Unknown turret
- Thread starter Graeme
- Start date
Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
HellToupee
Banned
- 90
- May 30, 2007
ild guess ither the p61 or b29
drgondog
Major
This image is from an article appearing in a 1945 edition (October) of Popular Mechanics discussing belt-fed aircraft armament (American). The caption gives no clue as to what aircraft the 4-gun turret (swivelling?) belongs to...
My guess is B29 as the early 4 x .50 turret on the P-61 had a limited elevation travel relative to B-29.
ToughOmbre
Senior Master Sergeant
Yep, front dorsal turret of the B-29 would be my guess.
TO
TO
drgondog
Major
TO - we may be often wrong but rarely uncertain.
I must confess some confusion looking for the rest of the turret ring behind the guns - it was the one detail leading me to the P-61 config which was forward firing in future models... or removed altogether
A4K
Brigadier General
I'm not really too familiar with the B-29 turrets, but I thought the inner two mgs were slightly higher than the outer pair(?).
It certainly looks like a P-61 front fairing to me in any case, but I could be wrong.
It certainly looks like a P-61 front fairing to me in any case, but I could be wrong.
Colin1
Senior Master Sergeant
Me neither
but I can't find a B-29 turret that shape, bar one, the tail turret and
i. that's not surrounded by so much sheet metal
ii. it didn't have a 4-gun armament
- Thread starter
- #8
ToughOmbre
Senior Master Sergeant
ToughOmbre
Senior Master Sergeant
- Thread starter
- #11
ToughOmbre
Senior Master Sergeant
drgondog
Major
I am still baffled by the absence of the complete turret ring as both the P-61 and B-29 turret rotated 360. I do agree this should not be the B-29 by virtue of the straight line battery.
The below reference from flight Journal sez that the B-29 and P61 turret was the same (obvious difference in 'stagger) so hard to make a case that the discussion battery was either the B-29 or P-61.. confusing even me!
Airdrop - April 2008 | Article Titles and Pages | Armor Journal
ToughOmbre
Senior Master Sergeant
HellToupee
Banned
- 90
- May 30, 2007
those were fixed tho, not a turret
A4K
Brigadier General
..And unless it's just my eyes, the inner pair are either higher than the outer ones, or set slightly further in the nose?
Geat pic though Macchi, and great photos TO - seems to rule out the P-61 aswell then!
Geat pic though Macchi, and great photos TO - seems to rule out the P-61 aswell then!
- Thread starter
- #18
To me, they're arranged in a straight line. The article (maybe I should have mentioned this earlier) discusses "Forced Feeding" of ammunition belts using an electric booster, developed by the Hughes Aircraft Company Culver City California. I'm thinking the correct orientation of the photo should be thus...
Just a thought.
Is it possible that all the photos supplied to Popular Mechanics were from Hughes? Therefore is it possible that we're looking at a VERY rare photo of the "proposed" rear nacelle armament for Hughes' D-2...?
Colin1
Senior Master Sergeant
That's beginning to look more like the shape and orientation of the rear turret on the B-29 that I was trying to pin it to, just that for the B-29 there didn't seem to be a 4-gun arrangement.
I must admit I scanned the photo and turned it through 180 degrees to see if it looked 'better' as a ventral turret.
What I noticed with your theory is that the Hughes D-2 that you outlined tapers to a near-point at the rear gun nacelle, whereas in the photo there seems to be an awful lot of sheet metal surrounding the nacelle.
A4K
Brigadier General
Great stuff Graeme and Colin! Graeme, What I was referring to in post 17 was actually Macchi's pic of the B-25H! 
