B-24 Ball turret, Bomb bay doors.

[fuzeman]

Not being a reliable source and seeing this on TV probably makes me shoot myself in the foot right off the bat but here goes.

Didn't the 24s ball turret raise and lower? Would be a nice change to see the turret lower after the gear goes up. Bad timing on my part with the B-24 already haveing the new graphics.

Also, IIRC, there is no item on a bombers damage list reflecting the bomb bay doors. A nice feature would be damage to this limiting some bomb drops. Using another TV reference, bang there goes another one of my toes, I have seen Ju-88 drop them thru what looked like partially open doors. Then again on a B-24 I'm would think a 1000lb'er would just break through it and fall on its merry way most likely.

[Hornet33]

You are correct that the ball turret on the B-24 does retract into the belly of the plane. The reason for this is the fact that the belly of the plane is so close to the ground the turret would hit during a takeoff and landing. I would have to check in one of my books but I don't think it would extend all the way down when the plane was sitting still for the same reason.

I'm not sure about the doors question but I'll look into it and see if I can find anything. I have a nice book that is nothing but the B-24. I'll have to dig it out and see if it has anything about this in it.

[Krusty]

German bombers almost had spring-like doors. The bombs were held in vertical racks, and simply slid out (mostly tail-first, righting themselves in the windstream), so they weren't falling through the doors as much as pushing the doors out of the way as they fell.

[Billy Joe Bob]

aaahhhh clever little germans arent they?

[Krusty]

Also, I've heard one tale where a B24's main doors were damaged or some such, so they just dropped the bombs right through the doors (I think this was a 2000lbers payload, for this particular story).

[Tails]

Originally posted by Krusty
Also, I've heard one tale where a B24's main doors were damaged or some such, so they just dropped the bombs right through the doors (I think this was a 2000lbers payload, for this particular story).

So, where there some 2000lbs bomb-shaped holes in the doors? Or did they and the aircraft part their ways shortly after pickle?

[Guppy35]

Originally posted by Krusty
Also, I've heard one tale where a B24's main doors were damaged or some such, so they just dropped the bombs right through the doors (I think this was a 2000lbers payload, for this particular story).

That happened on a number of occasions.  Damaged 24s would sometimes jettision bombs to lighten up, often through damaged doors that wouldn't open.

The doors on a 24 were flimsey enough it was less of an issue then it would have been in a 17.

Quoting a letter from a B24 pilot to his brother who was an infantry officer.  I researched this crew for about 10 years so I kinda consider them "my crew"

They dumped the bombs through the doors on one occasion.  They were later shot down by flak on another mission with 6 KIA, 1 DOW and 5 POW.  They were a Pathfinder crew which had two extra crewman.

"We finally broke out of the overcast and we were right over an enemy fighter field. Fortunately no fighters came up, but instead they opened up on us with their radar flak guns. We got several hits in the bomb bay but the were not serious. We soon were back in the overcast and about the time we thought we were over the Adriatic, the other three engines cut out completely. Needless to say we started dropping very rapidly and not being sure whether we were over the mountains or over the Adriatic, I told the boys to put their chutes on and prepare to ditch. They immediately started throwing guns, ammunition etc. overboard. We still had our bomb load and the navigator being the only one in the nose, I told him to salvo the bombs. He wasn’t our regular navigator as he (Jon Shepard) is in the hospital, and it was the other fellow’s first mission. He got excited and salvoed the bombs without opening the bomb bay doors. When the bombs dropped they too the doors right with them. Why they didn’t explode is still a miracle to me as they had been armed."

[Krusty]

Think of a garage door on tracks... Once you bend past a certain point the wheels come out of the tracks and the whole thing's gone. I assume the door folds directly beneath the bombs were literally ripped all the way off, and maybe 1-2 on the sides were mangled in the process. I'm betting that wind shear removed any mangled ones in short order.

[Valkyrie]

Bombs slung in the b-24 were also verticle and righted themselves in the wind stream.

[USMCnav]

Verticle, you say?  

[Midnight]

I posted about the B24 belly turret when it first came out. I forget if it was nate or super, but they said they couldn't make it work right, so it's just displayed where it is.

[Brooke]

USMCNav, nice pics.  Looks like the Collings Foundation B-24J.

[frank3]

Why they didn’t explode is still a miracle to me as they had been armed."

I don't find this such a miracle, the bombs are triggered by point on the nose and tail. They fell horizontally on the bombbay doors, and because the impact wasn't that hard (bombs couldn't produce enough speed) it was very unlikely that they DID exlode

Were the bomb-bay doors controlled electrically or by hydraulics?

[Tails]

Originally posted by frank3
I don't find this such a miracle, the bombs are triggered by point on the nose and tail. They fell horizontally on the bombbay doors, and because the impact wasn't that hard (bombs couldn't produce enough speed) it was very unlikely that they DID exlode

Were the bomb-bay doors controlled electrically or by hydraulics?

If the B-24's doors were roll-away, they were likely controlled by electic motors.

As for the bombs not fuzing when smacking the bay doors: I recall being told that bombs back then, if not now, used a little turbine on the nose as a safety. Airflow spun it, and after a certain number of revolutions it was armed. Sitting in the bomb-bay, there is not really enough airflow to spin the turbine enough to arm the bomb before it smacks the doors a whole (looks like) three feet below the lowest bomb.

[fuzeman]

Originally posted by Midnight
I posted about the B24 belly turret when it first came out. I forget if it was nate or super, but they said they couldn't make it work right, so it's just displayed where it is.

I assumed this was the case and must have missed that post.