I too feel bad about shooting down a cripple... specially because the fuel rules are unfair for the Germans... nevermind that I play germans! 
I like the idea of not shooting a cripple only if he announces it and exits on the wrong side of the board ("forced to land") if he tries to make a run for home, then it's fair game.
shooting down a defenceless recon plane or observation balloon
Wrong, attacking 2 seaters was more dangerous because the observer machinegun. Fighters were defenseless when you got on their tail.
Though observers rarely shot down an attacker, their fire was enough of a deterrent for most pilots.
Of course, there were horrible airplanes wich were flying targets like the BE2c...but that's another story.
And observation balloons were very, very dangerous targets to attack because of the heavy antiaircraft defenses and fighter cover protecting them, only certain spetialist pilots went balloon busting. Shooting down a balloon recquired either a lot of planning or a lot of courage, and in both cases, lots of luck. |