I was looking for confirmation of the F4U--PT boat encounter mentioned earlier
(confirmed it did happen, the boat was PT-124) when I stumbled across this
comment from the PT boat skipper about a debriefing: "My account of seeing the
stern of a barge blown apart by my port .50 cal. guns openly produced skeptical
grunts, then the conversation turned to installing heavier armament...." So
even during the war, there was dispute about the killing power of the .50; I
doubt that decades after the event the issue can be satisfactorily resolved.


Chris Mark