Big essay on aerial defensive gunnery, WWII era

[fat tony]

http://bayourenaissanceman.########.ca/2008/07/weekend-wings-25-air-gunners.html

I'd like to devote - and dedicate - this Weekend Wings to the often-ignored, under-appreciated and anonymous members of many World War II bomber crews: the air gunners. Since most defensive aircraft gun development took place in Britain and the USA, this article will concentrate on those countries. German, Japanese and Soviet aircraft mainly used gun mountings rather than powered turrets (with some exceptions).

Gunners began as observers during World War I. Initially aircraft weren't armed at all, so crews took aloft rifles and pistols. The first combats found observers trying to line a rifle at the opposing aircraft, while the pilots threw their planes around to prevent the opponent doing the same to them. Needless to say, this didn't make for very accurate shooting!

http://4.bp.########.com/_kIWY2DV0KnE/SIPq0VClCgI/AAAAAAAAA4I/-9MekvU5Vxs/s400/Sperry+Retractable+Ball+Turret+showing+direct+hit+by+cannon+fire.jpg

^B-17
http://1.bp.########.com/_kIWY2DV0KnE/SIPyIBtjRrI/AAAAAAAAA6Q/xCBJZYKVv1Y/s400/Stirling+rear+turret+after+fighter+attack.jpg

^STIRLING
http://2.bp.########.com/_kIWY2DV0KnE/SIP4UeQLv2I/AAAAAAAAA8A/a3K1KsjlaEY/s400/B-24+showing+tail+turret+blown+off+by+enemy+fire.jpg

^LIBERATOR
http://4.bp.########.com/_kIWY2DV0KnE/SIP4iFQeGEI/AAAAAAAAA8I/b23E3ZbtWaQ/s400/RAF+bomber+struck+by+falling+bomb.jpg
^LANCASTER?

 

[contact148]

when i was in high school (long time ago) i worked with a woman whos mother was RAF in ww2 she loaded the guns on bombers and cleaned the turrets out with a hose if the turret was hit

this woman was like 5ft tall and she showed me a pic of her with belts of ammo wrapped around her in front of a bomber was pretty cool

 

[fat tony]

Very interesting people! Thanks fort the post

Scarff ring with dual Lewis Guns:

http://3.bp.########.com/_kIWY2DV0KnE/SIPhcLdltnI/AAAAAAAAA1Y/xpbJFz4ZcY4/s320/Twin+Lewis+guns+on+Scarff+ring+in+DH-4+bomber.jpg

diagram of lower ball B-17 turret - just to give you something to think about!

http://3.bp.########.com/_kIWY2DV0KnE/SIPpp6k-PHI/AAAAAAAAA34/ZT1OM1lD5oM/s320/Sperry+Retractable+Ball+Turret+showing+gunner%27s+position.jpg

Catalina (Canso in Canadian Service)

http://3.bp.########.com/_kIWY2DV0KnE/SIPsUlP3jEI/AAAAAAAAA4w/2aUNMLgCcsA/s400/Catalina+gunner+mounting+machine-gun+in+blister.jpg

http://3.bp.########.com/_kIWY2DV0KnE/SIPseN3RVyI/AAAAAAAAA44/hSw5X1TiCIo/s400/Catalina+blister+gunner.jpg

Gunnery range - looks like fun!

http://1.bp.########.com/_kIWY2DV0KnE/SIPxMJaf3-I/AAAAAAAAA6A/Vl-8URHo4H0/s400/Air+gunner+training,+Saskatchewan,+Canada.jpg

USAAF getting ready to ship out some technicals to Somalia

http://3.bp.########.com/_kIWY2DV0KnE/SIP0d846lSI/AAAAAAAAA6w/h8aQs-t4HOw/s400/Truck-mounted+tail+turret+trainers.jpg

P-63 "Pinball"

Late WWII Rose Bros "Village Inn" turret with fire control radar and (?) escape hatch for the gunner - nearing the end of the development for tailgun turrets.

http://1.bp.########.com/_kIWY2DV0KnE/SIP5249oYuI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/1Cx4juTAmEY/s400/Rose-Rice+turret+with+radar.jpg

Boulton Paul 20mm turret late WWII on a Lincoln

http://4.bp.########.com/_kIWY2DV0KnE/SIP6DRHdByI/AAAAAAAAA8g/gmwvcBxIuSk/s400/Boulton-Paul+Type+H+Mk+II+20mm+mid-upper+turret+on+Lancaster.jpg

 

[RedRabbits]

good read thanks for sharing

 

[Skaal-tel]

20mm turret! Now that's really something.

I had a hard time watching a history channel special on bomber gunners. One of the vets tells a story about how a bomber crew had their ball turret get stuck in the deployed position. They couldn't get the gunner out, and they couldn't retract the ball. Eventually they had to land.. and the gunner was crushed. Gives me shivers.

 

[purple]

I recently recorded the story of an RCAF rear gunner on Halifax bombers who survived 33 missions over Europe in 1943/44. Chances of a RAF/RCAFbomber crew completing the required 30 missions unscathed were 1 in 3.

He saw Luftwaffe night fighters on most missions over Germany, detectable because of their engine exhaust flames, and was fired on on 2 occasions returning fire with uncertain results. The primary effort of the rear gunner was to detect approaching night fighters and then direct the pilot to take evasive action with the aim of escaping their curve of pursuit with the hope that they would loose track of the bomber and be unable to re-aquire it. If a night fighter approached from dead astern they were pretty much toast because there was no curve of pursuit or deflection shooting involved. The idea was not to fire unless fired on because in doing so your tracer lit you up for any night fighter in the vicinity. The loss rate for tail gunners was very high among aircrews because this was the first point of contact and engagement for a night fighter. He said the stress levels on a long night mission to Berlin were immense because he had to be vigilant 100% of the time, even when in the landing pattern of his home airfield in England where 2 bombers were shot down by German intruders. He was lightly wounded once by flak on a raid over Emden. On this occasion he disconnected his electrically heated flying suit fearing that his blood might short it out. They counted 92 flak holes in the plane when it returned.

Its a small world. His navigator and best friend, who was awarded the DFC, came from the homestead next to ours in SK and I knew him as a young fellow. The nose art panel of his bomber, called "Avenging Angel", is preserved in the National Aviation Museum in Ottawa. "Avenging Angel" featured a nude woman and they would add a red heart around her after each mission. He and his son visited the museum last summer and found that modern political correctness had caused someone to paint a swimsuit on his girl. All the same, he was happy to see and touch her again.

 

[donor]

Late WWII Rose Bros "Village Inn" turret with fire control radar and (?) escape hatch for the gunner - nearing the end of the development for tailgun turrets.

http://1.bp.########.com/_kIWY2DV0KnE/SIP5249oYuI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/1Cx4juTAmEY/s400/Rose-Rice+turret+with+radar.jpg

Boulton Paul 20mm turret late WWII on a Lancaster

http://4.bp.########.com/_kIWY2DV0KnE/SIP6DRHdByI/AAAAAAAAA8g/gmwvcBxIuSk/s400/Boulton-Paul+Type+H+Mk+II+20mm+mid-upper+turret+on+Lancaster.jpg

Both of those pictures are showing turrets of Avro Lincoln.It came into service too late for WW2.

 

[fat tony]

Thanks for the correction.

 

[fat tony]

First UK use of the automatic gunlaying turret in combat:

http://www.bomberhistory.co.uk/49squadron/Files/Village Inn.pdf

Throughout Bomber Command, all aircraft had been fitted with "Z"equipment which would transmit the infra-red 'friendly' signal to any 'VillageInn' Lancasters they might come across.
Order of Battle for the night’s operation was poste
d just before lunch; the
9 aircraft (all 'Village Inn' equipped) detailed were
as follows:
PB300 S/L Lace
PB355 F/O Burns RCAF
PB373 F/L Lee
PB361 F/O Alty
PB361 F/O Parkin
PB700 F/O Russell
PB349 F/O Furber
PB354 F/O Hay
PB369 F/O Mallinson
All 49's aircraft carried out successful bombing attacks and returned toFiskerton without loss by02.39hrs. At interrogationit was revealed thattwo crews had made enemy contact using their A.G.L.T equipment and subsequent combats with enemy aircraft ensued.What follows is a quite remarkable account, given by F/O Leslie Hay or'Uncle Will' as he became known within the squadron,
who was piloting one ofthese Lancasters. He describes in detail the action
s as they occurred duringthat Monday evening in September 1944. The Lancaster concerned was a MkIII (PB354) EA-G for George. The crew consisted of;
F/O L.J. Hay Pilot,
Sgt F. Green flight engineer, P/O P.W.Smith navigat
or, W/O H. Jenkinson
wireless operator, F/Sgt A.E. French mid/upper gunner
, P/O A.J. Mackay
bomb aimer and F/O J.S. Hall the rear gunner.

 

[Coyote Ugly]

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner - Poem by Randall Jarrell


http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/death-of-the-ball-turret-gunner.html

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner : Randall Jarrell - Summary & Critical Analysis


This short poem The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell is the post modern elegy in which the speaker himself is a mourner of his death. Beside it, the poem is the criticism of devastating war. In order to expose the horror of war the poet employs imagery of abortion by drawing an analogy between the Ball Turret of the fighter plane and womb of mother. He contrasts the womb of the ball turret and natural womb of mother. The womb of nation is indifferent to its soldier, where as natural womb of mother is nurturing and warm. The position of fetus in mother’s womb and the position of hunched soldiers inside the Ball Turret create similarity between ball turret and womb of mother.




The speaker says that from his mother’s womb he fell into state. He passed from one womb to another womb. It is the journey from the darkness to darkness. He could never experience the freedom of human being. He feels that he was never born. Inside the mother’s belly fur was wet, and inside Ball Turret he was wet because of fear and sweat. He is continuously attacking enemies and he is six miles above the earth. The life had come up with dreams and expectations. But he could never see these dreams. Therefore he never got a life.


The speaker imagines posthumous (after death) situation. He evokes the imagery of abortion; just as an unwanted baby is aborted and the womb of mother is washed. After the death of soldier in war he too, becomes an unwanted baby for the nation, thus he is washed from Ball Turret with the help of hose. He will not be glorified instead they would wash every drops of blood.
Jarrell reminds the deplorable situation of the soldiers in the war. Then the speaker imagines that war is of no use, and when soldiers die, they are simply forgotten and they do not become the subject of remembrance. Jarrell seems to denounce the war stating that it is totally futile.

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner - Poem by Randall Jarrell

From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.

 

[fat tony]

^A bleak outlook - if you have seen the movie: "Catch 22" you might recall the scene where Yossarian's B24 is shot down. As he is relatively unscathed, he crawls around the wreckage assessing the situation & administering first aid. -Eventually, Yossarian finds one of his crewmen in very bad shape, reaches for the first aid kit to get some dressings & only finds an IOU from the supply techs - the chit then blows away ominously. Yossarian is forced to sit there and attend to his fellow crewman & accompany him until help arrives (the help never arrives, & the crewman passes away).