My kingdom for something more than a phone for now....
How do you know the bullet came through the roof sideways.
Beause it was flat on one side from splatting sideways on the roof. Yes, it would have a trajectory but it would look closer to a sideways "L" than some nice parabolic curve.
So back to the B29 discussion. As another poster stated, even if the .50 bullet was motionless, the plane would still hit a 6-800 grain bullet at XXX MPH. That could cause damage. To turn damage "off" at a certain range seems silly unless there are programming challenges with maintaining bullet stream out to the point they strike the ground or reach a point of negligible energy/damage. The .50 at 1500m still has heavy hitting power. On aircraft aluminium this should still be significant.
I don't want to get into what could be perceived as innuendo. I have fired real M2s... a lot. I have shot at things and had my guys shoot at things that are far away. The Surface Danger Zone in our range safety regulation DA-PAM 385-63 shows the bullet having a maximum range to 6k. This means that it has the energy if it maintains stable flight, to make 6k. That is assuming that the angle on the barrel is correct to allow the bullet to reach its max ordinate and still make that range. That angle is probably no more than 15-20 degrees (maybe less??) Anything over that angle and the trajectory begins to look more and more like a sideways "L". That is all I am saying.
Edit: So, I read the M2 .50 Cal Manual. You would be amazed at what the standard ball will penetrate at 1,500m. The cartoon on the wall here, is what I am describing. In cases like #2 and #3 the bullet is tumbling before it hits the ground.
