Creaking Door,
The fall of shot pattern at that range from a tripod mounted machine gun (Popkin) is significantly more compact and different from that of an aircraft mounted machine gun or a rifle at a similar range. It is reasonable to say that if one bullet from Popkin’s gun had hit the Baron, several more would also have hit him and the aircraft, but they didn’t! In the whole incident only three bullets hit the plane. The book is worth a read.
Steve