Number 3

History is Yours, Own Part of a Le Rhone Engine

Summary: You can buy a leather men's wrist band that features a valve guide from an original Le Rhone engine built in World War I from Stephen for $60, with delivery expected in May. 

Well, this certainly wasn't anticipated. I managed to find some parts from an original 80 hp Le Rhone rotary engine built in July 1918, and I'm offering them to my Dawn Patrol friends first. If nobody wants them that's okay. I know lots of WWI collectors and engine enthusiasts who will scoop them up. 

Authentic World War I fighter airplanes - that is, real originals - are incredibly rare. And believe it or not, the original engines that powered them are even more rare. There are perhaps a few dozen complete, original Le Rhone Type C 80 hp rotary engines remaining on planet earth. As most Dawn Patrol players know, these engines powered the Nieuport 11, Sopwith Pup, Morane Saulnier N and most of the Standard E-1's and Thomas Morse Scouts that the American aces flew in training.  CLICK "READ MORE" below...

Volume 33, Number 2