B-17 Chin Turret question

[Texas Star]

Because Luftwaffe fighters often made head-on attacks on Allied bombers, the B-17 was fitted with a two-gun chin turret by B-17G production.

I believe the turret rotated but was mainly fired at frontal attacks.

My question is, who operated those guns? The pilot? Bombardier? The bombardier also had separate nose guns.

The B-24 had a different front turret..Who manned those guns?

By watching, "12 O'Clock High" re-runs, I gather the flight engineer manned the dorsal turret in the B-17.

 

[Faulkner]

With the B-24 the navigator usually operated the nose turrent.

With a B-17G it could be the navigator or bombardier.

You are correct, with both the B-24 and B-17 the engineer operated the top turrent.

 

[jeffsmith]

Bombardier operated the B-17 chin turret

The Gunsight is top center
the controls are stowed to the right

The Controls themselves

I believe on the B-24 the nose turret had a dedicated Gunner

NOTE: I've been studying the 8th AF out of England for 50+ years

 

[Rustyt1953]

Men with stones.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

My Good Friend Leo DeAngelis (RIP) was a B-17 Flight-Engineer Gunner.

 

[Sgt911]

A bit ot but my uncle was a waist gunner on a B17 and was the only survivor after being shot down over Germany. He spent the rest of the war in a Stalag. I think it was on their fifth run that week. His ship was the Screaming Red A*ss. While researching that I came across a story about B17 being used in the Pacific to make strafing runs and cargo drops. I do not believe the ships were later models though, just early leftovers. Doesn't add anything to the thread though

 

[jeffsmith]

A bit ot but my uncle was a waist gunner on a B17 and was the only survivor after being shot down over Germany. He spent the rest of the war in a Stalag. I think it was on their fifth run that week. His ship was the Screaming Red A*ss. While researching that I came across a story about B17 being used in the Pacific to make strafing runs and cargo drops. I do not believe the ships were later models though, just early leftovers. Doesn't add anything to the thread though

You might be surprised

42-30340 | American Air Museum in Britain

Your Uncle?

Harold Quick | American Air Museum in Britain

 

[Sgt911]

Thank you. Yes, that is my mothers brother. Unfortunately he took his own life after the war. Its not talked about that much with WW2 vets.

 

[BB57]

The B-17 had a navigator and a bombardier in the nose.

The E model had "cheek" guns in the nose, a single .50 on each side in ball mounts to be operated by the navigator and bombardier. There was also a .30 caliber in a ball mount in the nose. The early E models used the periscope operated bendix ventral turret similar to the ventral turret used on the B-25B and C. The later E models had the ball turret.

The F model used larger mounts and windows for the cheek guns. However, in combat most crews added a .50 in a ball mount in the plexiglas nose, and it was not uncommon for crews to add a pair of .50s in a much more modified mount in the nose.

That need was eventually addressed with the chin turret.

The YB-40 was an interesting concept. Not successful but interesting and worth googling.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

My Buddy Paul was a waist gunner.
He’s the Gunner who missed was in the hospital with pneumonia and missed the Ball Bearing Raids.
When he Got back to the Gunners Barracks he found mostly replacement gunners there.
Most of his Buddies were shot down, killed or captured.

 

[Glashaus]

The bombardiers or navigators, they were in the forward position. The B17G chin gun controls are at the bombardiers position

 

[xring33]

Interesting question....I’ll have to look that one up.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[31FordA]

The chin mount was first used on the previously mentioned YB-40 gunship version of the B-17. A YB-40 was a B-17 mounting several dozen guns and a huge quantity of ammo. Some YB-40’s were operated by the 8th as escorts, but the weight of the guns and ammo made them too slow to stay with the standard B-17’s. The YB-40’s were withdrawn, but the chin mount was kept. Some late production B-17F’s had the chin mount, as did all the B-17G aircraft.

The YB-40 is featured in a chapter of one of my favorite books as a kid, Martin Caiden’s “Forktailed Devil: The P-38”. A YB-40 is used to shoot down a captured P-38 being used by the Italians.

 

[LVSteve]

IIRC the bombardier operated the chin turret and the navigator got to play with the cheek guns.

 

[Lee in Quartzsite]

Having just toured the interior of the B-17 Sentimental Journey I have a new respect for all those brave young men who flew in them. I was amazed at how little room there was to maneuver inside the plane. About the only place you could fully stand up was while in the top turret station. Visibility was very limited and the cockpit seemed so small compared to what is seen in the movies. Going from the tail gunner positions to the flight deck entailed crossing over the bombay on a very narrow walkway, which I had to do going sideways! If you ever get the chance to tour a B-17 it is well worth it.

Do a search on YouTube for:

Aviation Graveyard - Kingman Arizona..!

The planes stored there after the war stretched for miles.

 

[ParadiseRoad]

...the photo says it all...

 

[ParadiseRoad]

...bomber crew from an interesting angle...

 

[Donn]

My uncle was in the 8th Air Force, navigator on a B-17. Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for action during the Big Week.

 

[LVSteve]

...bomber crew from an interesting angle...

The Marauder, a plane ahead of its time that had to be modified and compromised to match the training and skills of the time.

 

[foxy320]

My mom worked on an air base during WW2 that trained B26 pilots. She said the plane was called" a tisket a tasket a 2 engine casket" because of how hard & different it was from the other 2 & 4 engine bombers to fly and all the crashes it had until it was learned how to fly it.