ADS NOT DISPLAYED TO REGISTERED USERS.
+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 19

Experimetal b-17s

Aircraft Picture Requests Discuss Experimetal b-17s in the Aircraft Pictures forums; i have seen pictures of the yb-40 but had heard that there was designs for a b-17 with 30 guns ...

  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    ohio
    Posts
    3
    Country
    United States

    Experimetal b-17s

    i have seen pictures of the yb-40 but had heard that there was designs for a b-17 with 30 guns and was curious if this is right and if so if anyone would have drawings of this if it really is true i would appriciate it very much thank you


  2. #2
    Senior Member GrauGeist's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Redding, California
    Posts
    6,789
    Country
    United States
    Your best bet would be to google for YB-40 or XB-40 for any images or detailed info...

    I haven't heard of any 30 gun setup though, just the 16 gun YB-40.

    The only good drawing of the YB-40 I know of, is this:
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Experimetal b-17s-xb40_gunstations.jpg  
    Last edited by GrauGeist; 01-02-2010 at 02:43 AM.

    "Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future."
    - Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome


    > I Support Doug Gilliss <

  3. #3

  4. #4
    Senior Member beaupower32's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Lancaster, California
    Posts
    1,793
    Country
    United States
    Cool Pictures thanks for posting


    By the way, God does have a place for all of his creatures. Right next to the potatoes and gravy.

    "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup"

  5. #5
    Senior Member ToughOmbre's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Jersey Shore, USA
    Posts
    4,179
    Country
    United States
    Never heard of a 30 gun Fort. The YB-40 with 16 guns and ammo couldn't keep up with the conventional B-17s after they dropped their loads. The idea (YB-40 gunships) was quickly abandoned.

    And where would the extra 14 .50s be mounted?

    Impossible.

    TO


    “Let's get Enterprise and Hornet turned into the wind."

  6. #6
    Senior Member vikingBerserker's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    17,270
    Country
    United States
    THere was a pic posted on there that had 8 x .50's in a nose turrent. Wonder if it was part of that one.

  7. #7
    Senior Member GrauGeist's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Redding, California
    Posts
    6,789
    Country
    United States
    VB, there was that one B-17 that went on special missions in the Pacific.

    Can't recall the pilot's name but he took an older fort and beefed it up. It was discussed here a while back, anyway it had additional fifties mounted on her, too.

    "Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future."
    - Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome


    > I Support Doug Gilliss <

  8. #8
    Senior Member vikingBerserker's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    17,270
    Country
    United States
    That's "Old 666" I believe. This turret was really odd looking, I'll look for it.

  9. #9
    Senior Member GrauGeist's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Redding, California
    Posts
    6,789
    Country
    United States
    Yep...that's the one! Freakin' memory...

    Old 666 was a B-17E (41-2666) of the 43rd BG and her skipper was Capt. Jay Zeamer...he won a MoH and his crew recieved DSCs for thier actions aboard that bomber...

    Here's the thread: http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/avi...ors-13663.html ("Old 666", a Courageous Mission to Bougainville, And Two Medals of Honors)

    There's other threads here regarding up-gunned B-17s, too...
    Last edited by GrauGeist; 01-02-2010 at 03:23 PM. Reason: added link

    "Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future."
    - Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome


    > I Support Doug Gilliss <

  10. #10
    Senior Member vikingBerserker's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    17,270
    Country
    United States
    I stand corrected, it was 6 guns, not 8.

    from : http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/avi...d-13838-5.html (B-17G with a 20 mm cannon onboard!)
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Experimetal b-17s-6-guns.jpg  

  11. #11
    Senior Member Aaron Brooks Wolters's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Abingdon, VA.
    Posts
    12,640
    Country
    United States
    I read about Zeamer in Flying Forts by Martin Caidin. It talked of the B-17 a little but as to how accurate Caidin was at telling a story I have my doubts but that's just me. Zeamer and his bombardier Joseph R Sonoski were both awarded the Medal of Honor.

  12. #12
    Forum Mascot Lucky13's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    A Swede living in Glasgow, Scotland
    Posts
    26,576
    Country
    Scotland
    Country II
    Sweden
    That's just nasty!

    Jan "Felicis Tredecim"
    "I´m going back to the front to relax"
    "THE BLACK CATS FLIES TONIGHT"
    "Find your enemy and shoot him down - everything else is unimportant!"
    "When you're out of F-8's... You're out of fighters!"

  13. #13
    Senior Member vikingBerserker's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    17,270
    Country
    United States
    Doing some more reading, and it was a configuration of a YB-40 that had room for up to 30 x .50 cals. Not sure of that was mounted or xtras carried. Have yet to find any drawing or pic.

    Found a blurb about those versions carrying an extra Doresal (3?) and Ventra turret, & 4/6 gun nose and tail turrets.
    Last edited by vikingBerserker; 01-02-2010 at 06:36 PM.




  14. #14
    Senior Member GrauGeist's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Redding, California
    Posts
    6,789
    Country
    United States
    Quote Originally Posted by vikingBerserker View Post
    Found a blurb about those versions carrying an extra Doresal (3?) and Ventra turret, & 4/6 gun nose and tail turrets.
    See my post above that has the drawing for the 16-gun setup, including the extra turret over the Engineer's station.

    It was also the YB-17's chin turret that was adapted to the later "G" model along with some late "F" models getting the field modification.

    "Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future."
    - Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome


    > I Support Doug Gilliss <

  15. #15
    Senior Member vikingBerserker's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    17,270
    Country
    United States
    I bet that's what they had meant to say. It would not make a lot of sense to me to have 3 turrets up top and 3 on the bottom.

+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86