Submitted by hipster_deckard t3_11v227u in todayilearned
Honest question: how do acts like this get officially recognized/ awarded? I halfway assume there had to be a witness but certainly that can’t always be the case
another pilot could've seen it - the fighting was very thick in WW2
It was very common for fighters to have gun cameras to confirm kills. Usually they'd start recording when the guns fired, but in some instances the pilots could activate them whenever. Otherwise there would be confirmation of a kill from a wingman, an observer on the ground, or even sometimes the enemy. In this instance, I'm sure there would be physical evidence as well, such as bits of Japanese plane stuck in the engine cowling!
ground mechanic: wtf did you do to this plane bro
pilot: it was the darndest thing you see...
Mechanic: And you did this, on purpose.
Pilot: ... Yes.
So there i was, munching up that Japanese planussy
So the WWll version of "Xbox record that."
TIL! Thank you!
That’s exactly what happened, they found chunks of the tail wing in the cowling. And also the obvious damage to the prop.
Red Tails (2012)
"An inspection of the plane found pieces of the Japanese plane’s tail wheel embedded in the American fighter’s engine cowling. "
ouch
I feel like the damage to the propeller would be quite visible
he had some friendlies in the area
Sometimes other pilots would see it.
However I am pretty sure 70% of these cases are completely made up, because pilots really like to prop up their kill counts, and landing with a destroyed prop would make you look stupid for hitting something, like another plane because you're too stupid to look around you, but its badass if you land back with a broken prop because you smashed an enemy plane with it, on purpose.
Fun fact about this, all throughout the Pacific many allied pilots would confirm Japanese kills because they saw the plane bank away and a smoke trail would follow afterwards, making the pilot believe they shot down a plane.
However the zero ( in this case) used a wep (or war emergency power, aka throwing nitrous into the engine to get a little bit more power out of it, but not actually that in this case) which threw out a lot of smoke.... So ya quite a few kills allied pilots made weren't actual kills. However with zero way of disputing it nothing can be done besides a blanket reduction of kills on reports, which no army will ever do, at least any public reports.
Please cite your sources?
"I'm pretty sure" doesn't cut it making statements like that.
“My source is I made it the fuck up
It's funny because he is making up the alleged fact that other people also make stuff up.
There are none.
There could never be a source like that, however it doesn't take a genius to put together the notion that pilots, who in general have a track record of overestimating their kills, would also alter stories to make themselves look better.
Because again coming back to base with a broken prop because you were an idiot doesn't look good, but ramming into a plane does. Don't mind the fact the facts of the story doesn't make fucking sense.
Also I could say the same thing to you, where are your sources that back up the fact it happened, were there other pilots who saw, did they find the wreckage of the enemy plane? Did the ramming plane survive and could be analyze it to see if it indeed ran someone.
Likely all that is gone to history. The plane scrapped, all the pilots either dead or never saw anything, the enemy plane just doesn't exist when it smacked the land or water. And all you got for a source, is the pilot itself.
You can add me, everyone who downvoted you and likely most people that read your response to the probably, staggeringly larger number of people who think you are full of shit.
‘Doesn’t take a genius’
Yup, you are a great example of this statement.
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