Originally posted by O'Westy:BTW, what was the twin engined bomber? It had inline engines, a rounded nose with what looked likt two small calibre MG's sticking out the front and an open upper turret?Westy
Elo Tapani, sub hunter Elo Tapani reads Aero-magazine from 1927. The very lively Mr Tapani Elo was a gunner/radio operator during the war in a SB-2 bomber, that hunted Soviet submarines. Mr Elo spoke briefly of his experiences and answered some questions. Tapani recalled how enlisted very young, he was 17-18 years of age when he joined the ranks of the Air Force. I asked about flying the SB-2 and the reliability of the plane, there are many stories of the Russian bomber that do little to bolster your confidence. The answer came quick, though: "No, it was very reliable. More so than the Blenheim." And Tapani told of how they did four-hour search flights over the sea. It went all fine and no accidents happened, though "some planes were shot down from the squadron in the north." It was cold travel, though. The SB-2 had no electric heating of any kind, the crew had to wear thick clothes. In addition, the Russian bomber had twin machine guns in the nose, though the actual weapons were usually removed. But the holes were there, "it was like two icicles thrusting inside the plane." How were the depth charges set in the plane? We carried two charges. One was set to go off in five meters (17'), the other in fifteen (50'). You never had an "incident" with enemy planes, but did you see others in the air? We never saw Russians, but Germans flew there. Fighters, recon planes? Recon. The SB had a gunner position in the back, that's where Tapani sat. His armament was a Russian machine gun. The gunner was well attached to the turret, and he could control the turning speed with a pedal. According to Tapani, the turret turned very quickly if you wanted, so you could follow even fast targets. Strapped into a well controllable turret, shooting back would have been very easy, especially as the gun was belt-fed, unlike that of the Blenheim. But in forceful movements the gunner would have been pressed into whatever direction, hanging in his harness, which would have made firing more difficult. Tapani talked about his machine guns. Five different kinds of rounds were loaded into the belt, but he could not remember the exact ratio any more. The SB machine gun had a habit of going "wild", the weapon occasionally didn't stop firing when the trigger was released. Tapani's solution to these cases was gripping the ammo belt and snapping it in two with a sharp tug. When speaking of the powerful movements and the gunner getting thrown about by G forces, Tapani is reminded of one unusual incident. The writer's memory claims Tapani was in a Blenheim. The pilot decided to pull a loop. But the speed wasn't enough - and the plane remained standing upright. "It felt awful, hanging in the restraints and wondering which way we'd go next. Fortunately it fell to side over the wing and levelled." At this point Eino Estama burst into laughter and told how he once pulled a Blenheim into a loop. But he managed to do it.As Eino laughed, your writer began to feel that this wasn't the whole story, and asked: "May I guess, you didn't warn the gunner at all?" "No, we didn't. We just decided it with the bombardier, and then did it."Tapani commented, "That's how it was, they never told anything to us in the back."
Originally posted by Zigrat:link not working?
