A bit of useless but still interesting lore relevant to both aviation and the Colt 1911 in battle.  Pictures of the two combatants above.



  "The Storch was also the last German aircraft shot down in air combat on the Western Front, on the morning of V-E Day. Lieutenants Duane Francies and William Martin, flying a Piper L-4 Cub for the 5th US Army Division, spotted a Storch circling below them. They immediately dove on the airplane and opened fire with their Colt .45s, with the result that the Storch made a emergency landing with its engine hit. The Americans landed their Cub and - following a short gun battle - captured the two Germans. Observer Martin won the Air Medal for his role, but pilot Duane Francies had to wait 22 years until the story was told in Cornelius Ryan's book, "The Last Battle," before he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. While it was the last Luftwaffe plane lost on the western front, this Storch was also the only German plane shot down by pistol fire during the Second World War."