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wdolson -> RE: Japan Bomber score of allied fighters July 43 = 0 (9/9/2014 2:04:55 AM)
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There was a story I read from the Guadalcanal campaign where a Marine fighter dove on a Betty formation and zoomed up underneath only to get his Wildcat shot up from a gun in the bomb bay of one of the Betties. The account said it was the only time anyone reported return fire from the bomb bay of a Japanese bomber. The Wildcat was so badly shot up the pilot had to ditch and was later rescued. The game counts planes that are damaged in a fight and then go down on the return trip as ops losses. In game terms the above account would be counted as an ops loss because the Betty only damaged the Wildcat initially and it went down trying to get back to base. In the real war US bomber crews made a lot of claims for shot down fighters and many times they were credited with the kill for morale purposes, but the post war study of enemy records showed that many times the claims were exaggerated. Any there were many cases of enemy planes damaged by fire from bombers that later crashed trying to land. Defensive armament on bombers is more of a deterrent than intended to down enemy planes. US bombers with the heavy use of .50 caliber guns were trying to shoot down enemy aircraft more than most other countries, but really all gunners could realistically hope for was to make enemy fighters pay dearly if they got too bold and/or sloppy. The rest of the time, defensive gunnery served to throw off a fighter's aim. The Germans held the Viermot (4 engine) aces in high regard not just because their targets were hard to knock down, but they had to fly through a hail of defensive fire that can be unnerving for anyone, even if it doesn't hit you. Bombers usually had the best defensive armament facing to the rear because that was the best approach vector for a fighter. Forcing the fighter to approach from a less favorable angle would reduce the chances of them getting a hit. Bill
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