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Wingman killed after bailing out


tornado

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Hey Brain. I just completed an online game where my wingman got shot down (a very good wingman, unfortunately). The graphic showed him bailing out, but when the mission ended on the next turn the mission results screen showed him as killed. :confused: :eek: I'm not sure if this has happened before, I ran a search on topics and didn't find anything about it. Just thought I'd let you know. Maybe you can bring my wingman back from the dead :D

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Is it possible that he was the victim of the "Target Pilot" skill? You would see an animation of the pilot's parachute as if he had safely bailed out, and then you would see the opposing aircraft swoop by the parachute, indicating that the enemy pilot had gunned you down while you were descending.

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I had wondered why sometimes I saw the graphic of an aircraft sweeping past a parachute. Thanks, learned something else new for the day. I don't recall if I saw that animation or not in this case. That was most likely the case. Thanks again, Brain.

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I hope it wasn't really a graphic of a bailed out pilot being shot up - that's a bit brutal for my tastes!!

I jsut considered it a victory roll with the pilot later dying of injuries inflicted by the victor shooting up the cockpit area.

How many bomber gunners targeted enemy pilots that had bailed out??

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I doubt it - most bailing out pilots would have lost a lot of height even befoer tehy got out of their a/c, and then more while they find their ripcord and before the parachute opens.

IIRC static line drops are usually made from 500 feet - 300 if you're feeling particularly nasty to your troopsers - they lose about 200 feet just while the parachute is opening.

I'd expect a bailing out fighter pilot to be at least 2000 feet lower by the time his chute opens - and in that time both the bombers and he have also moved horizontally.

Also if it got about that gunners were shooting at bailing pilots then bailing crews might expect similar treatment - not a good survival tactic!!

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As to whether a gunner in a bomber would physically have an opportunity to shoot at a fighter pilot who bailed out, you're probably correct that the odds were not good.

However, if the opportunity presented itself, how often would the gunner shoot? From what I've read of the Pacific air war, the Japanese actively tried to shoot down pilots that had bailed out, and the Americans quickly learned to respond in kind.

I think that may have happened less frequently on the western front of the European theater, but I'm sure it still happened with some regularity.

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"I hope it wasn't really a graphic of a bailed out pilot being shot up - that's a bit brutal for my tastes!!"

No, it just shows an enemy plane cruising past your chute. Let me tell you, it gets your heart pounding though! I didn't realize you will still survive if you have an ED, thought I was goners. Apparently ED still saves you from target pilot, I thought target pilot cancelled the ED. Phew!

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