+JonathanRL 974 Posted January 9, 2011 http://www.cracked.com/article_18933_6-wwi-fighter-pilots-whose-balls-deserve-their-own-monument.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=new+article We usually think of fighter pilots as kick ass cowboys of the sky, living out our video game fantasies and handing out bitchin' nicknames all day long. But today's fighter pilots have nothing on the first of their kind -- the guys who appeared in the first world war when airplanes themselves were new and experimental. That is, instead of being surrounded by huge, sturdy metal planes with state-of-the-art avionics, these guys sat in rickety frames of plywood wrapped in flammable fabric, next to large tanks of highly combustible fuel. Then they took to the skies and tried to kill each other. So let's take a moment to salute... Quite the epic list... :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+JonathanRL 974 Posted January 9, 2011 No Voss? No Voss and No Albert was very lamented at the comments section on Cracked Facebook page :D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Capitaine Vengeur 263 Posted January 10, 2011 Well, I would have surely bet on Barker, Bishop and Nungesser. Didn't think of Coppens at first, but he surely deserves the place. More surprising to see The Red Baron on place #1 as a "balls" pilot: he was rather a cold-blooded tactician, sure. The German place would have been better occupied by rampant head-hunters like Voss, Wolff, or even brother Lothar von. Frank Luke would have deserved a place as the American daredevil: many more balls and guts than brains. Russia too would have deserved a place for Piotr Nesterov, first to "loop the loop" before the War and first to perform a voluntary air ramming: "balls" enough. For the French daredevils, I also think of Jean Navarre: first to paint a whole scout aircraft in the bright red color, he used to attack most of his victims (confirmed and unconfirmed) in inverted flight to disorient them. It usually worked. In brief, a Top Ten would have been more balanced. And never forget the hundreds fallen whose unwitnessed feats at the time of their deaths will remain forever unknown. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UK_Widowmaker 571 Posted January 10, 2011 In brief, a Top Ten would have been more balanced. And never forget the hundreds fallen whose unwitnessed feats at the time of their deaths will remain forever unknown. Amen to that!...all the guys who flew in WW1 had more balls than most of us I suspect Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FalconC45 158 Posted January 10, 2011 To each his own, or . . whatever makes your boat float. But myself personally I never got excited by getting missile lock on my opposite number I flew an F16 in FSX, didn't see the Lure of watching the barren ground zip by at 550mph @ 34K I must confess I get killed rather often by the AI, it's not for lack of trying, slower reaction times have much to do with it. But you might as well stay and fight, because parachutes were never issued to pilots. Oh they existed, just not in fighters Just curious . . Do Jets have massive Dogfights, or even minor Dogfights, or Dogfights Period Early Jets did in fact had massive dogfights in the Korea war. Todays fighter pilots still learn the Bocke Dicta for "within visual range" engagements. And for the record, missiles aren't "point n click" wizard weapons, they can be dodged and fooled. Falcon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
