Simviation Forums

OK, so I have been playing B-17: The Mighty 8th lately.  During the mission I was playing earlier (target was in St. Lo, France), the group was attacked by enemy fighters over the English Channel.  A Bf109 was making a run on the formation and I was shooting with the top turret at it.  I hit it a couple times (not enough to knock it down) but it was moving so fast, it passed out of my view.  But, I heard a large boom!  I thought it had collided with another bomber...because I was still flying (so it must not have hit me...right?).  So, I went to an outside view, and here is what I saw:



I'm sorry the screenshot didn't turn out all that good...but I thought I would share it anyway.  I was somewhat surprised that a Bf109 could do that to my tail.  All the other collisions I have ever seen in the game caused the bombed to instantly break up.  

It made me laugh so I thought I'd share.  

Oh, and when I unpaused it...I saw my crew bailing out.  Apparently, it was too much damage.

You'd be surprised what a fast moving plane could do

Wasn't using the plane as a Ram of sorts (Be it BF-109, or FW-190), a common tactic amongst German pilots in WW2?

They'd jump out just seconds before impact, and live to do it again... hopefully!

Wasn't using the plane as a Ram of sorts (Be it BF-109, or FW-190), a common tactic amongst German pilots in WW2?

They'd jump out just seconds before impact, and live to do it again... hopefully!

Ramming was used as a last resort by pilots of both sides (usually when they ran out of ammo) but I doubt they would have time to bail out beforehand. The standard procedure for most fighters of the period was to release the canopy then invert the aircraft & fall out. The legendary Luftwaffe ace Hans-Joachim Marseille was killed when bailing out of his 109 using this method. http://www.2worldwar2.com/marseille.htm

The most famous ramming incident of WWII probably involved a RAF Hurricane pilot during the Battle of Britain. RAF pilot saves Buckingham Palace