World War II Database

1.  David Stubblebine says:
8 Sep 2024 08:06:12 PM

The testing took place at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio in 1949. The idea was to give gunners a much broader field of view. They would then remotely control gun turrets located in the fuselage. The aircraft was transferred to General Electric in 1950 for testing unrelated to the wingtip pods and, shortly after arrival at Schenectady, the wings were restored to their original design. This airplane is still airworthy based in the United Kingdom. Victor Bilek, a former member of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson tells this story: “While assigned to the armament laboratory, my team was responsible for coming up with ideas to make America’s fleet of airplanes more lethal and better protected. Feedback came in from the field so fast, that the planes would fly from the assembly line straight to a modification center. I had a young enlisted engineer working for me who thought up the idea that if you had your gunners out on the wing tips instead of the fuselage, they’d have a full 360-degree view of the aircraft; you’d have no blind spots on the plane, which was a big problem back then. We had pods installed on the wing tips and the gunner would sit inside. They would remotely operate the guns at the center of the plane. Well, the idea had to be tested, and I got to be one of the handful of people to try it. Most people thought it would be a really disorienting thing, but while I was flying on the outside of the plane, I got the distinct feeling that the plane was actually flying around me. It was quite an experience; probably the most fun thing I ever did.”