A major offseason statistical timekiller: If chiefsplanet members were B-17 crews...

[Rain Man]

As some of you know, I've got a fixation with B-17 bombers from the World War II era. I've got this really cool simulation game (pencil and paper, not computer) of B-17 missions over Europe. It can track each crew member's history, as well as the success of an individual airplane's mission. It's a majorly cool game if you're into wargame simulations, and is called "B-17: Queen of the Skies." It's made by Avalon Hill.

Anyway, over the past few years, I've been running missions whenever I've been in the mood, and I've got records of almost 300 missions now. I thought it might be fun to use these for an interesting statistical time killer, so you could see what your fate would have been if you had been drafted into the Bomber Corps back in the early days of WWII.

I've got enough missions to run a group of 20 bombers, each with a 10-person crew. If you're interested in participating, do one of the following:

1. If you've got less than 4,000 posts and want to be on a crew, volunteer for service by stating so in this thread. Please don't pm me; just make a post.

2. If you've got more than 4,000 posts, you'll be in by default unless you post or pm me that you DON'T want to be included. If you don't want to read about yourself blasting German fighters out of the sky or falling 20,000 feet to your death in a burning aircraft, you might want to opt out.

Since I've already run the simulations, you'll have no responsibilities other than to watch what happens, discuss it, brag or curse, and maybe make a decision once in a while about reassignment if a bomber crew has casualties. This is just something to watch and ponder your fate. We'll run the game until somebody gets 25 missions, and it'll probably meander on through much of the offseason since it'll take me a while to post each mission.

Crews will be determined randomly, and the hierarchy on the crew will be determined by post count unless a person particularly wants to move down the hierarchy to take a certain position. If there are casualties, you can move around in the crew. (We'll assume that flying lessons come easy to you.) The hierarchy will be:

1. Pilot
2. Copilot
3. Bombardier/Nose & Port Cheek Gunner
4. Navigator/Nose & Starboard Cheek Gunner
5. Engineer/Top Turret Gunner
6. Radio Operator/Radio Room Gunner
7. Tail Gunner
8. Ball Turret Gunner
9. Right Waist Gunner
10. Left Waist Gunner

The way it will work is like this: I'll assign you to a crew, and I'll randomly assign your plane to a mission. Every week or so, as I have time, I'll post the results of missions. Each of the 20 bombers will have a mission in a thread called "B-17 Mission 1" or something like that. Once everyone has flown a mission, the survivors will go on to a new thread called Mission 2, and so on. There will be some shuffling of crews as time goes by, as crew members find themselves without planes or vice versa, and I'll post those changes as we go.

Within a thread, you'll read a summary of each plane's mission, its encounters with enemy aircraft and flak along the way, and its bombing success. The interesting part is that you'll read about any damage to the plane, any casualties to the crews, and/or any enemy planes hit by your own fire.

I'll add more explanations along the way.

Mods, let me know if this is a problem or distraction. It'll be 25 threads in total, one for each mission, and will probably result in one thread that'll bounce off and on the front page through the whole offseason. If it's a bother, we'll move it to another part of the board or just forget about it, but I think it'll be fun.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by ChiefJustice

Catch-22,Major Major.

Best catch there is.




(man, I'm a dork)

[Cntrygal]

Originally Posted by JohnnyV13

I'd like to be in.

Even tho I don't have any seniority, I used to be an avid player of the online air combat simulation Air Warrior. Air Warrior was one of the oldest realtime online sims before it was bought out by EA then discontinued in 2001.

I've flown thousands of missions, but I was mostly a fighter pilot. Trust me, you learn A LOT more about WW2 air combat tactics flying a sim than you EVER can learn playing an Avalon Hill game. (I used to play Luftwaffe. Is B-17, Queen of the Skies the same game?).

I've done it all. I've flown escort, I've been a buff pilot (pilot slang for bomber), been a gunner, bombadier and I've flown German planes attacking bomber formations. (These sims are ALL played against live human players, much tougher than any AI game you've played).

Oddly enough, the plane I liked flying the most was the British Spitfire IX. Despite its reputation, the P-51 was not a great "turn and burn" plane. It was terrific for bomber escort and for flying the "boom and zoom". I also really liked the German Bf-109K4.

I didn't knoe "buff" was a nic for bombers in general...... I thought it was just for the B-52's.... ("affectionly called Big Ugly Fat ****ers")


Anyway.......... if you need another "name"...... I'll "play".

[ChiefJustice]

Yossarian: Let me see if I've got this straight: in order to be grounded, I've got to be crazy and I must be crazy to keep flying. But if I ask to be grounded, that means I'm not crazy any more and I have to keep flying.

[cdcox]

I volunteer.

[ChiefJustice]

Originally Posted by Cntrygal

I didn't knoe "buff" was a nic for bombers in general...... I thought it was just for the B-52's.... ("affectionly called Big Ugly Fat ****ers")


Anyway.......... if you need another "name"...... I'll "play".

B-25 pilots were called this as well....it came from trying to control the wheel to fly those things.Never arm wrestle an old bomber pilot.

[Cntrygal]

Originally Posted by ChiefJustice

B-25 pilots were called this as well....it came from trying to control the wheel to fly those things.Never arm wrestle an old bomber pilot.

ahhhh...... ok, that makes sense. Thanks for the info.

[ROYC75]

Hot damn, we know it is the off season now, we have been drafted to fight in a war that has happened before any of us were born !

Count me in, I have always been a history buff and liked WW1 & 2 movies, shows, etc. Grew up watching them with my dad,old war movies , weekly shows like 12'O Clock High, Rat Patrol,etc.

[old_geezer]

If you've still got room for an old timer with experience, count me in. I'll show these newbies how it's done.

Old Geezer been around longer than most; likes to keep quiet and watch the young lions chase their tails (Taco John and mememewhoever) vainly.

[MrBlond]

Awesome!

I'm going to need one of those fleece-lined bomber jackets.

[Gaz]

Between missions, will I get some quality time with those comely English wenches?

xoxo~
Gaz
Over there.

[ROYC75]

I can see it now, I would be a pilot, my crew would be all dimwits and misfits.........

A movie perhaps , "The Wackiest Plane in the Air Force "

The Flying Bums ? Crazy Cadets ?

Oh, the endless titles ?

[Misplaced_Chiefs_Fan]

Roy,

Maybe you could be "Leper Colony"

(obligatory "Twelve O'Clock High" reference)



Rain Man,

Go ahead and sign me up too, if there are any openings left. I think there are a few pubs in Tipperary that need to be visited.

[KCWolfman]

I want to be Harry Connick Jr. He didn't get hurt at all in Memphis Belle.

[Misplaced_Chiefs_Fan]

Personally, I'd rather be a P-38 Lightening pilot providing escort duty for the bombers, but that's just me.

[ChiefJustice]

P-38 pilots were bad asses!They were at a severe disadvantage...but at the time,that was all we had as far as a bomber escort.

I'd still like to fly a P-51 before i die...replica or not.