# Are Commercial Airplanes vulnerable to gun fire?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-commercial-airplanes-vulnerable-to-gun-fire/776932>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 12, 2017, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-commercial-airplanes-vulnerable-to-gun-fire/776932 "2017-01-12T02:35:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2017, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-commercial-airplanes-vulnerable-to-gun-fire/776932/41 "2017-01-14T00:23:16Z")

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> [@TSBG](#):
>
> I’m pretty sure that story is related in Michael Herr’s “Dispatches,” and Herr says the exchange happened with a Huey door gunner. The exchange turns up in “Full Metal Jacket” between Joker and a door gunner; Herr wrote some of the dialogue.

BTW, that door gunner was initially cast as Gunnery Sgt. Hartman.

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**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2017, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-commercial-airplanes-vulnerable-to-gun-fire/776932/42 "2017-01-14T09:03:44Z")

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> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> I do recall a cartoon of a quail hunter with a dazed expression on his face. His dog and a few dead birds on the ground near him. Theres a burning airliner in the background falling from the sky. It was amusing, but I realized that a shotgun with bird shot would never reach that high.

I’m 90% sure this is a Far Side cartoon, either that or it’s a birdhunter who shot down a UFO and the caption was “What really happened at Roswell”.

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**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-commercial-airplanes-vulnerable-to-gun-fire/776932/43 "2017-01-16T00:09:22Z")

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> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> In the early days of WWI, they tried to shoot down those rickety kites with shotguns, rifles and even handguns fired from the cockpit. They were very rarely successful.

Bear in mind WWI biplanes were also really slow - a maximum top speed of about 110-140km/h or so. Hitting a moving target at any speed is difficult, but there’s a huge difference between one doing 100km/h and one doing 800km/h+

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