Everything you ever wanted to know about mid upper turrets
We started this week with a picture of twin mounted fifty calibre machine guns which has spurred a bit of debate about their use in Lancaster bombers. So this morning & just because, here's a little more on this particular topic...
The Martin 250 CE is a 24 volt, electrically operated turret containing two .50 calibre machine guns. Four ammunition boxes provide 1600 rounds of ammunition. It was mounted on the top of the aircraft, about mid-way down the fuselage.
This turret was used on American bombers such as the A-20 Havoc, B-24 Liberator, B-17 Flying Fortress, and B-26 Marauder. During the war, the Royal Canadian Air Force realized the limitations of their .303 calibre machine guns and took steps to switch from the hydraulically operated Fraser-Nash mid-upper turrets to the Martin. However, this modification was only included on the last 276 of the 431 Canadian built Lancasters.
Should you require yet more, its here
Comments
Your are a star. I don't know how you do it.
Posted by: bill | May 28, 2009 7:28 AM
Much more satisfying: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skink_anti-aircraft_tank
Cheers
Posted by: J.M. Heinrichs | May 28, 2009 7:44 AM
Sperry Ball turret, two .50 caliber machine guns.
Mid-bottom. Computing gun sight for range and deflection. Electric/hydra electric. Versions used on B-17,B-24, and Naval version of B-24.
Room for the gunner, none for a parachute. On the B-17 the gunner usually entered and exited while the plane was airborne. On the ground there was only about 15 inches clearance from the ground.
My uncle was in one when a flack burst blew off the armored hatch and jammed the turret. He held on to the guns to keep from falling out all the way back to England. He reported they had to pry his hands loose after the landing. Medicinal alcohol was administered...over a course of several days.
Posted by: toad | May 28, 2009 9:15 AM
US auto entrepreneur Preston Tucker designed a turret that was used on some B-17 and B-24 models, one of his more successful ventures. The Higgins boat company bought his company and the design.
Was the .50 used in any "turret fighters"?
Posted by: comatus | May 28, 2009 4:15 PM
My Uncle Frank was a Flight Engineer/Top Turret gunner with the 8th Air Force out of East Anglia. Never got used to warm beer and cold Nissen huts (coal was rationed). He said the biggest problem he remembered was that you went from utter safety to mortal terror and back again in just hours. The repeated transition finally ended up breaking some men
Versions used on B-17,B-24, and Naval version of B-24.
SNIP
PB4Y
My uncle was in one when a flack burst
SNIP
FLAK - "FLeugzeug Abwehr Kanone" = "Anti Aircraft Gun"
Was the .50 used in any "turret fighters"?
SNIP
Not in the Defiant or Roc. Some models of the US P-61 Black Widow mounted a remotely controlled quad top turret that looks suspiciously like the forward top turret on late model B-29's and B-50's
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Northrop_P-61_green_airborne.jpg
http://richard.ferriere.free.fr/3vues/p61_3v.jpg
Posted by: Beausaber | July 24, 2009 5:59 AM