Cam's Medal of Honor

[scrollgirl]

It just now occurs to me... it's possible that Cam's entire squadron, all sixteen pilots and co-pilots, were awarded the Medal of Honor. Until today I've always assumed he was the only F-302 pilot to have survived Antarctica--it just seemed like a more dramatic story that way--until I re-read the transcript for Lost City, Part 2:
INT-PROMETHEUS

Comments

[amenirdis]

My guess would be that he was the only one, and that it was both because he was in command and because he wasn't really expected to survive, or at least not to survive without significant impairment. From it being awarded in the hospital, that's what I'd read. If the person is expected to be able in the future to attend an awards ceremony, that's preferred. However, if it seems that they're never going to leave the hospital, it's better to go ahead and do it so they at least know about it before they die. When I first saw the episode I thought that Cam was expected to die because they were going ahead with the medal.

[scrollgirl]

You might be able to help me understand this a bit better... Someone on DW mentioned that he might have been awarded the medal because he didn't retreat after he was initially hit in the dogfight. Having checked the transcript, it looks to me that Cam was still flying okay after losing his left thruster. He then lost a turbine, but almost immediately took the hit that fatally injured his co-pilot and downed his fighter. My question is whether Cam went above and beyond by staying in the fight after the first hit, or whether flying with one thruster is relatively common. Do you know?

Thanks :)

[amenirdis]

I have no idea, because I don't know what the capability of the 302 is supposed to be. Certainly staying with the flight after taking a hit that is supposed to take you out is above and beyond the call of duty, but I don't know since the 302 is fictional whether or not that's supposed to be a serious hit. For example, on the big four engine bombers, losing one engine isn't supposed to be a reason to scrub. But losing one engine is on other planes. I can't remember if we see other 302s staying in after losing an engine at other times? What do you think?