Originally posted by vorticon
only flightsim nerds buy joysticks in the first place...
I'm rumbling over Germany in a formation of B-17s, over a hundred alongside me, and a flock of P-51s escorting us as we fly into Westfalia towards Gutersloh. The radio chatter is at a minimum as we all work on our targetting solutions, checking and rechecking the map against our bearings. Up ahead, I see distant dots closing and I know we're about to go through a buzzsaw as a cloud of Me-109s and Fw-190s approach. I can almost taste the oily exhaust in the air from all the planes in front of me, and my skin is chilled because of the altitude.
We close on our target, bomb bay doors open!
I clench my teeth as my the formation shudders around me. Other bombers are opening up with their turret guns! I'm looking down at my calibration, but I hear the dopplered roar as a pair of distinct BMW engines blast past my plane. My ears strain for the sound of bullet impacts, but I hear nothing. In the distance (careful, keep that calibration point steady) I hear a quick burst of heavier machine gun fire, obviously from a German fighter. There's a slight change in the pitch of the background noise and I realize that someone in my formation has just lost an engine, and maybe more. I try not to think of the poor bastard who's falling from the formation, his plane on fire.
There! I've gotten a good calibration, and not a second too soon! That last course change was far too close to the target, but my airspeed is constant and I think I've got it. Good thing, too, the buildings are already halfway through my bombsight at minimum zoom.
I quickly adjust my scope for close up work, making a couple tiny tweaks through my Norden to adjust my course. Wait for it... wait for it... (did I set my salvo? zhit! Salvo 6, delay .5!) and the first target slides into view! I take a deep breath, exhale,
......and press the 'B' button on my Sidewinder GamePad.
Like being thrown into a pool of icewater, my immersion disappears and I'm sitting in my office in front of a computer, holding what is for all intents a Nintendo gamepad in my hand.
