A War Story for the Ages.March 31st, 1943, British India.
Posted on 12/15/2016 9:32:17 AM PST by w1n1
A War Story for the Ages.
March 31st, 1943, British India.
Headed to Pyinmana, Burma, to destroy a bridge, the American B-24 bombers were intercepted by Japanese fighter pilots. With the plane going down and Japanese fighter pilots attacking the parachuting airmen, Owen J. Bagget did what no man had done before or since.
It must take some sharp shooting and nerves of unbending steel to keep straight aim in the face of certain death, but he managed to shoot and kill the enemy fighter pilot with none other than a .45 caliber M1911 pistol. Whether a testament to sharp shooting under pressure or the efficacy of the gun, I can't say. Read the rest of the M1911 story here.
Or more likely a lucky shot guided by the hand of God.
Wow - that IS a story for the ages.
What’s even more amazing was that another plane, flying at 300 mph, caught the exact moment on film.
Luck or divine intervention, it took brass balls to draw his sidearm while hanging in a parachute and squeeze one off at an attacking Zeke pilot! That he actually hit him might be God’s hand, but the finger on the trigger was Owen’s.
An amazing feat, and I’m sure a big surprise to the Japanese pilot ... even if only briefly.
It was said of the old M1911 that if you really wanted to hit the enemy with it, you’d have better luck just throwing it at them.
That was clearly a lucky shot. Perhaps he was aiming at a different plane.
No doubt. It that guy was infantry he's the type you'd want in the foxhole with you.
Pilots call that “the golden BB”.
I’ve seen people who were great with the 1911.
I had trouble hitting the air outside the end of the barrel. Never could figure that OR any .45 out. Don’t know why.
I can shoot a 9mm and come up inside a heart sized pattern.
I can shoot my Mark II Ruger and make grasshoppers worry.
“Golden bb”
Just ask John McCain.
5.56mm
Brian Williams the pilot? Or did he just mis-remember?
please don’t bad-mouth the best combat handgun the US ever made!
Luck had nothing to do with it.
Does that film exist somewhere?
Aided by the fact the Japanese fighter planes were constructed of largely fabric and had wooden framework. Made for an extremely light plane, quick to get into the air and they could flit about like mosquitoes in combat. Hard to hit, but el punko junko when there was a direct hit. The much heavier but better armored US planes were much slower getting into the air, and maneuvering was sluggish and uncertain compared to the Japanese planes, but they could sustain far more damage than the enemy, and could even sometimes cripple back to the landing deck.
The Japanese emphasis on lightness was why the Mitsubishi A6M Zero-sen and the Nakajima Ki.43 were extremely vulnerable against American fighters—Ki.43’s were notorious for literally disintegrating in mid-air when hit by the 0.5 caliber machine guns found on American fighters. The Japanese did eventually field fighter with better protection (the Nakajima Ki.84 “Frank” for example), but they came into service too late in the war.
” it took brass balls to draw his sidearm while hanging in a parachute and squeeze one off at an attacking Zeke pilot!”
If I didn’t have a sidearm I would be throwing my boots at it!
Shooting back is no surprise, I would have too. But this is a really big deal in the outcome. Just WOW.
I am one that shoots a 1911 well, left and right handed. So do my daughter’s, they are both 5’ 2”. Just like the .45
“left and right handed”
I shoot the 1911 well right or left handed. But when I try to do it right AND left handed I just scraped my left thumb on the right slide.
I hope he was allowed to paint a rising sun on the handgun’s grip.
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