Skeet and WWII Aerial Gunnery
Skeet and WWII: What if I told you that Skeet played an important role in the allies victory in World War II. The victory of Allied airpower in World War II was not merely a triumph of industrial output or aeronautical engineering; it was a victory of ballistic intuition. While pilots were masters of flight, the ability to actually down an enemy aircraft required a separate, counter-intuitive skill: deflection shooting. To teach thousands of young men how to hit a target moving at 300 miles per hour while they themselves were traveling at similar speeds, the military turned to a sport of aristocrats and hunters—skeet shooting.
Lets examine the history, mechanics, and legacy of WWII fighter pilots and air gunners practicing gunnery skills on the skeet field with shotguns.
I. The Geometry of the “Deflection Shot”
A deflection shot (often called “leading the target”) is a gunnery technique where you aim ahead of a moving target so that the target and the projectile arrive at the same point simultaneously.
In aerial combat, because both the shooter and the target are moving at high speeds, a bullet fired directly at an enemy plane’s current position will miss, passing behind it by the time the projectile travels the distance. To “bag the hun,” a pilot or gunner must calculate the deflection angle—the amount of space they need to “lead” the enemy to ensure a hit.
In the early days of the war, many pilots failed because they aimed directly at the enemy. At the high speeds of aerial combat, a bullet takes a finite amount of time to reach its target. If a pilot “draws a bead” on a Messerschmitt’s cockpit, by the time the rounds arrive, the plane has moved.
To succeed, a pilot had to aim at an “empty hole in the sky” where the enemy was projected to be.  Skeet shooting provided the perfect, low-cost simulation for this high-stakes geometry. By using shotguns on the skeet field, instructors could force trainees to internalize the “swing-through” method—following the target’s line of flight, passing it, and firing into the lead space.
II. The Establishment of Flexible Gunnery Schools
By 1941, the U.S. Army Air Corps (later USAAF) realized that gunnery was a “perishable skill” that required rigorous, standardized training. The Las Vegas Army Air Corps Aerial Gunnery School (now Nellis AFB) became the epicenter of this effort.
The curriculum was divided into distinct phases:
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Fundamental Theory: Learning about bullet drop and relative velocity.
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The BB Gallery: Shooting at toy airplanes to understand basic sight pictures.
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Skeet and Trap: Moving to 12-gauge shotguns to master the “lead.”
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The Moving Platform: Firing from the back of a truck to simulate the motion of an aircraft.
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Aerial Tows: Final practice using live machine guns against sleeves towed by other planes.
III. The Weapons: Shotguns as Combat Trainers
The military did not use standard infantry rifles for this phase; they required high-volume, reliable shotguns that could withstand thousands of rounds per day. Two primary models dominated the skeet fields:
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Remington Model 11: A semi-automatic shotgun based on John Browning’s Auto-5 design. The USAAF and Navy purchased nearly 60,000 of these units. Some were even mounted on elaborate Bell Aircraft adapter mounts to mimic the weight and swivel of a .50-caliber machine gun.
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Winchester Model 12: A pump-action “hammerless” shotgun known for its smoothness and reliability. Over 61,000 were produced for the war effort, serving both as guard weapons and gunnery trainers.
To simulate different ranges, these shotguns often featured Cutts Compensators with interchangeable choke tubes, allowing instructors to tighten or widen the “pattern” of the shot to match the difficulty of the training.
IV. Training on the “Gun Truck”
Static skeet shooting was only the beginning. To add the element of “platform motion,” the military developed the E-5 Trainer. This was essentially a pickup truck or jeep with a shotgun mounted in a swivel turret in the bed.
As the truck sped along a winding track at 15–20 mph, clay pigeons would be launched from hidden “trap shacks” at unpredictable intervals. The student had to compensate for:
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The speed of the truck (his own “platform” velocity).
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The speed of the clay pigeon (the “target” velocity).
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The varying angle of the shot (deflection).
This “Position Firing” system was so effective that by 1944, every major airbase featured a skeet range. It became common for pilots to spend their “off” hours on the range, maintaining the hand-eye coordination that would keep them alive over Europe or the Pacific.
V. Effectiveness and Legacy
The statistical success of this program was staggering. The USAAF utilized over 204 million clay targets during the war years. Pilots who excelled at skeet often became the “Aces” of their squadrons. For instance, Ed Scherer, a WWII fighter pilot, parlayed his combat gunnery skills into a legendary career as a champion skeet shooter after the war.
As technology advanced toward the end of the war, the skeet field began to be supplemented by cinematic trainers like the Jam Handy Aerial Gunnery Trainer, which used 16mm film to project enemy aircraft onto a screen. However, for many veterans, the visceral “crack” of a Remington 11 and the sight of a clay pigeon shattering in the Nevada desert remained the most valuable lesson in their training.
Final Reflections on Skeet and WWII
Ultimately, the use of the shotgun on the skeet field was the Allied “secret weapon” that could not be out-engineered by the enemy. While Germany and Japan focused on superior aircraft specifications, the Allies focused on the superiority of the shooter. The shotgun proved that the most sophisticated computer in the sky was the human mind, once it had been properly calibrated by the flight of a clay pigeon.
As technology advanced into the jet age and guided missiles replaced lead-pursuit geometry, the “moving-base” shotgun ranges faded into history. Yet, the principles taught them patience, lead, and angle—remain the foundational skills for any pilot or gunner engaging a target in the three-dimensional arena of flight. The humble clay pigeon, shattered by a 12-gauge shot in the Nevada desert, was as much a part of the Allied victory as the P-51 Mustang or the B-17 Flying Fortress. Thankfully, Skeet and WWII combined to help the allies win the war.
Summary Table: Shotguns in WWII Gunnery Training
| Feature | Remington Model 11 | Winchester Model 12 |
| Action | Semi-Automatic (Recoil) | Pump-Action |
| Primary Use | Turret/Flexible Mount training | Free-hand skeet and guard duty |
| Key Modification | Cutts Compensator for pattern control | Heavy-duty heat shields (Trench variants) |
| Military Volume | ~60,000 units | ~61,000 units |