[brando]

It's kind of obvious surely, that firing a stream of bullets at surfaces that are sloping away from you means that a large proportion of these rounds will be deflected - the angle of incidence is just too narrow. Even thin metal sheet will deflect a round when the angle is around 5 or 10 degrees. The fuselage may allow for more penetration, but it contains armoured bulkheads to protect the crew, and any number of metal fittings that may stop a round that has already lost a lot of energy penetrating the fuselage. So attacks from the rear are really the least effective of all types.

Attacks from head on were always the most effective, and several Hurricane squadrons were noted for practising this - but the danger of this high closing-speed manoeuvre was always collision. Notwithstanding this, a stream of bullets hitting the glazed front of a Heinkel could cause enormous (often fatal) damage to the crew and the controls.

Attacks from almost any quarter could be more effective than a dead six pursuit as far as bullet penetration was concerned, though an awareness of the defensive positions, ie gunner stations, is necessary. Likewise a knowledge of deflection shooting is also important.