Should you continue shooting at planes when engine has stopped?

What are your personal ethics regarding this matter?
Don’t you think my plane ?was damaged enough to stop continued attack?
I think if a plane is obviously going down and the engine is knocked out, you should stop the attacks.

I always cease fire as soon as I see black smoke or a stopped prop not because of ethics, but to conserve ammo and energy.

2 Likes

True about the ammo consideration. Energy I think is probably the most important.

Its just interesting to think how one would react IRL to same situation.

No, it is not. The generally acceptable goal is to destroy the aircraft. I follow @schurem’s rational.

That said, technically you are not supposed to shoot a parachuting individual (except paratroopers)or a plane that has indicated it is surrendering…i.e. lowers the landing gear…which, as was mentioned in another thread, is a moot point if attacking a fixed-gear aircraft like a Stuka.

1 Like

Stuka’s always be surrendering if you come at it in anything but a Gloster Gladiator lol

2 Likes

So if a plane is trailing smoke engine stopped going down, you would continue that attack.
but if it lowers the gear you would stop?

Yes. Until a wing breaks off or it enters a death spiral or just explodes, it is still a valid target.

If the pilot surrenders, I would honor that…with my finger on the trigger, just in case he changes his mind.

2 Likes

I shoot till I see the label disappear. When the sim thinks the plane is out, it’s out. :smile:

As for stopped engine, I have over the years scored at least half a dozen kills while dead-stick thanks to an alt advantage and an easy target. While it’s very rare, it in fact happened to me over the Kerch Strait just a week ago. The 109’s engine seized up without splatting oil all over the screen and there was an Il-2 right ahead of me.

So about 45-60 seconds after my engine died, so did that Il-2! I then proceeded to glide to the coast in the hopes of crashing on ground instead of needlessly drowning my concrete-carrying never-seen-water pilot.

1 Like