Request: ammo transfer for bombers

[Morpheus]

Thanks Dred, I was too lazy to reply to him. The know-it-all, knows it all, even when he doesnt have a clue. I just dont have time to waste on people like him.

Edit: As for reload.... I've seen some guys reload a BMG in the blink of an eye at some MG shoots. If your life depended on getting that 50 loaded or getting blown out of the sky by some Nazi fighter, betcha you're going to hustle it and load that 50 as fast as humanly possible. A 30-45 second delay seems good to me. As it is now, we can pull a fighter in for a Nascar style pit stop and be off in 30 seconds flat. I dont think I've read much about WW2 fighters being refuled and remared in 30 seconds with engine on. (What Im getting at is its a game)

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by Morpheus
Thanks Dred, I was too lazy to reply to him.

]

Google was my friend...for a change;)

oh, and the ball turret had two of these babies

[Krusty]

Originally posted by Morpheus
Thanks Dred, I was too lazy to reply to him. The know-it-all, knows it all, even when he doesnt have a clue. I just dont have time to waste on people like him.

HAH.. That's rich, from you.

I've never seen any image of a B17 that uses that small 50-round canister. Every image I've ever seen is huge canisters bolted to the walls. I've seen quite a few B17 interior pics. I've even posted a couple. I think I'm justified in my response.

So stuff it.

EDIT: I didn't think it was possible for the tail gunner to get to the dorsal gunner's position. He has his own external hatch to get in, and the tail gear is between him and the rest of the plane.

[APDrone]

Originally posted by Krusty


EDIT: I didn't think it was possible for the tail gunner to get to the dorsal gunner's position. He has his own external hatch to get in, and the tail gear is between him and the rest of the plane.

My turn to dogpile ( my preferred search engine.. http://www.dogpile.com )

Get a load of THIS link!!


Tail Gunner Bio

Special note..
"Then came the unexpected; someone cut us off. We had to go around to avoid a collision with the other aircraft. The situation was still under control until we lost engine number two. There was no way we could continue to fly on one engine. I had moved from the tail to the radio room. When I looked out all I could see was the lights in those adobe buildings getting closer each second. The crew from up front had joined us in the radio room and assumed crash positions. Captain Train managed to belly land going up the side of a hill. It doesn't take much to persuade men to move quickly to get out of a crashed aircraft. Eight of us exited through the radio room hatch. The pilot and copilot, both big men, squeezed out of the side cockpit windows just as engine number three burst into flames. Our engineer, looking out for his airplane, as he always did, reentered through the waist door, obtained a fire extinguisher and put out the fire. No one was injured but Julie A was now only fit for spare parts. I guess sometimes even a milk run can be dangerous. "

[Krusty]

I wonder how??

[ChopSaw]

I like this ammo transfer idea a lot.  Transfer ammo from a dead gun to a live one or from a relatively unused gun (such as the nose gun) to other guns.

I can see a time delay being necessary, say the same 30 second delay as on the rearm pads.  However, I’m not sure I see the necessity of disabling any of the guns while the transfer takes place.

Neat idea overall.

[Bodhi]

Originally posted by Krusty
EDIT: I didn't think it was possible for the tail gunner to get to the dorsal gunner's position. He has his own external hatch to get in, and the tail gear is between him and the rest of the plane.

That is incorrect Krusty. The tail gunner has an extra hatch, which is about a third the size of the rar entry hatch.  It was placed there for an emegency, in the knowledge that it can be a tight squeeze past the tail gear in an airplane bouncing all over the sky.  Sadly for many tail gunners, it was rare for them to easily get in and out of the small tail gun hatch on the ground with out a parachute, and even impossible for many with a chute on.

[Furball]

Originally posted by Krusty
Well yes and no... Maybe some were able to, but it wasn't fast, it wasn't easy. Most in the B17 and B24 (the 2 most common bombers in this game now) were in large storage bins/lockers/whatever that were simply not easy to open, pull out ammo, and lug hundreds of pounds of bullets to another gun, open its locker and then link that ammo with another. And what if that ammo locker is full?

Ammo exchange was something done during lulls in the fight. Between point A and point B. In AH I can just see this being abused SO badly..... Fire a burst from tail, reload instantly. Fire a burst from tail, reload instantly, repeat 10,000 times and never move from the tail gun position.

I'm not for this idea at all. In fact, one might say I'm against it.

There is a book called Combat Crew by John Comer, he was friends with someone in supply on the squadron they were on and they would regularly max out on ammo, a figure that comes to mind is 16,000 rounds of ammo *dont quote me on that, it is years since i read it!*  

They would distribute it in flight because they had to stack it near the CG at takeoff.  One time they loaded up and the waist/tailgunner stacked the ammo boxes near their stations shifting the CG rear, nearly made them crash on takeoff because the pilot couldnt get the tail up.  They did the first Schweinfurt raid and were pretty much the only bomber in their squadron with ammo by the end of it, the LW coulda just lined up behind them and shot them all down at will if they had realised they were defenceless.

It is a very good book, recommended.

I have been in a 17, you can get down to the tailgun position from waist, but it is a squeeze - i found even up to the waist position very tight too.

[Bodhi]

Furbie.

When I was working in Florida years ago with a guy named Dallas Jacobs, he used to tell us stories about his crew (he flew 67 missions in the 17) stacking bricks (from rubble left over on their airbase) in the rear of the aircraft which they promptly began throwing out as soon as they crossed into enemy territory.  Apparently they got over zealous on one mission and stacked over a ton of the damn things onboard and the he had a hell of a time saving it on takeoff!  

Kinda amazing when you think about it.

[Furball]

bet it was an idea from the pub one night after a few beers...

"HEY GUYS! I HAVE A GREAT IDEA!"

Reminded me of one funny thing in that book combat crew... the bombadier has the ****s one day after a heavy night on the drink the night before.  He could have got off the mission sick but didnt want to get one behind the rest of the crew.  So he goes along, go in the ammo can while flying and throw it over the krauts! great idea! except when he goes to throw it out, the slipstream blew it back in and all over the navigator.

bet that was a fun 3-4 hour flight home

[Krusty]

oh... my... god...

I don't know whether to laugh or vomit!

[Bodhi]

Furbie,

I met several 38 pilots last year at a meeting of sorts, and anyways, one of them was telling a story about how his wingies got him one time.  Anyways, the guy had to pee real bad, and they were still over enemy territory.  Anyways, he let his buds know, and proceeded to get his tally whacker out of his gear to use the relief tube.  Well apparently his buddies were waiting for him to stop fidgeting around, and get started peeing.  When they noticed that, one of them yelled "BREAK" and the poor guy broke thinking he had an enemy fighter on his butt.  He ended up peeing all over himself, and at the alt they were at, it froze quite quick... until he came in for landing.  He said none of his buds would own up to who did it!