If a tracer round struck its target it had the kinetic energy to still do damage, but it was NOT an AP or API round and because of the burning phosphorous was known to be slightly less accurate.
In addition to the stealth factor as already mentioned and the fact that air combat was still in its formative stages in the 1940's there was still considerable experimentation going on. There have been many accounts of pilots directing their armourors to load strictly AP/API in something similar to a 4:1 ratio (Gabreski specifically) and doing away with tracer completely.
There's also the overriding factor of "perception" which has proven many times to be inaccurate.
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