"Just fly straight at ’em as fast as ya can, give ’em sum dakka, and don't ferget to yell “WAAAGH!” dead loud like. Nuffin’ to it!"
- — Flyboss Skarzag, Badtoof Skwadron
A Flyboy (pl. Flyboyz) is a member of the Ork sub-culture of Speed Freeks whose need for speed far outstrips that of his ground-based Ork brethren. Although most Orks prefer to keep their feet firmly on the ground, there are a few unstable individuals amongst the tribes that developed a craving to fly through the air like a bird. They take to the sky in search of ever-greater exhilaration.
Role[]
Most Orks prefer to keep their feet firmly on the ground, and believe the real fighting is done up close and personal. Ork aircraft are the ultimate expression of a particular mania that can seize an Ork's mind. The afflicted Ork seeks ever-greater thrills from speed and danger, driving or, in extreme cases, flying faster and faster. Those afflicted are called Speed Freeks, and regardless of their original klan, invariably belong to the Kult of Speed. The majority of Speed Kultists come from the Evil Sunz klan, but not all, and the mania can seize any Ork. Few "victims" actually become pilots, because most Orks have a natural distrust of flying, and much prefer to remain with their feet solidly upon the ground, where the "proppa' scrappin" is done.
There are some unstable individuals amongst a tribe that crave to fly through the sky. The Orks refer to these outcasts as Flyboyz, and they all belong to a sub-cult known as Speed Freeks. It seems their demand for extra speed cannot be satisfied by land-based vehicles. They take to the sky in search of even greater exhilaration. Their reckless flying, dive-bombing and strafing runs, as well as the search for greater and greater speeds, seems to change their brain patterns, inducing a state of manic euphoria. Other Orks generally consider them to be quite mad, and avoid them. Flyboyz live in semi-exile from the Ork tribal hierarchy, only associating with other Flyboyz, Gretchin slaves and gunners and the deranged Mekboyz who build and maintain their aircraft.
Notable Flyboyz[]
- Da Blue Mek - An infamous Ork Flyboy and Dakkajet pilot.
- Da Krimson Barun - An infamous Ork Flyboy who served under Skullkrumpa -- the infamous Red Scourge of Galthamor -- an ambitious and foul-tempered Evil Sunz Warboss. Da Krimson Barun was perhaps the finest Ork Fighta Ace ever to live. Whilst many Ork pilots stenciled enemy kills onto their planes, Da Krimson Barun's Dakkajet remained free of such blemishes. Whenever this was remarked upon, Da Krimson Barun retorted that if he bothered with marking every kill he'd need a flying Gargant! Indeed, Da Krimson Barun's preternatural skill was matched only by his ego, and the only thing that came close to screaming through the air, guns blazing, was telling all the other Flyboyz about it. In 925.M41, Skullkrumpa broke out in an attempt to carve a realm of his own out of the stars. When he assaulted the Imperial world of Cadrim, it was the White Scars Chapter who flocked to the besieged world's distress signals. When the White Scars launched an aerial assault, dozens of Ork planes came bursting out of cloud cover, the distinctive red Dakkajet of Da Krimsun Barun, Skullkrumpa's right-hand Ork, at their head. Claiming a vicious kill tally, he would eventually meet his first defeat at the hands of a Necron Doom Scythe, following the awakening of the slumbering Necrons beneath the planet's surface. Unbeknownst to the combatant, the world of Cadrim was once a Tomb World of the reclusive Necron Nihilakh Dynasty. Surviving the crash, Da Krimson Barun soon took to the skies again in a "borrowed" Dakkajet from a rival fighta ace. In a subsequent battle, he engaged aerial forces from both the Necrons and White Scars during an attack on Fellstorm Airfield. During the battle Da Krimson Barun shot down four more Necron Doom Scythes before he was shot out of the air by a Space Marine Missile Launcher. It is unknown if the Da Krimson Barun survived.
- Da Sky Shredda - An infamous Ork Flyboy and Dakkajet pilot.
- Skyboss Wingnutz - An avowed Speed Freek, Wingnutz had a near-religious awakening upon the Hive World of Ghul Jensen when he first piloted a Dakkajet. Since that day, Wingnutz has amassed a ramshackle fleet of looted and kustomised aircraft that follow in his wake. Known as the Flyboyz, Wingnutz serves as this unusual warband's Skyboss. His Flyboyz would go on to darken the skies in the vanguard of Grukk Face-rippa's Red WAAAGH!. So eager was Wingnutz to get into combat that his Boyz would lash their planes to the outside of scrap ships, cutting them free as they fell through a planet's atmosphere. The Flyboyz would then plague the skies of the world, shooting down anything in their sights and dropping bombs on targets below. Wingnutz himself became notorious for his death-defying strafing runs over battlefields, his Dakkajet passing only a few metres above the heads of startled Orks and their terrified enemies alike.
Sources[]
- Imperial Armour Aeronautica (Specialist Game)
- Imperial Armour II - Ork, Eldar and Dark Eldar Vehicles for Warhammer 40,000, pg. 34
- Imperial Armour Eight - The Raid on Kastorel-Novem, pp. 179, 182
- Warhammer 40,000: Compendium - Death From the Skies, pg. 62
- White Dwarf 390 (US), "The Battle for Cadrim," pp. 31, 34, 36-37
- Deff' Skwadron (Graphic Novel) by Gordon Rennie