B-29 'Manipulation' trainer LVAAF 1944 ...

[Mark Allen M]

B-29 gunnery trainer at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, late 1944.
Funky looking contraptions.

[Michel Lemieux]

Structure looks like built out of wood!!!!

If so must have been very shaky when firing!!!!!!

[sandiego89]

neat, no guns, or the maybe censored out? Looks like the even copied the tail gunner window shapes.

I like the ones on Saipan that I believe Mark posted earlier, made from real B-29 bits!

[wendovertom]

In the summer heat in Vegas - they look more like B-29 shaped ovens to me

It makes me wonder how much use they got - does not appear to have any power immediately available, and as stated before - no guns or real turrets - unless censored out.

Tom P.

[p51]

In the summer heat in Vegas - they look more like B-29 shaped ovens to me

That's exactly what I thought.
Many years ago I knew a gentleman who'd been a B-17 co-pilot with the 91st BG, and he wound up at Vegas. I remember him telling me how oppressively hot it was and how little accommodation had been made for the heat.

[Craig59]

I’m guessing that if wreck chasers were to pinpoint the location, they’d find 12 concrete footings and a lot of burned lumber.

[Mark Allen M]

Something doesn’t seem right with these two platforms. Could they have been used for some other training tool? Perhaps “Manipulation” had a different meaning.

[eagle0025]

From a history of Air Education and Training Command:
"Throughout 1944, B-29 gunners received practically the same training as those for other aircraft, but at the end of the year a few of them began to receive training in B-24s modified by the addition of central fire control turrets to make them more like B-29s. Then, as the year progressed, Buckingham Field, Florida; Las Vegas Field. Nevada; and Harlingen Field, Texas, all began offering B-29 gunnery instruction … Among the training devices used in this instruction was the manipulation trainer...1 2 [sic] towers arranged to resemble a formation of planes. The towers ranged in height from 10 to 40 feet, each equipped with 2 nose, 2 tail, 2 ring sighting, and 4 blister positions. As students in these positions faced simulated attacks from PT-13 and PT-17 aircraft, they "fired" camera guns at the attacking fighters."

[Noha307]

I like the ones on Saipan that I believe Mark posted earlier, made from real B-29 bits!

As the links to the pictures have since broken, for future reference, an archived version of the relevant thread can be found here: Saipan Gunnery Range ...

[mike furline]

https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/loc ... las-vegas/

Go to the end of Range Rd. (in Street View), Look E-NE, mountain range.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/I-215 ... 15.1342161

[bdk]

As students in these positions faced simulated attacks from PT-13 and PT-17 aircraft, they "fired" camera guns at the attacking fighters."

I sure hope the Stearmans got the opportunity to shoot back! Sounds like fun duty.