Are there any recorded cases of planes being shot down by small arms ground fire during WW2?

by UknowNOTHINjon
Bigglesworth_

"Recorded" is tricky, exact causes of aircraft losses were often difficult to determine and except in the most favourable conditions claims (from either the air or ground) are just as difficult to validate. There are accounts of everything from a bomber crewman shooting down a Japanese aircraft with his pistol while parachuting (Owen J. Baggett) to a tank shooting down an aircraft with its main gun (Otto Carius), but connecting them to specific losses is all but impossible.

Infantry firing at aircraft was certainly common, both from instinct and doctrine; the 1941 US Army Field Manual FM 7-10, Infantry Field Manual: Rifle Company, Rifle Regiment, for example, stated:

"Action in case of attack [...]

Antiaircraft fire. In the absence of orders, the company commander decides whether or not fire will be opened on hostile airplanes. When concealment is essential and is believed to have been achieved, no weapons fire at hostile airplanes. When concealment is not essential, or obviously does not exist, all men armed with rifles, automatic rifles, and carbines open fire as soon as the attacking airplanes are within effective range of their respective weapons."

Jimmy Langley of the 2nd Coldstream Guards was part of the British Army retreat to Dunkirk, and recounts an encounter with Brigadier 'Becky' Beckwith Smith in Fight Another Day:

"'Marvellous news, Jimmy' he shouted. 'The best ever!' Short of the German army deciding to call it a day, which seemed improbable, I could think of no news deserving the qualifications of 'marvellous' and the 'best ever!'

'It is splendid, absolutely splendid. We have been given the supreme honour of being the rearguard at Dunkirk.'"

'Becky' then addressed Langley's platoon, and gave his advice on dealing with Stukas:

"'Stand up to them. Shoot at them with a Bren gun from the shoulder. Take them like a high pheasant. Give them plenty of lead. Remember, five pounds to any man who brings one down. I have already paid out ten pounds.'"

Once again, though, it's not really possible to connect such vague accounts to specific losses. The Battle of France: Then and Now records several Stukas damaged or downed over Dunkirk by anti-aircraft fire, but not the calibre or type of weapon involved.

Hitting a fast-moving aircraft from the ground was not at all easy, and even if, via luck or judgement, an infantryman managed to hit an aircraft a single rifle calibre bullet would have little impact over most of an aircraft unless it somehow killed or wounded the pilot (usually protected by at least an armoured windscreen, possibly some armoured plates) or was enormously fortuitous in causing some sort of engine damage. The first marks of Spitfire and Hurricane used during the Battle of Britain had eight .303 machine guns, and German bombers were on occasion returning to base with upwards of 100 bullet holes; the US Navy phased out .30 calibre machine guns as anti-aircraft weapons as far as possible, it assessed that .30 cal weapons only brought down four aircraft during the war.

Overall, with the sheer scale of the war and amount of ground fire directed at aircraft, chances are that there were occasional lucky shots, but I'm not aware of any really well documented cases off the top of my head.