David Smith

**Spoiler Warning:** *There are spoilers for the details of the plot and/or ending in the text that follows.*

"*I get paid to act, not to think. I'll leave that to you big-head desk jockeys! Me? I'm going in!*"
―David during Night Blitz.
**David Smith** is a character in the *Airforce Delta* series who appears as a main character in *Airforce Delta Strike*.

David is the leader of the 1st Element of Bravo Squadron. He often works with Delta Squadron and has Collette Le Clerc and Constance Le Clerc as his wingmates.

## Biography

### Background

Very little is known about David's life before the game's events. He joined Bravo Squadron at an unknown point and became the 1st Element leader. He earned the nickname 'Tough Guy' due to his ability to survive even the tightest situations.

### Personality

David is portrayed as a cocky, dim-witted, yet kind-hearted man. He gets along well with Collette and Constance and always buys them upgrades whenever he can. He seems to be unaware that they are manipulating him into giving them money so they can retire and lead lives of luxury. David has a tendency to complain about the airplanes he flies and blame them when he gets shot down. David also doesn't get along very well with Bob Takayanagi as he thinks his repairs are poor and Bob bad-mouths his flying skills.

### Appearance

David is a tall, muscular, 27-year-old man with blonde hair and blue eyes. He appears to be Caucasian and his eyes are notably slightly larger than most other male pilots.

### Events of AFD Strike

David is introduced, along with Collette, and Constance, in the briefing for the mission Force Scout where they are sent along with Ken Thomas and Ruth Valentine to scout the Haben Ravine. He first asks why they have to scout 'some valley that's giving off electricity' and Amelia says that the levels are out of the ordinary and there's either a special magnetic field there or some sort of barrier. After some talk, Constance asks if Delta can't handle the job and that's what Lilia is saying. David tells her that she's got a job to do and not to take it so personal. Ken responds with silence. Robert then tells them to get out to the Haben Ravine and check things out and also to be careful. They then head to the ravine, but on their way, they are attacked by a squadron of fighters. David, Collette, and Constance assist Ruth and Ken in bringing down the enemies and they converse with each other throughout the mission. They eventually manage to bring down the enemy fighters and they head to the Haben Ravine. There, however, David accidentally pulls up and crashes his plane into the barrier, forcing him to bail out. Later, in the debriefing, David meets up with Ken and Ruth in the hallway and is angry at first, but then smiles after Ruth asks him if he's alright and he says that he's not going down this easy and they don't call him 'Tough Guy' for nothing. He then asks Ken for something and he gets mad again and tells Ken that he seems to be pretty smug and tells him not to underestimate him. Ken tells David that nobody here is underestimating him and David says that he had a little mishap and crashed today but tells Ken to wait until the next mission and he'll find why David is the 1st Element leader of his squadron, and Ken says that he couldn't care less and leaves. David is irritated and tells Ruth that he sympathizes with her for having to put up with someone like Ken so soon after assuming duties. Ruth shrugs and thanks him for his thoughtfulness and David smiles and says he'll be there if anyone needs him and must leave for a meeting. Ruth thanks him and David leaves.

David, Collette, and Constance appear again in the mission Roller Games where they accompany Holst Prendre, Pedro Glankert, and Brian Douglas. They try to attack three of the enemy's strange, tire-like battleships with a frontal assault, but it fails and each of them crash into a battleship, forcing them to bail.

They appear again in the mission Over the Cloud where David tries to chase after the airships before they dive into the clouds. His plane is unable to handle the rough air currents and breaks up, forcing him to bail. In the debriefing, David is irritated and he tells a frustrated Lilia that he scraped the bottom of the barrel buying his plane, and now it's gone and he asks what was the mission's real purpose. Lilia says it was an asylum mission and somebody wanted to defect so they facilitated the escape. David asks her that she sent out all those planes just for that defector and Lilia says the defector was a key figure so much so that defection wouldn't have been possible without their assistance. David asks who it is and Lilia mentions it was General Bolotnikov, a decorated general from the O.C.C. army.

Later, David, Collette, and Constance appear again in the cutscene called Huge wind wall before the mission Twister where they approach tornado machines in the Drycharl Desert. When the machines are activated, the Bravo team approaches the large tornado. They try firing missiles at the tornado, but it fails. David then gets sucked into the tornado and his plane explodes. He was able to survive however.

Later, David, Collette, and Constance appear again in the mission Night Blitz where they head into Armagest City to examine the anti-air radar system. Amelia warns them that it's too dangerous but David says he gets payed to act, not to think and he'll leave that to them 'big-head desk jockeys' and he's going in. He flies into the target area of an AARS unit and a laser is suddenly fired at him. He is shot down and forced to bail out.

David, Collette, and Constance appear again in the mission Wind Valley where they fly through Marinor Glen where large wind turbines are activated. David tells Collette and Constance to get a move-on and they agree. David impulsively flies at a high altitude and is knocked out by the wind. He is followed by Collette and Constance. They manage to survive and they appear again in the mission Turning Point where they fly through one of the railguns of the Navarone battery. They manage to avoid a bullet being fired and they eventually blow up the railgun from the inside. They then exit the railgun and Amelia orders them to leave and they hand the job over to Delta as they leave. It is possible, however, to destroy the railgun before them. They will be dismayed if this happens. After the events of Turning Point, David, Collette, and Constance are not seen again.

## Specifications

* Call sign: Python 1
* T.A.C. name: Tough Guy
* Plane colors: Black with images of fire and a bomb with a face on it, possibly intended to be a jab at how he always manages to "Crash and burn" in nearly every mission he appears in.

## David's planes

* Eurofighter Typhoon
* F/A-18E Super Hornet
* F-15S/MTD Active
* F-117A Nighthawk (Cinematic only)
* Su-30MKI
* X-36
* X-44
* F/A-22 Raptor (Aircraft Viewer only)

## Mission Appearances

* Team Bravo (Pilots a Eurofighter Typhoon, doesn't get shot down)
* Force Scout (Pilots a Eurofighter Typhoon, flies into the anti-aircraft net for no reason)
* Roller Games (Pilots an F/A-18E Super Hornet, slams into one of the Type G1: Dawns)
* Over the Cloud (Pilots an F-15S/MTD Active, flies beneath the clouds and gets destroyed by the rough air currents)
* Twister (Cinematic, pilots an F-117A Nighthawk, gets destroyed by a Type-T2: Sickle)
* Night Blitz (Pilots an Su-30MKI, gets shot down by the AARS)
* Wind Valley (Pilots an X-36, flies above the canyon and gets blown away)
* Turning Point (Pilots an X-44, doesn't get shot down, but can be denied his glory by a quick player)

## Gallery

David's Eurofighter Typhoon which he uses in the missions Team Bravo and Force Scout.David's F/A-18E Super Hornet which he uses in the mission Roller Games.David's F-15S/MTD Active which he uses in the mission Over the Cloud.David's Su-30MKI which he uses in the mission Night Blitz.David's X-36 which he uses in the mission Wind Valley.David's X-44 which he uses in the mission Turning Point.David's F/A-22 Raptor at the aircraft viewer.David's F/A-18E Super Hornet paint scheme in-game.Detail of David's Su-30MKI cockpit during the mission Night Blitz.David's Su-30MKI in flight during the mission Night Blitz, seconds before being shot down by the O.C.C. anti-air system.David's F-117.David's F-117A Nighthawk shown in the cutscene before Twister.Another shot of David's Nighthawk.David's Eurofighter Typhoon paint scheme in-game.David's F/A-18E Super Hornet paint scheme in-game.David's F-15S/MTD Active paint scheme in-game.David's X-36 paint scheme in-game.David's X-44 paint scheme in-game.

## Trivia

* Despite the F/A-22 Raptor being available in David's plane colors in the Aircraft Viewer, he never pilots this plane in any of the missions he appears in.
* The insignia for Bravo Squadron on his planes erroneously spells Bravo 'Blavo'. This is also true for the insignia on the planes flown by Collette Le Clerc and Constance Le Clerc. The reason for this is faulty translation; in Japanese, there is no difference between "L" and "R". As a result, it was mistranslated as "Blavo" instead of "Bravo".
* He is the only non-playable character in the game whose plane colors can be viewed in the Aircraft Viewer.