B17G Sentimental Journey visited...

[Bob Womack]

Football today. Yesterday we visited the Commemorative Air Force Arizona Wing's excellent B-17G Sentimental Journey yesterday on her local stop. I've got to compliment the Wing on their restoration and care of their bird.



My wife, nicknamed "Stands With Fist," tries out the port "Ma Deuce" .50 Caliber waist machine gun. Many of these same guns, designed by John Moses Browning, are still in use today. Notice that the starboard gun has a computing gun sight, designed to help the gunners overcome the airflow and prop wash.



I'm leaning against the support for the Sperry Ball Turret. Notice that the two waist windows are both enclosed to reduce chill and offset to allow the gunners to work without interfering with each other. That was a B-17G improvement.



Note fabric-covered control surfaces and aluminum-covered trim tab. The twin top turret position with green plexiglass was operated by the flight engineer/crew chief. The nearer top position had a single .50 and was operated by the radio operator.



Starboard pair of Wright 1820-97 Cyclone supercharged engines



Nose and "chin turret" installation. Both this turret and the "Cheyenne" tail installation were by-products of the failed "YB-40" B-17 "escort fighter" experiment. The YB-40 plane might not have been a success but the armament devised to protect the plane made the next variant of the B-17, the G variant, a much more survivable design.



The Sperry ball turret. Despite many legends, ball turret gunners had the highest survival rate of all B-17 crewmen. We are looking through the exit hatch and sight window to the tail wheel.



Tail gunner's "Cheyenne tail" gun turret. They got the name because the gun position was designed by United Airlines after the production runs of B-17Gs were established. As the planes rolled off the various assembly lines at Boeing, Douglas, and Vega, they were flown off to the United Airlines Modification Center at Cheyenne, Wyoming where the entire tail cone was removed and this assembly added. If not there, they were added at field modification centers in England.



Bob

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