Movie "The Rear Gunner" - a few surprises

[Chris Brame]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKdLbEQ6Dv8

The training film The Rear Gunner has been uploaded to YouTube, and along with a lot of detailed footage of gunnery training, a few of the planes involved were interesting:








Lockheed C-60 or Hudson?


B-18A 37-573


Martin B-10 target tug, minus nose turret


Another B-10, with turret

Marking on the AT-6 nose indicates Las Vegas; is this the future Nellis AFB?

[Stoney]

Those darn T-6 Zeros strike again

[Second Air Force]

Yep, that is Las Vegas Aerial Gunnery School. The two B-24s are fairly early Ds, just after getting the astrodome but before moving the pitot tubes up to the top of the fuselage sides. There's a Hudson in RAF camo in one picture also.

Scott

[JDK]

Great find!

The still with the Lockheed twin bomber - if that's a step in the rear fuselage underside means it's not a Hudson / Model 14, but one of the later types with that Ventral gun position. The Hudson's ventral post (when fitted) was clean faired.

[Second Air Force]

I am leaning toward that Lockheed being an A-29 but the photo doesn't rule out other variants, does it?

Scott

[The Inspector]

WOW! never knew that Joshua trees grew in the Pacific too! Ft. Roach strikes another blow for freedom using a $15.00 prop upper Soviet style turret.

It appears that someone was very lucky to find this one and just in time as the negative and sound track are just about gone in several places, a problem especially with nitrate filmstocks.

[Steve Nelson]

The Lockheed looks to me like a RB-34 Ventura, possibly originally intended for the RAF (hence the camo) but taken over by the USAAF. Most were used for various Stateside training purposes. In the still from the film you can barely make out the astrodome behind the cockpit. And it doesn't have the characteristic fuselage windows of the Hudson or Lodestar.

SN

[hercrat]

That is a B-34 Ventura for sure! Probably one from the school in Hondo.

[The Inspector]

...and, if it had R-1820's instead it would be....................

[Steve Nelson]

..a one of a kind, previously unheard of aircraft.
Now if it had R-2600s, that would make it a B-37.

That B-10 is fascinating. I had no idea any of them soldiered on into the war years, much less flew with the nose turret removed (what an awkward looking beast!)

SN

[agent86]

Those darn T-6 Zeros strike again

You see those darn T-6 zeros in action almost as often as you see the Dauntlesses dive bombing Pearl harbor. Anybody ever notice the film footage of the perfect spread of bombs being dropped on some grove of trees.almost anytime they talk about strategic bombing on some TV show,they show the footage of this perfect spread upon some orchard or tree grove. gotta deny the enemy oranges or olive oil or whatever strategic fruit was being grown

[JDK]

... gotta deny the enemy oranges or olive oil or whatever strategic fruit was being grown...

Not that oil campaign, Harpo, the other oil campaign!

[Chris Brame]

Just did a search on B-10 and B-12 serials, and I found TWELVE of them listed in accidents in and around Las Vegas, mostly in 1942; the last one, YB-10 33-147, was surveyed 8-23-43.

[gemmer]

Yep, that is Las Vegas Aerial Gunnery School. The two B-24s are fairly early Ds, just after getting the astrodome but before moving the pitot tubes up to the top of the fuselage sides. There's a Hudson in RAF camo in one picture also.

Scott

Very early, they still have the Bendix lower turret.

Duane

[Second Air Force]

And the first two have the odd fixed tail skid/post also.