As in this link. Follow it and see what I mean. It's a cutaway of a Boeing B-17 showing particular areas within the plane. Click on one of the circles, and a new page opens. The page is a 360 degree photo layout that lets you see what that area of the plane would look like if you were in it.
For the record, my uncle who flew in one in the war was a radio-gunner. This model B-17, however, is before they added an extra machine gun to the window over his station. It's odd how Spartan the interior was. Not made for luxury flying. It was freezing cold up there. And the only thing to break the miserable conditions was antiaircraft fire and enemy planes.
A sort of grit some have today, but so many more had back then.
As a bonus, here is another site that walks you through what the duties of each station in the plane were and a little about the part each played in the overall mission. Sort of a 'what to look for in your crew' spin. I wonder if my uncle was a talented photographer.
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| The crews loved their planes, partly because the planes could take a horrific beating and still make it home |
Not made for luxury flying. It was freezing cold up there.
ReplyDeleteNever thought about it but I guess that explains why old time pilots had those particular coats. Which makes sense.
And yeah, I guess there was an incentive to love your plane and take care of her since she was going to be the one bringing you home every night too.
Yep. Those planes weren't pressurized. It got to subarctic up there. But the B-17 crews did love their planes because they felt the planes took care of them.
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