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Past champs Paul Weintraub and Bill
Burch head a wing (row) of B17's. The skies were full as WBC
sent out the largest squadron ever in the 19-years of this event.
It was the sixth straight year of rising attendance for the long-out-of-print
game. |
Dave Terry's event leads WBC in assorted
peraphernalia for the nostalgic as B-17 knickknacks abound -
spurred on by a prize exchange program that everyone contributes
to at the After Action Meeting on Friday night. |
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The Greenville Mafia shows up with
enough uniformed personnel to crew their own bomber - or at least
man a row of tables in the packed Conestoga room. |
Even the After Action Meeting is SRO
as everyone waits their turn at the prizes donated by the fliers
in their annual exchange of air war memorabilia. |
Squadron Grows Again!
The 19th Annual B-17 Tournament Wrap Up:
Record Set as the Air War over Germany Intensifies!
HEADLINES FROM ENGLAND, midsummer 1943
Pity those poor Germans! Building upon a strong 2009 performance,
B-17 again had a record turnout for the 19th year of the
air war over Germany. The largest field ever, 66 daring pilots,
turned out for the climax of 19 years of tournament planning,
gaming and history! So large were the formations battering Hitler's
Reich that Air Marshall Greenwood has relented and promised a
bigger airfield in 2011.
Our three missions took us to the heart of Nazi Germany, delivering
tons of ordnance to destroy the munitions, war materiel and war-fighting
ability of the Third Reich. This year, our three missions focused
on the raids to destroy the Luftwaffe production plants and aircraft
assembly factories essential to fighter production.
Mission 55 took us to Emden, and gave the USAAF a chance to
try out the new radar targeting system, the "Pathfinder,"
by attacking the target in heavy fog. Plane losses were extremely
low, but bomb-run accuracy was equally low.
Mission 56 took the squadrons to Frankfurt, where losses were
low but poor weather caused many of the bomb-runs to land off-target.
Mission 57 saw us take to the sky headed to Bremen, with the
combination of bad weather and heavy flak causing severe losses
and again, very poor bomb-runs.
After all was said and done, B-17 crowned a returning
champion, with "Boardmaster" Paul Risner scoring his
fifth win in 19 years to earn his blue belt. Three other veteran
pilots added to their laurels while newcomers Chris Daly and
Josh Vierheller scored their first. Only Risner, with his ever
present ace tail gunner, managed to repeat as a laurelist from
2009.
On
Friday night, all assembled at the Officers Club for our After
Action Party featuring a debriefing, the awarding of medals and
honors, a trip to the prize table and some refreshments. The
Order of the Sandmen (in the form of founder David Docktor) appeared
to personally induct Tim Evinger into the Order. Paul Weintraub
received a long overdue Sportsmanship nomination for his work
in making "period" dice roller control towers for the
event - no small contribution in the burgeoning interest in the
B-17 event whose squadron just keeps growing and growing.
Those Germans had better watch out.
SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEXT YEAR: 2011 will be our 20th year,
as a group, with the same GM and the same game system. We plan
special celebrations for the squadron and invite all players,
especially ALL FORMER CHAMPIONS to fly with us to mark the event.
If you have ever won wood (especially the championship shield),
bring it with you for the pictures!
As always, we owe a debt of gratitude to the "Command"
structure:
"Col." David Terry, Gamemaster;
"Capt." Mike Lam, Assistant Gamemaster;
"Maj." Keith Hunsinger, Assistant Gamemaster;
"Capt." Mark Yoshikawa, Assistant Gamemaster;
"Maj." Paul Risner O-Club OIC; and...
...of course all the other B-17 players, our friends all, who
are the supporting cast of fliers that make this such a fun experience
each year.
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At least the Mafia has changed their
shirts for the After Action Meeting. |
The newly laurelled winners assemble
with their newly won wood (and fez).
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