Small arms fire and Paddy Finucane

[Jon]

The veteran Battle of Britain fighter pilot F/O Paddy Finucane was shot down by small arms fire on July 15th 1942 when passing over a beach near Pointe Du Touquet....almost home.

Do we know who or what shot him down, a single soldier with a rifle, an MG42 or maybe a submachinegun and a lucky hit ?

Also are their any reports of single soldiers bringing down an aircraft by themself with a light weapon ?

[Chris Thomas]

I have come across many reports of fighters brought down by small arms fire but only one by a single soldier. I interviewed a 56 Squadron pilot who was part of a section of Tempests that attacked an army vehicle in a German village on 3 April 1945. There appeared to be no opposition but as he swept over the village he saw a single German soldier with what appeared to be a rifle, firing directly at him. He felt a hit on his aircraft, which turned out to be in the radiator. A second Tempest was also hit and both duly crashed, both pilots surviving as PoWs. There had been no sign of any other waepons being fired.

[Tony Williams]

I recall reading of an incident in the Western Desert when a British officer fired at a very low-flying Bf 109 with his .38 revolver. One bullet hit a fuel or coolant line (I forget which) which eventually caused the plane to crash-land. As a PS, both the officer and the pilot survived the war and met afterwards.

There was also an incident discussed on the Key Publishing site a few months back concerning another British officer who fired on a twin-engined German plane with a (presumably unofficial) 9mm pistol, and again brought it down.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum