Give me some "holy sh... did that just happen" ideas

[luthier]

We all know the drill. Read briefing. Take off. Follow waypoints. Engage target. Maneuver. Go home. Debrief.

I'm looking for some ideas to break up the monotony. Things that make you jump out of your seat. Things that immerse you in the game world. These can be based on historical events, or these can be your own ideas, as long as they're rooted in reality.

This means things that happen before the mission, during the mission, or after the mission. Interesting new mission types. Events. Features. These can be one-off events we may try to recreate during the mission, or more general ideas such as "it'd be cool if X did Y when Z".

And yes, while it'd be extremely cool if a variety of highly detailed civilian females with 20 types of historical clothing walked the Prince of Wales pier, and propwash of you Spitfire affected their skirts, and it'd be even cooler if the captain of the German schooner dropped his monocle when a flight of Blenheims appeared on the horizon, but let's try to keep in mind that we have limited development resources and a tight schedule.

I have lots of ideas of my own, but I'd like to keep them a secret. So I may be a little vague further down the thread when I see an idea I've already had or something new I'd like to use.

Also, please try to keep this thread constructive. Let's use it to offer new or add to existing ideas. Let's not turn it into a heated discussion of why you think a certain idea sucks.