 | What aircraft is this?| Aircraft Pictures Discuss What aircraft is this? in the World War II - Aviation forums; I found this on another site - a Liberator perhaps?... |
|
10-05-2005, 07:59 PM
|
#1 | | Forum Politruk
Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bristol, UK
Posts: 2,400
Country:  | What aircraft is this?
I found this on another site - a Liberator perhaps? | 
|  | |
10-05-2005, 08:08 PM
|
#2 | | Senior Member
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 272
| looks weir that pic, it is real or is a montage? | |
| | |
10-05-2005, 08:56 PM
|
#3 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: In WW2 Land, CODUO, SWON
Posts: 671
Country:  | Looks like a late war Lancaster with the bottom opened up to make room for a .50 cal to counter Shrag Musika instilations on night fighters. | |
| | |
10-05-2005, 09:32 PM
|
#4 | | IP/Mech THE GREAT GAZOO
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Colorado, USA
Posts: 12,518
Country: | IT'S THE BELLY OF A B-24D!!!!!
__________________ "IF ITS RED OR DUSTY, DON'T TOUCH IT"  | 
| | |
10-05-2005, 10:28 PM
|
#5 | | Your ad here. ;)
Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Moorpark, CA
Posts: 12,147
Country: | Are you sure, Joe? That looks pretty narrow. Plus the B-24s had retractable ball turrets.
__________________  http://www.vg-photo.com Wherever their bones may lie, the courage of heroes is consecrated in the hearts and engraved in the history of the free. Lt Col Honner DSO MC, 39th Commander speaking of the dead from the battle of Kokoda. | |
| | |
10-06-2005, 01:37 AM
|
#6 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Gdansk, PL
Posts: 316
Country:  | I'd also say that's a B-24D. These little windows on the right - looks like a Liberator.
__________________
Pozdrawiam | |
| | |
10-06-2005, 09:20 PM
|
#7 | | Banned
Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Pominville, NY Population: 26
Posts: 201
Country: | Due to excessive weight some USAAF units removed the ball turrets from their B-24s and replaced them with hand-held gun mounts. This field mod started around the time the B-24J was in service and became standard at the factories beginning with the B-24L.
Here's a larger version of the photo from above, taken from the Library of Congress website. I'm almost certain that the photo shows a B-24, although I don't know if this is a field mod or a factory gun mount. I'm leaning toward it being a mod, as this is a single mount and I believe that the ships coming from the factory in this configuration had a twin mount. Not totally sure on this though. 
Click for larger image
This is the caption that accompanied the photo, although it's advisable to keep in mind the fact that many of the captions which accompany the photos on the LOC site are incorrect and/or misleading... United States Army air force gunner Sergeant William Watts of Alexandria, Louisiana, training machine gun on the enemy during a aerial fight with German planes somewhere in the European war theater. Behind him may be seen the legs of another gunner operating his weapon from the side of the plane.
Here's a shot of a B-24 'Mickey' ship with its radar dome retracted. I believe that the open hatch toward the rear of the fuselage is one of these gun positions, although, again, I don't know if this was a mod or a factory job. 
Image source: unknown web
Fade to Black... | |
| | |
10-06-2005, 09:25 PM
|
#8 | | Your ad here. ;)
Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Moorpark, CA
Posts: 12,147
Country: | Well, I sit corrected. Sure doesn't look like a comfortable position to be in for shooting though!
__________________ http://www.vg-photo.com Wherever their bones may lie, the courage of heroes is consecrated in the hearts and engraved in the history of the free. Lt Col Honner DSO MC, 39th Commander speaking of the dead from the battle of Kokoda. | |
| | |
10-10-2005, 10:56 AM
|
#9 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Texas
Posts: 970
Country: | Definitely not. Very uncomfortable, but by comparison I wouldn't think the ball turret would have been much better.
__________________ "I had ten rockets on board, and as I wasn't particularly fond of head-on attacks, I salvoed the whole lot at him. The rockets didn't hit him but but they must have scared the bejesus out of him, for he did a steep turn to starboard... I let him have the full blast, all eight fifty-calibers. I had never seen an aircraft completely disintegrate in the air the way this Me-110 did..."
Bill Dunn, 406th Fighter Group 
Matt | |
| | |
10-10-2005, 11:07 AM
|
#10 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Orange County, CA
Posts: 7,864
| I know in the SW pacific in 1941/42, the belly turrets were removed because the windows of the turret would get splattered with mud on takeoff, and become useless.
__________________
"Pilot to copilot..... what are those mountain goats doing up here in the clouds?" | |
| | |
10-10-2005, 11:12 AM
|
#11 | | IP/Mech THE GREAT GAZOO
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Colorado, USA
Posts: 12,518
Country: | I think a few of the Ploesti Radiers were configured this way....
__________________ "IF ITS RED OR DUSTY, DON'T TOUCH IT" | |
| | |
10-21-2005, 12:37 PM
|
#12 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 224
| Thats what they called the Tunnel Gun. They were installed in the door behind the ball referenced in Wolf's picture. They were installed from the factory in late B-24C's and early D's. I dont know of them being installed factory in L or M models though. They probably were depot or field installed in those cases.
Beginning with the 77th D the tunnel gun was replaced with the same Bendix periscopically sighted gun that B-17's had. The periscope sighting and all its effects were horrible and production reverted back to the tunnel gun after 287 Bendix periscopically sighted turrets. The Sperry ball turret came a long soon thereafter.
__________________
Fighter pilots make movies....
Bomber pilots make history! | |
| | |
11-05-2005, 10:09 PM
|
#13 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Queensland
Posts: 1,247
Country:  | It looks a bit like one of those big guns off the AC-130 or that AC-46 used, only firing through the floor. An early test for a fixed wing gunship perhaps? | |
| | |
11-19-2005, 12:30 AM
|
#14 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Texas
Posts: 970
Country: | It doesn't look like the gunner has a very good field of view, did he have a bigger window near where the camera was situated??
__________________ "I had ten rockets on board, and as I wasn't particularly fond of head-on attacks, I salvoed the whole lot at him. The rockets didn't hit him but but they must have scared the bejesus out of him, for he did a steep turn to starboard... I let him have the full blast, all eight fifty-calibers. I had never seen an aircraft completely disintegrate in the air the way this Me-110 did..."
Bill Dunn, 406th Fighter Group
Matt | |
| | |
11-19-2005, 04:58 AM
|
#15 | | Master of Ewes
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 19,959
Country:  | well most instalations like this we just as much to put off attackers than actually shoot anything down, if you're attacking the underside and you get what i'm assuming will be a few bursts of a .50cal coming at you you're gonna think twice about attacking!
__________________ 
"Reminds me of the time I sank the Tirpitz" comments a Spitfire pilot, "One pass of course, old boy." | |
| | | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | | Display Modes |  Linear Mode | 
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off | | | All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:13 PM. | | |
