Hi guys,
Since I've occassionally referenced this channel, here's a video link (with timestamp) to what I think is probably a misinterpretation of the term "hazard" in the USAAF questionnaire referred to be the video author:
View: https://youtu.be/0MxQJkZEp4M?t=133
Now as far as my experience with occupational health and safety terminology is concerned, the term "hazard" basically adresses a source of danger. So if "gunfire" is listed as a hazard on the USAAF form, my interpretation would be that the interviewed USAAF bomber crew members, while bailing out, where still in air space where one could assume there's be a reasonable chance of bullets flying around. As pointed out by the video author himself in some of his other videos, one reason to have formations of bombers spaced apart was that the hazardous zone of the rearwards-directed fire of a bomber formation affected a slice of airspace behind the bombers several miles deep.
So, by my interpretation, anyone bailing out from a bomber going down after having been hit and dropped out of formation a bit, while the attack by the interceptors was still going on, would probably have been at risk from quite a lot of stray bullets coming down invisibly everywhere around him, and thus expected to check the "gunfire" box. My interpretation would also cover the entire process of bailing out, including the way to the emergency exit when fighters might still be attacking the stricken bomber.
As you can see in the above clip, the video author applies a much more narrow definition of the word "gunfire hazard", in understanding it literally as "being fired upon", and from the context of the video, he even interpretes this as "being deliberately targeted by enemy pilots while descending on the parachute". He also doesn't consider other sources of gunfire, like AAA ... which might explain why P-47 and P-38 pilots reported gunfire as bail-out hazard more often than P-51 pilots, for example.
If you have any insights on the USAAF terminology here that might help to figure out what the reported figures actually translate to in terms of real-life events, that would be much appreciated!
Regards,
Henning (HoHun)
Since I've occassionally referenced this channel, here's a video link (with timestamp) to what I think is probably a misinterpretation of the term "hazard" in the USAAF questionnaire referred to be the video author:
Now as far as my experience with occupational health and safety terminology is concerned, the term "hazard" basically adresses a source of danger. So if "gunfire" is listed as a hazard on the USAAF form, my interpretation would be that the interviewed USAAF bomber crew members, while bailing out, where still in air space where one could assume there's be a reasonable chance of bullets flying around. As pointed out by the video author himself in some of his other videos, one reason to have formations of bombers spaced apart was that the hazardous zone of the rearwards-directed fire of a bomber formation affected a slice of airspace behind the bombers several miles deep.
So, by my interpretation, anyone bailing out from a bomber going down after having been hit and dropped out of formation a bit, while the attack by the interceptors was still going on, would probably have been at risk from quite a lot of stray bullets coming down invisibly everywhere around him, and thus expected to check the "gunfire" box. My interpretation would also cover the entire process of bailing out, including the way to the emergency exit when fighters might still be attacking the stricken bomber.
As you can see in the above clip, the video author applies a much more narrow definition of the word "gunfire hazard", in understanding it literally as "being fired upon", and from the context of the video, he even interpretes this as "being deliberately targeted by enemy pilots while descending on the parachute". He also doesn't consider other sources of gunfire, like AAA ... which might explain why P-47 and P-38 pilots reported gunfire as bail-out hazard more often than P-51 pilots, for example.
If you have any insights on the USAAF terminology here that might help to figure out what the reported figures actually translate to in terms of real-life events, that would be much appreciated!
Regards,
Henning (HoHun)
