Who is Owen John Baggett and what did he do?
Stories are conflicting, but Air Force Magazine says the legend that surrounds him is true. Baggett is the only man to have ever taken down a Japanese Zero with a handgun.
How did he accomplish this rare feat?
His plane was severely damaged so he ordered his crew to eject. Four men descended to the ground under enemy fire. Baggett was hit but not mortally. He noticed a Zero coming around for another run at them. Baggett played dead hoping the pilot wouldn’t open fire. The pilot nosed up with his canopy open to take a look at him. Baggett drew his handgun and fired four shots. The plane went into a nose dive and hit the ground.
Read about it HERE.
It’s a great story. I hope it’s true.
ht/ doc
NRA’s ‘American Rifleman’ sez it’s true …. gospel to me
https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2011/3/29/the-m1911-gets-a-zero/
… & he’s got a Wiki page (w/ sources)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_J._Baggett
Should clean up the story a bit. Was it a 1911, or a revolver? There is no 1st Col rank. They bailed out, not ejected. Good story otherwise and nice obituary.
No ejection seats back then…I think they meant bailed out
Cool Japanese video about Baggett’s feat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bly8BxOwKY8
He obviously suffered from toxic masculinity.
1911
Here’s another incredible Pacific War feat:
https://popularmilitary.com/marine-aviator-downed-enemy-plane-propeller/
Now that’s one mean SOB. You don’t want to get a guy like that pissed off at you.
😉
It’s why I carry a .45, it knocks planes out of the sky, and sends bad guys flying.
Guts like that is what we need now and forever, not these touchy-feely sensitive millennials or whatever the sons-a-bitches are called.
Every so-called star who gets on the media and has an axe to grind is called ‘brave’. Bravery is what we had in WWII. I don’t see much of that anymore.
It takes strong and tough-minded men to kill enemy soldiers, not a bunch of cream-puffs.
@All Too Much: A couple of amusing things about that (animated) video:
(1.) The “American” bombers are not B-24s. They look more like a modified version of the British Avro Lancaster:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Lancaster#/media/File:Avro_Lancaster_B_I_PA474.jpg
(2.) The American aviators are shown using modern sport parachutes, not WW2 military ones:
http://tinyurl.com/ya47faqr
(3.) The “Japanese” POW camp actually shows an image from a German death camp (Auschwitz):
https://atravelinglife.com/photo-essay-visit-auschwitz/
There may be other errors, but those were the obvious ones (to me).
One major advantage to the old 1911 over one of those tupperware pistols, when it’s empty you can beat an asshole to death with it!
Vietvet @ 10:32
And one bad-ass plane!
😉
Truly a member of the Greatest Generation of Texans.
‘Safety glasses and a Glove’
Sierra Hotel. Bravo Zulu.
True tales with aerial proofs.
Got any Beemans?
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9-phJ_fehLc/Uew2KYOz7NI/AAAAAAAAEu0/g4aYHpsEc6A/s1600/120305-f-zz999-001.jpg
I remember the old Superman shows when the bad guys would empty their guns on the man of steel but to no avail. Then they would throw the empty gun at him but why?
That looks a little like Amelia Earhart; am I gay?
@I AM TOSK: We never thought about it as kids, but when the bad guy emptied his gun
on the Man of Steel he would stand there with his hands on his hips, smiling as the bullets bounced off of him. Then they would throw the empty gun at him, and he would duck!
But why?
😉