TAIL GUNNER!

[Coldshooter]

I worked with a fellow named Maurice in 1990 who had one of the first kills of an ME262. He allowed it was nothing he did just saw a black spec start getting big quick and fired the ME262 pulled up into his line of fire. Seems some of the less experianced pilots would come in so fast they had little time to line up a shot at the bomber and little time to react. Maurice was the kind of guy who was a great story teller made himself more the humble narrator rather than the main character. Something we don't think about was how cold the bomber was inside and no room to move about and warm up. Martin Caidin describes conditions well in his book Black Thursday.

 

[FishingPilot]

I got to fly on a B-24 a few years back over the dedication of a French statue to the National D-Day Monument in my hometown of Bedford, VA. A B-17 was flying with us and I snapped a few shots from the waste gunner position.

Flikr Photostream

 

[sheepdawg]

What is also hard to fathom is just how small these planes are. Growing up in Memphis I got to look at the Memphis Belle many times. My dad, who was in the Wehrmacht, wouldn't even drive down the street of the National Guard Armoury the plane was displayed in front of. He'd seen enough of those.

Memphis pretty much let the Memphis Belle rot. Thankfully the plane is now being restored in Dayton Ohio by the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

Restoration Of The Memphis Belle -pg1

 

[MarineSgtjimh]

My Dad was a tail gunner on B-24's. Stationed in Italy with the 15th Air Force. Air Medal with 3 oak leaves. Lost Dad 3 years ago. I miss him.

 

[Double-O-Dave]

I like how the zippered canvas opens and closes as the barrels move up and down. Low-tech, but effective, nonetheless.

True, but I remember seeing photos of British bombers of the time, and the high tech solution their gunners had was to completely remove the plexiglass front panel of their turrets for unobstructed vision and operation of their guns. I think the rationale was that it may be better to suffer from the cold air, than from the possibility of hot lead.

Regards,

Dave