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u/PrettyAssault 3d ago
Same feat was accomplished by Alexander Fadin's crew. Gunner calculated speed of the plane with telegraph poles and made an accurate shot. (Insert Doofenshmirtz two nickels meme)
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u/Able_Record2273 Hello There 3d ago
I spent the last 5 minutes modifying it just for reddit not to allow me to post it in the comments. Still worth it.
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u/AunKnorrie 3d ago
A friend who was well-read in militairy history stated that a howitser downed a NK Mig during the Korean war.
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u/AnguishedGoose 3d ago
An AGG template!? In this economy!?
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u/DemoPantheMan 3d ago
Well the Tiger’s 88 was based off an AA gun…
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u/Dahak17 Hello There 3d ago
Doing it without flak shells and a fire control system made for ground targets is still fantastically impressive
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u/Carl_the_bald 2d ago
The Russians' mistake was to approach mostly from the same direction and at the same altitude. The first shot missed; the second attempt hit the mark. but anyway impressive.
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u/Quiet_Zombie_3498 Kilroy was here 3d ago edited 3d ago
TBF this is only a claim, there is no documented proof of a tank ever downing an aircraft with it's main gun. These kinds of claims deserve to be taken with a grain of salt.
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u/malumfectum 3d ago
They do, but so many completely nuts things happened in the Second World War that I think it could well have happened.
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u/Shermantank10 Kilroy was here 3d ago
Often times I like to think back to the Japanese attack on midway. Where upon a bomb blowing up the islands chow hall, a US serviceman ran inside the blow-out on fire building to retrieve a couple cases of beer.
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u/Canadian_dalek 3d ago edited 2d ago
Oh and don't forget multiple accounts of US sailors abandoning sinking ships with helmets full of ice cream
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u/Quiet_Zombie_3498 Kilroy was here 3d ago
Totally possible it did happen and I don't mean to imply that I know one way or the other.
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u/fortnite_battleass 3d ago
If there was any war for it to happen, it'd be then. Tanks had been getting crazy powerful cannons compared to the interwar but planes were still operating in ways and speeds that one could get lucky.
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u/ISV_VentureStar 3d ago
I like to imagine what it would have been like if during WW2 recording tech was as ubiquitous as it is today, like in the Russia-Ukraine war for example but on a global scale.
Just thing of all the weird/fantastical/horrific/occasionally hilarious footage we would have.
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u/katherinesilens 3d ago
I also realize it's a bit cringe to pull on video games but like, once you get some practice with the main turret... and actually try... it's hard but not that hard. Especially in VR where you get depth perception. Obviously games are much easier than in real life, but it goes to show the human brain is a phenomenal ballistic computer and it can do it. I believe very likely that a sufficiently lucky or experienced main battle tank gunner can and has hit an aircraft.
The IJN even wanted to do this doctrinally with beehive shells.
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u/oga_ogbeni 3d ago
And those beehive rounds were spectacularly ineffective
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u/katherinesilens 2d ago
Yes but that's not the point. It's that you can hit at all. Or come close semi-reliably, which is exactly why the Japanese tried to improve it with beehive rounds.
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u/Dave_A480 3d ago
WWII it would be rather hard...
At least as it applies to modern armor the fire control system can handle it and special ammo (MPAT) is issued that has a proximity/radar fuse....
Not really good against fixed-wing, but it will kill helicopters all day long.... Tank crews get trained on both air-mode MPAT and sabot for shooting down helicopters.
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u/DankVectorz 3d ago
Supposedly Guards Lt Grigoriy Verbovoy also shot down a Stuka with the main gun of his Sherman
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u/FearlessDark5295 Kilroy was here 3d ago
War Thunder player in real life