Ammo transfer in bombers

[hacksaw1]

It seems to me that if the tail gunner of a B-17 flying over the Third Reich ran out of ammunition, that his buddies at the waist positions would be more than glad to donate a belt of a 100 rounds apiece to keep from getting shot down.

I don't know if ammo transfer between gun stations was done in bombers, but I strongly suspect it was. So, could ammo transfer from one position to another be considered?

Ammo transfer would only be possible when the ammo supply at a gun station gets below, say, 100 rounds.

Set a maximum transfer of 200 rounds to a station.

You can transfer again if the supply goes below 100 rounds again.

A position cannot transfer away its last 100 rounds.

Best regards,

Cement1

[Tails]

It's not as easy as just dropping ammo into the box. If anyone wanted to transfer ammo to the tailgun they would need to splice the belt into the end of the belt in the tailgunner's box. And the end of the belt was likely at the  bottom of the box, which means alot of heavy rounds to move to get to it. After that you would need extra links to connect the two belts, and I dont know if any special tools were involved.

Then there's the problem of splicing belts when the end of the belt is somewhere in the track between the tailgunners gun and the box. And also the problem of reloading the tailgun when fully empty. One would need a way to feed the belt through the tracks.

In short, its probably something best left to the ground crews.

[zorstorer]

Not too hard, you just waste one round and use the link from that round to link em together.  At least if they used disintegrating link belts like the Bradley used.  This might help, curl your left index finger out next curl your right index and middle finger in the same way, now "join" the two halfs together, imagine the round being in the space between.  Might help

Oh yea and about the last round being at the bottom, there was a slot to hook that last exposed link on the top/side of the ammo can for the coax 7.62mm and the last round of the 25mm hung below the rack so it was easy to attach fresh rounds.

I like the idea but it would make 999000 and Tater (salad) Tot too hard to kill

[hacksaw1]

Well, I don't think replenishing ammo would be hard at all. And in any case, listed below are 2 references on the internet about WWII tail gunners getting ammo from other stations.

If there are no seperate ammo belts around, then I think this would be the process.

Open the top cover of your gun

Remove the ammo belt from the receiver of your gun

Pull out three arm's-length of the belt from the ammo chest and break the belt

Put the lead of your remaining belt in the receiver and close the top cover

Take the broken belt of three arms-length to the tail gunner

If the tail gunner is already out of ammo, he just lifts the gun's top cover, inserts the belt, draws the bolt cocking handle, and fires

If not yet out, he simply fires till he is out, then inserts the extra ammo per previous step

No one needs to splice belts


http://www.thehewitt.net/sam.html

Sam Hewitt 15th Air Force WWII POW

"By now, because of the loss of so many ships (B-17s) that were behind us, we found ourselves to be in the unenviable position of "tail end Charlie"! The battle was now approaching two hours, which for an air battle was rare. Our tail gunner had run out of ammunition and came up to where I was (top turret) to get some of what I had left."

http://www.southernoregonwarbirds.org/b24a.html

George R. Insley
Brief Bio:
George R. Insley …major theater of wartime operations was in Europe (ETO), from September 1943 to July 1945, with the 66th and 506th Squadrons, 44th Bomb Group, 2nd Air Division, 8th Air Force, based in Shipdon, England. He flew a total of 48 combat missions and was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross with one star and 8 Air Medals.

"There we were, two groups, one a B-17 group and one a B-24. When the fighters showed up the B-24 leader slid our formation in under the B-17 group, for more protection as well as for more defense against the fighters. So where did they attack? Yes right in my corner, low left and last. You can see why they called it Purple Heart Corner. My tail gunner, George Federlin shot up all of his ammo and the waist gunner took more ammo to him."

[tactic]

I like the idea but it would make 999000 and Tater (salad) Tot too hard to kill.

enough said .  i vote no!  lol    

Only way I'd want this to happen is if 999000 and tater have to load rounds 1 at a time,,  ya i said 1 -one at a time as in single shot.  they would have to remove belt, pop round out, slide chamber back , put that 1 round in let slide go, shoot, go back remove belt, remove 1 round, slide chamber back, put that 1 round in, let slide go,  shoot.     so on and so on , just like that!

Even then 999000 and tater would have a advantage and kill me as usual.  so forget it.   Ok I got it,  they have to throw the rounds at us by hand while hanging out the side gunners door.  
ok I'm still not comfortable with that even,  they'd still kill me 95% of the time.

forget the whole thing, I was never even here.  

hehe

[frank3]

Who are you again?

[Furball]

i have a book called 'Combat Crew' by John Comer, they regularly got extra ammo from a friend who worked on the ground crew and transferred ammunition.

I dont think it belongs in this game though.

[JB17]

Sure, if they did move ammo there had to be some reload time.  

Even 30 seconds and that bomber is going to be down.  I don't think moving ammo would do anything for the game play.