Red Tails

Corrected entry: The Me-262 fighters the 332nd engaged at the end of the movie were armed with 30mm cannon. A hit with one of those shells was enough to bring a B-17 down. An explosion of one in a P-51 cockpit would have shredded Lightning instead of leaving a neat bullet wound in his chest.

Correction: Generally true. But Lightning's wound may be from a small piece of shrapnel from an exploding 30-mm round.

Corrected entry: On their way back to base, Lightning and his wingman encounter a German destroyer. Unfortunately, at this period in the war, there were no German destroyers in the Mediterranean, and certainly not any with a straight single stack. All German destroyers were built with two racked funnels.

Correction: This ship was not a German destroyer. This ship was a commandeered Italian warship.

Corrected entry: In the film, Me 262s are shown with Yellow noses. Likewise, the Bf 109s are shown with beautiful yellow engine cowlings, fine for some theatres, but not for Defence of the Reich, which had coloured tail bands, but not yellow cowlings.

Correction: You are incorrect on the Yellow Noses of the 109 and 190. By the end of the way, the best of the best German fighters painted their 'noses' bright yellow.some all the way to the screen. Please see the Military channel's Dog Fights for evidence. My uncle also flew as a tail gunner in a B17 and he saw the yellow noses. The reason for the bright yellow was to put fear into their enemy. Much like the the p40's that had the shark mouth painted on it by the Flying Tigers.

Factual error: Me 262's were armed with 30 mm cannon in the nose, a round penetrating a canopy would leave a hole much larger than was depicted, and being high-explosive, once it detonated inside the cockpit, the pilot was toast. One of the red tails had a number of holes in his canopy.

goofyfoot

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Suggested correction: Reports suggest twenty mm cannon fire through the canopy will not inherently detonate and can pierce through. The 30 mm of the particular enemy craft however may be unique enough to differ, but is ambiguous then for now until someone finds new data. As for size, keep in mind the nature of how penetration does not look right and I believe care to not exaggerate the size not be taken. Personally am not aware of comparison enough to inform on true size.

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