That was lucky

[azda 973]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-46186430

[1949threepence 3,366]

7 hours ago, azda said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-46186430

Incredibly lucky, and lived another 44 years. 

[Sword 1,330]

It really is a nice story and particularly apt as it was Remembrance Sunday a couple of days ago.

I remember watching an Antiques Roadshow episode featuring a pocket watch which stopped a bullet during the war. This watch is believed to have save a female RAF pilot.

[Paddy 1,539]

No disrespect but I am afraid I don't buy the watch stopping the bullet story. How many bullets do you know with a perfectly flat end? That also only just have enough energy to dent the watch quite mildly? And how many "female RAF pilots" were there? ATS yes, but not RAF pilots...

If you look on Ebay at any time there are lots of bullet stopping stories and I fear this is another one.

[bagerap 706]

A wise man pointed out to me in the 60s that a lot of these miraculous escapes from certain death were the result of a .22 bullet fired under controlled conditions on a range. All the better to play the hero back home.  And to be fair, in many cases he was right. A .303 or German equivalent would have blown seven shades of s***e out of that watch, and the initial impact point would not have been flat.

[1949threepence 3,366]

15 hours ago, bagerap said:

A wise man pointed out to me in the 60s that a lot of these miraculous escapes from certain death were the result of a .22 bullet fired under controlled conditions on a range. All the better to play the hero back home.  And to be fair, in many cases he was right. A .303 or German equivalent would have blown seven shades of s***e out of that watch, and the initial impact point would not have been flat.

I was watching that "Hidden History of Britain", which was about facial reconstructions of WW1 soldiers whose faces were contorted and shot away out of recognition by enemy fire. The type of bullets used had a neat round precise point of entry, but the exit point was a much bigger, mashed up mess. They experimented on dead pigs using the same arms and ammunition, and the results were obvious in that respect.     

[Sword 1,330]

18 hours ago, Paddy said:

No disrespect but I am afraid I don't buy the watch stopping the bullet story. How many bullets do you know with a perfectly flat end? That also only just have enough energy to dent the watch quite mildly? And how many "female RAF pilots" were there? ATS yes, but not RAF pilots...

If you look on Ebay at any time there are lots of bullet stopping stories and I fear this is another one.

It was many years ago when I watched that Antiques Roadshow episode but it left a strong impression. With regard to the photos I posted, the watch has the inscription 'Pte Hodgson' alongside the military number 2055250. It is further engraved with 'Farnboro [sic] Hants.'

Military records reveal Pte Hodgson was a woman who served in the auxiliary core of the RAF which was responsible for delivering newly built planes to military bases across Britain in 1941. "Military "experts" have identified the bullet which caused the dent as a 30mm calibre round - ammunition used in the MK108 auto-cannon which was mounted on German aircraft fighter planes."

It was found in a donation to a charity shop and no one is suggesting that it has any intrinsic value.

OK the story was reported in tabloids and so ......

Even if the dent on this item wasn't actually caused by a bullet, there must be items with better provenances available. 

[blakeyboy 1,601]

I presume that the watch wasn't the first object it encountered on it's travel from the muzzle.

If it had passed through aircraft metalwork then it would have not been bullet-shaped, maybe flattened,

and would have had much less kinetic energy,  so the the watch damage looks right to me.

 

I've mentioned before the ebay charlatans that take a penny, hammer a punch through it, and jam

an old ww1 bullet in the hole.  They should all be shot themselves.

It's funny how the penny involved is worn out as if it was taken from change in the 60's.

They can't afford to destroy 1916 bennies in UNC......

[1949threepence 3,366]

2 hours ago, blakeyboy said:

I presume that the watch wasn't the first object it encountered on it's travel from the muzzle.

If it had passed through aircraft metalwork then it would have not been bullet-shaped, maybe flattened,

and would have had much less kinetic energy,  so the the watch damage looks right to me.

 

I've mentioned before the ebay charlatans that take a penny, hammer a punch through it, and jam

an old ww1 bullet in the hole.  They should all be shot themselves.

It's funny how the penny involved is worn out as if it was taken from change in the 60's.

They can't afford to destroy 1916 bennies in UNC......

Yep, they must think people are stupid. Which in many cases is, of course, true. 

[blakeyboy 1,601]

Yes...and don't get me started on the 'VOTES FOR WOMEN' stamps...

I have actually seen someone trying to sell an 'original'  'VOTE FOR WOMEN'  penny that he'd clearly made last week.....what a knob.....!

[blakeyboy 1,601]

Yes- 'VOTE' not 'VOTES'....hilarious.

[Sword 1,330]

26 minutes ago, blakeyboy said:

Yes- 'VOTE' not 'VOTES'....hilarious.

Something like this?

 

[blakeyboy 1,601]

Exactly!!