Spacemarine pilots - all techmarines?

[Denzark]

Quick question - it seems that a lot if not all, of Space Marine Flyer kits, have the pilot as techmarines.

But can anyone say, is this in line with the fluff? I was not aware that all flyers had to be piloted by techmarines. The Lexicanum doesn't mention this on the techmarine entry.

There is no in-game benefit to a techmarine pilot - although if you pop one in transport there would be.

Just seems a waste of a techmarine's skill because what they learn on Mars is more mechanics to me rather than driver skills - obviously the former helps you understand the latter. But certainly used to be most Space Marines of any length of service were trained on most vehicle types in chapter.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

It's because the Stormtalon/Raven are new STCs so the Mechanicum want Mechanicum trained pilots to test it iirc?

[DWest]

It's because the Stormtalon/Raven are new STCs so the Mechanicum want Mechanicum trained pilots to test it iirc?

Even the Rhino and Landraider have Techmarine markings on their gunners, however, and those regular crew are shown in Chapter colors instead of Techmarine colors. The flyer pilots are in Mechanicum red though.

In the last two versions of the Space Marine codex, it mentions that basic vehicle crews are pulled from the Company deploying the vehicles, even going so far as to note things such as Assault Marines being tapped for Land Speeder duty and the like. I would expect that vehicle-specific training falls under the auspices of the Techmarines, and so vehicle crews wear the Mechanicum cog to indicate they possess the training. It's also possible that the markings are suit-specific, i.e. vehicle crews wear a special version of Power Armour that has been optimized for use inside a vehicle, and those suits automatically come with the Mechanicum markings.

[phoenix01]

Page 12 of Codex Space Marines 6th Edition:
"The 'Companies of Reserve' are entirely composed of squads of the same designation. They normally act in support of the Battle Companies and provide a source of replacements for any casualties suffered by the line formations. The 6th and 7th Companies are Tactical Companies, each consisting of ten tactical Squads. The 6th Company also trains in the use of bikes and may be deployed entirely as bike squadrons. Similarly, squads of the 7th Company are trained to fight with Land Speeders and Stormtalons, often acting as light vehicle reserve formation."

So, to answer your question, no, the pilots are not always Techmarines.

[John Bower]

It's strange because in most books I've read the Thunderhawks seem to be Techmarine pilots too.

[ElectricPaladin]

In my Knights of Blood, I have chapter serf pilots, because it always made sense to me to have mortals piloting vehicles - most of the stuff they haven't got that Space Marines need is better used on the battlefield, and the existence of BS 4 Sororitas and Militarum veterans shows us that you don't need to be transhuman to be excellent. And also they're sons of Sanguinius, so they're gradually losing their **** .

It's completely counter to the codex, but that's Guilliman's book.

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

In my Knights of Blood, I have chapter serf pilots,

Word, it's always bugged me that this isn't the case in-fluff. If I ever do a DIY chapter, pilots will be marine initiates whose bodies couldn't accept the implants, but survived.

[This Dave]

That's something I e always wondered about myself. Codex Chapters are limited to 1000 Marines. But if there are 10 companies of 100 marines each where do all the vehicle crew, starship crew, Chapter Officers, and various specialists fit in?

[Aaron LeClair]

That's something I e always wondered about myself. Codex Chapters are limited to 1000 Marines. But if there are 10 companies of 100 marines each where do all the vehicle crew, starship crew, Chapter Officers, and various specialists fit in?

[url]http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/c/ce/CodexOrganisation.jpg[/url]
[url]http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Codex_Astartes#Organisational_Doctrine[/url]

From Lexi

Organisational Doctrine
The Codex states that a Space Marine Chapter should be split into 10 companies of 100 Marines each, plus a Space Marine Captain, Apothecary, Company Standard and Chaplain for each company.
Existing outside the Company level organisation, each chapter has an Armoury consisting of the chapter's Techmarines and tanks, a Librarium consisting of the Chapter's Librarians, a Chapter Space Marine Fleet and the Chapter Master, plus various headquarters staff and the Chapter's servitors and human serfs.

So personally I took that as they could have as many tech marines as was needed to care and pilot their ships/drive tanks. Along with The Chapter Leadership and Librarium not counting towards the 1000 limit.
So a chapter Could have over 1000, but maybe only a few 100 over depending on how many Librarians and Tech Marines they have at one time.

But Not sure how out dated that info is with current fluff.

[John Bower]

If you look nearly all the vehicle crew and pilots on the regular models come with the cog symbol on one shoulder. So it kind of stands to reason they are at least affiliated to the cogboys.