More cherished delusions defeated by research.

[Kieren]

Bah. Not one definitive source of information exists that will ever prove whether a country practiced this as policy or didn't. I think we can all be reasonably certain that, with air services the size of all participants' in WWII, there were bound to be pilots that attacked chutes in the heat of the moment. Think of it as 40's "road-rage".  

[miko2d]

 

Originally posted by Gadfly:
Using that logic, Suave, Hitler was right.

 Man in a chute(in real life, not this game) is a non-combatant.

 You can bomb/strafe enemy soldiers when they cannot fight back.
 You can shoot them down while they are in a transport plane or ship when they cannot fight back.
 You cannot shoot a guy who just fought you and will be sure to fight you again before the day is over...? What the heck?

 It is unacceptable to kill an enemy who surrendered. If he is unable to surrender - tough luck.

 Swift destruction of the enemy fighting ability by any means necessary is the surest way to minimize losses on both sides of a conflict - military and civilian.

 And what is that about Hitler? Did he ever ventured an opinion on shooting chutes?

miko

[flakbait]

Goering brought up the firing on parachutes deal with Galland. He got the answer he expected (no way in hell) and then said something like "Thank you Galland, this gives me some backing should the subject ever come up". Odds are this little line was a slight aknowledgement that Hitler was seriously or off-handedly considering issuing an order to fire on Allied pilots hanging in 'chutes.

The Russians claim the Luftwaffe fired on their chutes first, the Luftwaffe claimed the reverse. The same goes for the Allies; they say "they shot at us first!" and the Luftwaffe said the exact opposite. Since two sides claimed the same thing, the Luftwaffe was obviously shooting men in chutes! Personally, I think it all got started when some snot-nosed kid in a P-47 got pissed when an Experten nailed his CO.  


-----------------------
Flakbait [Delta6]
Delta 6's Flight School
Put the P-61B in Aces High
"With all due respect Chaplian, I don't think God wants to hear from me right now.
I'm gonna go out there and remove one of His creations from this universe.
And when I get back I'm gonna drink a bottle of Scotch like it was Chiggy von Richthofen's blood and celebrate his death."
Col. McQueen, Space: Above and Beyond
 

[PC]

Of course the US pilots shot chutes, if they didn’t, they knew they would have to face the guy again. He was still a target and they had a very good reason to kill them. On the other hand, the Germans didn't have that reason. When they saw a guy bail they knew he was going to a POW camp. But on the Eastern front, like the Pac war, they (all sides) had a good reason to kill everybody they could get a shot at.

I mean if some guy is trying to kill you today and there he is floating to the ground and he’s just going to get in another plane and try again tomorrow, I’d  waste them and sleep better that night.

But in this game I just do it cause it makes me laugh.

That and it adds to the FDB’s squad score (they’re real point potatos)

PC

[Suave1]

 

Originally posted by Gadfly:
Using that logic, Suave, Hitler was right.

Man in a chute(in real life, not this game) is a non-combatant.

No . What made Hitler so much more evil than your average tyrant was that he murdered prisoners . Galland never surrendered , he was NOT a noncombatant . As a matter of fact when he did surrender and become a prisoner of war we made him one of our own . He flew as a fighter pilot for quite awhile for West Germany . Shooting a pilot in a parachute who is over occupied land is stupid , POWs are worth more than corpses . Shooting a pilot that is in a parachute over enemy held territory , well that is just protecting your countrymen . It's nothing personal, Galland is alive today and I'm sure that he would agree with this . In retrospect we, (allied forces of WWII), weren't out to destroy Germany, we were saving it from Hitler's fascism . Now so many years later I am proud that the good people of Germany are united in peace and are our friends and allies . Hitler was defeated, Germany is victorious .



[This message has been edited by Suave1 (edited 02-02-2001).]

[Karnak]

Suave1,
If I recall correctly, Galland died in 1996.

------------------
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother

Sisu
-Karnak

[Suave1]

Karnak, I didn't know that   . I have seen him on tv and in interviews , he seemed like a very amicable fellow, not too different from many of us who share this past time .

[Wmaker]

 

Originally posted by funked:
Agreed Torgo, especially about the chute shooting.  Every country did it.  And every country says they only did it because the other side did it to them first.    

Nope, funked...finns never did it...even though russians did it to the finns...

[tom666]

The Allied forces goal was to destroy germany`s ability to wage war.No saving germans from Hitler,none of that nice guy stuff.Pilots were ordered to shoot bailed enemy on their chutes ,preventing them from fighting another day.Planes destroyed on the ground were counted as any other victory in the air for the USAAF pilots.They were ordered to starfe livestock on the fields ,and lit up cropfields ,shoot at civilians that work on the fields.
As one US bombercrew member said on TV `If all a woman did ,was make a sandwich for he`s husband ,before he went to the ammo-factory ,than he wanted to kill her ,to prevent her from doing it ,and help the war effort.`
War is dirty buisniess ,and pilots were just as active part of it as anybody else.

[miko2d]

 

Originally posted by Wmaker:
Nope, funked...finns never did it...even though russians did it to the finns...

 First, that is completely opposite to what I was taught in Russia.  

 Second, Finland did not really fight in the war other then the original offensive when russian airforce was knocked out. They most likely had a secret agreement with russians.
 Russians were able to remove practically all the forces from the area where finns were besiedging Leningrad.
 Not only did finns declined to advance against nonexisting resistance to put an end to the siedge, they did not let germans into the area despite several demands - read german generals' memoirs.
 Russians serving there recall that they actually communicated with finns and received some supplies from them!
  There was a joke then that there were only two armies at peace in Europe - the Sweden and the Soviet 6th army - the one opposing the finns at Leningrad.
 No wonder they did not want to shoot each other - in chutes or out.
 Also no wonder that Finland was let alone after the war.

miko

[This message has been edited by miko2d (edited 02-02-2001).]

[SFRT - Frenchy]

 

Not one of my pet peeves but I have seen time again on this board and on channel 1 people stating that HOs are non historical...

First time Chuck Yeager was shot down in his P51, it was in a HO. The difference in the MA and real life is that u needed balls to HO someone bellybutton u could die big time.

[CRASH]

Firing at aircrew in their chutes is officially against U.S. Rules of engagement.  Firing at airborne soldiers in their chutes is acceptable    Was this the case during wwii....not sure.  Anyone got an old copy of the rules of engagement?

CRASH

[SwampRat]

HO DWEEB!!!!!!  

[Sandman_SBM]

Flakbait... not only that, I recall reading a story of a German fighter escorting an injured British plane (don't recall if it was a fighter or a bomber) across the English channel back home and left him unmolested.

War is hell and pilots are just as human as the rest of us.

[mrfish]

and i suppose the massive amount of bombs dropped by all sides on cities like dresden, tokyo and london were designed to kill combatants only?

- everyone was fighting a "total war" -

[This message has been edited by mrfish (edited 02-02-2001).]