You've made an irrelevant assumption here.


The answer is "It's all a matter of relativity"
With the correct lead, it does not matter what speed relative to the ground
the bullet is travelling, relative to the two aircraft is what is important.
remember the bullet is spinning so also maintains some gyroscopic stability.

All bullets fall to earth at 9.8 m/s^2 regardless of their path over the
surface of the earth.

With the correct lead the bullet and the ME-109 colide, at which point the
tragectory of the bullet is drasticaly altered such that it, and teh ME-109
all fall/fly to earth as one mass.

If the case is simplified such that the bullet is simply fired backwards but
at nothing, then it will accelarate to earth, only with a 0 lateral velocity
relative to the ground.


Rgds,

"Rich S." wrote in message
...
There is a (magic) B-17 flying along at 560 mph. The tail gunner is out of
.50 caliber ammo. He sees a Messerschmitt ME-109 crossing behind the B-17,
50 yards away.

He pulls out his trusty .45 Colt auto (muzzle velocity 820 fps) and fires
at the Hun when the ME-109 is directly behind the B-17. He leads the
Messerschmitt by exactly enough to hit the pilot (if he were firing from a
fixed position).

Does the bullet exit the muzzle and fall directly to earth?

Rich "Scratching my head" S.