Dude you are Inside MEMPHIS BELLE !!!! The Historic significance of that aircraft is hard to believe - and here 80 years later we’re getting to Finally see her from the Inside / hear her story …. Terrific Job man! Thank you
In the 70s my dad would take me to see the Memphis Belle when it was on display on a concrete pedestal outside the Army National Guard Base in Memphis, TN. I got crawl all over inside her, what a thrill for a little boy!
I was Blessed enough to have been a part of filming of this series and got to go inside her at the AF Museum 🙏 I’m 60 and felt like a little boy ! WHAT AN HONOR that was. 🇺🇸 Great story. Thx for sharing it
I restored / flew in a B-17 a while back and the dorsal turret was always my Favorite place for takeoff and landings it was the Best view in the entire airplane Great Video!
My father was a top turret/ flight engineer during WW-II. They also had their wings and could fly the if necessary. I have his to this day. I also three uncles who fought in the Pacific. The greatest generation ever.
In some of the combat footage you can see the left gun on the turret jam because the barrel does not return tot he in battery position. The gunner continues to use just one gun. I wonder how that effected the turret rotation/aim when only one side was firing.
@@MilitaryArmamentsCompany I worked on three engines with the crew chief of Sentimental Journey Then took his position while he was in the co pilots seat while we took the airplane to do the run ups
There was significant damage to the hanger and some aircraft outside it ( that were scheduled to be scrapped anyway) but the B-17 Swoose and a few others inside it were not significantly damaged 🙏
2:25 I got to ride in Fifi, and that plane has an engineer's station like a 70's airliner. He had more control of the plane than I could have imagined. It is very interesting to see the evolution of that position compared to the 17
Oh Wow! We have not made it into Fifi Yet. We did however get to cover Doc extensively. Be sure to check out our B-29 In Depth Series where Donnie the flight engineer takes us right through the plane.
@MilitaryArmamentsCompany they have one in Hartford now, I think it is Jack's Hack or something similar. They told an interesting story at the 8th Air Force museum - one of the parts of their B-17 is in the Smithsonian and they won't give it up to make the original plane complete. I do appreciate the work done on Memphis Belle - even the detail inside of closed parts that nobody will ever see, in order to keep it as original as possible. What a great community.
Yes the Team at the AF Museum is great at what they do! As i understand it, the Belle Restoration will never be finished, in terms of constantly adding pieces to the plane as they become available. I have been inside a lot of 17s, the Belle is by far the most complete.
I’ve seen many photos of these bombers with the insides gutted for tours/flights. I could not imagine trying to maneuver through a fully equipped, dark, freezing, and possibly falling out of the sky B-17. I can’t imagine any other time in all of history where humans went through this type of hostile environment/equipment in war. Couldn’t happen before because the tech wasn’t invented, will never happen again because tech has made this form of battle obsolete.
Glad you could appreciate a complete restoration. This style of war is terrifying yes however all war brings a unique reality and horror. From the earliest days of warfare being beaten to a pulp with a club, to now, a different fear is induced....having all the equipment and technical advantage on the Battlefield yet not knowing who the enemy is brings things to a different level.
Quite a bit of Titanium used in the supporting structure. I’d imagine there is heavy recoil from the twin .50 Brownings getting transferred to the airframe at the cyclic rate of the machine guns. I believe aerial .50 caliber Brownings are set to fire at 600 rounds per minute.
Great comment. I'm unsure if there is titanium anywhere in a 17 but I stand corrected. .50s do have considerable recoil However its nothing to extreme as people may imagine. A WW2 jeep can take a .50 on its pintle mount. The mounts also have recoil buffers as well. Standard ground mount M2 is 600. The aircraft AN M2s sit between 800 to 1200ish... the later M3 can go much higher.
@@MilitaryArmamentsCompany It's been 55 years but I was a .50 cal gunner on a CH-46 in Vietnam. I'm pretty sure we had our guns set at 600 rounds/minute. The ground .50s were set at a noticeably lower cyclic rate of 450. Of course that doesn't mean I'm disputing what you are saying. With a True Airspeed of 380 knots at 25,000 ft and -50F temperature, I'd imagine there would be adequate cooling for a much higher cyclic rate of fire.
@Snaproll47518 wow! We love our Nam Vets. I have plans to cover a lot of Vietnam equipment as it becomes available. Thankyou! I was just spouting generic rates of fire listed in the manuals " 450-600 rounds/min (M2HB)[7][8] 750-850 rounds/min (AN/M2) 1,200-1,300 rounds/min (AN/M3)[9]" however as Veterans we both know each .50 has its own personality. Rate of fire doesn't matter when your in the turret or on the ramp, as long as the fucken thing runs and you have ammo left. Scott.
There are Air force studies of that on casualty figures and causes out there. There is a channel (can't remember the name) that goes over that type of information using the case study documentation, and iirc it was a surprisingly low number in terms of percentages.
Without a shadow of a doubt, friendly fire was an issue, however considering numbers as high as 80 percent in some estimates, the bombers were taken down with flak. Additional figures beyond that coming from the explosive ammo in the 20mm cannons in the fighters, beyond that small arms damage taking bombers out alone was a small percentage (not withstanding individual crew injuries.) I would guess here friendly fire taking out Bombers would be a rare occurrence, if at all. @phillydelphia8760 Im sure you would be referring to a channel called WW2 US Bombers. He does the deep dives into all manor of Bomber Related Subjects.
@@MilitaryArmamentsCompany that is indeed the channel! He's been doing great content to break down the realities and myths or misconceptions about the threats to the air crew and their planes.
It was not installed in this case. The Belle Has a display top turret out on the ground, where i am assuming the gunsight went for it. Perhaps they have more in storage.
As for the panel lights, middle is off, ON is ON wtf is MOM? i HAVE SEEN THIS STYLE OF ILLUMINATION USED ELSEWHERE ON THE 17 LIKE ON THE fLIGHT eNGR'S PANEL & THE ELECTRICAL PANEL FOR THE PILOT TO HIS LEFT ON THE WALL NEAR THE FLOOR.
Dude you are Inside MEMPHIS BELLE !!!! The Historic significance of that aircraft is hard to believe - and here 80 years later we’re getting to Finally see her from the Inside / hear her story …. Terrific Job man! Thank you
In the 70s my dad would take me to see the Memphis Belle when it was on display on a concrete pedestal outside the Army National Guard Base in Memphis, TN. I got crawl all over inside her, what a thrill for a little boy!
I was Blessed enough to have been a part of filming of this series and got to go inside her at the AF Museum 🙏 I’m 60 and felt like a little boy ! WHAT AN HONOR that was. 🇺🇸 Great story. Thx for sharing it
I didn't realize how much equipment they gutted from planes like "Aluminum Overcast" in order to make it more "passenger friendly".
Oh Absolutely! So much so a lot of the Bombers now have a fake upper turret. Or just the upper shell on its bearing race.
I restored / flew in a B-17 a while back and the dorsal turret was always my Favorite place for takeoff and landings it was the Best view in the entire airplane Great Video!
I had the good fortune to meet Zach - he is Totally The! MAN !!!! 😎
My father was a top turret/ flight engineer during WW-II. They also had their wings and could fly the if necessary. I have his to this day. I also three uncles who fought in the Pacific. The greatest generation ever.
Excellent peice of history you have from your family. Welcome to the channel. Enjoy more B-17 episodes. Thankyou
Outstanding job photographing this Richie !!!
Who's Richie?
In some of the combat footage you can see the left gun on the turret jam because the barrel does not return tot he in battery position. The gunner continues to use just one gun. I wonder how that effected the turret rotation/aim when only one side was firing.
That would be a tough one to answer, hopefully some one here can shortly.
It a very moving experience to be in the flight engineers position because it really is his airplane I had that opportunity once
Very cool, which aircraft did you get to be in?
@@MilitaryArmamentsCompany I worked on three engines with the crew chief of Sentimental Journey Then took his position while he was in the co pilots seat while we took the airplane to do the run ups
Any update or information on the damage sustained by wright Patterson during the recent tornado strike??
There was significant damage to the hanger and some aircraft outside it ( that were scheduled to be scrapped anyway) but the B-17 Swoose and a few others inside it were not significantly damaged 🙏
2:25 I got to ride in Fifi, and that plane has an engineer's station like a 70's airliner.
He had more control of the plane than I could have imagined.
It is very interesting to see the evolution of that position compared to the 17
Oh Wow! We have not made it into Fifi Yet. We did however get to cover Doc extensively. Be sure to check out our B-29 In Depth Series where Donnie the flight engineer takes us right through the plane.
@MilitaryArmamentsCompany they have one in Hartford now, I think it is Jack's Hack or something similar. They told an interesting story at the 8th Air Force museum - one of the parts of their B-17 is in the Smithsonian and they won't give it up to make the original plane complete.
I do appreciate the work done on Memphis Belle - even the detail inside of closed parts that nobody will ever see, in order to keep it as original as possible.
What a great community.
Yes the Team at the AF Museum is great at what they do! As i understand it, the Belle Restoration will never be finished, in terms of constantly adding pieces to the plane as they become available. I have been inside a lot of 17s, the Belle is by far the most complete.
I’ve seen many photos of these bombers with the insides gutted for tours/flights. I could not imagine trying to maneuver through a fully equipped, dark, freezing, and possibly falling out of the sky B-17.
I can’t imagine any other time in all of history where humans went through this type of hostile environment/equipment in war. Couldn’t happen before because the tech wasn’t invented, will never happen again because tech has made this form of battle obsolete.
Glad you could appreciate a complete restoration. This style of war is terrifying yes however all war brings a unique reality and horror. From the earliest days of warfare being beaten to a pulp with a club, to now, a different fear is induced....having all the equipment and technical advantage on the Battlefield yet not knowing who the enemy is brings things to a different level.
Wow, bad ass, THANK YOU
Glad you enjoyed it! Be sure to check out the rest of the B-17 Series if you have not yet.
Quite a bit of Titanium used in the supporting structure. I’d imagine there is heavy recoil from the twin .50 Brownings getting transferred to the airframe at the cyclic rate of the machine guns. I believe aerial .50 caliber Brownings are set to fire at 600 rounds per minute.
Great comment. I'm unsure if there is titanium anywhere in a 17 but I stand corrected. .50s do have considerable recoil However its nothing to extreme as people may imagine. A WW2 jeep can take a .50 on its pintle mount. The mounts also have recoil buffers as well. Standard ground mount M2 is 600. The aircraft AN M2s sit between 800 to 1200ish... the later M3 can go much higher.
@@MilitaryArmamentsCompany It's been 55 years but I was a .50 cal gunner on a CH-46 in Vietnam. I'm pretty sure we had our guns set at 600 rounds/minute. The ground .50s were set at a noticeably lower cyclic rate of 450. Of course that doesn't mean I'm disputing what you are saying. With a True Airspeed of 380 knots at 25,000 ft and -50F temperature, I'd imagine there would be adequate cooling for a much higher cyclic rate of fire.
@Snaproll47518 wow! We love our Nam Vets. I have plans to cover a lot of Vietnam equipment as it becomes available. Thankyou! I was just spouting generic rates of fire listed in the manuals "
450-600 rounds/min (M2HB)[7][8]
750-850 rounds/min (AN/M2)
1,200-1,300 rounds/min (AN/M3)[9]" however as Veterans we both know each .50 has its own personality. Rate of fire doesn't matter when your in the turret or on the ramp, as long as the fucken thing runs and you have ammo left. Scott.
How many friendly planes were taken out with friendly fire with all that firepower up there.
Must have been a lot of lead flying.
There are Air force studies of that on casualty figures and causes out there.
There is a channel (can't remember the name) that goes over that type of information using the case study documentation, and iirc it was a surprisingly low number in terms of percentages.
Without a shadow of a doubt, friendly fire was an issue, however considering numbers as high as 80 percent in some estimates, the bombers were taken down with flak. Additional figures beyond that coming from the explosive ammo in the 20mm cannons in the fighters, beyond that small arms damage taking bombers out alone was a small percentage (not withstanding individual crew injuries.) I would guess here friendly fire taking out Bombers would be a rare occurrence, if at all. @phillydelphia8760 Im sure you would be referring to a channel called WW2 US Bombers. He does the deep dives into all manor of Bomber Related Subjects.
@@MilitaryArmamentsCompany that is indeed the channel!
He's been doing great content to break down the realities and myths or misconceptions about the threats to the air crew and their planes.
Where was the computing gunsight?
It was not installed in this case. The Belle Has a display top turret out on the ground, where i am assuming the gunsight went for it. Perhaps they have more in storage.
As for the panel lights, middle is off, ON is ON wtf is MOM? i HAVE SEEN THIS STYLE OF ILLUMINATION USED ELSEWHERE ON THE 17 LIKE ON THE fLIGHT eNGR'S PANEL & THE ELECTRICAL PANEL FOR THE PILOT TO HIS LEFT ON THE WALL NEAR THE FLOOR.
Which section of the video are you talking about Mate? Lets have a look.
I believe that each of the M2 Browning's was named, R/H MOM and L/H POP.
for the instrumentation panel light?@@robertmcsorley4001
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