The Crazy Half-Moon is an unorthodox manoeuvre that involves relying on lack of gravity and friction in space to keep forward inertia, whilst turning the ship 90 degrees to the side in order to open the side doors and allow personnel in the Raptor to open fire with small arms and grenades at a target. It has become a signature move for Raptor pilots on the Battlestar Hyperion.
First Usage
The manoeuvre was first carried out by Lt Jenna "Selene" Gray when in an unarmed Raptor being chased by two Cylon Raiders during the battle of Caprica. Attempting to flee pursuit she flew her raptor up the uncontrolled spinning port landing pod of a destroyed Battlestar, matching its spinning with precision flying. As expected the Cylons were able to match her manoeuvre and not crash into the pod, but that was her intention as they were now, for just a few seconds, in a narrow funnel from which there was no room to manoeuvre to the sides - ie to evade. Selene cut the thrusters and relied on inertia to keep her Raptor flying in the same direction (and out of the landing pod) as she turned the Raptor hard to the right whilst her ECO opened the side doors (all personnel had been ordered to wear vacuum masks beforehand). As soon as she did this her limited marine contingent threw out their entire compliment of grenades at the closest Raider. Too close and unable to dodge due to the tight confines of the bay, the grenades struck one of the Raiders and the ensuing explosions and disarray caused both Raiders to crash into the pod sides, destroying both (and a large part of what was left of the bay) whilst Selene's Raptor drifted out of the bay safely on its inertia.
Second Usage
When 2nd Lt Panthera was crash-landed and pinned down by Cylon centurions Selene applied a similar manoeuvre. She flew directly over Panthera and spun hard right whilst cutting the engines. This time rather than relying on the lack of gravity and inertia in space, she relied on the planet's gravity and natural deceleration, and brought the Raptor down on a hard landing directly in-between Panthera and the Cylons. As the manoeuvre again relied on opening the side doors during the turn, this enabled a rescue party to jump out immediately on touchdown to rescue the wounded Panthera whilst the Raptor itself provided physical protection for them from the Cylon attacks. The reliance on the short time taken to perform the manoeuvre and rescue Panthera allowed the party to retrieve her before the Cylons were able to manoeuvre around the Raptor to continue their assault, or bring in heavier weapons capable of seriously damaging the ship.
Crazy Inverse Hopping Half-Moon
A variant used recently by Selene as she towed a disabled Raider into the Battlestar Hyperion's landing pod which, at the time, had invading Cylon centurions in it. Once again she relied on inertia and lined up her approach, then tapped the reverse thruster as she "hopped" vertically slightly before cutting the forward thrust. This meant she lifted and slowed her Raptor just enough for the towed Raider to be propelled at the centurions, and then her side-doors opened to allow her marines to use their small arms on the cylons as the inertia carried the Raptor past them (this required Selene rotating the Raptor further).