Warbird Information Exchange

Since there are some turret junkies here on WIX, I snapped a couple photos of a Sperry turret at the WWII Museum inside the Hotel Les Invalides in Paris.

I'm not smart enough to know if this was off a B-24 or B-17...there wasn't any placarding there in the exhibit explaining what it was.

Thanks for posting Randy. I've never seen or heard of that one before your post. Could you see inside? Was there anything in there?

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Albert Stix Jr.
"Work is the curse of the drinking class"

Great photos Randy, thanks for posting them.

The B-17 and the B-24 ball turrets were identical in fact they typically had stenciling and placards for both the B-17 and the B-24 on the same turret.

Here is a placard/decal that I find particularly interesting...



Gee I wonder how they figured this one out?!

A few of the differences were the model number stamping and of course the retracting cylinder for the B-24. There were a few other bolt on differences like the fire interrupter cams and some warning light switches.

The ball turret in your photo was from a B-24 because of the bolts visible for mounting the ring gear carrier which was special to the B-24. All you had to do was to remove the carrier and you could install it in the B-17.

Collings B-17 actually has the B-24 ring gear carrier for the B-24 mounted. I think when they first put it in they didn't realize that it didn't belong. As a result the ball turret rides several inches too high in their B-17; a problem I am working on to rectify.

Here is a rare shot of the ball turret in the Collings B-24 extended on the ground. The aircraft was jacked up and stabilized for the fuel tank replacement surgery which gave us a good opportunity to work on the turret retract mechanism.



Thanks again Randy,

Taigh

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Taigh Ramey
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Hi,

this Sperry Turret is the courtesy of le Bourget Air Museum, I think it's came from IGN fortresses (F-BEEA - B - C - D had Sperry turret when they where bought in 1946

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cool, for a long time I had a casting piece that I hiked off a mountain in VT of a B-24 crash. I had figured that it was part of the ball turret..............now I know that it is. Somewhere i still have it.

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