Leading an aircraft while it is shooting at you takes balls of steel.
There is a general rule of thumb that we had back in the late sixties. The Viet Cong used it to very good effect. If the chopper is coming at you straight on without deflection then aim right at it. That worked with Hueys but not with Hinds. Hueys were made of Aluminum with Plexiglas wind screens. Bullets passed into them with relative ease. Hinds on the other hand were made of laminated Titanium on the bottom and part way up the side. Their pilots/gunners were protected by heavy Perspex that took a real beating before a bullet got through. Compare it to an A10 Warthog but with a rotor. I personally saw one take an RPG round directly into its belly and the darn thing just bucked ten feet or so higher and the pilot almost instantly brought it back under control. He swung it around on its nose and came back to kill the grenadier while he was trying to reload his launcher and his rocket carriers. That Soviet pilot handled the Hind like he was part of it. He did a lot of damage that day and flew away to brag about it. Those darn dual chain guns in the nose are set up with solids as well as explosive rounds and can be rotated close to or over 180 degrees. Some were equipped with rocket pods as well as gun pods on the weapon sponsons which looked more like wings.
When the chopper came close but required a deflection shot then lead it by half its length and let go with the whole magazine. Swing through in front of the chopper just like a trap shooter does on a clay. It was a pretty effective strategy on choppers.
Now fixed wing aircraft are a different matter completely. Depending on what they are, they are usually very fast and have heavy guns or worse yet rockets and bombs. Rockets are pure hell with a fiery tail. The planes and even some rocket equipped choppers fire the rockets from beyond the range of small arms held by troops. The rockets are hard both physically and mentally on their targets and are often used to soften up the targets before using guns to finish the job. Unless God is really smiling upon you, there is no way a rocket can be stopped. My sincerest advice is to duck and cover as best as the situation offers.
Another issue with planes and choppers coming in with direct fire is that the bullets they shoot have extreme velocities because they are multiplied by the speed of the aircraft itself. This makes for extreme penetration as well as very dangerous ricochets.
As Purple mentioned and he would know, this is still effective, especially on soft skinned aircraft. Multiple shooters that have been properly trained also makes a huge difference. Unless a lone gunman is really lucky or maybe has a 50 cal weapon of some sort their chances are pretty slim of taking out the aircraft. Heavy machine guns work well under properly emplaced conditions with well trained crews. IMHO the training the Soviet snipers were being given was good. Shooting from such open positions would be questionable IMHO. Also that would be contrary to any other training they were getting. I believe that was a staged photo but I also believe they used such tactics.
You do what it takes to survive and to help your fellow troopies survive. That's what it boils down to in the end.
There is a general rule of thumb that we had back in the late sixties. The Viet Cong used it to very good effect. If the chopper is coming at you straight on without deflection then aim right at it. That worked with Hueys but not with Hinds. Hueys were made of Aluminum with Plexiglas wind screens. Bullets passed into them with relative ease. Hinds on the other hand were made of laminated Titanium on the bottom and part way up the side. Their pilots/gunners were protected by heavy Perspex that took a real beating before a bullet got through. Compare it to an A10 Warthog but with a rotor. I personally saw one take an RPG round directly into its belly and the darn thing just bucked ten feet or so higher and the pilot almost instantly brought it back under control. He swung it around on its nose and came back to kill the grenadier while he was trying to reload his launcher and his rocket carriers. That Soviet pilot handled the Hind like he was part of it. He did a lot of damage that day and flew away to brag about it. Those darn dual chain guns in the nose are set up with solids as well as explosive rounds and can be rotated close to or over 180 degrees. Some were equipped with rocket pods as well as gun pods on the weapon sponsons which looked more like wings.
When the chopper came close but required a deflection shot then lead it by half its length and let go with the whole magazine. Swing through in front of the chopper just like a trap shooter does on a clay. It was a pretty effective strategy on choppers.
Now fixed wing aircraft are a different matter completely. Depending on what they are, they are usually very fast and have heavy guns or worse yet rockets and bombs. Rockets are pure hell with a fiery tail. The planes and even some rocket equipped choppers fire the rockets from beyond the range of small arms held by troops. The rockets are hard both physically and mentally on their targets and are often used to soften up the targets before using guns to finish the job. Unless God is really smiling upon you, there is no way a rocket can be stopped. My sincerest advice is to duck and cover as best as the situation offers.
Another issue with planes and choppers coming in with direct fire is that the bullets they shoot have extreme velocities because they are multiplied by the speed of the aircraft itself. This makes for extreme penetration as well as very dangerous ricochets.
As Purple mentioned and he would know, this is still effective, especially on soft skinned aircraft. Multiple shooters that have been properly trained also makes a huge difference. Unless a lone gunman is really lucky or maybe has a 50 cal weapon of some sort their chances are pretty slim of taking out the aircraft. Heavy machine guns work well under properly emplaced conditions with well trained crews. IMHO the training the Soviet snipers were being given was good. Shooting from such open positions would be questionable IMHO. Also that would be contrary to any other training they were getting. I believe that was a staged photo but I also believe they used such tactics.
You do what it takes to survive and to help your fellow troopies survive. That's what it boils down to in the end.
Last edited:
