View Single Post
  #10  
Old 8th April 2011, 20:48
Laurent Rizzotti Laurent Rizzotti is offline
Alter Hase
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Paris, France
Posts: 2,968
Laurent Rizzotti will become famous soon enough
Re: Likely Prevalence of LW shooting Parachutist

I think the right think to do is to compare the number of Allied airmen killed by bullets after bailing out (either by accident or by murder) and the thousand of them that landed safely and were captured (or not).

Most US unit histories I have read will have some cases of their men killed in their chutes. But it will rather be one case during tens (for fighter units) or hundreds (for bomber units) bail outs.

That said, firing on a "defenceless" airmen under his chute may seem awful, but there is no more chivalry in war. The whole point is to fire at an enemy that is not able to fire back. Most of the airmen killed in WWII were bounced and shot down by another pilot they never saw.
Reply With Quote