In article ,
"Gord Beaman" ) writes:
(Peter Stickney) wrote:

And then, there was Operation Pinball, the ultimate simulator. Real
bombers with real turrets, but the .50 cals have been replaced with
.30 cals firing frangible (break up on impact) bullets. The targets
are specially armored P-63s that make passes on the student gunner's
airplane. There are acoustic sensors in the P-63s that can hear the
impact of the bullets on the skin for measuring the number of hits.

The "Real Man's Paintball?"

Something like that. It wasn't necessarily safe, though. Several of
teh RP-63s ('R' back then meant Restricted from combat duty) were
forced down, generally becasue of bullet fragments damaging the
radiator cores.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster