[ARC5] Another Nav Story from the Med

[Brooke Clarke]

Hi:

If you read the history of Gunships it was during the later part of W.W.II that someone developed the idea that forward 
facing guns on planes were far inferior to side facing guns.  This was in connection with AAF planes trying to sink 
subs.  They got one chance and after however many minutes it took to make a full turn and try again the sub was so deep 
the plane could not harm it. The A-10 that replaced the A-1 Skyraider used a forward facing gun along the centerline of 
the plane, it should have been firing out of the left wing tip.

Nothing happened in W.W.II and for some reason during the Korean conflict, but in Vietnam "Spooky" C-47 and later C-130 
cargo planes (fighters can not carry the weight of ammo needed) were used in a pylon turn.  Motorized Gatling guns and 
recoil less rifles were used.   The Gatling gun in the movie Predator had heavy electrical cables running down Arnold's 
pants leg to power the motor.

Mail_Attachment --
Have Fun,

Brooke Clarke
http://www.PRC68.com
http://www.end2partygovernment.com/2012Issues.html
http://www.prc68.com/I/DietNutrition.html
Dennis Monticelli wrote:
> Robert,
>
> That 75mm in the nose was a worthy experiment that didn't work well in
> practice because of the reasons you stated.  The crew didn't like it and
> wished for a nose full of 50's instead.  One story I read was of a B-25
> that made a pass at a small German frigate in the ET and scored a bulls eye
> that set the ship to sinking.  The astonished pilot broke the stunned
> silence by saying to the loader and co-pilot: "Nothing happened here.  I
> won't say anything if you don't."
>
> Dennis AE6C
>
> On Wed, Dec 31, 2014 at 8:14 AM, Robert Eleazer <releazer at earthlink.net>
> wrote:
>
>> In the Med in WWII they received some B-25G's that were equipped with a
>> 75MM cannon.  The cannon was fired by the pilot but manually loaded.  Since
>> that version of the B-25 had no Nav/Bomb position, the Navigator position
>> was relocated to behind the pilots, which is where the 75MM gun breech was
>> located.  Since the Navigator supposedly did not have much to do they also
>> put him in charge of loading the gun (the most useless things in the USAAF
>> were said to be the altitude above you, the runway behind you, the gas
>> still down in the fuel truck on the ground and a Navigator).
>>
>> On the first missions using the 75MM gun they quickly found that it did
>> not fire fast enough to be able to hit much of anything.  Following one
>> mission in which they fired away at a target without effect, the pilot
>> having worked the poor Nav nearly to death loading the gun as fast as he
>> could, the highly irritated pilot decided to give up and asked the Nav for
>> a course for home.
>>
>> The exhausted Navigator, stripped to the waist, sweating profusely in the
>> low altitude Med heat, replied, "Fly West Pilot, fly West."
>>
>> The pilot replied that "Fly West" was not a proper response and demanded a
>> specific course.  The Nav went back to his plotting table, consulted his
>> maps and replied, "Don't fly West, Pilot.  Fly 270 degrees."
>>
>> I think the later B-25H model introduced a 75MM gun with automatic
>> loading.  They pretty much still could not hit anything with it, but I'll
>> bet they got lost less often.
>>
>> Wayne
>>
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> ARC5 mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/arc5
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> Post: mailto:ARC5 at mailman.qth.net
>>
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>>
> ______________________________________________________________
> ARC5 mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/arc5
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:ARC5 at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>