When American pilot Owen Badgett was flying his B-24 Liberator bomber towards a bridge in Burma he could not have known what was about to happen.
Badgett enlisted in the Air Force and in 1942 graduated with the rank of second lieutenant. He was then transferred to the 7th Bombardment Squadron based in India. From there American bombers hit Japanese targets in occupied Burma.
On March 31, 1943 12 B-24s were flying over the jungle with the mission of bombing and destroying the Puinmana Bridge.
Suddenly 13 Japanese Ki-43 fighter jets of the 64th Airborne Regiment appeared and attacked the Americans furiously. Budgett's plane was badly damaged in the fuel tanks and started to fall on fire.
The crew managed to abandon it by parachute jumping. The 23-year-old Budget who was co-pilot was last at the aircraft by firing the forward turret machine guns.
The Japanese attacked the Americans who were parachuting in, killing two of them. Budgett also jumped trying to escape the Japanese fire. Suddenly a Japanese Zero aircraft approached him reducing its speed.
The Japanese pilot opened the hood of his aircraft and was looking at his opponent, possibly before attacking him. But Budget turned out to be a tough nut to crack. He grabbed his M1911 pistol and fired at the Japanese four times.
The Japanese aircraft immediately “dive” towards the ground. According to the testimony of Colonel Harry Melton who was also shot down, the dead Japanese pilot had a bullet hole in his head. But Melton was killed and his testimony was questioned. On the other hand there is no other logical explanation for the shooting down of the Japanese aircraft, unless the pilot had a heart attack or something similar.
Badget made it to the ground unharmed and was taken prisoner by Japanese soldiers. He remained a prisoner until the end of the war. He remained in the air force after the war. He retired with the rank of colonel. He later worked in the private sector.
He died in 2006 always having the reputation of being the only pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft with a pistol while parachuting.
Owen Badgett.