Skelthos Posted July 8 Share Posted July 8 15 hours ago, wheelsup_cavu said: Not trying to discount anything you may have read but in 2014 Planes of Fame had a Marine tail gunner that flew in SBD's during the World War II as a guest speaker at their monthly event and he stated he always flew facing the tail and manning the guns. Personally his assertion made sense to me on the grounds that you would not want to have to spend time turning around in your seat before you could engage a plane attacking you from behind. It is entirely possible that it was unit-specific protocol or personal preference, something that could have easily happened both ways. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sea Serpent Posted July 8 Share Posted July 8 Found the answer: For combat, the gunner faced the tail. In training, forward. Lots of good info here from Clay Fisher a guy that also pops up a lot in discussions of Hornet’s air group at Midway, which I also just made a thread about. Here he describes attacking in an SBD: http://midway42.org/RoundTable/ClayFisher_SBD.aspx 5 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boom Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 Good to see such interest in the SBD. It was the decisive combat aircraft of 1942. As was the F6F in 1943/4, an the B-29 in 1945. A man who knows the SBD well is author, pilot and historian Barrett Tillman. His father and he were involved in restoring an A-24, the army version of the SBD. His first book was on the SBD. Barrett also wrote a fictional book on the SBD, titled Dauntless. It's set in the period just after Coral Sea to the end of October '42, covering Midway and Guadalcanal. It is an excellent read, providing realistic details of flying the Dauntless, and life on board a CV. The lead character is a neophyte pilot, grappling with all the intricacies of naval life. The support characters ring true, many based on the actual men involved in that period, of whom Barrett knew most. Highly recommended. 6 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javelina Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 10 Quote MSI MAG Z790 Carbon, i9-13900k, NH-D15 cooler, 64 GB CL40 6000mhz RAM, MSI RTX4090, Yamaha 5.1 A/V Receiver, 4x 2TB Samsung 980 Pro NVMe, 1x 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD, Win 11 Pro, TM Warthog, Virpil WarBRD, MFG Crosswinds, 43" Samsung 4K TV, 21.5 Acer VT touchscreen, TrackIR, Varjo Aero, Wheel Stand Pro Super Warthog, Phanteks Enthoo Pro2 Full Tower Case, Seasonic GX-1200 ATX3 PSU, PointCTRL, Buttkicker 2, K-51 Helicopter Collective Control Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trooper117 Posted July 20 Author Share Posted July 20 What is interesting in that pic, is the several different applications of the wing markings... 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelicCypher Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 7 minutes ago, Trooper117 said: What is interesting in that pic, is the several different applications of the wing markings... When I was researching a model build of the Hornet at Midway, I found that was an issue for not only the size of the roundels, but some planes did not even have uneven locations and there were a few that had not painted the red dot out yet either. Even the formatting of the squadron identifiers on the aft fuselage were not uniform. Maddening when I was trying to depict the launch the morning of Midway. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calos_01 Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 42 minutes ago, Trooper117 said: What is interesting in that pic, is the several different applications of the wing markings... Good point. Even on the same plane. Looks like they were ordered to change size when they moved from one wing to the other. 😃 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sea Serpent Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 1 hour ago, AngelicCypher said: When I was researching a model build of the Hornet at Midway, I found that was an issue for not only the size of the roundels, but some planes did not even have uneven locations and there were a few that had not painted the red dot out yet either. Even the formatting of the squadron identifiers on the aft fuselage were not uniform. Maddening when I was trying to depict the launch the morning of Midway. Didn’t know that some of the planes still might have had red dots in the middle at Midway. If you completed your Hornet model, and it’s photo-worthy, would love to see pics of how you depicted the deck on that morning. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IckyAtlas Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 On 7/7/2024 at 7:53 PM, javelina said: Kiss me baby 🙂 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IckyAtlas Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 On 7/20/2024 at 2:43 AM, javelina said: About 65 million dollars worth of airplanes in todays collector money. But back in 1944 then maybe only 580'000 US$. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IckyAtlas Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 On 3/31/2024 at 5:42 PM, javelina said: This picture says it all. Now replicate this same picture, across the US for P47, P51, B17, Corsair, B29, P40, P39, B24, B25 and many other models and then do the same for shipyards that produced at high rate ships like destroyers, carriers ,cargo liberty ships, cruisers, battleships and then ground vehicle factories that spitted tanks, and ground vehicles of all kind. That's not all, because without motivated and trained personnel you do nothing, and there were many. The military had a very well organized training and rotation system, and above all a culture that values human life and limit casualties as much as possible, and whatever happens never abandon or let down its soldiers, pilots, seamen. This does not mean that it was always perfect but compared to the Soviet Union or Japan that had a culture totally opposite where the human life was valued at near zero. The US had the fantastic luck that with the technologies of the time it was too far from the various theaters of war to have been hit directly and so it became an invincible beast. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachariasX Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 (edited) 8 hours ago, IckyAtlas said: but compared to the Soviet Union …that was actually built by American industrialists, using American blueprints. Paid by Stalin with money given by selling the food of the population, starving millions on purpose. Meet Saul Bron, born 1887 in Odessa PhD from the University of Zurich, became the key figure in foreign trade of the USSR. The USA didn‘t recoginze the USSR back then, hence it couldn‘t negotiate directly. They needed private connections and a proxy: The proxy was Amtorg Trading Corporation, formally an „American private entity“ but defacto a part of the Politbureau, with Saul Bron appointed as CEO by Joseph Stalin. A monopoly company controlling all Soviet-American trade. Saul Bron found what he needed in the American industrial Architect Albert Kahn, see here them signing the contract. The result was that American planning transformed an totally backward nation into an industrial one. See here for instance the Stalingrad tractor plant. All of the industry was built from American plans until the late thirties, when Stalin got comfortable enough kicking out all the foreigners and snuffing Saul Bron along with everyone else that hadn’t fled the country by 1938. Until that time, the Kahn Associates had over 100 American companies sourcing for and assisting construction. Of course, having foreigners run the buildup of your nation can be seen as problematic, Stalin created the enormous architecure bureau to conceal the true state of affairs. Many American companies participated, including McKee and Ford. It is an interesting fact that while EVERY Soviet (and Russian, to this day) industry is dual use, the Americans were perfectly aware of that and they knew that only few „tractor plants“ would ever produce tractors. What did they do about it? They intentionally left bottleneck industries out of the deal. This includes refineries for high octane fuel up to not supplying anything needed to produce modern warships. The Soviets would have wanted a Navy, but the fact that they didn‘t really have one when WW2 broke out was due to them not being sold what was really required for it. This made up for a super expensive and super dysfunctional fleet that was ordered to stay in port during the war. There is no bigger lie than the one of a Soviet „self-sufficient“ industry. It has never been and still isn‘t to this day. In simple terms, after WW2, it was Germany who followed up what the US had been doing until then. As people generally have no understanding how production works, especially polititians that mainly come from the service industry, there is no understanding about what you really need in order to build an IL-2 or a Kh-101. And it‘s not chips that matter. Wheter it‘s ARM or Lays, they are easy to get anywhere. But tooling for a missile… Look at Siemens, Heidenhain etc. The industries that produce production are not that large. The writing above is a considerably shortened version of an article by Kamil Galeevs, from where I could source the images. Edited July 24 by ZachariasX 7 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javelina Posted July 27 Share Posted July 27 Pilot, man your plane... 12 Quote MSI MAG Z790 Carbon, i9-13900k, NH-D15 cooler, 64 GB CL40 6000mhz RAM, MSI RTX4090, Yamaha 5.1 A/V Receiver, 4x 2TB Samsung 980 Pro NVMe, 1x 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD, Win 11 Pro, TM Warthog, Virpil WarBRD, MFG Crosswinds, 43" Samsung 4K TV, 21.5 Acer VT touchscreen, TrackIR, Varjo Aero, Wheel Stand Pro Super Warthog, Phanteks Enthoo Pro2 Full Tower Case, Seasonic GX-1200 ATX3 PSU, PointCTRL, Buttkicker 2, K-51 Helicopter Collective Control Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calos_01 Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 The all-light-grey colour scheme is quite too early for our purposes, but I've always liked it. And these are some interesting photos - the same aircraft on the same flight, but different cameras and films 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauntless Posted August 7 Share Posted August 7 (edited) https://commemorativeairforce.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=35b9240eea62c41cd5b5d9184&id=d5b06e89ee&e=1658c7e2a7 Digital Dispatch issue 3 Edited August 7 by Dauntless 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trooper117 Posted August 7 Author Share Posted August 7 That's a nice pic!... great head on view! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javelina Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 9 Quote MSI MAG Z790 Carbon, i9-13900k, NH-D15 cooler, 64 GB CL40 6000mhz RAM, MSI RTX4090, Yamaha 5.1 A/V Receiver, 4x 2TB Samsung 980 Pro NVMe, 1x 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD, Win 11 Pro, TM Warthog, Virpil WarBRD, MFG Crosswinds, 43" Samsung 4K TV, 21.5 Acer VT touchscreen, TrackIR, Varjo Aero, Wheel Stand Pro Super Warthog, Phanteks Enthoo Pro2 Full Tower Case, Seasonic GX-1200 ATX3 PSU, PointCTRL, Buttkicker 2, K-51 Helicopter Collective Control Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauntless Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javelina Posted September 19 Share Posted September 19 Your crew mate, your gunner, he'll help bring you home to "mother".... 7 Quote MSI MAG Z790 Carbon, i9-13900k, NH-D15 cooler, 64 GB CL40 6000mhz RAM, MSI RTX4090, Yamaha 5.1 A/V Receiver, 4x 2TB Samsung 980 Pro NVMe, 1x 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD, Win 11 Pro, TM Warthog, Virpil WarBRD, MFG Crosswinds, 43" Samsung 4K TV, 21.5 Acer VT touchscreen, TrackIR, Varjo Aero, Wheel Stand Pro Super Warthog, Phanteks Enthoo Pro2 Full Tower Case, Seasonic GX-1200 ATX3 PSU, PointCTRL, Buttkicker 2, K-51 Helicopter Collective Control Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauntless Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 https://www.airzoo.org/wwii/airplanes-3/sbd-2p 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelsup_cavu Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 3 hours ago, Dauntless said: https://www.airzoo.org/wwii/airplanes-3/sbd-2p I think that is the one that they cut the wing spars during its restoration so it could never fly again. Wheels 1 1 Quote Download Missions, Skins, & Essential files for IL-2 1946 and several other game series from Mission4Today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Lee Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 8 minutes ago, wheelsup_cavu said: I think that is the one that they cut the wing spars during its restoration so it could never fly again. Wheels I'll see if I can find someone to ask next time I'm down there. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AeroAce Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 Random question. Did the rear guns in these type of aircraft have an interrupter systems to stop the tail being blown off or was it just gunner discipline or even deflector plates ? It is seems this kind of set up is terribly inconvenient as most planes attack from the six. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calos_01 Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 (edited) 18 hours ago, AeroAce said: Random question. Did the rear guns in these type of aircraft have an interrupter systems to stop the tail being blown off or was it just gunner discipline or even deflector plates ? It is seems this kind of set up is terribly inconvenient as most planes attack from the six. I don´t think there could be an interrupter. It seems to me like quite a mechanical trigger. Edited October 4 by Calos_01 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Lee Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 I knew a gentleman who was a Major in WWII, flew B24s in the PTO. He had a new crewman on a waist gun who stitched up his port wing in a moment of overexuberance during a fighter attack. Major Reeves was very disturbed that the man didn't tell him he had shot their wing. He said he was too scared to tell him. Reeves told him they could have crashed and all been killed. Reeves had quite a few storied about his beloved B24! So no, no mechanical lockouts or the like... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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