"Zero shot down by Colt 45" Topic

Stumbled across this tale…

link

"On that fated day, the 7th BG's 9th Bomb Squadron was sent on a mission to destroy a railroad bridge, but was attacked before it could reach its target. The bombing group took heavy fire from Japanese fighter planes, wounding the squadron's commander, Col. Conrad F. Necrason, and disabling numerous B-24 Bombers, including one carrying Lt. Owen J. Baggett.

Though the crew continued to fight, it was obvious that the plane was going to crash, so Baggett's pilot, Lt. Lloyd Jensen, ordered the men to bail out. Along with the other members of his unit, Baggett jumped from the plane and pulled his parachute.

The Japanese pilots fired on the floating crew killing some and wounding Lt. Baggett in the arm. The story goes that when the pilot who fired upon Baggett came around for a look, the young lieutenant hung limply in his harness as if dead. The ruse worked because the fighter raised his canopy as he flew within feet of the parachute giving Baggett an opportunity. As the plane soared by, Baggett raised his M1911A1 .45 and fired four rounds at the plane, which banked before stalling and crashing into the ground"

Not quite sure how you factor that into a wargaming probability!

That's a good one. Thanks for posting.

Any shot in Check your 6 has a "shot" at doing damage.

Makes me think of that scene at the end of Saving Private Ryan* – Hank's character hoping, maybe, that he'd get a shot in through the vision slit**

Interesting to see a real world version of this sort of act.

Thanks

John T

* And no – I'm not implying that SPR is being particularly realistic at this point

** Or perhaps an act of simple desperation!

I think it is a 1 on a D-20

I thought it was a 01 on percentage dice.

Its actually possible in the Ace High II simulator- if you bail out you are armed with a handgun the moment your chute opens. If your quick and still in the combat area it is apparently possible to take down an aircraft- if it gets close enough and you empty the clip into the cockpit!

Never managed to hit anything with it myself though.