Best Shot with a 1911. Ever.
By: Philip Bourjaily
While compiling the timeline for Pistol of the Century, our tribute to
the Model 1911 in the June issue of */Field &/*/*Stream*/, I read
through many accounts of the 1911 in combat.
The most unusual shot (and possibly the best ever), made in wartime with
a (Colt .45 ACP) 1911 pistol, had to be the one fired by a USAAF B-24
bomber co-pilot named Owen J. Baggett in March, 1943, in the skies over
Burma. Of course, I am biased toward this one, as it involves a flying
target.
http://www.fieldandstream.com/files/imagecache/photo-single/photo/38356/Zero1911_2.jpg
On a mission to destroy a railroad bridge, Baggett's bomber squadron was
intercepted by Japanese Zero fighters
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_fighter> and his plane was badly
damaged. After holding off the enemy with the top turret .50s, while the
gunner tried to put out onboard fires, Baggett bailed out with the rest
of the crew.
He and four others escaped the burning bomber before it exploded.
The Zero pilots circled back to strafe the parachuting crewmen, killing
two and lightly wounding Baggett, who played dead in his harness, hoping
the Japanese would leave him alone. Though playing dead, Baggett still
drew his .45 and hid it alongside his leg…just in case.
A Zero approached within a few feet of Baggett at near stall speeds.
The pilot opened the canopy for a better look at his victim.
Baggett raised his pistol and fired four shots into the cockpit. The
Zero spun out of sight. Although Baggett could never believe he had shot
down a fighter plane with his pistol, at least one credible report said
the plane was found crashed, the pilot thrown clear of the wreckage with
a single bullet in his head.
If Baggett really did shoot down a fighter with his 1911, it has to
count as one of the greatest feats ever accomplished with a .45. Baggett
survived two years in a Japanese prison camp in Singapore and eventually
retired from the Air Force as a colonel.
*Your Freedom Wasn't & Still Isn't Free!***
By: Philip Bourjaily
While compiling the timeline for Pistol of the Century, our tribute to
the Model 1911 in the June issue of */Field &/*/*Stream*/, I read
through many accounts of the 1911 in combat.
The most unusual shot (and possibly the best ever), made in wartime with
a (Colt .45 ACP) 1911 pistol, had to be the one fired by a USAAF B-24
bomber co-pilot named Owen J. Baggett in March, 1943, in the skies over
Burma. Of course, I am biased toward this one, as it involves a flying
target.
http://www.fieldandstream.com/files/imagecache/photo-single/photo/38356/Zero1911_2.jpg
On a mission to destroy a railroad bridge, Baggett's bomber squadron was
intercepted by Japanese Zero fighters
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_fighter> and his plane was badly
damaged. After holding off the enemy with the top turret .50s, while the
gunner tried to put out onboard fires, Baggett bailed out with the rest
of the crew.
He and four others escaped the burning bomber before it exploded.
The Zero pilots circled back to strafe the parachuting crewmen, killing
two and lightly wounding Baggett, who played dead in his harness, hoping
the Japanese would leave him alone. Though playing dead, Baggett still
drew his .45 and hid it alongside his leg…just in case.
A Zero approached within a few feet of Baggett at near stall speeds.
The pilot opened the canopy for a better look at his victim.
Baggett raised his pistol and fired four shots into the cockpit. The
Zero spun out of sight. Although Baggett could never believe he had shot
down a fighter plane with his pistol, at least one credible report said
the plane was found crashed, the pilot thrown clear of the wreckage with
a single bullet in his head.
If Baggett really did shoot down a fighter with his 1911, it has to
count as one of the greatest feats ever accomplished with a .45. Baggett
survived two years in a Japanese prison camp in Singapore and eventually
retired from the Air Force as a colonel.
*Your Freedom Wasn't & Still Isn't Free!***
