| Being a tail gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress was a | | | | The first manually operated gun sat on a pin mount |
| lonely existence, much like the ball turret gunner. The | | | | with cables running back to the gunner. The gunner |
| gunner sat at the very tail end of the plane in a tight | | | | had to maintain some kind of reference point with |
| location always looking to the rear. In addition to | | | | the sight in order to gain any accuracy. A reference |
| being the gunner he was also the eyes for the rest | | | | point was hard to maintain because of the bouncing |
| of the crew and could give a heads up on | | | | of the aircraft. |
| approaching enemy aircraft. | | | | Later they came up with a reflector sight which |
| The earlier model flying Fortress did not have a gun | | | | freed the gunner from having to maintain a reference |
| in the rear position and relied on the waist guns to | | | | and increased the accuracy of the weapon. In |
| cover the rear. At the time the waist guns were in a | | | | addition to the gunners cramped position, it was a |
| bubble and could be depressed further to the rear, | | | | very cold position at 30,000 feet. There was a lot of |
| but it became apparent that a dedicated rear gun | | | | air blowing through the compartment making for |
| was needed. | | | | freezing conditions. The tail gunners eventually |
| They first tried a powered turret but it did not work | | | | became good at their job and enemy pilots became |
| out, a real person would be needed to operate a gun. | | | | reluctant to approach from the rear. |