Word: turrets
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...wingspread (in feet) of the attacking plane. After that he frames the plane between illumined reticules (cross hairs or similar lines imposed on the field of vision), in a mirror on the sight, and keeps it framed there. He tracks it with the handle controls of his power-operated turret. When the enemy plane fills the space between the lighted lines, it is time to fire...
...side. Then a bullet tore through the nose. Such a blast of air came in that both pilot and co-pilot began to freeze. One was barehanded, the other had only light dress gloves, and we were above 20,000 feet. Within a couple of minutes the ball-turret gunner had shot down an Me-110 trying to get us, and the radio operator had been wounded. We were getting pretty banged up. Then a fighter made a quick pass at us and sent a shell crashing into the cockpit. Our copilot, Steve Bellovay, was hit clean through the breast...
...turret I knew it was a bad hit when blood flecked my glass dome. When I could leave my gun for a moment I went down and pulled Steve back from the instruments, where his weight was making the pilot's job even tougher. I lashed him upright with a piece of chute harness...
...About this time the bombardier let loose his load on Kiel. It wasn't too soon because both the bombardier and navigator were hit a moment later. When the ball-turret gunner came up to help, we lifted Steve out of his seat and laid him along the catwalk above the bomb bays and covered him with flying clothes. We had been handing the captain 'walk-around' oxygen bottles after the regular system got busted. Now we gave him Steve's tube. We saw that Steve didn't need it any more...
...turret-gunner in a Martin Marauder, stubby, husky Staff Sergeant Clifford R. Wherley of Elmwood, Ill. has made 21 sorties against the enemy, won the Air Medal with three oakleaf clusters, been an all-round good fighting man. But in North Africa last week his career was ended...