Shooting pilots in their parachutes

[Kryten]

Originally Posted by ValorStudios

Thanks for the information guys however I may have phrased my original question improperly which led this discussion slightly off topic. Here's a more blunt version:

"Has anyone ever come across an account of an Allied or Luftwaffe pilot being shot in his parachute during the Desert Air War?"

I realize that this topic has been covered before, and inevitably causes intense discussions, however in going through the old posts I have yet to find a reference of a pilot being shot in his parachute during the Desert Air War (hence the question).

Thanks!
Bryan

not the desert per se but related, there are several reports of 109 pilots collapsing chutes with thier slipstream during the malta siege, one instance apparently a 109 collapsed the chute of his own countryman!
there is also a report of a RAF pilot strafing a dingy in rsponse to such antics!
also several italian and german pilots who bailed out were lynched by Maltese citizens upon landing!

[Oberst]

Most likely the 109 was collapsing his country mans chute to loose altitude quickly. Common tatic when the enemy is firing at there pilots.

[Kryten]

erm yeah right, he certainly did lose altitude quickly, followed by a sickening thud when he hit the floor!
I dont think you grasp the results of a collapsed canopy there Oberst!

[Oberst]

Originally Posted by Kryten

erm yeah right, he certainly did lose altitude quickly, followed by a sickening thud when he hit the floor!
I dont think you grasp the results of a collapsed canopy there Oberst!

I understand with enough altitude it can and was done succesfully...

Kindest Regards

[Kryten]

well not in this case or any other at Malta! in fact I know of no cases when a streamer has been recovered by anyone other than an experienced sky diver, to claim the LW used it as a tactic is absurd!

[Oberst]

no its not absurd.. just truthful

Kindest Regards

[drgondog]

'slipping a chute like a T-7 or T-10 is taught with caveat that you don't do it unless drifting into a hazard with near certain death consequences - like hitting power lines, etc.

Any pilot (or trooper) slipping a chute to increase his sink rate, like Kryten says, is nearly always going to learn the law of unintended consequences. It is even worse when one is loaded up with an 'extra' 80-100 pounds of stuff you don't want to search for in the DZ..

[Kryten]

when i did my first jump with an Irvine one of the lads asked the instuctor "what he should do if he was going to land on a fence or other such obstacle", the instructor replied "keep yer feet together", in an irritated manner he then asked "well what dont we want to land on then"?
to which our instructor replied "a helicopter"

as you say even slipping a chute can lead to disaterous consequences, a collapsed chute is time to hit the reserve!

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Rather than trying to find which air force behaved badly (my own humble opinion being that in every air force there were pilots who shot at parachutes, and that in every air force the majority of pilots did not do it), I would like someone answers the following question:

Why will it be more unfair for a pilot to shot at an airman after he baled out than for a pilot to strafe infantry, truck drivers, etc..., or for an artilleryman to fire at any target that has not enough range to return fire, or for a soldier to fire from an ambush position ?

[drgondog]

Laurent - thanks for bringing sanity to the discussion..

1. Ok to torpedo a non-combatant passender liner suspected of carrying war materials.
2. Ok to strafe a crash landed aircraft with crew/pilot still on board
3. Ok to shoot an enemy soldier in the back or by ambush?
4. Ok to strafe road/rail traffic if you aren't certain that civilians aren't on board
5. Ok to bomb cities with dominant civilian presence
6. Ok strafing a troop convoy if a red cross vehicle present.
7. Ok to use 20mm flak cannon (prohibited by Geneva conventions) on enemy troops.
8-396 similar questions.

All nation's soldiers committed war crimes. Ditto many civilians.

Oberst - where do you get off isolating random acts of shooting up guys in a chute, in a war when that guy may kill you the next time up is kind of silly. Do you have rules of chivalry that only US pilots may be judged against?

If you are attempting some form of moral judgment against US pilots for such acts - in contrast with conspicuous silence on downed US fliers being murdered while surrendering, or millions of men, women and children murdered by an otherwise 'chivalrous' collection of soldiers - you would be moving rapidly to the hypocritical side of the argument.