Quote Originally Posted by Garvin View Post
I think this pic was painted to commemorate the bravery of a farmer who was a member of the Local Defence Volunteers. One day he was buzzed by Nazi plane being hotly pursued by an RAF fighter, when doing target practice with the Force's Military Pattern, donated by a local landowner.

According to crash investigators the farmer took a potshot and the pellet went up through the light canvas fuselage, causing a nasty welt on the pilot's right hand. He snatched his hand off the rudder and crashed, dying instantly.

There's some confusion over what exactly happened because the RAF pilot was also shooting at the time and claimed the kill, but we know who to beiieve.
I imagine that’s a story to boost morale. The ME 109 had an all metal stressed skin construction. AFAIK the only canvas skinned fighter in the Battle of Britain was the Hurricane, and I hope he didn’t shoot one of those down.