CaptSopwith 26 Posted February 5, 2011 (edited) I thought I had written off yet another pilot last night - and on his first mission too! Flight Lieutenant William Dearing (the younger brother of Charles Dearing from Wings of Glory) had just joined 8-RNAS in October of 1916. Their first mission was a bust, a patrol of the lines was called off due to bad weather. The next morning, the squadron was ordered to fly South to a new aerodrome. What should have been a simple transfer mission culminated in two separate dogfights with German Halberstadts. Of course, Dearing was piloting his trusty Nieuport 17 - which by all accounts was more than a match for the Halberstadt. Indeed, Dearing did fine - flaming one Halberstadt and watching as his wingmen systematically destroyed the Germans - after all, the entire squadron was airborne in two large formations - so being outnumbered was never going to happen. Regrouping, the squadron continued south and nearly made it to their new home when a second flight of DII's - this time only four in number, were courageous (or suicidal) enough to dive on a full compliment of N17s. This time, Dearing came under fire - not from the Germans, but from an overzealous wingman who opened fire on a German and instead, hit Dearing's plane - severing some control wires - undoubtedly contributing to the unpleasant turn of events later in the battle. Dearing's Nieuport was still flyable, but he soon wound up in another tangle with a lone DII. He followed his target lower and lower - until they were dancing at treetop level. Dearing, his eyes fixed on his target, failed to notice that the nose of his Nieuport had dipped too low, and by the time he looked out of his windscreen again, the ground was there to meet him. Boom! The Nieuport was literally in splinters. It was a high speed crash - even for 1916 standards - Dearing must have been traveling at over 90MPH when he hit the dirt. I sat back, released my controls, and swore. Dammit - another one written off. After all, I fly close to the DiD standard - and my workshop has the "Dead is Dead" box clearly checked. No one could walk away from such a violent crash. The medics would be scraping Dearing off the ground with a squeegee after that kind of wreck. Only as the menu came back up, OFF announced that Dearing had, in fact, arrived at safely his new base - the rest of the squadron - minus two pilots who had been lost during the skirmishes along the way - were all accounted for. I knew damn well one of those casualties should have been William Dearing. And yet, his career continues... for reasons surpassing understanding. My advice for the rest of the squadron - stay away from William Dearing - he's probably bad luck, or a member of the undead horde! Edited February 5, 2011 by _CaptSopwith Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slartibartfast 153 Posted February 5, 2011 Zombie Pilot... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CaptSopwith 26 Posted February 5, 2011 (edited) Zombie Pilot... How exactly do you exorcise one of those from your hard drive? Edited February 5, 2011 by _CaptSopwith Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wayfarer 5 Posted February 5, 2011 Congratulations to William on his survival! I am still on my first pilot, and using death on die roll. So far he has survived being hit by AA, landing in a tree, a fiery pile up of a landing when damaged, and twice flying into trees whilst I tried to work out where the bullets were going from a BE2. He was captured but escaped after the AA incident, and hospitalised after one of the tree episodes. Although he probably wasn't doing the speed William was when he crashed, I feel he has been luckier than I deserve. It's made me wonder how death on die roll works, although it might be tempting fate to ask! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CaptSopwith 26 Posted February 5, 2011 Congratulations to William on his survival! I am still on my first pilot, and using death on die roll. So far he has survived being hit by AA, landing in a tree, a fiery pile up of a landing when damaged, and twice flying into trees whilst I tried to work out where the bullets were going from a BE2. He was captured but escaped after the AA incident, and hospitalised after one of the tree episodes. Although he probably wasn't doing the speed William was when he crashed, I feel he has been luckier than I deserve. It's made me wonder how death on die roll works, although it might be tempting fate to ask! Many thanks Wayfarer! Good Lord, your pilot is lucky to even be in one piece by now! Congratulations are in order for his continued longevity. Can I ask what squadron / plane he's piloting? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wayfarer 5 Posted February 5, 2011 Many thanks Wayfarer! Good Lord, your pilot is lucky to even be in one piece by now! Congratulations are in order for his continued longevity. Can I ask what squadron / plane he's piloting? He still flying a BE2 in 2 squadron RFC. I deliberately started as early as possible, in February 1915. I have got to late July. We've only been encountering enemy aircraft since June, so you can see he's in far more danger from me than from the enemy! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RAF_Louvert 101 Posted February 6, 2011 . CaptSopwith, I was thinking how lucky you were with the incident you described until I read through Wayfarer's report on his current pilot. That's not just the luck of the Irish, it's the luck of the whole damned Republic! I've had similar fortunate twists myself with several of my OFF pilots, flying in both DID and RSS. I just chalk it up to the kindness of the gods and buy a round for everyone. Cheers! Lou . . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wodin 0 Posted February 6, 2011 I loose many Pilots within the first few flights...that doesn't bother me to much. It's the time invested pilots that really bring the Sim into it's own and the fear of loosing them can be great...especially when your off deep behind enemy lines!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+elephant 36 Posted February 6, 2011 (edited) And a great frustration when a good pilot dies in vain as this one of mine, named Oskar Zeiss, flying for Jasta 5 in 1917... He and fellow Jasta 5 pilots bounced a formation of British FE2s. He managed to set one ablaze but when passing over the flaming plane a crew member jumped off taking half of his port wing with him! Anyway "he" managed to nurse the plane to the closest airfield and conducted a textbook emergency landing...all of a sudden the landing gear collapsed, (I guess it would have been damaged from the impact with the unfortunate Brit), the plane crawled on it's belly and I got the message that your pilot is dead! Come on! How can this be happening to me? Edited February 6, 2011 by elephant Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bullethead 12 Posted February 6, 2011 Come on! How can this be happening to me? Banged your head too hard on the MG butts? Serves you right for shooting up one of my Fees . I, too, have had my share of miraculous escapes and freak deaths from what appeared to be pretty survivable situations. Sometimes I find this very frustrating, but then I think about weird things I've seen in real life. For instance, last week in my job as a fireman I went to what looked like a bad wreck. This pickup truck had been heading south at 65mph or so on a straight and level stretch of divided 4-lane highway in rather light traffic. The driver for some reason wasn't paying attention, however, and drifted not only off the road but off even ran the right wheels off the edge of the paved shoulder, which is what I supposed got the idiot's attention back on the task at hand. Anyway, at this point the truck was within inches of hitting a guardrail and the driver grossly overcorrected in panic. This put the pickup into a violent spin angled off to its left. It spun across the southbound lanes, the median, and the northbound lanes (fortunately without hitting anybody else), flipped over, and came to a stop upside down in the northbound ditch. As I pulled up at the scene, I was expecting a rather gory mess and having to cut the people out of the wreckage. The pickup was rather smashed and pieces and the contents of its bed were strewn all over the road. Also, it was an old vehicle without airbags and other modern safety stuff. I've worked hundreds of wrecks that have looked this bad and none of them have had happy endings. But in this case, both occupants had not only gotten themselves out, they weren't hurt or even dazed. One of them had a slight scratch on an arm from wriggling out past a piece of jagged metal, but that was it. They both refused medical treatment. And the really amazing part was that both occupants were rather fat. I don't see how they fit in the cab even before it partially caved in on them, let alone escaped having their legs pinned by the crushed-in dashboard. Hell, the fuel tank wasn't even leaking. But OTOH, I've seem people killed stone dead in 10mph fenderbenders, if they happen to hit their heads just right. So you never know. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CaptSopwith 26 Posted February 6, 2011 (edited) Banged your head too hard on the MG butts? Serves you right for shooting up one of my Fees . I, too, have had my share of miraculous escapes and freak deaths from what appeared to be pretty survivable situations. Sometimes I find this very frustrating, but then I think about weird things I've seen in real life. For instance, last week in my job as a fireman I went to what looked like a bad wreck. This pickup truck had been heading south at 65mph or so on a straight and level stretch of divided 4-lane highway in rather light traffic. The driver for some reason wasn't paying attention, however, and drifted not only off the road but off even ran the right wheels off the edge of the paved shoulder, which is what I supposed got the idiot's attention back on the task at hand. Anyway, at this point the truck was within inches of hitting a guardrail and the driver grossly overcorrected in panic. This put the pickup into a violent spin angled off to its left. It spun across the southbound lanes, the median, and the northbound lanes (fortunately without hitting anybody else), flipped over, and came to a stop upside down in the northbound ditch. As I pulled up at the scene, I was expecting a rather gory mess and having to cut the people out of the wreckage. The pickup was rather smashed and pieces and the contents of its bed were strewn all over the road. Also, it was an old vehicle without airbags and other modern safety stuff. I've worked hundreds of wrecks that have looked this bad and none of them have had happy endings. But in this case, both occupants had not only gotten themselves out, they weren't hurt or even dazed. One of them had a slight scratch on an arm from wriggling out past a piece of jagged metal, but that was it. They both refused medical treatment. And the really amazing part was that both occupants were rather fat. I don't see how they fit in the cab even before it partially caved in on them, let alone escaped having their legs pinned by the crushed-in dashboard. Hell, the fuel tank wasn't even leaking. But OTOH, I've seem people killed stone dead in 10mph fenderbenders, if they happen to hit their heads just right. So you never know. Wow, you're right BH, you really never do know. I've been in two crashes in my time - one at 17 when an old lady ran a red light and hit me head on, and another one about six years ago, when I hydroplaned and crashed into some trees. The first wreck left me pretty banged up with some broken bones. The second, which happened when I was in my twenties, in which no airbags deployed despite hitting several hard wood trees at speed, left me without a scratch. It really is all a crap shoot. Glad those folks were okay - even if they were a bit dimwitted. Back to flying... I remember writing off a long-term Red Baron 3D pilot off a number of years ago (funny how we remember these things as if they actually happened). He had 40+ kills to his credit, won the VC among other medals, and was having a time of it flying SE5's. I don't remember what squadron he was with when he died, but he started out with 24 RFC in early 1916 and flew a few missions with Lanoe Hawker. Anyway, my prized pilot was flying a balloon busting mission and it was a rousing success. The top cover flight of enemy aircraft never woke up to attack and my namesake pilot and his wingman dispatched the balloon and were busy shooting up the lines. Of course, RB3D was pretty formulaic. You knew every balloon position had X number of artillery guns beneath it and 2 machine gun emplacements - all laid out in the same pattern at every balloon station. So I dispatched both ground gunners, which left me to shoot up the now infamous green tent and truck combination without any harassment. For some reason, flaming the truck and tent added extra points to your sortie performance. Mind you, at 40+ kills and a VC, I doubt I needed to pad the points, but I decided they had to go. And I should note that after 40+ kills and some close calls, you do start to feel a certain sense of invulnerably. So I brought the SE5 in at trench level, swooping my guns left to right with my rudder, shooting the hell out of everything. I must have made four or five passes in this manner. Unfortunately, the final time I tried this stunt, I kept low for a split second too long and mistimed my climb over the truck which was sitting idly in the mud. As I yanked my stick back, my landing gear clipped the truck. Had I been flying a nimble little Nieuport, the landing gear would have fallen right off and I would have been left to make a crash landing. But my robust SE5 undercarriage snagged the truck, held firm, and flipped me right onto my nose. The plane blew up on impact. Just like that, my 40+ kill pilot was dead; all thanks to much of the same dimwitted decision making that landed that pickup truck and its two passengers on its roof into oncoming traffic. Below is a picture of one such offending Balloon - often the end of many of my old RB3D pilots... Edited February 6, 2011 by _CaptSopwith Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
angles1100 0 Posted February 8, 2011 There can be only one I think you need to chop his head off or he can't die :wink2: cheers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bullethead 12 Posted February 8, 2011 Just like that, my 40+ kill pilot was dead; all thanks to much of the same dimwitted decision making that landed that pickup truck and its two passengers on its roof into oncoming traffic. So a worthy virtual warrior died and Darwin missed a great chance at 2 real-life nitwits. Things like this would make a man go mad, were it not for distilled spirits Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
