In addition to the equipment necessary for the performance of their duties, the compartment is equipped with three .50-cal. The autopilot Servo motors above the tail-wheel are protected by armor at the side and bottom. The space was so small that he did not actually sit in it like a chair, but kind of perched on the seat with his knees on the floor. In this story he recalls how during World War II he helped to build a tail gun turret for the B-17, and how he gradually realized what a vital piece of equipment this was for American flyers. Everyone else was close enough to other crewmen for conversation—at least over the interphone; the noise from the engines blotted out normal conversation. If my tail gunner is allocated to an attacking fighter from 12:00 and the enemy fighter misses their shot can my tail gunner still fire as it passes(Intercom working) Early versions proved to be more vulnerable to fighter attack than anticipated, but, by the time the B-17E version began to go into service shortly before the United States entered the war in 1941, the plane was equipped with turrets in the upper fuselage, belly, and tail. One tank may be carried on each side of the bomb truss. The radio compartment is equipped with one .50-cal. The plans were to build a window cupola of bulletproof material for the tail gunner to look out of. ... BOMBARDIER: CHEEK GUNS: NAVIGATOR: TOP TURRET: ENGINEER: RADIO COMPARTMENT: RADIO OPERATOR: BALL TURRET: B/T GUNNER: WAIST GUNS (2) WAIST GUNNERS: TAIL GUN: TAIL GUNNER: 463rd Historical Society P.O. Detail plan and section showing compact Tail Gunner compartment. Avion De Guerre Patrouille De France Aviation Militaire Guerre Mondiale Avions Ww2 Avions De Chasse machine guns. The bomb bay is aft of the pilot's compartment. This encounter was notable, aside from the gunner’s skill in the face of danger. Boeing Field fledged thousands of B-17 Flying Fortress bombers during World War II, Sentry guards B-17F bombers at Boeing Field, 1942, Vern Nordstrand (1918-2009), Seattle, summer 2005, The Free Encyclopedia of Washington State History. All of this was to be built within the very narrow width of the tail. The window opening side and back was built with two thin sheets of Plexiglas separated by a space to simulate 2-inch thick bulletproof material with aluminum supports. The first few pictures are of the exterior and focus on the more prominent features of this bomber. Tail gunner in a USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress, 1943 A tail gunner or rear gunner is a crewman on a military aircraft who functions as a gunner defending against enemy fighter attacks from the rear, or "tail", of the plane. machine guns are located in the waist gunners' compartment, one on each side. This elevated enclosure contains the pilot's and copilot's stations with all the essential flight controls, instruments, etc., (See pp. machine guns. The plane is a restored B-17G owned by the Confederate Air Force. SOURCE: B-17 Flying Fortress by William Hess Right stabilizer and elevator blown completely away, rudder shattered, tail gunner's compartment riddled, she brought her ten men home. We had done our jobs well. The radio compartment is aft of the bomb bay section, and is reached from the flight deck by a catwalk through the bomb bay. machine guns. A relief tube is located behind the dome light in the left bomb bay. As time went on, I realized with more understanding the importance of the B-17 tail gun turret, and how many lives it may had saved. He assured me that he froze his tail off as it was so drafty. Tanks (or bombs) can be released electrically by the bombardier, or can be released by pulling one of the emergency release handles. machine guns. This essay is part of HistoryLink's People's History collection. The Boeing Company ordered the gun mounts from a farm implement company that manufactured plows and farm equipment. The latter is an emergency exit and has an emergency release handle. When I was 22 I had worked about five years at Boeing and had finished my sheet metal apprenticeship the year before, in 1941. It was operated by either the Bombardier or Navigator as were the cheek guns. Harry Fisk was the Superintendent of Plant 1 at the time, and he supervised many experimental wartime projects in addition to ours. Up until the later models of the B-17G, the radio operator had a .50 caliber machine gun located in the ceiling of his compartment that faced the rear of the aircraft. Rare video of a B-17 ball turret gunner in action over Europe. This turret can be entered from within the airplane after takeoff. Mr. Olson and I worked in a secure area of Plant 1, which had the windows covered and plywood walls added, with a military guard posted to check the pass of everyone who entered. New, larger windows and a "pumpkin" mount for the twin.50 caliber machine guns were added. In the bottom of the waist section (aft of the radio compartment) provision is made for a Sperry ball-type power turret equipped with twin .50-cal. Vern Nordstrand (1918-2009) worked at Boeing for 40 years, retiring in 1979. machine gun. All of this was to be built within the very narrow width of the tail. He had the drawings and would show me the shape and details of the plan, and I’d make the parts and then assemble them. Now day it is a handy place to stow the airshow equipment - the rain tarp for the cockpit, the ladder for adding oil and fuel atop the wings, etc. If we tried to do something and it wouldn’t work out, he’d just make his changes on the drawings and we’d go on from there. I didn’t think of it as a big deal as I was building it -- at the time, I didn’t think of it as such a fantastic item, which really it was. Bomb rack selector switches, installed on either side of the bomb bay, are used in conjunction with the rack selector switches on the bombardier's control panel. Early models of previous heavy bombers, such as the B-17 and B-24, had gunner positions that were exposed to the open air where temperatures could reach -40 degrees Fahrenheit at altitude. Early and mid-production aircraft retained the 'standard' tail gun position used on the B-17E and F models, while late production aircraft received the Cheyenne turret which improved that gunner's range of motion. A good friend of mine was a tail gunner in B-17's. A component of the training was learning to fly in tight formation – almost wing tip to wing tip with other bombers – and this dangerous proximity led to the loss of more than 2,800 airmen during fatal training mishaps. Interned. B-17 tail-gunner SSgt James F Jones, 560th Bomb Squadron, 388th Bomb Group, UK, September 1943. Launching Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortresses" and Consolidated B-24 "Liberators" from bases in England's eastern countryside, the Americans bombed their targets during the day while the British attacked at night. Two airmen of the 398th Bomb Group examine the damaged tail of a B-17 Flying Fortress. Armor plate in the waist gunner's compartment is installed above, below, and to the rear of each side window. Moving on the tail gunner section, more intercom and oxygen boxes to fold and install, along with controls for the gun sight and all that. RTD. machine guns are lacated on either side of the waist section manned by two waist gunners. The waist gunners view while flying in a B-17. (In some installations these valves are in the radio compartment.). My supervisor, Fred Amber, felt I was skilled mechanically and selected me to build the first prototype of the B-17 tail gun. Service 18 to 20 inch aluminum uprights (posts) were extended upward to support the new window cupola. Gun mounts were to be installed, along with a seat for the gunner. 34-39.) Mix of B-17 Flying Fortress gunner video and U.S. fighter gun camera video. When the tail gunner was in position he would be able to watch from the tail for approaching enemy aircraft, and protect the rear of the B-17. They have not been verified by HistoryLink.org and do not necessarily represent its views. How the engineers dreamed up that they could do this I don’t know, but they came up with the idea of adding a tail turret to protect the rear of the B-17, which was vulnerable in that aircraft. 2003- Even enclosed turrets were not heated, exposing gunners to extremely cold and dangerous conditions. Three crew members of B-17 42-37938,OR:E survey the tail damage received during a mission on April 19, 1944. The tail gunner was all alone. The gunner's seat in the ball turret is made of armor plate. His crew and crew kept changing due to death and sanity. He protected the rear quater of the aircraft with twin.50 cal. Damaged received while on the April 8,1945 mission to Derben, Germany. The first prototype bomber flew in mid-1935, and the B-17 entered small-scale production in 1937. The B-17's tail gunner targeted enemy planes through this small window in the tail of the Flying Fortress. Navigator) and 6 enlisted men (Engineer/Top Turret Gunner, Two Waist Gunners, Ball Turret gunner, Tail Gunner and Radio Operator) made up the crew. WACs pose by the tail guns of a 401st BG B-17 at an 8th Air Force base in … Personnel Aircraft Nose Art B-17 Thunderbird Ground Support Uniforms Journals More Info ... bombardier, flight engineer, radio operator, ball turret gunner, right waist gunner, left waist gunner, and tail gunner, i.e., "Copilot ditching," "Navigator ditching," etc. I worked with an engineer I only remember as “Mr. Crashed in Switzerland. Main entrance and exit is located in the waist section. This is the entrance and exit for the tail-gunner. The window cupola was long and narrow and from inside the tail gunner could have a wide view to the rear of the aircraft. document.write(year); Examination of Captured Luftwaffe Aircraft, Airplanes of Luftwaffe at the Soviet AF SRI, The He 111 and the FW 200 at the Soviet AF SRI. Two flexible .50-cal. It is also equipped with a Sperry power turret with twin .50-cal. Behind the Radio Compartment and below the Waist Section is located the Ball Turret equipped with twin 0.50 cal. Olson,” for I was just a kid, and he was an experienced engineer. One thing I realized after I closed up the fuselage was I did not install ANY wiring; I simulated a couple of control cable … I was pretty happy when they arrived and fit perfectly into the installation holes of our prototype, with no modifications necessary. I wasn’t sure how much our prototype had been modified before it went into production, but I met tail gunners and heard stories, and heard how the enemy got quite a surprise when they came up from behind, and suddenly these new tail gunners were shooting back at them! Between the nose section and the bomb bay is the flight deck, or pilot's compartment. B-17G #42-32037 returned to base without the tail gunner after the tail gunners compartment was shot off by flak on a mission to Hamm, GR on 23 Mar 1944. Memphis Belle is a Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress used during the Second World War that inspired the making of two motion pictures: a 1944 documentary film, Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress, and a 1990 Hollywood feature film, Memphis Belle.The aircraft was one of the first United States Army Air Forces B-17 heavy bombers to complete 25 combat missions. The nose section of the B-17 provides a compartment for the navigator and the bombardier. Box 11045 Santa Ana, Ca. Tail Gunner’s Compartment if(year < 100) { year = year + 2000; } else { if(year >= 100 && year < 2000) { year = year + 1900; } } TAIL TUNNEL A peek down the long tunnel that is the fuselage leading from the Waist Gunner/Radio Operator's Compartment. Note the face decoration on the gun shield. Provision is made for releasable gasoline tanks in place of a bomb load. Newly designed side turrets for the B-17 were also being assembled and tested there. B-17 tail-gunner SSgt James F Jones, 560th Bomb Squadron, 388th Bomb Group, UK, September 1943. We did not have the facilities at that time to test out our new tail gun turret with actual firearms, so when we had completed the window cupola, seat, aluminum sheathing, and installed the gun mounts, the tail section was loaded onto a trailer and hauled, I was told, to Ft. Lewis to be tested with real guns. machine guns. Gun mounts were to be installed, along with a seat for the gunner. Find link is a tool written by Edward Betts.. Longer titles found: Tail Gunner Joe () searching for Tail gunner 210 found (329 total) alternate case: tail gunner Junkers A 32 (283 words) exact match in snippet view article find links to article in tandem; the third seat intended from the outset to accommodate a tail gunner for a military version of the aircraft. The bombardier-navigator compartment contains armor plate on the bulkhead at the rear of the compartment. Yes tail gunner does seem to a very dangerous job and as the torpedo wellingtons had not forward facing gun in the nose of the plane I know my uncle was a tail gunner. Here is a good photo of the wide open ejection opening and the gun slots: Here is a factory photo: Here is a closeup of the shell ejection port on the B-17 at Duxford: It seemed that the gunner would have more agility to move around with that type of seat. The B-17 Flying Fortress / Armaments . now = new Date(); machine guns. Source: B-17 Fortress At War by Roger A. Freeman The tail emplacement of the "Mary Alice" was shattered by a 20mm cannon shell which killed the gunner. The tail gunner's compartment is in the extreme end of the fuselage and is equipped with 2 direct-sighted.50-cal. This page is a picture walk-around and a walk-through a B-17. Protective armor plate mounted on rubber cushions is installed at crew stations throughout the airplane. Shot down 24 April 1944 in B-17 #4231669 'Shoo Shoo Baby. ' Your gunners belong to one of two distinct categories: turret gunners and flexible gunners. Tail gunner in Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1943. I remember several projects going on inside the secure area, such as a test mock-up of a B29 wing section being built with rubberized insides so when bullets hit it, it wouldn’t explode. B-17G Flying Fortress - Cheyenne Tail Turret B-17s were flown from the factory to United Air Lines' Cheyenne, Wyoming, modification center where, among other mods, the B-17 stinger tail gunners compartment was modified. There was no nose gunner for the chin turret on the B-17G. year = now.getYear(); Armor protection for the top turret operator is placed on the aft side of the bulkhead at the rear of the pilot's compartment. A hand transfer pump is mounted on the aft bulkhead of the bomb bay and is used in case of the failure of the electric fuel pump. Two flexible 0.50 cal. The pilot, copilot, and radio operator are protected by armor plate on the backs of their seats. Finally, there is a narrow crawl space leading to the tail gunner’s compartment. ©AirPages It was found that this was the least effective gun position on the aircraft since the majority of fighter attacks came from the front. My dad flew as a tail gunner on several of the B17. Tail hits - page #2 . When the tail gunner was in position he would be able to watch from the tail for approaching enemy aircraft, and protect the rear of the B-17. Proceeds to radio compartment. The B-17 had top, side and bottom turrets, but the gunners could not see or shoot directly behind them if an enemy aircraft approached from that direction. Enjoy. The U.S. Air Force's Last Tail Gunner Has Retired ... Boeing’s B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated’s B-24 Liberator both bristled with machine guns by the end of their service life. Mr. Olson and I started by modifying the top of the aluminum circumferential framework. The waist gunners view while flying in a B-17. machine guns. Mr. Olson was a real nice guy, very low key. THE GUNNERS. The tail gunner's compartment is in the extreme end of the fuselage and is equipped with 2 direct-sighted .50-cal. He was assigned to be the tail gunner and he took to it right away. When either switch is "OFF" electrical release of bombs and fuel tanks is impossible. The interior photos begin at the front compartment of the plane and work back to the tail. It did not involve a B-17 or a B-24 facing off against a Luftwaffe attack, or a B-29 defending itself in the Korean War—Turner was a tail gunner on an aircraft still flying but not usually associated with machine gun defense: the B-52. In December 1943, Stevens joined his 10-man B-17 bomber crew. A merica joined Britain's strategic air campaign designed to destroy Nazi Germany's industrial capacity soon after her entrance into World War Two. People's Histories include personal memoirs and reminiscences, letters and other historical documents, interviews and oral histories, reprints from historical and current publications, original essays, commentary and interpretation, and expressions of personal opinion, many of which have been submitted by our visitors. There are many other such details that denoted different production blocks of the B-17G from all three production lines. A badly wounded gunner is rushed from stretcher to ambulance, while daylight shows through holes in the B-17's rudder. The tail gunner was perhaps the most important gunner on the B-17. To begin our project, a tail section of the B-17 was delivered to us from the factory. Closes radio compartment door. There are two ways of entering this compartment: (1) from the waist section through the tail-wheel compartment by means of a small door in the bulkhead, and (2) from the outside of the airplane through a -small side door. It might have been the least enviable position on a B-17 because it … Just after bombs-away a direct hit by flak completely tore the tail gunner position away and disabled the rudder controls. "Tokyo tank" shut-off valves are mounted below the door at aft end of bomb bay. The sliding seat was adjustable, but provided litfle comfort on long missions. Padded armor plates and bulletproof glass protect the tail gunner. When enemy fighters first … The B-17 is a most effective gun platform, but its effectiveness can be either applied or defeated by the way the gunners in your crew perform their duties in action. We installed the gunner seat, which was similar to a bicycle seat.