So what are we looking for in a pilot? Skills are unimportant. It’s all about attitude. Be a team player. We are looking for mature flyers who enjoy flying together as a group. We try to strike a fine balance between fun arena furballing & realistic mission profiles without taking ourselves too seriously...all while maintaining a historic 'feel'. We emphasize wingman tactics, teamwork, and survival in the arenas - but most of all FUN. We are a older group. Our members ages range from 25 - 60+ years old, many being active/retired Military, Police, and professional pilots. No kids, please. Still interested? Then read on.

Is the 475th the right fit for you as a squad?

During World War II brave young men took to the skies in P-38’s with the 475 th Fighter Group. Our virtual 475th Fighter Group seeks to honor those men and the memory of what they did in battle in the Pacific skies.

How do we do so in the context of playing a game?  

It starts with respect. Respect for group members, team mates and opponents. That respect demands mature behavior in game and on bulletin boards. This does not preclude lively discussion but it does mean no personal insults on game voice, text or bulletin board posts.

Our philosophy is one of team work. The men who flew and died in World War II flew as a team. Every sortie we fly is a team sortie. Every kill is a team kill and every death is a loss for the group. Our goal is to play with a somewhat realistic approach to air combat, and by doing so honor to the memory of the real men of the 475th.

Play with passion, support your friends, vanquish your opponent and get home alive. Live to fight and fight to live.

Our cartoon lives are valuable to us. They are valuable because we value team work and our success is built on teamwork. Lose a few teammates and the rest play shorthanded making chances for success (and fun) diminish for all. Teamwork transforms mediocre individuals into sucessful teammates.

Our beloved P-38 is a jack of all trades, master of none. It is not the best in climb, turn radius, dive, max speed, or any other category of aircraft performance. But it does respectably well in all areas. It also makes a large preferred target for all those in the game with horrible gunnery. Hence, coordinated teamwork is a key to success.

If your idea of manly battle is flat turning on the deck and fighting till you are out of gas & ammo, without concern for your cartoon life, you won’t be a good fit with us. The challenge for us is to fly every sortie as a team and bring every member of that team home to land safely.

That, in a nutshell, is how we honor the 475th Fighter Group and keep the memory of their accomplishments and sacrifices alive.

Still interested?

We try to get in the best position possible to engage the enemy on our terms, making maximum use of the performance capability of the P38 and minimizing its weak points to achieve victory. We fly in wing pairs whenever possible, using loose deuce tactics to eliminate an opponent that is attacking a squad mate or countryman in need. We will also withdraw from a losing situation to try to reenter with a equal or advantageous position.

All things that an actual combat pilot would do if given the opportunity, we try to do as well.

In Aces High, this makes us timid, cherry picking, alt monkey score whores who only fight with an advantage .

Embrace your new identity.

That doesn’t mean we won’t fly aggressively. We are playing to fight. When fighting against superior aircraft and/or numbers, team work is the only advantage we have against an opponent. There will be many times when we fight and die. Hopefully, we learn from the experience and apply those lessons to future sorties.

Be a team player . When squaddies are on we fly together in the same area, and on the same side. We use Teamspeak. It sounds better and lets us instantly see who is online. We require group members to log into teamspeak before entering the arena. Check the roster in the lobby. See where group members are.  

We fly together whenever possible, even if it means waiting a few minutes for someone to return to the keyboard or rtb. Any sucess during the evening is shared by all, regardless of whom the server credits with victories. Any recognition given for the squads 'job well done', is due to a team effort, not an individual. No glory hounds and no 'you stole my kill' cries, please.

Be a P38 fan . While we occasionally mix up our rides to keep things fresh and fun, we pretty much stick to Allied aircraft, US models in particular. When flying as a group, we fly the P-38 about 90% of the time. To be a member of our group means you have a desire to learn to fly the P-38 and become proficient in it. This means occassional group training nights instead of arena play.

Speaking of arena play - we are basically about the furball. We dont do landgrab/base capture, although we may participate in our own way by sweeping/capping for the mission in progress. We seek the sector with ideally the largest equal length ( or near to ) bar dar and hope to find good fights there. We do keep our furballs 3 dimentional, though, and enter them with at least some kind of altitude to play with.

While it may sound as though we are a pretty uptight bunch we actually are very loose and fun. Our private teamspeak server is not for the faint hearted. We are a bunch of mature men and our conversations are wide ranging. We curse like sailors. Above all we are there to have fun, together.

No kids please. Over 18 a must, 21 preferred.

If you’ve gotten this far and are still interested, then fill out an application. Provide a valid email address that you actually check, and we will get back to you a.s.a.p.

Sav - 475FG CO