I know there has been a thread on this subject before, but I was wondering if anybody here knows where the History Channel got their info on how this B-17E, depicted in episode 12, was set up. I think there were 19 machine guns mounted on this ship. Twin mount in the tail, twins at both waist positions, a ventral gun between the waist guns and the ball, the ball with twins, the radio room with twins, the top turret with twins, the fixed single mounted forward of the cockpit, a twin and a single in the nose, and, I suppose, the two singles in the cheeks. I ask this as it is obiously a great subject for a model but I haven’t been able to find any photographic references for it. Were any of these guns 30 Cals?
Doubtful
Doubtful that any of the guns were 30s or doubtful that there is a photographic reference? The reason I ask about the 30 cals is because in the computer simulation, the starboard nose gun had a pistol grip. That is usually indicative of a thirty caliber.
I was watching that last night and wondering the same thing. Would be one fun plane to throw together.
.50’s were standard issue for ALL wartime B-17’s. Don’t trust the dev’s of ANY pc game to get thing absolutely right,EVER.
This aircraft was far from standard and that is the point. The crew scrounged all over the place for parts and guns. It was built into a photo-recce bird so the crew was really into self defense. The program depicted the fixed forward firing gun with a blast deflector of some sort and I would like some details on that, too.
Subfixer,
I found the earlier post where this was discussed and kicked it to the top. I forgot it was titled B-17 references. Heavy bomber flexible guns carried spade grips.
Jeebus,
.30 cal are standard on Production B-17s until early in the F-27-BO block. Some E’s have one and later two .30s replaced with .50s at the Cheyenne Mod center and many in the SWPA are field fitted as such but they DID arrive in the theater with .30s in the nose.
It was a ‘standard’ B-17E, field modified with extra guns. Twin .50’s were normal in the radio rooms and the belly bathtubs of B-17D’s. Since 40 out of the 42 B-17D’s built served in the Pacific, I think they were somewhat easy to come by.
B-17E’s, F’s, and G’s had a strike camera position located under the floor of the radio room and I think this was probably where the photo’s were taken. There were dedicated photo-recce B-17’s (F-9’s) with camera windows in the nose but all the guns in the nose would have made it very crowded indeed.
It must have been a dog of an aircraft to fly, with all that extra weight aft of the CG. Still, self preservation is great motivation to bend the rules.
HTH
Tony H.
A lot of the .30 cal nose sockets were field machined out to take a .50 cal and extra metal was used to brace the mg’s in the nose. Take a look at a lot of the old photos for B-17’s, B-24’s, B-25’s, and B-26’s used in the Pacific Theater. They upgunned for self preservation.
I did not see the show you are referring to, but I am certain the aircraft you are referring to is the YB-40. The YB-40 was designed to fly as an escort in formation with regular B-17s. The problem they found was that once the regular B-17’s dropped their bombs, their airspeed increased. The YB-40 was still loaded down with all the extra weapons and could not keep up with the formation. I am sure if you google XB-40 and YB-40 you should find some more info on this aircraft.
I believe that they are referring to the History Channel’s story on Lt. Jay Zeamer’s B-17E, not a B-17F based YB-40. The YB-40’s were built from the first Vega built F models. My uncle had one assigned to his bomb group, the 303rd. He said it was everything that you described.
I believe the YB-40s had two dorsal turrets, Old 666 did not.
The B-17E that you are asking about is 41-2666, flown by Lt. Jay Zeamer. Google for his name. There is a nice writeup available at one site about his missions in the Pacific. Also, go to the Air Force Museum website and look at the photos for B-17s. There is one of B-17E “Typhoon McGoon II” showing the added armament used in the nose for the Pacific. Also Google for the 43rd BG which is the one group that used B-17s in the Pacific, besides the 19th BG, and the 28th Composite Group and 36th BS in the Aleutians.