Lost my first Career Pilot. How far have you gotten?

[falle96]

Okay technically I've made other pilots but I usually end up deleting/restarting their careers rather than playing them to the end so it don't count any

 

I lost my first IL-2 pilot tonight, Junior Lieutenant Petr Vorobyev. He was flying ground strike missions in the Battle of Moscow in a Sturmovik when he took a flak round to the midsection of the plane at low altitude. I had no control over its path, so I just plowed into the ground. The ensuing fireball killed poor Petr instantly.

 

While I nurse my wounds and drink to a good comrade, I've got a question for you all - how far have you managed to get your pilots through the war? Has anyone gone, at realistic speed, through a battle? Through all of them? Post below, I'm curious to hear.

Edited May 11, 2019 by FarflungWanderer

[Donik]

This past work week I've attempted a 109 E7 career a handful different times.  I never made it further than 3 days in.  Ground attack is definitely hazardous to your health.

[falle96]

2 minutes ago, Donik said:

This past work week I've attempted a 109 E7 career a handful different times.  I never made it further than 3 days in.  Ground attack is definitely hazardous to your health.

 

Yeah, I figured I was living on borrowed time for me, but I kept lucking out and knew when to run. This last time I figured my luck would hold out a bit longer. I was not correct...

[gorice]

My Il-2 pilots tend to have very short lifespans. It's just inherently a very dangerous job: loitering at treetop level in a slow and vulnerable aircraft. Real pilots didn't tend to last that long, either.

 

I've had more luck with fighters. I've currently got a career in a La-5 where I'm about 2 months into a Stalingrad campaign. The important thing is to be very cautious over enemy territory, staying high and keeping your eyes peeled. Ground attack missions have ended a couple of good fighter careers previously, so these days I'm not ashamed to make a couple of passes and get out, especially if the flak is still firing.

[Sublime]

Airfield attack missions can be particularly suicidal seeming.

I always do iron man and the longest I ever got was a hectic 22 day run in the late summer of 43 in the Kuban flying usually 2 or 3 missions a day in a Yak7B from Gelenzhik 2.  Finally there was that one mission where like you I couldnt limp home or glide; nor ditch or even bail, the plane got stiched badly by a boom and zoom pass as I was dogfighting another plane and it ripped my plane in half.  The canopy was closed; the speed and gs kept the pilot in it all the way down.  Mind you in that career I wouldnt even do ground attack seriously - at most one pass dropping bombs and no strafing.

Erich Hartmanns quote about surviving the war perhaps because he started as a glider pilot and therefore always was instinctively looking for good places to crash land does seem to ring true playing, though its a bit much how you basically can survive any crash landing as long as you have some control of the plane and how it goes down - thats fine but sometimes things like trees or whatever or just plain bad luck should kill you crash landing. Ive found it to be safer than bailing out even usually..

[josephine]

When I play on medium difficulty, I usually last about 2 weeks, sometimes up to a month.

On the default difficulty (easy) I am currently 2 months into La-5 campaign at Stalingrad. Of course I play it safe and to the briefing - if my task is to stay with the bombers, I do not go on a free hunt. I do not try to kill the very last piece of vehicle on ground strafing missions, always have a map of the frontlines in my brain and know the shortest path towards our lines... BTW, being captured is one of my top 3 reasons my careers usually end, so I love this sturdy La-5 and short distances over enemy teritory at Stalingrad.

[Mauf]

Lost my first pilot on fourth sortie. 109 F2, attacking a river crossing. Dropped my bomb, pulled up slightly into a soft right hand turn, looked back and there was this plane, nose pointed directly at my face.Thought train: "That's not a 109... Shit" -> BANG, pilot dead. Wonderful deer-caught-in-headlights moment:P

[Alexmarine]

Record for me is 44 days as a pilot in the 57 GIAP in the Kuban career. Shot down behind enemy line and became POW.

Shortest was 2 days with 15.(Span.)/JG 27 on Moscow. Shot down in flames after an emergency scramble by an attacking MiG.

Edited May 11, 2019 by Alexmarine28

[Sublime]

54 minutes ago, Mauf said:

Lost my first pilot on fourth sortie. 109 F2, attacking a river crossing. Dropped my bomb, pulled up slightly into a soft right hand turn, looked back and there was this plane, nose pointed directly at my face.Thought train: "That's not a 109... Shit" -> BANG, pilot dead. Wonderful deer-caught-in-headlights moment:P

Ive had that dumbassed deer in headlights moment before too. You know how sharks when theyre swimmimg look really graceful and stuff but sometimes it seems the current must be against them because they almost hang in yhe water and sorta kinda nose their way closer to their prey?  Well I look over behind verifying some dumb thing for nav and I see this AI plane looking all the world like some dumb shark swimming behind me nosing around.  "Oh oh thats not a 2 engine plane..."  Then the tracers began

[Lusekofte]

I flew a dynamic campaign in old IL 2. After several starts trying to get passed 1 missions I managed to survive 153 missions. I had some crash landings in friendly territory. 

I flew this campaign very carefully trying to do my job but focused on survival. 

I died taxiing after a successful mission , the tip of my wing hit a static plane and “ding” the plane exploded. I am afraid I yet haven’t survived any of the scripted campaigns nor starts of careers. I fly slow planes and aaa is simply to accurate

[danielprates]

I too had a much longer life expectancy in il21946. Was it an easier game?

 

Here though, I never managed to get my guy to go further than 10 missions. I would say, the causes are like 1/3 deaths inside the cockpit and 2/3 bailouts within enemy territory (wounded or not). Ground fire must acount for some half od those kills.

 

That is more or less consistent with real life statiatics, isn't it?

[Donik]

7 hours ago, josephine said:

When I play on medium difficulty

 

side note - anyone know the immediate differences between difficulties? I never bothered to look, and just set mine to hard with medium front line density.

[Jade_Monkey]

There is probably more to it, but part of it has to do with the distances at which AI planes take certain actions:

Ace will shoot at you from further away and will evade you earlier. Low AI will only shoot at you from point blank and won't evade till you are right on his ass.

 

Im sure there are maneuvers that are performed only by higher AI levels too, but that's just a guess.

[Sublime]

52 minutes ago, Donik said:

 

side note - anyone know the immediate differences between difficulties? I never bothered to look, and just set mine to hard with medium front line density.

It seems to be how well tbe AI flies. I always use medium now.   Whats sort of nice is Ive never overtly seen the ai 'cheat'.  Sure it has advantages being the AI always but it uses rhe same FM.  It really seems higher difficulty means like the AI wont always do turn fights etc. This can cause a big differwnce fighting say 109s

[dburne]

7 hours ago, Donik said:

 

side note - anyone know the immediate differences between difficulties? I never bothered to look, and just set mine to hard with medium front line density.

 

 

[Lusekofte]

10 hours ago, danielprates said:

too had a much longer life expectancy in il21946. Was it an easier game?

 

No it was not. Aaa and aa in special was not as deadly. Some times ai opponents could be a real pain in the ass. But effectiveness was not as dramatic. I feel the dm in this game is more complex but it does not work in players favor

[danielprates]

2 hours ago, LuseKofte said:

 

No it was not. Aaa and aa in special was not as deadly. Some times ai opponents could be a real pain in the ass. But effectiveness was not as dramatic. I feel the dm in this game is more complex but it does not work in players favor

 

Thats my impression too. Enemy AI planes felt more like a challenge, but mostly everyrhing else was less deadly.

[Fennec]

It also depends on the kind of risks you are willing to take. When flying ground attack aircrafts like Sturmoviks and Hs129,  it is harder to survive mainly due to how accurate the AAA is in BoX compared to IL2-1946 like LuseKofte said. So if you are too greedy during your pass or attempt risky approaches (not getting altitude after each pass or being too slow in your attacking pass) or do not constantly fly like a "snake" changing heading to fool the AAA after a pass, you often get punished.

 

In fighters I would probably be court-martialed the way I fly in careers since quite often if i do not shoot down a few aircrafts on my own, my team loses.. so i often have to leave the bombers I am supposed to escort undefended or sometimes just go home when i am out of ammo or chased by multiple planes because the rest of my flight of fighters has been wiped out .

 

Or in most cases, I fly alone much higher than the rest of my flight because they decided to be sitting ducks flying slow at 2k which is the worst ( not high enough to have any advantage if you meet the enemy, too high to be concealed by terrain or make it difficult for aircrafts bouncing you).  I mean either lets fly at tree top level in stealth mode or lets fly at our maximum competitive altitude..(usually between 4 and 6k)

 

Yesterday was so funny, in a P39, we had a mission to attack transport columns. No enemies in sight in the target zone so we proceeded to drop the bombs but after 10 minutes of circling and observing my 2 teammates strafing them, there was still no enemies spotted in the zone... So what to do? I emptied my ammo on the column as well since I would be punished making it back home with a full ammo load. Then I climbed away in direction of home. 

 

But then at least 4 Bf-109s suddenly appear below in my teammates tails while climbing home... We are all out of ammo... the rest of my flight get obliterated by 2 of them.. I go in emergency power and continue to climb and reach 20.000 feet. Naturally both 109 were close to be within firing range rather quickly and my engine was overheating badly.

 

So I dove from 20k feet with low settings radiators, super low rpm/throttle and reached over 500mph in the dive. Funnily 2 109's followed and as i levelled up at tree top level, I suddenly saw them crash into the ground one after the other as they could not pull up at such high speeds somehow. Felt sweeter than any victory obtained at gun point  

 

But had I tried to help my teammates who were flying lower over enemy territory, that would probably be the end of my campaign. Still, cowardice is rewarding...luckily there was no witness.. I would be shot in real life i guess... "abandoned his comrades under enemy fire..". But what could i do without ammo.. 

 

I went far in some campaigns with the 109 and the Yaks. If you are conservative and try your best to not risk it much and survive as your number 1 priority, it is possible to finish careers in iron man (medium/medium/runway starts). In ground attack planes however...I also briefly tried Stuka and Pe2 campaigns...did not end well rather quickly.. as the AI is not very good at protecting its bombers.. then the AAA..

 

Edited May 12, 2019 by Fennec

[Sublime]

Yes.  Also you have to make some decisions. Career mode is a lirtle unrealistic.  You can savage the enemy in the air and itll never have an effect. Sure IRL a pilot couldnt win the war but missions where I down 6 A20s and my squad gets another 5 or 6? I think A20 activity may slow a day or 2.  Or days on days od 4 or 5 yak losses from the same airfield in Kuban.  They wont run out. Or even suspend ops.

Sorry I digressed - your choice is when enemy bombers come or escorting yours stayinf in character or not.  If youd rather kills chase the enemy it doesnt rlly matter if your bombers or the enemy makes it.  If you wana be realistic you can easily throw off an entire medium/heavy bomber mission with one pass. They fly in vics and usually onr of them.downed or damaged xauses 3 to drop out. You may not get the kills but you can stop the bombing attack cold.

Escort? As Fennec said this isbthe east not NWE and theres no "loose escort" order from.Doolittle so riding off against enemy planes is leaving your bombers exposed.

And so on.

[Mac_Messer]

Furthest I got in Kuban career, on 29th mission PKed by Yak. Now 60 missions with 6 deaths counted.

[JonRedcorn]

2 hours ago, Sublime said:

Yes.  Also you have to make some decisions. Career mode is a lirtle unrealistic.  You can savage the enemy in the air and itll never have an effect. Sure IRL a pilot couldnt win the war but missions where I down 6 A20s and my squad gets another 5 or 6? I think A20 activity may slow a day or 2.  Or days on days od 4 or 5 yak losses from the same airfield in Kuban.  They wont run out. Or even suspend ops.

Sorry I digressed - your choice is when enemy bombers come or escorting yours stayinf in character or not.  If youd rather kills chase the enemy it doesnt rlly matter if your bombers or the enemy makes it.  If you wana be realistic you can easily throw off an entire medium/heavy bomber mission with one pass. They fly in vics and usually onr of them.downed or damaged xauses 3 to drop out. You may not get the kills but you can stop the bombing attack cold.

Escort? As Fennec said this isbthe east not NWE and theres no "loose escort" order from.Doolittle so riding off against enemy planes is leaving your bombers exposed.

And so on.

Get dcg and il2 1946.

[Sublime]

Dcg? Whats that?

I have dcs but until I get a job again thats on hold. Then I wi get the f14 mod and the ww2 assets and otber stuff. As of now the p51 is nice but without spending 50 on a map and 50 on assets.. Jeesh.

I had il2 46.  I owned a couple copies. Lost over time. Im not shelling out for a 3rd. I loved the game but going back isnt an option.

Pwgc is better than career mode IMO and I like MP.

However IMO I dont see this as a like it or leave sitaution.  Why cant there be improvements and changes?

[Lord_Strange]

Sometimes the career mode seems to throw genuine suicide missions at you. My first attempt at a career was as an He-111 pilot and the first mission I received was a night-time raid on a train station. My orders were to bomb the station at 1 km, which I thought was rather low for level bombing, even at night, but I decided I ought to follow the brief. So I flew in at 1 km altitude and was instantly lit up by their searchlights and blown out of the sky before I could even release my bombs. Fortunately I managed to bail out but it meant my pilot spent the rest of the war as a POW after just one sortie. Lesson learned: don't follow orders if they seem too dangerous.

[ICDP]

My latest and most bitter loss was a MiG 3 Moscow career at high difficulty.  I had flown 70ish missions and had 43 kills and always tried to help my fellow pilots and stick with my flight lead.  It is amazing how many kills you pick off the tail of your flight leader if you maintain discipline and stick with him.

 

What was to turn out to be my last mission was an artillery attack mission.  Close to the target area we were intercepted by four 109Fs and I dropped my bombs to cover my flight, who were of course focused on attacking ground targets.  I managed to damage a few of the 109s but was never able to stay on them to finish them off before one their wingman started to get perilously close to a gun solution.  I did this for what seemed like an age before running out of ammo and just being an aunt sally to keep the 109s off my squadron mates.  Eventually the early damage I inflicted on two of the 109s forced them to ditch and my squadron finished their ground attack runs and joined in the fight.

 

While my AI flight engaged the other 2 109s I headed for home with my plane full of holes, hard to fly straight and a damaged engine.  We were a far distance behind enemy lines and I expected my engine would not hold out long.  As I was at tree top level I had to decide on running for home hoping the engine would get me over the front lines, or getting some alt to give me some much needed distance from the inevitable ground units I would encounter.  I elected to gain height slowly and eventually, at about 1K altitude and right over the front lines the engine quit.  I gave myself a virtual pat on the back knowing I could glide to safety.  When I was inside friendly territory, I had to decide to bail or to ditch, with the plane still hard to control I felt ditching would be too risky and bailed out.

 

Well it seems bailing out over a forest is not a good idea, I gracefully descended on the parachute into so trees and died instantly.

 

All those missions and I ended up getting killed by a tree.

Edited May 12, 2019 by ICDP

[Sublime]

I remember a PVO defense of Moscow P40 campaign. I had a US / Russian sounding name. I was really into it using only US skins imagining some US guy who travelled to Russia to fight since no other air force would take him - ex Flying Tiger who disgraced himself bombing a friendly Chinese field one hungover mor ing

Prwtending Luftwaffe bombing crews being like wtf seeing a US fighter cut thru their formation. Being told at debrief they were wrong. A couple weeks.  45 kills - wasnt bad in a P40 and I did the ground atttack. I knew I had somethinf special - mission one 8 kills (all parked lol) but of course if you use your imagination in career mode things like that are funny. Imagining tje outraged luftwaffe higher ups. There was a Ju52 parked out in front of a hanger thst got special attention hopefully stranding some General.

i remember when I got hit bad and was limping home and a flak round hit me and I went into a crazy spin.. i literally yelled NOooooooo out loud at first 32

2 hours ago, ICDP said:

My latest and most bitter loss was a MiG 3 Moscow career at high difficulty.  I had flown 70ish missions and had 43 kills and always tried to help my fellow pilots and stick with my flight lead.  It is amazing how many kills you pick off the tail of your flight leader if you maintain discipline and stick with him.

 

What was to turn out to be my last mission was an artillery attack mission.  Close to the target area we were intercepted by four 109Fs and I dropped my bombs to cover my flight, who were of course focused on attacking ground targets.  I managed to damage a few of the 109s but was never able to stay on them to finish them off before one their wingman started to get perilously close to a gun solution.  I did this for what seemed like an age before running out of ammo and just being an aunt sally to keep the 109s off my squadron mates.  Eventually the early damage I inflicted on two of the 109s forced them to ditch and my squadron finished their ground attack runs and joined in the fight.

 

While my AI flight engaged the other 2 109s I headed for home with my plane full of holes, hard to fly straight and a damaged engine.  We were a far distance behind enemy lines and I expected my engine would not hold out long.  As I was at tree top level I had to decide on running for home hoping the engine would get me over the front lines, or getting some alt to give me some much needed distance from the inevitable ground units I would encounter.  I elected to gain height slowly and eventually, at about 1K altitude and right over the front lines the engine quit.  I gave myself a virtual pat on the back knowing I could glide to safety.  When I was inside friendly territory, I had to decide to bail or to ditch, with the plane still hard to control I felt ditching would be too risky and bailed out.

 

Well it seems bailing out over a forest is not a good idea, I gracefully descended on the parachute into so trees and died instantly.

 

All those missions and I ended up getting killed by a tree.

Uggghthe agony! And if youd unrealistically just ditched into woods slow enuff you wuda been alive! (Tho irl I highly doubt 100 mph crash into tall pines.. Oof)

[No105_Swoose]

First, thank you for this interesting and informative thread/topic.  It's great to see what other players are experiencing.

 

I hope I'm not jinxing myself by writing this, but I'm currently on my most successful IL-2:Great Battles SP career to-date.  It's a Battle of Kuban Yak career.  I started with Yak-7B's with the 15th IAP at the "Bridgehead" beginning of the campaign in April 1943.  When Yak-7B units were withdrawn to the rear in mid-June I opted to transfer to the 42nd IAP flying Yak-1 Series 69 and Yak-1B Series 127 out of Slavanskaya.  Settings are "Easy", takeoff from runway, normal career progression, and dense ground formations.  I'm up to about 40 missions, promoted to Captain, Hero of the Soviet Union award, and Deputy Commander of the regiment/squadron.  I've had to make at least three forced landings and have been lightly wounded twice earning 2 x Red Wound Stripes.  I often have to decide between what I call "gamesmanship" - achieve a high number of kills but still try to survive - and "realism"- do I follow the mission even if it might result in my demise?

 

If you want a long-, or longer-, term career I think a fighter pilot career is the way to go.  My favorite aircraft in the sim is the various mods of the namesake IL-2 Sturmovik.  I really like "mud moving" and getting down-and-dirty, up close-and-personal with ground targets.  But with so many weapons from MG-34 machine guns to 88 mm FLAK guns shooting at you, your chances of survival are slim.  12 is about the most number of missions I've been able to survive flying IL-2's.  

 

It took me a while to get used to fighters and early on I was often "waxed" before getting very far into a career.  But through trial-and-error and practice I got better.  For VVS I've found the Yak series of fighters to be the best for me in terms of speed, armament, ease--of-handling, and maneuverability.  

 

I'll admit I'm reluctant to get into big "Intercept ground attack planes" mission fur balls.  Very worried about getting schwaked myself while on a bandit's "6" or colliding with a friendly or enemy plane.

 

If I do another fighter career I'll change the setting to "Moderate" to possibly make the enemy AI more challenging.

 

My 2 cents.   Swoose

 

[Sublime]

Id up it to moderate you can do it mid campaign evem one mission if you like. It doesnt make the ai impossible or cheat they actually just fly noticeably more realistically.

Still far far from MP but I couldnt go back to easy now.

[seafireliv]

Whenever I play an iron-man game, I break out into a sweat when I see I`m going to have to go over enemy lines in briefing.

 

Once over I have to make some hard decisions on when it`s time to go home or stick it out. Problem is, Stalin gets real upset if you return home with rounds still in your aircraft.

 

Screw Stalin!

 

 

[E4GLEyE]

lost my Italian pilot a few days ago... Dunno the precise time he survived, but he was my most successful. I started the Moscow campaign in the mc202 than transferred to a unit flying bf109s... There I went from day to day. And at one point I lost a wing due to a sneaky Ivan attacking me while flying homebound... I bailed and the chute opened late... But my pilot survived and carried on... Than out of bad habit I flew a head on vs a Mig and got hit in the head by his first bullet.... Never again going for head on passes is the lesson I learned

[Georgio]

Regarding flak, just let the rest of your flight to dive in and then take out the flak from the back while it's shooting at other planes in your flight.

Once the flak is neutralised ground attack is a lot easier until air assets get vectored in to take you on. I love taking out flak as your flight will generally ignore it and suffer the consequences if you don't do anything.

 

[Sublime]

Yeah I always play iron man. I havent done a level bomber campaign yet and want to. I like flting a20s best but they get a lotta nightmissions it seems.  Maube Ju88s since I saw a post that BoM had a lot of daylight missions. Speaking of iron man on BoM a p40 campaign where Id gotten around 30 kills in 14 days... i was going through P40s almost per mission but surviving... Then came one mission and like a fool I didnt even "need" to die. I was running away on the deck and flying lower than I needed to at all especially against the AI.  So im flying lower than treetops and my wing snags a tree and insta death.  I actually said "noooo" outloud

Ive gotten hooked on TAW though the last couple days though Im useless. Ive resupplied an airfield (or not. Didnt know needed 100% fuel)

Damaged 1 plane and destroyed 1 parked plane 1 hmg. Lol. Lost a 110 and got shot down by not so friendly fire in a 109

To be fair the near kill I went after a Peshka. I hit him but he was right by his field and just landed. His rear gunner hit my coolant line and I knew I was boned and far from friendly lines. I headed back and this jerk in a 110 makes a fantastic head on shot.. When Im already a glider desperately going to friendly lines. Jesus I was mad.

Edited May 14, 2019 by Sublime