Bellingham opened a crackling fire with her three puny .50-calibre machine-guns and a Browning, but the bomber seemed to shake off the tiny bullets, and came roaring on only a few feet above the waves, its 115-foot wingspan darkening the sea as it raced towards the ship...
Then the miracle happened. One of the ship’s machine-gun bullets must have punctured a sensitive spot in the bomber’s fuselage, for when it still had a hundred yards to come, its starboard outer and port inner engines began to smoke, and flames began to tear two gaping holes in the fuselage...
Before the astounded American seamen’s eyes, the Focke-Wulf suddenly lost height and ploughed into the sea two hundred yards off the Bellingham’s port bow, breaking up at once, while a pillar of black smoke shot up out of the floating wreckage.
(The Destruction of Convoy PQ17, D.Irving)
это про то, как FW-200 решил бомбануть сухогруз Bellingham в Белом море (из остатков PQ17) и ничего у германцев не получилось...
а повезло этим янки. было у мужиков всего пять стволов, включая Льис на мостике, который заело сразу. чья пулька попала, неизвестно, но результат впечатляет. или это к вопросу об эффективности 12.7 мм?![]()