Warbird Information Exchange

Great shots Paul! Thanks for posting them!
Any info on the second B-24 in flight photo?
Looks like a test aircraft for the B-32 Dominator's turret system. Turrets are low profile and appear un-manned. There is a sighting blister in the right waist position, and what appears to be a camera on the left wing underside.
Very interesting photo. Love to kow the story behind it!
Jerry

_________________
"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

Ditto on the photos, Paul!

Jerry, the second airplane is actually a B-29 CFC Gunnery trainer. If you look closely, the turrets are indentical to the Superfort, including the tail turret. The tail gunner had a raised canopy that approximated the B-29 position and the waist positions have a bubble with the standard gunsight and mount for the '29. The lower forward turret is barely visible just below the bombardier station. I don't know exactly how many of these conversions were built, but there were a substantial number of B-24 airframes used for B-29 gunnery, flight engineer, and radar training due to the shortage of B-29s available for the training role. There were PLENTY of B-24s to use for initial training duties, and some crewmen have related that the Lib was actually a better training aircraft because there was more room in the fuselage than in the '29 for classroom work.

Scott