Difference between revisions of "Common Questions and Answers"

== General ==

=== Could the turret gunner in the TBM shoot the tail of the airplane? ===

There is one other scenario in which a gunner could inadvertently shoot his own airplane: ammunition cook off. This refers to the situation in which the heat the guns build up from firing could ignite the powder in the bullet casing. While there was no protection against this in the TBM, the B-25 did incorporate an additional safety feature in the event this occurred. On the top of the fuselage there were two small bumps that were directly in line with the guns from the top turret when it was trained directly rearwards. If cook off occurred, these devices – known as “ricochet generators” – would hopefully cause the bullet from the gun to be deflected away from the airplane.  The reason this extra effort was taken in the B-25 and not the TBM was because the tail gunner was in the top turret’s field of fire – and while it is one thing to accidentally hit one’s own plane, it is quite another to accidentally shoot one’s own crew.

When the outer wings unfold they swing out and around until they are in line with the inner stub wing. The hinge is mounted on a diagonal, so that as they move forwards they also “rotate” to be parallel with the ground. A tab on the outer wing fits into a slot on the inner stub wing. A pin then slides through a hole in the tab, locking the wing into place. Simultaneously, red “flags” sticking out of the top of the wing are retracted to let the pilot know the wings are locked in position and he is free to takeoff without fear of them folding up in flight.

=== Why are the wings on the Corsair “bent”? ===

=== How many planes did an aircraft carrier have? ===

The number of airplanes carried increased throughout the war. At the beginning of 1942, the standard was a total of about 70 airplanes. By mid-1945, that number had risen to approximately 100.

A total of 22 B-25s attended the 2012 Doolittle Raider Reunion at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.  It was quite likely the largest gathering of B-25s since World War II – surpassing even the 17 flying airplanes assembled in 1970 for the filming of the movie Catch-22.

34 DC-3s, C-41s, C-47s, C-53s, and Li-2s confirmed participation for the Daks Over Normandy event in 2019. While it isn’t clear if all of the aircraft were able to attend, it does mean that there were likely at least that many airworthy.

=== Did the Tuskegee Airmen actually never lose a bomber they were escorting? ===

The legend of the Norden bombsight’s accuracy results from the famous claim that a bombardier using the device could “drop a bomb in a pickle barrel from several thousand feet”.

While these stories apparently describe the earlier “Sperry [S-1] bombsight” and not the later “Norden”, they do capture the general spirit of the times and the sense that the rumor mill surrounding both of them had taken off.

The Norden bombsight was actually compromised before World War II ever began. Herman W. Lang, an inspector in the Norden factory, passed blueprints to the Germans in 1938.

It is important to note, however, that despite the excessive secrecy, the security measures during the war were taken seriously and sincerely believed by most servicemen.

An illustrative example of the difference between fact and fiction can be found in the instructions on what to do with the bombsight in the event the bomber was shot down. The bombardier handbook did dictate that the bombsight be destroyed and that the correct method was to shoot it three times with a pistol and then throw it overboard. However, contrary to what is often claimed, the bombsight itself incorporated no provision for an incendiary device to “melt it into an unusable lump of metal”. Aircraft did sometimes carry such AN-M14 incendiary grenades, but the manual clearly states that they are intended for “DESTRUCTION OF THE ENTIRE PLANE”, not the bombsight.

== Airplane Design ==

Generally speaking, you are far better off trying to avoid the hit than absorbing the damage it causes. Additional armor meant additional weight, which meant reduced speed and maneuverability. For that reason, armor was normally kept to a minimum.

== Specifications ==

The most common gun used on American aircraft during World War II was the Browning AN/M2 .50 caliber machine gun. It had a fire rate of 750 to 850 rounds per minute.  The number of rounds carried varied based on the type of aircraft and mounting.  The P-51D, for example, carried 400 rounds on each of the inboard guns and 270 rounds for each of the center and outboard guns.  So a P-51D pilot had a maximum firing time of 30 seconds (400 rpg / [800 rpm / 60 s]) – although four of the six guns would only last just over 20 seconds.

== Other Questions ==