Pretty much. Immediately heave to when challenged. Wait for dumbasses to board, take two of them hostages, and lash em to the mast, then sail off flipping their buddies the bird.
Sky Pirates of the Mediterranean
- Thread starter M.C.Schock
- Start date
Pretty much. Immediately heave to when challenged. Wait for dumbasses to board, take two of them hostages, and lash em to the mast, then sail off flipping their buddies the bird.
RamscoopRaider
Donor
Dumbasses is right. One step could be sideswipe and wreck their plane in the process of sailing off, that close they have no angle to shoot at anything important
IMO they could just rob banks on land, which carries less risk and has less penalties than piracy. Or you can use your seaplane to smuggle something, again less risk or penalties if caught
RightHoJeeves
Banned
Agreed that this is not a practical way to make a living. That said maybe some crazy, thrill-seeking tycoon decides to take up sky piracy for kicks. Would make for some wonderful pulp material.
Oh dammit I misread, but I did find the Germans in WW1 took over a Norwegian schooner from a Zeppelin, that's kinda the same
Not all planes were flimsy, like the Walrus going off a cordite fueled catapult
True. I was thinking of planes a decade earlier, and those that might be had by a merchant for self-defence. I can't see a Sopwith Camel doing well, for instance.
RodentRevolution
Banned
Did a Sopwith Camel really need catapult launching or would a really stiff sneeze do?
Edit: a quick flick across the internet suggests the first successful catapult launch of an aircraft may well have been by the Wright Brothers themselves so it seems given their much lower take off speed weedy catapults would do for weedy aircraft.
Again though I think a few shotguns or perhaps rifles would probably provide a more sufficient and affordable defence.
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Well, after WW1, many battleships had flying off platforms that were no longer than their turrets.
So, if you have deckspace, and have all the crew breathe heavily at it at the same time, and it would probably take off.
Still, I agree a few machine guns/rifles should do the job.
The Great War just ended and there are lots of surplus and obsolete weapons just lying around. Nothing to powerful is needed, just something powerful enough to destroy a flying boat that pulled up next to you.
Hand grenades might even do it.
Just making a sharp turn would do. A aluminum and fabric covered seaplane wouldn't handle a collision with a couple thousand tons of steel very well.
Cool idea here, a private security company buys a tramp steamer and convert it into an early aircraft early aircraft carrier in sells the services to governments and shipping companies.
Hand grenades might even do it.
Just making a sharp turn would do. A aluminum and fabric covered seaplane wouldn't handle a collision with a couple thousand tons of steel very well.
Cool idea here, a private security company buys a tramp steamer and convert it into an early aircraft early aircraft carrier in sells the services to governments and shipping companies.
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This is such a cool premise (especially for and Air-Pirate fanatic like me), its a shame that its not really going to work.
What happens if you look at the tail end of the era described by OP? So more towards 1939 than 1918. I guess its more difficult to create the necessary conditions then, but the planes become much more durable and powerfull. The CANT Z.501 for example first flew in 34 and by 38 even the huge Kawanishi H6K is available.
What happens if you look at the tail end of the era described by OP? So more towards 1939 than 1918. I guess its more difficult to create the necessary conditions then, but the planes become much more durable and powerfull. The CANT Z.501 for example first flew in 34 and by 38 even the huge Kawanishi H6K is available.
Even then, the Med is such a small area, the UK at least is going to take a very dim view of it with all of their Mediterranean commitments, that I imagine that the pirates won't last long. Even if being unofficially sheltered, the UK has something of a history of disregarding such things. In the case of piracy, it isn't like any other nation is going to object if the RN smashes them and steps on a failed states' toes.
Why limit this to the Med? Other areas of commerce would also be good. The East Indies, African coast would be prime. For a base of operations use an older tramp freighter. If the targeted ship has valuable but heavy items the base ship could be called to take the items. In cases like that the victim is sunk in deep water. Many ships did not maintain 24 hour radio watches at this time. Also no one has mentioned a weapon I can see being used by the pirates. Gas. Even responsible naval writers of teh time expected naval aircraft to use gas bombs in future wars (Read 'The Great Pacific War' by Hector Bywater) Gas would discourage ships from shooting back as the planes approached.
Hey maybe some movie producer will see this and we'll see an adventure movie similar to Indiana Jones based on this concept!
Hey maybe some movie producer will see this and we'll see an adventure movie similar to Indiana Jones based on this concept!