Basic Information

Historically, an Ace Pilot is a fighter pilot who has shot down 5 or more enemy aircraft.

Sometimes the term is used more casually to mean any hotshot pilot, be they military or civilian, including commercial pilots and Stunt Pilots as well as fighter pilots and bomber pilots, even helicopter pilots. In the Savage Worlds RPG "Ace Pilot" is used to mean you can fly anything.

Combat Roles and Pilot Types

Most of these are World War I and World War II pilots, but a few are more recent…

Bibliography

Old military wisdom says that in time of war there are only two types of pilots - Aces, and those who got shot down on their first mission. I think that means that most of the NPCs are Mooks.
- …although that ignores all those pilots whose job doesn't involve shooting at enemy aircraft.
- Actually, that makes for a really good subversion - an "ace" pilot with no credited kills because he drove a bomber, ground co-operation craft, reconnaissance bird or even a casevac. Or was a stunt pilot - look, for example at Hogan Washburne from Firefly - allegedly military trained but apparently never in combat. We presume that more backstory would have emerged later, but some theories suggest he was in an aerobatic display team and never got sent to the front.
Ace Pilots make good Player Characters.
- You might even set up a whole campaign around an air group during a war, sent on missions over enemy territory.

At least mid-level, since you've downed several enemies and lived to tell the tale.

Figure out which attribute affects piloting the most, and max it out. That'll usually be Agility or some Mental Attribute. If it's not crystal clear which one is used, ask your GM - you'd hate to find out later that he or she interprets the rules very differently than you do.
In general, your Physical Attributes shouldn't have any major weaknesses. You need to be healthy enough to qualify for military training, not to mention being able to pull out of a high-G dive.

Piloting - take it as high as the rules will allow. See also Barnstorming, Stunt Flying, Aerial Maneuvers, and Improbable Piloting Skills. In some games this is further divided into different types of piloting, in others, it's all rolled into one big vehicle skill.
Awareness is a big one that all Ace Pilots must have. If you don't even know you're in danger, you're gonna get shot down.
- On similar lines: Signaling, Non-Verbal Communication, Heraldry, etc, so you can tell friend from foe even in the midst of a fight.
Gunnery or Heavy Weapons for taking down enemy pilots. Bombardier for dropping payloads. These skills are far less important than piloting and awareness, however.
- Repair, Engineering, Aerodynamics and the like are skills you've probably picked up via osmosis and "keeping her together".
Cartography, Navigation, or at least experience in reading maps is going to be helpful.
- May go hand-in-hand with Bombardier skills.
- Mathematics is a likely pick-up skill as well, it takes a lot of geometry and calculations to chart a flight plan.
- Local Knowledge may suffice if the campaign doesn't involve any world-hopping.
Sanity, Willpower, and Stamina for those long solitary flights, punctuated by brief moments of energetic hell.
Survival - because any landing you can walk away from…

Variants

character military pilot

page revision: 10, last edited: 27 Nov 2016 01:05