Sometimes, you have to get creative when you have to bail out of your aircraft. During WWII, Army Air Forces bomber pilot Owen Baggett was attempting to take to out a bridge.
Instead, he had to bail out of his plane.
Flying over Burma
In March 1943, Baggett and his fellow airmen were flying a B-24 Liberator when they came up against Japanese Zero fighters. Baggett's bomber took multiple hits to the fuel tanks.
The men all had to bail. Baggett was the plane's co-pilot. He made sure everyone escaped while firing the top gun turret. However, he and the crew barely made it out.
The plane quickly exploded. The Japanese were relentless and kept firing upon the pilots as they fell to the ground.
Avoiding the Enemy
Baggett thought it best to play dead so he would not draw fire from the Japanese. But a Japanese fighter piloting a Zero decided to investigate.
He brought his plane near Baggett and lifted the parachute canopy to verify that the American was dear. Unfortunately for him, Baggett was not. Baggett had an M1911 at the ready and fired four shots into the plane's cockpit. The Zero crashed to the ground.
Colonel Harry Melton, the 311th Fighter Group commander, saw a pilot's body thrown from a crashing plane, and the Japanese pilot was killed by a shot to the head.
However, no one knows for sure because Melton was killed when the ship he was on sunk. Baggett reached the ground alive but was captured, spending two years in a POW camp in Rangoon, Burma.
The OSS saved him, and Baggett continued to fight for the U.S. Air Force. He retired as a Colonel and passed away in 2006. However, he was confident that he shot down the Japanese Zero with his 1911.
The M1911
The popular pistol was created by John Browning and was the top weapon of the Army for years until the Gulf War. During WWII, most of the armed forces carried the weapon.
More than two million 1911's were produced during WWII and was used over the land, sea, and air. All types of soldiers carried the gun from paratroopers, military police, and machine gunners.
It was the perfect backup firepower. It was standard issue for the Vietnam War, Korean War, and the Gulf War. Today, it is more of a collector's piece.
Sounds pretty awesome, wish I had known him that was my maiden name.
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Many unsung heroes like this good man have existed without receiving proper recognition for their heroism.
Stories like this need to be told! One can only imagine how it was, being shot down, playing dead, shooting a enemy pilot with M1911 .45 while strapped to a parachute. falling from the sky to the ground! Knowing you'd most likely be captured by the enemy if you survived the ordeal, and probably executed, or sent to a prison camp, which was a brutal existence. Being it was in Burma, most likely was a slave laborer working under the harshest of conditions in a hot humid jungle environment. A great example of American Exceptionalism by a member of America's Greatest Generation!
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So, according the the story, the Japanese pilot lifted the parachute to see the pilot???? Come on man! How in the world would a pilot of a plane traveling at 200 mph "lift" the parachute????? Makes no sense. Think before writing!
That is not what said - he lifted the parachute canopy (the exit on the plane). You need to pay attention…
Not the parachute, his own plane's top.
Sounds like a Patton thing to do.
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This similar to a true story about Lt.Col. Walter Walsh on a Japanese held island when his unit was pinned down by Jap sniper, Col. Walsh spotted him, pulled hisM1911 .45 caliber pistol and killed him at 90 yards. What as also true he he kill around 17 criminals as an F B I agent in the 1930's. Check him out on google