Bomber Crew

[Sir Slash]

Review today over at the Wargamer if anybody's interested.

[JasonPratt]

I just finished the 4th critical mission.....and then the Me163s showed up.  Jets suck!

I think strictly speaking that's a rocket plane -- which also sucked almost as much for the pilot as for the bombers.

My Granduncle John definitely agreed that the jets sucked, though (much moreso for the bombers than the pilots -- I asked and he didn't recall ever seeing one of those freaky rocket planes). He was, supposedly, the youngest B-17 pilot to pass the test. He piloted the plane "Slightly Dangerous", a full tour and then a half tour again, if I recall correctly.

[Tuna]

I just finished the 4th critical mission.....and then the Me163s showed up.  Jets suck!

I think strictly speaking that's a rocket plane -- which also sucked almost as much for the pilot as for the bombers.

My Granduncle John definitely agreed that the jets sucked, though (much moreso for the bombers than the pilots -- I asked and he didn't recall ever seeing one of those freaky rocket planes). He was, supposedly, the youngest B-17 pilot to pass the test. He piloted the plane "Slightly Dangerous", a full tour and then a half tour again, if I recall correctly.

Very cool Jason, glad he made it back!

[JasonPratt]

Yeah, his family always wishes we could have gotten him to talk more about his flights, but he didn't want to. I don't think he thought very highly of what strategic bombers did to the civilians, even though he understood why it was important.

He or one of the other guys wrote a poem about "the Slightly Dangerous Crew" however. I've got it around here somewhere; I used to keep it up on the wall over my desk at the office, until I moved to a desk without any walls nearby.

I assume his craft was Slightly Dangerous II, since the original craft, also named "Scarlet", was shot down and indeed crashed onto the Belgian village of Champigny. Uncle John Reed's crew finished their 35 missions, but SDII was lost afterward due to engine trouble on a run to Berlin. The shot down plane had (or has? it was recreated and flies today) a topless redhead as the nose art, which I don't recall from the crew photo at all (although neither do I recall the nose art from the photo. If I was less lazy I'd look around and find it... ;) )


As far as I can tell, this guy was the navigator for Uncle John's crew. http://triblive.com/news/fayette/8431507-74/prestia-plane-dangerous

SD2 (which he has to be talking about) has the distinction of having survived not one but two B-17 bombings while in flight!  :o  In other words, they ran into bombs while in midair. They fought primarily during the Battle of the Bulge, which would also match Granduncle's accounts of how much scarier the skies got once the ME-262 arrived.

But there was also a third plane (eventually shot down) called Slightly Dangerous -- I guess the Lana Turner film was popular! -- so, unless I can find a record matching the pilot to the alphanumeric designation I'm left unsure which one he was talking about.

[JasonPratt]

Update: according to the US Bomber registry, there were no less than 4 B-17s named "Slightly Dangerous" (not counting a B-24?). I haven't been able to clearly match Uncle John with any of them yet, although some can be ruled out for having crashed too early.  :-\

[steve58]

...on sale for less than $10 at Gamersgate for the next ~7 hours.

[Tuna]

Really fun game! Though it can get you cursing!

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

New DLC out now that adds a new campaign centred around Operation Argument, the USAAF's attempt to lure out and kill the Luftwaffe.  I'm not sure if we'll get B-17s and 24s.  One of the screen shots shows B-17G paint schemes but it looks like they're overlaid on a Lancaster. 


http://store.steampowered.com/app/754680/Bomber_Crew_Secret_Weapons_DLC/

[Jarhead0331]

Ugh. Homing missiles on a Lancaster? Not the direction I was hoping to see this game go in.

[mirth]

What's next? Frikkin lasers?!

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Yeah, I was disappointed to see homing missiles as well.  Particularly as they are touting it as a sales feature.

[Staggerwing]

Ugh. Homing missiles on a Lancaster?

Since those missiles look like the Ruhstahl Ru-344 X-4, they should be on a Do-217 or He-177 instead.

[Sir Slash]

And I thought this game wasn't a serious flight sim. Where was my head? 

[Destraex]

lol. Does not surprise me in the least. Fits the wii console spirit it seems to have been made in.

[JudgeDredd]

What's next? Frikkin lasers?!

You know some search by an employee is going to find this post (especially now it's got a second post) and think "Yes! That's what the customers want" and you're going to end up with P-51s with lasers!  :pullhair: