Jaws2002, please don't cast aspersions.
If I'd had a pistol, I'd have used it - I've been known to shoot at low-flying H.P. O-400s from the ground, with my Colt. And have them crash afterwards (admittedly this was after we'd exchanged bullets, I'd set one of the O-400s engines alight, and he'd forced me to dead-stick back on the airfield. And come to think of it, the flak may have dented it a bit too. But I definitely fired in its general direction. And it definitely crashed...
)
I think the consensus on the multiplayer servers is that the Colt is most useful for shooting your own gunner. There is nothing more annoying than to have some idiot join you as gunner, and then start shooting at the wings or something. Rather than just giving them the boot, a full clip emptied into them is far more effective in getting the message across, and much more satisfying too...