Warbird Information Exchange

On another forum, someone mentioned off-hand that in the newest Midway movie, they didn't like that it showed the rear SBD gunners swinging around and getting their guns out. The implication was either that (a) the seat didn't swivel fully forward; and/or (b) going into combat, the rear gunner would already be facing aft.

With respect to (a), I've found one pic that shows the rear gunner facing forward. All the other pics I've seen have the gunner facing aft. So either all the pics are (probably) in a combat ready config, or that one pic I found was anomalous in some way.

With respect to (b), it seems pretty likely that if you're expecting to get shot at, you'd be ready to shoot back.

What say the WIXers who know of the SBD rear seat and combat configs? Did the front seat swivel 360 degrees?

From here:

https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-hi ... ers-midway

"The rear cockpit of the SBD was equipped with emergency flight controls, as well as a seat that could be pivoted to face forward or backward."

Perfect. Thanks!

As someone who regularly flies with a window open for aerial photography, if you didn’t need to open the canopy and swing the guns out yet, I can see why it would be more comfortable to ride facing forward with everything buttoned up.

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Aerial Photographer with Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
Websites: Texas Tailwheel Flight Training, DoolittleRaid.com and Lbirds.com.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31 - Train, Practice, Trust.

Was not the Guy In Back also the radio operator? If so, the radios would have been mounted on the forward bulkhead... requiring a swiveling seat. Never seen an SBD that close up, but it makes sense.

Funny that this subject should come up right now. I'm reading a book about WW2 Naval aviation which talks some about SBD ops. The SBD rear seat does swivel around so that the occupant can face forward or aft. The back-seater was both the radioman and gunner, rated as an Aviation Radioman. When they were ready to begin the dive to bomb drop, he would stow his twin .30s and face forward, read off the altitude to the pilot while they were in the dive (which allowed the pilot to keep his eyes on the target), and then swivel around to face aft and un-stow his guns on exit from the bomb run to fight off attacking enemy aircraft.

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida