Tail gunner
A tail gunner or rear gunner is a crewman on a military aircraft who functions as a gunner defending against enemy fighter or interceptor attacks from the rear, or "tail", of the plane.
The tail gunner operates a flexible
History
The first aircraft to ever have incorporated a tail gunner position was the
Another example of a First World War-era aircraft equipped with a tail gunner position was the British Handley Page V/1500. It was specifically developed as a heavy bomber by Handley Page, who designed a relatively large four-engined biplane for the era; it was reportedly capable of bombing Berlin from bases in East Anglia.[2] However, the type did not enter service until the very end of the war, during the months of October and November 1918, and thus never saw any kind of combat action. The type did see use in subsequent conflicts, including a pivotal role in ending the Third Anglo-Afghan War, flying from Risalpur to Kabul to drop its payload of four 112 lb (51 kg) bombs and 16 20 lb (10 kg) bombs on the city and the royal palace, reportedly contributing to the Afghans' speedy surrender.[3][4]
Throughout the
Across the overall history of its use in combat, the tail gunner was most active during the Second World War. For almost every aircraft model in which it was fitted, the tail gun position was constituted of an enclosed compartment inhabited by the gunner. During the Second World War, this extreme tail compartment typically conformed to the inside fixed gunner configuration, in which the gunner operated the articulated mount of autocannon or machine gun fire (usually one or two weapons); examples of aircraft such fitted include the Japanese Mitsubishi G4M bomber (which had one Oerlikon 20 mm autocannon),[10] and the American B-17 and B-29 bombers (which were fitted with a mount of two 0.50 Browning M2 machine guns).[11][12]
An alternative arrangement in the form of the hydraulically or electrically powered and fully enclosed gun turret. This configuration typically rotated horizontally and mounting one, two or more automatic firearms; aircraft that featured such tail guns include the later-built variants of the American B-24 bomber (various turret models were used, all equipped with two 0.50 Browning M2),[13] and several British bombers, including the Avro Lancaster (outfitted with a Nash & Thompson FN-20 turret with four Browning .303 Mark II machine guns),[14][15] and the Handley Page Halifax (featuring a Boulton & Paul Type E Mk III turret that also mounted four 0.50 Browning M2s).[16]
During the closing years of the conflict, the American B-29 bombers were equipped with a tail gun position in which the gunner still had a direct view on his target while operating his synchronized weapons, but some other gun positions of this particular model of Boeing bomber were, for the first time in an aircraft, operated from other parts of the plane, each one spotting the target by means of a
Another phenomenon that heavily affected the tail gunner's future came in the form of aircraft such as the de Havilland Mosquito. While many aviation firms entered heavy designs with new high-powered engines and multiple defensive turrets, such as the Avro Manchester and Halifax bombers, de Havilland promoted the concept of a compact bomber that lacked defensive turrets and instead relied upon its speed.[19][20] Despite pressure by the Air Ministry to arm their proposal, de Havilland made no design changes and built the Mosquito as envisaged.[21][22] When the type commenced introduction 1941, the aircraft was one of the fastest operational aircraft in the world.[23] In practice, the Mosquito proved its effectiveness; despite an initially high loss rate, the bomber variants ended the war with the lowest recorded losses of any aircraft in RAF Bomber Command service.[24] Due to its success, aspects such as speed and altitude performance were often prioritised over defensive armaments on future bomber aircraft, such as the widely procured jet-powered English Electric Canberra.[25][26]
The tail gunner was last heavily used in combat during the
On 24 December 1972, during the same bombing campaign, B-52 Stratofortress Diamond Lil was attacking railroad yards at
The final combat usage of tail gunners by the United States Air Force occurred in 1991, during the
Operational practices
The purpose of the tail gunner was principally to act as a lookout for attacking enemy fighters, particularly upon British bombers operating at nighttime. As these aircraft operated individually instead of being part of a bombing formation, the bombers' first reaction to an attacking night fighter was to engage in radical evasive maneuvers such as a corkscrew roll; firing guns in defense was of secondary importance. The British slang term for tail gunners was "Tail-end Charlies",[34][35] while in the Luftwaffe they were called Heckschwein ("tail-end pigs").
Both the specific armament and arrangement of the tail gun varied considerably between countries. During the Second World War, the majority of
The majority of wartime
One important development for the Luftwaffe that never made it onto its larger night fighters or strategic bomber designs would have been the Borsig firm's "quadmount", hydraulically powered Hecklafette HL 131V manned tail turret, fitted with a quartet of the firm's own
List of aircraft with tail gun positions
France
- Breguet Br.521 Bizerte– maritime patrol flying boat
Germany
- Blohm und Voss BV 238– transport flying boat (some versions only)
- Dornier Do 24 – maritime patrol flying boat
- Gotha Go 242 – transport
- Junkers Ju 290 – long range patrol/transport
- Heinkel He 177– heavy bomber
Japan
- Kawanishi H3K – patrol flying boat (open tail gunner position)
- Kawanishi H6K – patrol flying boat (closed gun turret position, as all the following)
- Kawanishi H8K – patrol flying boat
- Mitsubishi G4M – medium bomber
- Mitsubishi Ki-67 – medium bomber
- Nakajima G8N – heavy bomber
- Yokosuka H5Y – patrol flying boat
Netherlands
United Kingdom
- Armstrong Whitworth Whitley (introduced 1937) – medium bomber; initially equipped with a manually operated tail turret featuring a single Lewis gun, it successively received 2- and then 4-gun Nash & Thompson turrets.
- Avro Lancaster (introduced 1942) – heavy bomber; 4-gun Nash & Thompson tail turrets: some late-war aircraft received Village Inn automatic radar aiming and others were fitted with a Rose turret.
- Avro Manchester (introduced 1940) – heavy twin engine bomber.
- Blackburn Iris (introduced 1929) – patrol flying boat; Lewis guns on a Scarff ring in the extreme tail
- Handley Page Halifax (introduced 1940) – heavy bomber; 4-gun Boulton Paul tail turret
- Handley Page V/1500 (introduced 1918) – heavy bomber; Lewis guns on a Scarff ring in the extreme tail
- Hawker Siddeley P.1184-16 Dash 18 - prototype V/STOL; tail gunner cockpit for aiming Taildog missiles
- Short Singapore (introduced 1935) – patrol flying boat; Lewis guns on a Scarff ring in the extreme tail
- Supermarine Stranraer (introduced 1937) – patrol flying boat
- 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine gunsin the extreme tail turret
- Short Sunderland (introduced 1938) – maritime patrol and anti-submarine flying boat; 4-gun Nash & Thompson tail turret
- Vickers Virginia (introduced 1924) – – heavy bomber; Lewis guns on a Scarff ring in the extreme tail
- Vickers Wellington- (introduced 1938) medium bomber fitted with two Browning M1919s in the tail turret
- nacelles.
United States
- Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress – heavy bomber; fixed tailgun position from the B-17E version onwards
- Boeing B-29 Superfortress – heavy bomber
- Boeing B-47 Stratojet – Cold War heavy bomber
- Boeing B-50 Superfortress – Cold War heavy bomber
- Boeing B-52 Stratofortress – Cold War heavy bomber
- Consolidated B-24 Liberator – heavy bomber;
- Convair B-36 Peacemaker – Cold War heavy bomber
- Convair B-58 Hustler – Cold War supersonic bomber
- Douglas XB-19 – heavy bomber
- Douglas B-23 Dragon – medium bomber;
- Lockheed P2V-4 Neptune– Antisubmarine
- Martin B-26 Marauder – medium bomber
- North American B-25 Mitchell – medium bomber
USSR/Russia
- Sikorsky S-25 Ilya Muromets
- Antonov An-12
- Ilyushin Il-28
- Ilyushin Il-40
- Ilyushin Il-102
- Ilyushin Il-76
- Myasishchev M-4
- Petlyakov Pe-8
- Tupolev Tu-4
- Tupolev Tu-14
- Tupolev Tu-16
- Tupolev Tu-22
- Tupolev Tu-22M
- Tupolev Tu-95/Tu-142
See also
Prominent tail gunners
- Joseph McCarthy ("Tail-gunner Joe")
- Wallace McIntosh
Other kinds of air gunners
- Dorsal gunner
- Ventral gunner
- Nose gunner
Helicopters and Rotorcraft
References
Citations
- ^ a b Sikorsky 2007, p. 31.
- ^ Mason 1994, p. 108.
- ^ Bowyer 1992, p. 142.
- ^ MacKay & Bruce, Air Pictorial. August 1962.
- ^ Mason 1994, p. 145.
- ^ Mikesh & Abe 1990, p. 135
- ^ Barnes 1967, p. 264
- ^ Crosby 2007, pp. 48–49.
- ^ Moyes 1967, p. 6.
- ^ Aoki 1972, pp. 128–136
- ^ Donald 1997, p. 155.
- ^ a b Williams and Gustin 2003, pp. 164–166.
- ^ Bridgman 1989, pp. 215–216.
- ^ a b Jacobs 1996[page needed]
- ^ Franks 2000, p. 83.
- ^ Flight 1942, p. 401.
- ^ Brown 1977, p. 80.
- ^ Hearst Magazines (February 1945). "B-29 Gunnery Brain Aims Six Guns at Once". Popular Mechanics. Hearst Magazines. p. 26.
- ^ Buttler 2004, pp. 74, 77.
- ^ Sharp and Bowyer 1971, p. 31.
- ^ Bowman 2005, p. 11.
- ^ Buttler 2004, p. 79.
- ^ Bowman 2005, p. 21.
- ^ Braham, M. Spence, Hugh (ed.). "DeHavilland Mosquito Fact Sheet #62". Friends of the Canadian War Museum. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
- ^ Gunston and Gilchrist 1993, p. 53.
- ^ Walker 8 May 1969, pp. 758, 760–761.
- ^ a b McCarthy 2009, p. 139.
- ^ McCarthy 2009, p. 141.
- ^ Branum, Don (27 December 2010). "B-52 Tail-gunner Recalls MiG Downing (Vietnam)". Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
- ^ McCarthy 2009, [page needed].
- ^ Tucker 2015, p. 90.
- ^ Safaric, Jan. "Iraqi Air-Air Victories" (PDF).
- ^ Condor 1994, p. 43.
- ^ Johnson 1995, p. 96.
- ^ In the USAAF, the term was adopted as the last bomber in a unit formation, or the last unit formation in a larger bomber stream, both considered highly vulnerable.
- ^ Griehl & Dressel 1998, pp. 42, 226.
- ^ "Kurzbeschreibung Focke-Wulf Ta 400 Fernkampfflugzeug - Heckstand" (PDF). deutscheluftwaffe.de (in German). Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau, Bremen. 13 October 1943. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 August 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
(in German)Der Schwerpunkt der Abwehr feindlicher Angriffe liegt bei dem bemannten Vierlings-Heckstand HL 131 V, der von der Firma Borsig entwickelt wurde. Der Stand hat hydraulischen Antrieb und bei gleichzeitigem Richten von Höhe und Seite eine maximale resultierende Richtgeschwindigkeit von 60°/sec. Der Schwenkwinkelbereich beträgt +/- 100° in horizontaler und +/- 60° in vertikaler Richtung. Die Munition ist in 4 Kästen zellenseitig untergebracht und wird durch Gurtfördermotoren dem Stand zugeführt. Die Schußanzahl beträgt pro Lauf ~1000 Schuss.
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- Brown, J. "RCT Armament in the Boeing B-29". Air Enthusiast, Number Three, 1977, pp. 80–83.
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