Attacks on parachutists

Attacks on parachutists, within the law of war, is when pilots, aircrews, and passengers are attacked while descending by parachutes from disabled aircraft during wartime. This practice is considered by most militaries around the world to be inhumane, barbaric, and unchivalrous, that it is unnecessary killing (the attacked personnel would eventually become POWs if parachuted over enemy territory), that it is contrary to fair play, and that pilots have to be held to a higher standard. Attacking people parachuting from an aircraft in distress is a war crime under in addition to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. However, it is not prohibited under the Protocol to open fire on airborne forces who are descending by parachutes, even if their aircraft is in distress.

After World War I, a series of meetings were held at The Hague in 1922–23. Based on experiences and stories from fighter pilots who participated in the First World War, a commission of jurists attempted to codify this practice with the Hague Rules of Air Warfare, Article 20 prescribed that:

When an aircraft has been disabled, the occupants when endeavoring to escape by means of parachute must not be attacked in the course of their descent.

However, the Hague Rules of Air Warfare never came into force, and despite the strong feelings of chivalry regarding this issue, there was no legal prohibition on targeting parachuting enemy airmen before or during World War II. In 1949, as a result of widespread practices and abuses committed during the Second World War, the newly modified and updated versions of the Geneva Conventions came into force providing greater protections to protected persons but there was still no explicit prohibition on the shooting of parachuting enemy pilots. However, despite this, military manuals around the world contained prohibition on attacking enemy pilots parachuting from an aircraft in distress. Paragraph 30 of the United States Army's Field Manual published by the Department of the Army, on July 18, 1956 (last modified on July 15, 1976), under the title "The Law of Land Warfare", states:

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