Field and Stream article about a WWII bomber pilot downing a Zero with a 1911.
http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/gun-nuts/2011/06/best-shot-1911-ever?cmpid=enews060311
There’s just something about the 1911 that makes that story perfect. Every time I pick one up it makes me feel superhuman, and there our hero was actually being superhuman. VERY cool.
Tom Hanks blew up a Panzer with his 1911 
great story, you just so want it to be true ;-/…
:laugh:
I hope it’s true, but I have a hard time believing it, man.
That is cool, WWI and WWII troops were/are so bad ass. They have the craziest stories most mine dont even compare. I wounder how many shots it would have taken a Marine?
Semper Fi
And if it AIN’T true, it’s still good enough to inspire ANOTHER 1911 purchase! 
Having seen a few things in life that were “impossible” or “highly unlikely” to happen, actually happen, I won’t discount the fact that it is plausible something like this could be possible. There’s nothing like hearing stories from the the era of WWI/WWII. My grandfather had hundreds of them and used to keep me on his knee for hours telling me them.
…
Amazing story! I certainly would like for it to be true.
Link, from the F&S article comments section, to “airforce-magazine.com” article from '96:
http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/1996/July%201996/0796valor.aspx
Cool story, but I doubt it is true.
Zero stalls at less than 70 mph, has a cop ever hit a speeder running a checkpoint?
True or not, this story is more credible than half the stories you read about on gun forums…
That’s different. That was skill.
Downing a Zero with a pistol is like suicide bombing. I betcha can’t do it again.
I can believe it, after all, I’m sure stranger things have happened and everyone gets lucky.
Small arms fire does occasionally get lucky and hit a plane, remember Flight of the Intruder? But in this particular case I am wondering if it was not some sort of coincidence with a mechanical failure on the Zero at the same moment it was shot at–if the story is even accurate at all.
Yep, I hope it is. I think it is easier to believe than some other stories I have heard, but still…
While not likely, anythings possible… Its a damn cool story though. It kind of reminds me of Red Baron, who was supposedly killed from a single gunshot wound fired from the ground.
I see a “Myth Busters” episode on the horizon!