And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Devastating
The chin turret of a Boeing B-17G bomber with the cowling removed, revealing its six .50 caliber machine guns (June 17, 1944)
From what I remember reading, one favored tactic of the Germans was to make head-on attacks against B-17 formations. The bombers were designed with armament primarily to defend from a rear attack. The head-on attackers faced fewer guns but had a much shorter attack window.
The standard chin turret had two guns, this six turret one was an experiment and I spent some time looking for information.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I remember reading, one favored tactic of the Germans was to make head-on attacks against B-17 formations. The bombers were designed with armament primarily to defend from a rear attack. The head-on attackers faced fewer guns but had a much shorter attack window.
ReplyDeleteThis must have been a response to that tactic.
A related site of interest:
ReplyDeletehttp://legendsintheirowntime.com/LiTOT/B17/B17_noseguns.html
Field experiement probably, kinda hard to keep them all fed on a 12hr combat flight.
ReplyDeleteYB-40 with outer turret cover removed
ReplyDelete