Here's a bit more on L-4 Piper Cubs used to hunt tanks:

Within 4th Armored Division three pilots assigned to the artillery liasion squadron had fitted their L-4 aircraft with 6 bazookas (a bundle of three under each wing just outboard of the struts)for attacking ground targets. These pilots were:
The squadron CO, Major Charles Carpenter flying Rosie the Rocketer, and 2nd Lieutenants Roy Carson and Harley Merrick.
Two instances where these aircraft made successful attacks were:
19 September near Arracourt Major Carpenter attacked a column of Panther tanks advancing on CCA of 4th Armored Division. He made three diving passes on the column firing 2 bazooka rounds per pass. On his third firing run Major Carpenter hit and knocked out one of the Panthers hitting it once in the turret. The crew abandoned the tank which subsequently burned. The column withdrew to cover in part because of his action.
On 12 November near Guebling France one of the three L-4's from 4th Armored attacked a column of SPW half tracks knocking out 1 or 2 vehicles. Which pilot was not specified in the account I have.
Major Carpenter was officially credited with 5 tanks destroyed by the end of the war.

A few months ago I saw an old B&W Korean war movie about recon pilots in the Korean war and one of them used a bazooka on the wing strut of his cub to fire at a tank but was shot down. I can't recall the name of the movie at the moment. The action was good but the plot was just propanganda.

You would have to be very brave or foolish to attack Panthers in a fabric covered aircraft at low level and low airspeed.

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TA, I guess that depends on whether you survive or not doesn't it

Amazing story though, talk about offensive reconnaisance!

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The fact was that the L-4 (and similar aircraft) proved difficult to shoot down. Unless you hit something critical like the pilot or engine the bullets just made small holes in the airplane (something I'm sure Tony Williams could confirm). Second, the Germans discovered quickly another reason not to shoot L-4's but, instead, scatter and run from them was shooting at them usually provoked huge artillery responses as the pilot was and artillery spotter .

Ahhh...I have a story about a piper being shot down in Germany. Pilot is buried in Margraten...Will post when I find it....

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Yeah, I would assume that damage resistance wise the Cub would be similar to the Hurricane, i.e. anything other than an engine hit could be fixed with a little tape.

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Another example of ground fire: This one in the Ardennes. Another L-4 from 4th Armored was spotting ahead of a column when the pilot spotted some tanks in a corpse of woods ahead of the column.
Unsure whether the tanks were US or German he swooped down and flew over them at roughly 75 feet. Their identity was confirmed as German when all 13 Pz IV's opened machine gun fire on the L-4. They managed to score a few hits on the aircraft as the pilot made a hasty retreat over the trees. He then called in a massive artillery barrage forcing the Germans to shift position.
The Germans now realizing that they had been spotted and were unlikely to escape the attentions of the L-4 withdrew.

The Brits flew cloth-skinned biplanes against German battleships[Bismark] with no losses.As for the L-4 piper,it's amazing what you can do with complete air supremacy.

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