Luftwaffe pilots shot while parachuted

[Broncazonk]

Important note: I am not trying to minimize the historical record (nor contest it) with this post.

I have read, (I do not know the source) that many USAAF fighter pilots attempted to capture images of the parachute (of Luftwaffe pilots) with their gun cameras to confirm the kill. During this process, the .50-cal. MGs were sometimes fired resulting in the death of the man in the parachute. There was a way to disconnect the gun camera from the MG trigger--it was possible to turn the gun camera on without firing the MGs--but this did not always happen.

Is the above scenario a plausible explanation for at least some of these deaths?

Bronc

[Csaba B. Stenge]

Originally Posted by Broncazonk

I have read, (I do not know the source) that many USAAF fighter pilots attempted to capture images of the parachute (of Luftwaffe pilots) with their gun cameras to confirm the kill. During this process, the .50-cal. MGs were sometimes fired resulting in the death of the man in the parachute. There was a way to disconnect the gun camera from the MG trigger--it was possible to turn the gun camera on without firing the MGs--but this did not always happen.

Is the above scenario a plausible explanation for at least some of these deaths?

Bronc

I don't think so. There was a camera switch/selector, which allowed the US fighter pilots to use gun camera without firing the MGs.

It was not rare to make pictures of the descending pilots on their parachutes, you can see such gun camera films. But in most cases, these US pilots not points their cameras directly to the chute or the opponent, just near them. To aim and hit a descending paratrooper/baled out crewmember, which was a small target, some serious aim was necessary. So the cases, when the descending pilots were shot and wounded/maimed/killed, were definitely deliberated ones.

This topic was discussed here several times already and I also collected a number of cases, when Hungarian pilots were gunned down on parachute (and also a case, when a B-17 gunner was shot by Hungarian pilots, while descending on parachute). These events were much more frequent, than most people thinks.

[Karsten]

Hello together

Ltn. Christoph Dezius 25.06.1944 7./ JG 2 Bf 109 G-6 441 853

He was wounded by shooting while parachuting, he lost a leg.
He told me.

Rüdiger