Four More and They'll Be An Ace

Fifty-caliber machine guns are usually found on the wings of fighter planes, but some members of the Makah Tribe in Washington found a new use for them:

NEAH BAY, Wash. — A California gray whale that was harpooned and shot with a machine gun off the western tip of Washington state has died, officials said.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Kelly Parker said five people believed to be members of the Makah Tribe shot and harpooned the whale Saturday morning.

Petty Officer Shawn Eggert said the whale disappeared beneath the surface in the evening, dragging buoys that had been attached to the harpoon, and did not resurface. A biologist working for the Makah Indian tribe declared it dead, Eggert said.

Tribe members were being held by the Coast Guard but had not been charged, said Mark Oswell, a spokesman for the law enforcement arm of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

A preliminary report said the whale was shot with a .50-caliber machine gun, Oswell said.

Maybe this will be a future episode of Dogfights!