Memphis Belle at Duxford
Discussion
Eric Mc said:
deviant said:
How was the chin gun aimed and fired? I assume some sort of joystick from the bomb aimers position and it was just a kind of point and squirt affair...aim the tracers like a hosepipe?
Exactly. It was more of a detterent. The earlier B-17s were not fitted with much in the way of forward firing armament. The B-17F on;y had a hand operated machine gun on either side of the nose. The Luftwaffe realised that B-17s were weakly defended from frontal attacks and began to exploit that weakness with head-on attacks. The chin turret was an attempt to address the situation by beefing up forward defence. The picture below shows a typical B-17G set up, with the original side mounted nose guns plus the remotely operated chin turret.
aeropilot said:
And here's the view from the front bomb aimers positions, taken by me when flying over southern California in B-17G '909'
Nice picture. It had me confused though, as i never thought a B17G had a gun right in the nose like that, I always thought it was remover in favour of the chin turret.Only now looking at this on a decent screen, and its the arm rest i see, not a gun.
Edited by Mutley on Thursday 6th October 13:54
YesItsARover said:
Sorry, I'm going to attempt to put my spotter hat on!
Memphis Belle was a B-17F, shown here:
Sally B is a B-17G, depicted by the chin turret. Sally B was painted as Memphis Belle for the film, and half retains Sally B livery with the other half Memphis Belle, if I am right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_B
Memphis Belle is in Ohio in bits at the moment I think....
I have copy of that photo signed by her wartime captain, Robert Morgan. It shows her last flight in British skies.Memphis Belle was a B-17F, shown here:
Sally B is a B-17G, depicted by the chin turret. Sally B was painted as Memphis Belle for the film, and half retains Sally B livery with the other half Memphis Belle, if I am right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_B
Memphis Belle is in Ohio in bits at the moment I think....
johnnyreggae said:
Glad to see Sally B got away from Goodwood !
On the fantastic tour that weekend they commented that the field was a little shorter than they are used to
Yes, I was surprised to actually see it there when I walked over to where the aircraft are parked!!On the fantastic tour that weekend they commented that the field was a little shorter than they are used to
They are quite pedestrian in their take-off run.
Unlike a B-25 which is a veritable 'hot-rod' in the take-off run
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