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Old 03-30-2010, 08:25 AM
Flanker35M Flanker35M is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Finland
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S!

Adolf Hitler himself ordered his pilots NOT to shoot pilots in chutes. They were far more valuable alive for information than as a dead lump. And Hermann Göring and Adolf Galland had a discussion about this as well, neither accepted it. And most of pilots did not regard chute shooting acceptable, both RAF and Luftwaffe. Sure there were those individuals that did it during BoB and later, but I think over 90% of them did not even remotely thinking so.

I read somewhere that 8th Air Force FG commanders, some of them, had ordered their pilots to kill Germans in their chutes "to prevent them from fighting another day". If I do not recall wrong it was 352nd FS or something and one unit was where Chuck Yeager flew, his commander did order this. Most of pilots did not follow this order, but many did. Heinz Knoke mentions after bailout his wingman was shot to pieces by a P38, his chute landed in time and hid in bushes to avoid being strafed.

Reference: In his 1986 memoirs he(Chuck Yeager) noted with disgust that "atrocities were committed by both sides" and went on to recount going on a mission with orders from the Eighth Air Force to "strafe anything that moved". During the mission briefing he whispered to Major Donald H. Boschkay; "If we are going to do things like this, we sure as hell better make sure we are on the winning side". He further noted "I’m certainly not proud of that particular strafing mission against civilians. But it is there, on the record and in my memory."

But not to raise hell, my opinion is that shooting chute should be omitted altogether and made impossible for player too. The chute would just represent a bailed pilot without being destroyable. Seen enough of this arsehattery online already.
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