I’ve been so busy with other stuff that I haven’t really spent much time with Flying Circus recently and with all of the changes and improvements made to the core of the product and to the Career Mode I thought it was time to get dust off my WWI aviators goggles and take to the skies on aircraft made of canvas, wire, wood and grim determination. I may end up doing a few of these journals as I start and then hope to live through more than a few missions at a time – being a WWI pilot is hazardous business after all!

For this first career series I picked the French made Nieuport fighter as my central subject matter. Flown by not only the French but also British pilots, I picked my squadron as No. 8 (Naval) Squadron RNAS on the Western Front in November of 1916. The squadron was flying a mix of the Nieuport 11 and Nieuport 17 in these scenarios so you’ll see a bit of both.

First into battle

My first mission put No 8 Squadron on an escort mission. A group of DH.4 were attacking enemy positions just across the line and we were to provide cover. The first part of the mission went well and we linked up with the DH.4s before heading over to “no man’s land.”

As we crossed the lines, unidentified aircraft appeared and things became tense rapidly. The incoming aircraft were Albatrosses and they seemed intent on downing our DH.4s before they got anywhere near the target.

As the two Albatross D.II’s pressed on towards our attack aircraft, I managed to get a slight altitude advantage at first and then trade that for intercepting speed gradually overtaking the Albatross.

Closure was slow and I decided if I wanted to dissuade the AI from attacking the bombers that I would need to somehow get their attention. I fired my first burst of machine gun fire, most of which fell around the aircraft. Few bullets ripped into the rear fuselage, however, and the Albatross immediately turned left into a tight turn. I had his attention!

As I was about to make another shot suddenly the sound of bullets zipping past and into my airplane indicated I was in another Albatross’ gunsights. I tried to get out of the way but damage to my left aileron made the airplane flip over on its back. I was in trouble!

Flipping back and forth I lost a few hundred feet. This pilot career seemed like it may be over… but then heavy use of the rudder righted the airplane and we were back flying again. Was the fight over? No! I managed to get back into the fight using more rudder than aileron to roll the airplane. But everything else was steady!

I climbed back up and got back onto the first Albatross’ tail while the rest of the squadron descended into the battle.

Pulling in behind him for another shot, I got as close as I had been and pulled the trigger. Smoke and flashes on the Albatross around the cockpit followed by an immediate pitch down meant only one thing. I had hit my opponent directly. WWI aerial battles can be so personal and this was a reminder of that.

The aircraft nosed over and crashed. One down!

I got onto the tail of another Albatross flying slightly below me but I couldn’t focus on him because yet another Albatross was on me. I broke hard and so did the Albatross. Somehow I managed to get onto my attacker’s tail while the rest of No 8 suddenly descended into the battle with Nieuports and Albatrosses everywhere.

I fired repeatedly at the Albatross and finally struck the engine causing a fire and sending my foe upwards at first and then spiralling down into the ground. That was two!

My engine at this point was running rough, my machine gun was empty, and it was time to get the heck out of there! I turned for home. In the distance I could see that the DH.4s were clear of their target and also heading home.

I made it back towards base but the engine sputtered and died. Damaged from before, the oil leak had no doubt caused it to ultimately seize and I managed to glide my way back close to base. Unfortunately the speed ran out and my aircraft clipped the fence at the base’s guard post. Fortunately, it was a kind of slow motion crash and my pilot was quite alive.

Victories scored, mission failed

My second mission was a balloon protection mission. We were to take off, head for the front line and protect three observation balloons in our sector. And we did just that arriving on the front in good time and prepared to stop German fighter attacks.

As we arrived, a pair of Halberstadt D.IIs arrived on the scene and we turned to attack them. I picked one of the pair and opened fire causing them to break and turn into the attack. I don’t think I caused any damage but the fighter dove after my first attack forcing me to drop altitude to pursue.

Little did I know that most of my squadron was fixated on the same aircraft. Meanwhile, the other Halberstadt had evaded all of us and was now attacking the balloon. After a couple of passes the balloon went down… the mission objective was a failure. But the battle wasn’t over yet.

While our balloon was going down, I had managed to get a good angle on my target and blast with machine gun fire. After a couple of tight turns and some difficult to follow moves, I got another set of shots on the fighter and down it went.

Beneath me, Albatross fighters were now on the scene and I spotted one at least 1,000 feet below me. I dove, pulling back the throttle and keeping my stick movements gentle so as to protect my engine and the Nieuport’s famously weak wings in dive situations.

Getting closer, I fired a shot as the Albatross cut across my path. A few hits connected on the elevator and the fight was on. My aim was better from the previous fight and it didn’t take long for me to connect enough shots at the engine to cause a fire.

There was again no time to rest as another Albatross made a firing pass from below – trading speed for altitude and a firing solution. I took a few hits but my Nieuport seemed no worse for wear. The trade for angle was a mistake as I had lots of speed and the ability to quickly flip around and get on the tail of this Albatross as well. I fired a burst of machine gun fire into the aircraft but my ammunition was now dry. I was out. I tailed him for a bit and then broke off.

Several minute later, I landed back at base. Two more victories and on my way towards becoming an ace!

Attack on the airbase

Our flight of six Nieuports headed out from our base at Vert Galand and headed for the front climbing to 1,000 feet and preparing for combat. On this flight I decided I’d bring some extra guns and selected the two top guns which I had hoped would give me a little extra punch while attacking the airbase.

The first part of the mission went well. We crossed no man’s land with no enemy aircraft sighted and the flak wasn’t particularly troublesome either.

With the enemy airbase in sight it was time to attack. The flight cut across the north side of the base and I was anxious to attack and not give the flak too much time to dial us in. The AI did me a disservice twice here as it appeared they were rolling in to attack… so I did. Alone.

The AI decided it would first circle outside of range of the flak and then when they did attack it was a faux strafing run with the entire flight pulling off the attack before firing any shots. Uh, thanks guys?

I was blissfully unaware, my mistake, and pressed home the attack strafing flak gun, trucks, and multiple aircraft causing some light damage. Midway through my fist run, most of my guns misfired and needed to be cleared so I swung wide and made another couple of passes while my AI buddies flew uselessly above.

On what I had decided was my final attack run… I fired at a row of parked Albatrosses. Bullets chewing up the aircraft and trucks parked below. But my moment of glory was over.

A flak gun got a good bead on me and fired a shot that connected with the upper left wing of my Nieuport 17. The wing crumpled up and detatched from the aircraft followed by the lower left wing and then what was remaining on my aircraft began to fall apart too. My Nieuport 17 rolled and crashed to the ground and my pilot was killed. Career over! And just one kill away from ace.

A few thoughts

For most of my flying through these three missions, I’ve generally been impressed where Flying Circus has ended up. Although the Great Battles engine is now starting to feel a little dated in 2024 despite many upgrades, the game generally plays well and some of my long standing issues with the Flying Circus AI not being all that aggressive have been partially removed.

Although the AI are still quite easy to overcome in a one versus one scenario, using predictable tactics that I’ve come to know over the years, they are far more challenging than they were at one point. The head on attacks, the aggressive defensive turns, and even taking some risks while attempting to draw a bead on me were all more than I had come to expect. It has been a while and improvements have been made.

Career mode has expanded with quite a few different types of missions and the missions that I flew were relatively engaging with a good number of opponents and friendly aircraft all flying around in the same battle space. It makes for some fun flying!

The AI on the last mission did really let me down by not attacking the target at all. I blundered into that by no observing what they were doing. Generally not attacking anything was a problem despite my poor tactical judgment. Hopefully that can be made better.

I’ll be picking up another career soon and seeing how far I get into that before dying too. It’ll be a bit of a challenge!