Navigator and Gunnery Schools c 1942 ...

[Mark Allen M]

... So you want to be a Navigator? Seems easy enough way back when .... right!

Lowry Field, CO c 1942

A LIFE series by photographer William Vandivert















































... but you still have to learn how to shoot a gun as well.



... only when school is finished do you get to smell the flowers.

Last edited by Mark Allen M on Sun Jun 26, 2016 1:04 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[Randy Wilson]

Mark, as always some interesting photos. The last photo shows a field elevation of 5391 feet, so it might be Lowry Field in Colorado, near Denver. I'm not sure if it was a navigator's school but it was a training field. Just FYI.

Randy

[Mark Allen M]

Thanks Randy, yes now that makes more sense. Lowry Field would be more logical.

M

[AG pilot]

Both large hangars remain with "Wings Over the Rockies" museum located in one.

[Mark Allen M]

Air Corp Gunnery School

Las Vegas, NV c 1942

LIFE Series by Photographer Eliot Elisofon

[Chris Brame]

SO cool to see some of the last active B-10s in service! This one is B-10B 35-235:

235 (MSN 650) damaged at Las Vegas Army Gunnery School, Las Vegas AAF, NV Nov 18, 1942

AAIR lists it as a taxiing accident and refers to it as a B-10BM, one of several so converted; did the "M" suffix denote target towing or something else?

[Randy Wilson]

SO cool to see some of the last active B-10s in service! This one is B-10B 35-235:

235 (MSN 650) damaged at Las Vegas Army Gunnery School, Las Vegas AAF, NV Nov 18, 1942

AAIR lists it as a taxiing accident and refers to it as a B-10BM, one of several so converted; did the "M" suffix denote target towing or something else?

Chris, in Martin Aircraft 1909-1960 by Breihan, Piet & Mason, the M designation is mentioned in this on page 55:

"Despite a number of disputes between Air Corps materiel officers and Martin over design and construction defects in the B-10 series, 119 of the 151 planes purchased during 1932-35 were still in service in the Spring of 1940. Redesignated B-10M and B-12AM, most were assigned to target-towing and training duties, though seventeen planes in the Philippines were still in combat status."

It is likely that some B-10B models were also used and got the M designation, as you suggest.

Randy

[MacHarvard]

Hey, thanks for all the AT-6 shots, Mark. Since Z-7 is identifiable as an AT-6A-NT, I will make the bold (foolish?) assumption that the others are as well.

cheers
Doug