[Golden_Eagle_FM]

We need here ideally a WWII fighter pilot veteran that experienced being shot in flight who can tell us his bullet sound experience. But will he be able to really remember in detail how was the sound of the bullet ripping through the metal skin of his aircraft.

I did not have that experience but let's give it a thought.

I do not know if any of you have been in the cockpit of a piston fighter (all metal) with a 1000+ horsepower piston engine at combat power and manifold pressure through the sky.

The sound is simply deafening. And you have a helmet (albeit in leather at that time but still) headphones and even ear plugs.
Do not forget that you as a pilot are very near to the firewall, engine, exhaust and finally do not forget the huge propellers which also produce a lot of noise. You do not have mufflers or silencers.

I have experienced it but at much less power level and not in combat but doing simulated attack figures, and still the noise is deafening. After one hour I needed some time to get back my full hearing sensitivity. And I had a modern helmet with integrated headphones.
The combat pilots would fly for hours and hours and hours so we can only imagine.

Nobody of us plays the game with the real engine sound level in our headphones or in the room.

Now imagine that you are in the heat of the combat with hard manouvers just to avoid being shot, and maybe trying to shoot the other guy, getting a lot of G forces and with your head turning all around to permanently scan for the danger and a very high adrenaline level.

I doubt that in the heat of a combat and when finally hit the pilot would have time to analyse how was the sound.

My conclusion is that either he has been so badly shot that he may have heard some noise but will not make it to tell us about his experience, or he was to occupied to bail out and save his life and probably not remember to much about it.

So very probably the only real feeling is not the sound of the bullet punching the metal skin, but physical thumps or impact vibrations due to the hit, or explosions. I doubt that a fighter pilot would feel more than that.

The ideal case would be, to be a sitting duck, with a dead engine, propeller stuck, slow speed (to avoid to have too much air flow sound) and someone shooting and hitting you. But you can easily imagine that in those suicidal conditions the pilot finally knew what the real sound was, but he never came back to tell us. :?:

Gold