The typical scene in the movies: a WWII propellor plane flies low over a column of soldiers , strafing them with machine-gun fire. The soldiers run off to the side of the road–but then they fall flat on the ground, stretched out, while the bullets leave a line of impact marks alongside them.
Wouldn’t it be safer( after runing sideways out of the line of flight) to kneel down, in a crouched position? You’d have less body surface exposed to the bullets.
But if a soldier gets hit in a crouched position, the bullet can go through more body or more body parts, like through the back, through the thigh, through the calf all at once. More injuries, more blood loss, etc. That’s just a WAG
Well, you have to remember that a strafing plane isn’t flying straight down into the ground at 90 degrees; it’s going to be coming in at some angle. My guess is that it’s generally a fairly shallow angle – you can’t fly very long at even 45 degrees before you get way too close to the ground.
Geometry says that if the plane is aimed at a shallower angle than 45 degrees, you’re better off flat than standing, as far as lessening exposed area.
And if you’re flat, there’s at least a chance you’ll end up behind something that will block the bullets.
[Additionally, getting flat is a good reaction to being shot at by something on the ground and to being shelled, so it’s a good all-purpose reaction to attack, anyway]
I’d say there are two issues. One is visibility. How well can the gunner see to aim at them. Lying flat may well hide you better if there is grass etc.
The second issue is the target you present. And of course there are at least two measures of target. Are you hit, and are you hit in a vital area.
If the plane were shooting straight down then sanding straight up woudl present the minimal target (though virtually any hit would probably be to a vital spot – your head. If the plane were shooting parallel to the ground, then lying flat would present teh minimal target and you’d want your feet to face the attack.
I’d think lying flat would be better than standing up if the bullets were coming in at less than 45 degrees. Crouching with a vertical back would present the same target (to vital spots) as standing. Crouching bent over facing away from the attack would probably present a bigger vital area target than either standing or lying. Croucing bent over and facing the attack might be best.
What about lying on your side?
Having been shot at several times let me say that it’s almost impossible not to hit the ground, and that right quickly. Once there you might consider things like your orientation to the shoter or a better/safer place to scurry off toward.
Considering the operative word is “column”, if you quickly hit the ground, and lie perpendicular to the incoming fire from an aircraft, you gain a better advantage of spacing between bullets than if you presented a ‘longer’ target, i.e. standing up.
Because of the forward motion of the aircraft, rounds are spaced out linearly if the aircraft is making a sweeping run on a linear target. If it’s focused on a point target though, you’re best off to make peace with your maker: lots of rounds on one point is bad juju.
Tripler
Pray they don’t have bombs too. . .
Agreed. The reaction to being shot at isn’t always rational. The tendency is to try to get under or behind something. Anything will do. I defy anyone to stand up when being strafed from the air, the scene in the movie Patton notwithstanding.
My main complaint with such scenes is that they show the machine gun bullets as lines of impacts with the ground. Real machine gun bullets don’t act that way. The inevitable dispersion of the ammunition scatters the pattern over an area at 300-400 yards. The pattern from a single gun is quite tight, but the multiple guns of an aircraft are sighted to converge at some range, like maybe 300 yards. Short of or beyond that range the pattern of the guns is fairly broad.
And not all WW2 aircraft strafed with machine guns.
A great many models were equipped with autocannon–rapid fire weapons that shot exploding shells.
Laying flat could certainly help against those.
Also, many people would try to land in a ditch or depression in the earth.