One of the last and weirdest air to air combat engagements occured on the Western Front when a Piper L-4 Grasshopper (a military version of the Cub) spotted a Fi-156 Storch (Stork) liason aircraft hugging the terrain below. The Piper was unarmed but the two crew (Duane Francis and Bill Martin) had .45 pistols and so started firing at the Storch which was also unarmed! The Storch pilot was too low and slow to effectively evade and ramming was not an option either as the L-4 held the advantage. So the German pilot was forced down. This is the only recorded use of personal firearms being used to bring down an enemy aircraft in WW2 and is also the last recorded air battle in WW2 (officially). Unofficially, the Germans killed a Yak-9 near Berlin, but that remains unverified. Normally, the Storch had room for an optional 7.92mm MG-15 to the rear, but even if it had one the L-4 was above it and too close to fire back effectively. Both were near the ground. Only instance of one liason aircraft vs another! The Storch is generally regarded by both sides as the best STOL military aircraft ever with helicopter-like abilities. It rescued Mussolini from Gran Sasso. Rommel AND Montgomery had a personal Storch! And Hanna Reitsch landed one right near the Brandenburg Gate in late April 1945 to rescue the Fuhrer (he refused to leave Berlin). An amazing aircraft, the Storch was continued by France, Czechoslovakia, and Rumania with close to 2700 produced from 1936-45 in Germany and 400 more postwar used until 1970!!!

Fi-156 Storch and L-4 Grasshopper: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fieseler_Fi_156_Storch.jpg http://www.warbirdalley.com/images/L4A-OY-ECV.jp g