Warbird Information Exchange

looking for info on a B-17 named "Fast Worker". 8th AF?

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Long Live the N3N-3 "The Last US Military Bi-Plane" 1940-1959
Badmouthing Stearmans on WIX since 2005

This one with 303 BG:

http://www.303rdbg.com/359daub.html


Steve G

Same ship, slightly different appearance:

http://www.303rdbg.com/gc-fastworkerii.html

Steve G

I've never seen that kind of gun arrangement on a B-17 before. With the two .303's in the nose, like the taile gunner position. Kinda cool looking.

Can someone tell me how well this arrangement worked?

Cheers,

David

According to Freeman, the twin 50 mod was standard for many VIII Air Service Command ships. The B-17's so equipped obviously did not carry a bombsight and toggled their loads on a signal from the lead a/c. The recoil in this type of installation made them difficult to handle. This mod was used on E's and F's.

Steve G

Cool, thanks for filling me in.

-David

The twin 50 set up is exactly like what was used in the tail turret of the B-17 (both the regular and Cheyenne).

The mounts were recoil absorbing Bell E-11 cradles that were clamped together front and rear.

I made one for a documentary but it never made the final cut. It really rocked!

Here is my daughter after shooting it:.



That's my little girl! what a proud papa.

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To donate to the PV-2D project via PayPal click here http://www.twinbeech.com/84062restoration.htm

We brought her from: to this in 3 months: Help us get her all the way back

All donations are tax deductible as the Stockton Field Aviation Museum is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Tell a friend as the Harpoon needs all the help she can get.

Thank you!

Taigh Ramey
Vintage Aircraft, Stockton, California
http://www.twinbeech.com
'KEEP ‘EM FLYING…FOR HISTORY!'

Dude, that is awsome.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

Love the scope set-up there Taigh

One would guess with twin .50s though, a scope is probably not needed

Very cool!

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Earn my respect and never lose it.
Demand my respect and never gain it. -Me

...just another plane dreamer.

Yeah, the scope is a real joke but I put it on for fun. That scope was a standard installation on a lot of aircraft early in WWII. It can be found on the flex gun in the back of the AT-6C & D, Martin B-26 waist guns and a bunch of other flexible gun installations. I can see why it didn't stick around long though as it certainly has a narrow field of view. I guess it was similar to the long telescopes seen on the F3F and many other pre war aircraft.

One thing I noticed when shooting the 50, with the ring and bead sights, is they were not very precise, and they weren't meant to be. In flight you were mostly leading the target by large amounts. Rarely were you pointing the gun straight at the target thus a fine cross hair was not really needed.

The ground 50's in WWII had more conventional rifle type sights and they even had sniper scopes both of which had adjustments for windage and elevation. So does that scope on the twin mount shown above. I am amazed that a scope and mount assembly used on flexible guns in flying aircraft had knobs for deflection and elevation! I would sure love to talk to a gunnery instructor from those days to ask him what the theory was back then.

Since 50 ammo is over $5 a shot sometimes it is more fun to see if you can hit a target a mile away with a single shot. When you use the ring and bead sight for this type of shooting the bead completely covers the target you are aiming at. This is why the scope comes in handy for plinking.

_________________
To donate to the PV-2D project via PayPal click here http://www.twinbeech.com/84062restoration.htm

We brought her from: to this in 3 months: Help us get her all the way back

All donations are tax deductible as the Stockton Field Aviation Museum is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Tell a friend as the Harpoon needs all the help she can get.

Thank you!

Taigh Ramey
Vintage Aircraft, Stockton, California
http://www.twinbeech.com
'KEEP ‘EM FLYING…FOR HISTORY!'

I've got a couple of the Perfex sights (SIGHT, TELESCOPIC, M1). I had to look for a very long time for these, they are hard to come by and very expensive.

Hey BDK,

I think I saw a post you put on G503 about the great find you made getting two of the sights on eBay. Well done!

Would you consider parting with one? Is there something you are looking for so I could entice you into a trade?

Taigh

_________________
To donate to the PV-2D project via PayPal click here http://www.twinbeech.com/84062restoration.htm

We brought her from: to this in 3 months: Help us get her all the way back

All donations are tax deductible as the Stockton Field Aviation Museum is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Tell a friend as the Harpoon needs all the help she can get.

Thank you!

Taigh Ramey
Vintage Aircraft, Stockton, California
http://www.twinbeech.com
'KEEP ‘EM FLYING…FOR HISTORY!'

What a gal, Taigh! I'd be proud of that little girl too.

Canso42

In 'Fortress of the Skies' from Osprey Pub. theres a photo (p.62) of a similar though quite crude setup of twin nose guns. They were in the top half of the nose and the gunner had his head up in this thing that looked like a Tupperware lettuce crisper sticking out of the top right behind the plexi nose.

Canso42

Taigh, you into jeeps too????? I own a few M series.

_________________
Long Live the N3N-3 "The Last US Military Bi-Plane" 1940-1959
Badmouthing Stearmans on WIX since 2005