Why are...?

Raptor48

Spaceman
Why are all of the pilots in the WC series officers? It never made much sense to me since officers are usually the ones giving orders to non coms and below, who make up the combat source. I can imagine a couple officers as squadron leaders and such, but it always baffled me when a Colonel was flying wingman.
 
This is because in all military's out there, Officers are the only ones actually allowed to fly. Enlisted personnel can act as a crew cheif, or aircraft maintainer, but they cannot fly. The army has has the bulk of its pilots made up of Warrant Officers. The Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force are all made up of Commissioned Officers, though i've heard the Navy now has its own group of Warrant Officers flying. But, as I said, enlisted personnel are the backbone of the force, and Officers are the flyers.
 
In most aviation branches of most militaries around the world even today, one must be an officer simply to climb into the cockpit. It's a fact that all the extra education and training required to be able to fly qualifies aviators for an officer's commission. On your average AFB or Navy Carrier, the non-coms are your technicians, ordnance handlers, cooks, electricians, helmsmen, and a myriad of other roles aboard that are not aviators.

The higher ranking aviators yes, are your squadron leaders, and wing commanders. Wing Commander as a series is an accurate representation of a carrier flight wing in many respects, right down to at times, higher ranking officers will allow a junior aviator to take command during a lower-risk mission in order to give them valuable command experience.
 
This is a great topic! I think it came up about a year or so ago. Since WC is often compared to WWII, it is fair to point out that although very rare, enlisted personnel did, on occasion, take to the air. I think this occured with the greatest frequency in the Luftwaffe. Even some of the highest scoring 'experten' jumped into the cockpits as Unteroffiziers first...
ex Anton Hackl, 192 kills

In other words, there's still hope for you. ;)
 
The U.S. had a small number of flying Sergeants in WW2, but I don't think it's the case today.

Actually, it was a rather large number early in the war. There's a fantastic exhibit about this at the San Diego Aeronautical Museum. It talks all about the enlisted flight programs that were available during World War II in an attempt to make up for the lack of a large fighter force in the Marine Corps Pilots and Naval Aviators.

(On a side note that's one of my most favorite Aviation museums to visit - I found it much more interesting then the Smithsonian in DC, for example.)
 
That's the one... it's sometimes funny to go back and re-read old posts that you've written. Thanks!
 
I've got an additional question. How do the 3 numbers after the year work?
I.e. 2667.143, what do the final 3 numbers represent?
 
Well the RAF has Flight Sergeant for enlisted pilots, the rank is still around, but I don't know much about the modern RAF, do Flight Sergeants still fly?
 
Well the RAF has Flight Sergeant for enlisted pilots, the rank is still around, but I don't know much about the modern RAF, do Flight Sergeants still fly?

I Think only as Helicopter pilots these days. Fighter pilots are all officers since the early 60s, but I may be wrong.
 
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