Lancaster mid-upper turret question

daveymac82c · **Posted:** Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:57 pm

Hi everyone,

lately I've been researching and learning about the Avro Lancaster. I recently found this site which is great and has some good pictures:

http://www.kiwiaircraftimages.com/lanc.html

Some of the pictures of the mid-upper turret from the inside look interesting and it got me thinking. I'm interested to know if anyone out there has more information about the Lancaster's mid-upper turret.

I get the feeling that there were two different kinds of turrets used. I'd like to know how the gunner was positioned/seated in the turret and how the movement of the turrets was accomplished. As well, how quickly could those things rotate, when needed?

Cheers,

David McIntosh

gregv · **Posted:** Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:00 pm

A bunch of info on both dorsal & rear Lancaster turrets here:

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/weapon ... -4834.html

cheers

greg v.

b29flteng · **Posted:** Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:01 pm

I'm no expert (I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once), most had the FN, but some had the Martin 250(?) like the Canadian Warplane Heritage has.

daveymac82c · **Posted:** Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:38 pm

Thank you for that link Greg, it was quite interesting. In fact, it was almost exactly what I was looking for.

Now I'm curious to know if the CWH or the BBMF Lancasters have operational turrets. I suppose I could also ask about Just Jane's and the Lancaster in Nanton.

I managed to learn that the speed the turret could move was 35 inches per second. I think I know what that would look like, but would love to see any videos of one in action. I couldn't find anything on youtube other than a ride in the tail gunner of a Lanc while taxiing.

Cheers,

David

peter · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:50 am

I can speak for nanton in that the rear turret on the mockup section is operational and I have ra it a few times. very cramped for sure. As far as cwh and bbmf go, cwh has non operating front and rear turrets with a shell of a martin 250 on top. BBMF used to have operational turrets but they were decomissioned due to the demand on the hydraulics as far as maintenece goes. There was talk about gettinig them running again with hydraulic packs but that wa a few years ago.

Mike Berry · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:10 am

David,

I found this in some notes I have from an air gunner. I'm not sure exactly what Fraser Nash turret this pertains to, but the hydraulically operated FN turret should be capable of ten 120 degree journeys in 24 seconds.

Check out this video......

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid= ... &plindex=1

Regards,

daveymac82c · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:58 am

Thank you Peter for filling me in on the different Lanc turrets that are or are not operational. As much as operational turrets are neat and all, they are not exactly necessary... especially in peace time. And anything to reduce the maintenance on a warbird, in my opinion is a good move.

And Mike, thank you for finding that video for me. I think I'm just about ready for my first mission aboard a Wellington now. I love seeing the old training videos. Very cool. And it gave me an idea of how quickly the turrets were able to move.

One question remains though. How did the gunner control the left right, up down movement? Were there foot pedals and a handle for up/down?

Thanks again guys.

-David

JDK · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:05 am

daveymac82c wrote:

One question remains though. How did the gunner control the left right, up down movement? Were there foot pedals and a handle for up/down?

Generally, it was a joystick or handlebar arrangement.

There's a great book on the subject, British Aircraft Armament Vol 1 -Turrets.

'Just Jane' at East Kirby has a dummy 'FN' mid upper. THe BBMF Lanc's upper turret and I think rear are used by the crew / photographers and can / are rotated manually. Because of the shape of the front turret, I don't think it's moved much if it can be! Not popular with the pilot.

daveymac82c · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:09 am

Thanks James!

I also noticed while looking at pictures that the nose turret on the Lanc looks mighty small. It looks like there's even less space than a B-17's ball turret.

-David

JDK · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:12 am

daveymac82c wrote:

I also noticed while looking at pictures that the nose turret on the Lanc looks mighty small. It looks like there's even less space than a B-17's ball turret.

There certainly is less, as you are only in it waist up.

Mike Berry · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:29 am

In rear turrets equipped with a gyro gun sight, the gunner could adjust the size of the sight reticle to compensate for the distance to the target aircraft by using the foot pedals.

Nose & mid upper turrets where equipped with reflector type gun sights and did not have pedals.

peter · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:01 pm

Some front fn5 turrets also had a small seat but I find that would make for an unccomfortable.....

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Lancaster mid-upper turret question

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