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Old Tue Nov 16, 2004, 04:48pm
Dan_ref Dan_ref is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by Jurassic Referee
The way I understand it is that there is that probability, Mick, but the odds are very low of them actually hitting someone. I know that there were a few people killed during WW2 by spent anti-aircraft shells falling back to earth, but it was an amazingly small percentage compared to the size and amount of the ordnance expended.

I remember reading a story years ago about the safety door on an airliner's toilet giving way in mid-air, and the frozen contents then falling to the ground and just barely missing someone. That would sure have been a helluva way to go.
Somehow I remember hearing that during the Gulf war in '91 most of the civilian damage in Baghdad was due to anti-aircraft fire shot by Iraqis. At least that's what the excuse was.

And I believe being hit by a bullet that's coming back down will kill you simply because it's a low velocity tumbling round which tends to bounce off bone once it's in you, causing more damage than if it went right through you. A lot of damage was done during the civil war for this reason.
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