quote:

Originally posted by SigSAC:

quote:

Originally posted by Some Shot:
I went to my B-17 source on this one. My Dad was the engineer on a B-17 crew during WWII, so he was also the upper turret gunner.

He says that cold was a big problem for everything on the plane. There were no heaters for the 50s at that time (1944), so they put Army-issue gun oil on very sparingly and then wiped it off.

They also removed and cleaned their own guns and stored them on racks in a gun shack near the plane. Before the next mission the crew carried them back to the plane and reinstalled them.

Very true - crews had to move to other planes occasionally due to maintenance/damage. The gunners were assigned their own guns, and were responsible for maintaining them. When they prepared to leave for a mission, the guns were moved from the storage building to the plane being used that day.

When Dad and I were in England in 2014, we visited the site where he flew from near Norwich. The original building used for briefings still stands, and is actually now inside a larger building and is used by the administrative staff of a tractor dealership. The larger building holds all their parts inventory.

We were shown an overview photo from about 25 years ago that showed all the buildings. There were two smaller buildings on there - one had been damaged in a storm after the photo and had to be demolished. They asked about the two buildings. Dad took one look at the photo and told them - the one that is still standing is where they maintained and trained on the bomb sights. The one that had been demolished had been where they stored the guns. The owner of the dealership was astounded that Dad could look and identify everything after almost 70 years.

Dad's bomber group is talking about a reunion in England in September 2018. I've talked to him about it, but am letting him decide if he wants to go again. We'll wait to decide until closer to the time as much can happen in a few months as you approach 100 years old.