Was reading the history of the 315th Troop Carrier Group the other week and a couple of stories lept out at me – firstly, that the crews often liberated the Thompson or M3 SMG from the aircraft survival kit and ‘had a squirt’ at targets of opportunity from the Co-pilots window when exfil from the DZ. Never heard of that before but several pilots in the book mention it was common practice.
Also the pilot of C-47 ‘Jeanne’ was said to have flown his C47 under ‘London Bridge’ – I think they must mean through Tower Bridge- on VE Day – he was traced later when in Trinidad under Air Transport Command and had the option of a fine or a Court Martial – he went for the former – $500!
Shooting a line or true?
TT
By: Aerosquip - 27th March 2018 at 23:31
…and that’s how the AC-47 was born. ?. It’s possibly doable, but you’d have to be Houdini to get any sort of shot off in that space, and, where would the empty cases go? Much better to leg it down the back and rain down hellfire from the open cargo door.
By: Graham Boak - 26th March 2018 at 18:09
Let me see – flying 200ft 200 kts, with the vision from a side panel of the Dakota windscreen, are they even going to see anything within slant range of a Tommy gun? Let alone aim, shoot and hit? I suppose if they plant enough lead in the soil then agriculture will fail, so the Germans will have to give up or starve. Seems a bit optimistic to me.
By: TEXANTOMCAT - 26th March 2018 at 17:09
As they exfiled at 200ft – quite a lot apparently!
They dropped at 700ft!
TT
By: Graham Boak - 26th March 2018 at 16:42
Given the altitude they were flying at to drop paras, just what did they think they could hit?
The Tower Bridge story would surely have been much more widely reported had there been an ounce of truth. London Bridge makes a better story…
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March 26, 2018 at 4:22 pm