War stories often turn into stories with exaggerations, but here's what is surprising about the loss of fighters in various wars …
Parachutist shooting down a fighter
On March 31, 1943, American bombers on their way to destroy a bridge in Burma were attacked by Japanese fighters. When one American plane was shot down, the Japanese began to shoot the pilots who jumped out of the plane with parachutes.
Nevertheless, one of the pilots, Owen Baggett, even when he was wounded, was not taken aback: when a Japanese fighter flew by, Owen opened fire on his cockpit with a pistol. One bullet took out the Japanese pilot, and the Zero flew down like a stone.
After landing in enemy territory, Baggett was taken prisoner by the Japanese, where he spent the entire war. However, this was not Owen's last war: in the 1950s, he still took part in the Korean War.
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"Kukuruznik" shooting down a jet fighter
This incident happened during the Korean War (1950-1953). The fact that the newest at that time American jet all-weather interceptor F-94 died due to the wise experience of the North Korean Po-2 biplane (Soviet production) is not questioned by any of the parties to the conflict. But how exactly the fighter was destroyed, there are two versions on this score.
According to one of them, the F-94 collided with the "maize", and both aircraft and their crews were killed. According to another version, the American jet fighter, trying to intercept the slow-moving biplane, slowed down to 180 km / h (below the minimum critical speed) and fell to the ground.
Tank shoot down a fighter
On July 3, 1950, during the same Korean War, four American jet fighter-bomber F-80C Shooting Star headed north and soon found a North Korean convoy of 90 vehicles and four T-34-85 tanks moving towards the front line - the legendary "thirty-fours", distinguished themselves during the Soviet offensive in 1944-1945.
The Americans pounced on the column, firing unguided rockets into it and pouring heavy machine guns into it. The reaction of the North Koreans was unexpected: the tanks opened fire on the jet planes. However, there is nothing fantastic in this: the planes, not seeing the danger for themselves and wanting to strike targets for sure, flew rather low above the ground.
One of the thirty-four shells exploded in front of the F-80. The plane's fuel tanks caught fire, and it fell apart in the air.
The fact is that the shells of the Soviet 52-k anti-aircraft cannon are suitable for the 85-mm guns of the Soviet T-34-85 tank. The Korean commies loaded these anti-aircraft shells with remote fuses into the tanks. The North Koreans wanted to scare off enemy aircraft with barrage fire when it seemed possible, and they did not count on more. What happened during the battle on July 3, 1950 can be considered exceptional luck.
The fighter knocks itself down
On September 21, 1956, an F-11F Tiger fighter took off from an air base near New York to conduct test firing over the Atlantic Ocean. Arriving at the scene, pilot Thomas Ettridge at an altitude of 4 km fired a burst of about 70 rounds from four 20-mm cannons, then with the afterburner sent the plane into a steep dive and, dropping to 2 km, fired the remaining shells. At this time, the fighter began to shake, and the canopy was covered with cracks.
Ettridge decided that the plane had collided with a bird and tried to reach the nearest air base. The damage turned out to be quite serious, the F-11F did not reach the runway for just a kilometer, making a hundred-meter clearing in the forest. The pilot, although he received numerous wounds and fractures, survived.
As a result of the investigation, it turned out that the fighter was hit by its own shells from the first round. Why didn't the shell hitting the cockpit tore the pilot to shreds, and the shells hitting the engine and nose cone didn't blow the plane in the air? Fortunately for the pilot, aircraft and superiors, the shells were training shells, without explosives.
A helicopter shooting down a jet fighter
On June 8, 1982, in Lebanon, a Soviet-made Syrian Mi-24 "Crocodile" helicopter attacked a convoy of Israeli armored vehicles. The Israelis called in a pair of F-4 Phantom jet fighters to help their Israelis. Approaching the attack, at a distance of 8 km from the Mi-24 "Phantom" gave itself away by radar radiation. The helicopter tracked the signal and fired two guided missiles (by the way, also Soviet-made).
Both missiles hit their target, blowing an Israeli fighter to shreds.
The second incident occurred on October 27, 1984, during the Iran-Iraq war. Surprisingly, the characters were the same: "Crocodile" against "Phantom". An Iranian fighter jet fired a missile at an Iraqi helicopter, but the latter flew so close to the ground that the missile lost its target. Then the Iranian decided to shoot down the enemy in the good old way - from a cannon. The Phantom flew towards the Mi-24, but the Iraqi pilot approached the issue of his defense thoroughly: from a distance of 3.5 km he fired all his 32 missiles simultaneously. The Iranian fighter, of course, tried to dodge, but the missiles flying with a front of 150 meters at twice the sound speed left him no chance.
Struck by "Phantom" scattered to parts and disappeared from the radar.