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#antiaircraft #bloody #casualty #flak #injury #lucky #mecha #mechapilot #medevac #military #miracle #shrapnel #survive #war #downedpilot #juliustan
Published: 2020-02-11 12:27:41 +0000 UTC; Views: 4336; Favourites: 207; Downloads: 0
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Description
An airborne mecha pilot miraculously survived a heavy flak salvo when a round slammed directly into her cockpit, smashing off most of it but the pilot's chair.As the pain sets in and the shock subsides, she summons every ounce of strength she has left and gathered the essentials for a medevac, all while struggling to remain awake amid the gouts of blood flooding her vision.
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Comments: 40
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Just another wild n' woolly day in the Aerial Armed Forces, eh?
oof, yeah, as someone who's survived a car crash, the part where the adrenaline wears off is the worst; you kinda just go immobile for a day or more - so best do what you can in those first few seconds in the name of self-preservation
Nice use of forms + light/shadows, too, to draw our attention to all the important elements.
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So. Much. Blood... O__o'
I thought there were two pilots... and only one lives.
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Medic: ... that was notΒ a "close call". She was struggling to keep conscious when we found her!
Commander: Yeah, she survived. That's a close call.
Medic: Did you see that mecha?! It was Swiss Cheese! There was more blood on what was left of it than in the pilot!!
Commander: Look, you saved her and put her back together. That's all that matters.
Medic: With all due respect, sir, it's not! I don't think you're getting how close she just came to death!!
Commander: EXACTLY. She came CLOSE to death. CLOSE, doc. So, classify it as a "close call" and get my pilot back out into the field.
Medic: Sir--
Commander: That is an order, doc. We have a war to win.
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with that much blood the pilot lost, i'm surprised she has't passed out yet
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no, it was sneezing...
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yay!!! haha, you got it!
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Looks like she was wearing her headgear, too.Β Ouch.Β
My uncle was a veteran of WWII and flew as crew aboard a B-24 Liberator.Β They flew night missions without escorts, which was pretty dicey to begin with.Β When they were attacked he would man the top turret, but most of the danger came from flak.Β On one mission, as they were under fire, one of the crew asked him a question.Β When he turned his head to answer, a piece of flak came up through the deck, struck him under the rim of the helmet, and rattled around inside without causing him major harm.Β He said that if he hadn't turned his head at that instant the flak would have taken his head off.Β Sometimes the gods are kind.
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I worked with an old Judge who crewed a B17 as a waist gunner. He left his post to check on the navigator who took a piece of shrapnel.
The plane was violently shook with a blast knocking him down. He got up and the whole waist section was gone just leaving the upper and lower frame struts holding the tail on.
Both guns and his mate were gone.
That iconic picture of a B17 missing itβs waist area missing was his aircraft.
You should listen to Kansas song Icarus II.
It will give you chills.
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Was that the "Sweet Pea"?Β Amazing photos out there if you search for them.Β It's incredible how much damage they could take and keep on flying.Β Alas the human crew wasn't so durable.Β My uncle and his crew survived the war - surviving the peace was harder.Β He had what we now call PTSD and while functional as a businessman he treated his trauma with alcohol and cigarettes and passed from cancer at age 54 or so.Β They didn't have much help for veterans of his and my dad's era.Β My granddad did WWI and that was a whole 'nother story.Β
I'll go find that song, thanks!Β I always enjoyed Kansas.Β
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Probably........that old judge only described the damage. He would tear up thinking about it. Took a lot to get him to talk. Those guys were that way.
I know how PTSD feels.
I was a Nam vet.
Battled those same feelings.
A side note, my father was in the Merchant Marine Service....1940 to 1945.......he was 4F on a medical and denied enlistment, only had one and a half lungs. Childhood pneumonia cured by draining his lungs, part of one collapsed and didnβt recover. The Merchant Marines didnβt care.....they needed crews on merchant ships. So he dodged torpedoes. Survived PQ17. Three sinkings. Kamikazes. North Atlantic storms. Pacific typhoons. Two JU87 divebombers while making a run into the North Sea on the eve of DDay. Sitting with the fleet off Japan waiting on invasion.
Out of his graduating class of 300 only 15 survived the war.
He told me a story of seeing a B17 flying over the docks in England with its mid section blown out. He waved and this airman peering out that gapping hole waved back.
I saw a similarity.
I got these two men together and they finished each otherβs story.
That old judge remembered waving at a guy on a ship as they cruised over the docks heading to an emergency airfield.
Two old men unrelated but united one time at a place in time.
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Aw, poor girl. If only someone watched her six.
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Will we see more of her?
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Great drawing, Joules! No worries about her. I know from experience the medevac always carries extra blood on board. She'll live. Awesome piece of work, man.
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Never would have thought that comment would have such an impact on you. Glad I could help ease your concern! Hopefully we'll get to see this pilot on the mend in some future picture.
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