Ah, if only life was so simple…

The ORB proforma may have been standard issue, but the way in which the returns were completed varies enormously from Squadron to Squadron.

If you are lucky, then yes, a third Airgunner is a strong clue.  Even then you have to be wary because in some (Lancaster) units, a third Gunner was occasionally carried  to man the front turret.

Some units (mostly Canadian) clearly label the third Gunner as a “mid-under gunner”, but in many other units, no crew position is listed, leaving you guessing as to who an eighth crew member may have been (2nd Air Bomber, 2nd Nav, 2nd Pilot, etc).  The most frustrating unit ORB I’ve yet come across refers only to “Sgt. Bloggs and crew”, with no other names, ranks or role recorded.

On one unit, I’ve found a reference to Air Bombers being trained on the 0.5″ Browning, so it seems the intention was for him to man the under-gun when not directly engaged in his main duties.  On another, I’ve found combat reports in which the Mid-upper Gunner was manning the under-gun during the combat, leaving you pondering if he deserted his original post or split his time between the two?

I could go on and on but it’s early days yet and I’d like to do a more thorough survey before reaching too many conclusions.

Bear in mind that this was not some local scheme from within 6 Group (as you’ll often read elsewhere), this was a 1943 Bomber Command-wide iniative, resulting in  2,000 of these installations being ordered, enough to equip every single operational (and non-operational) four engined heavy (unless already equipped with H2S).   

I have a theory though, that the under-gun was (with a few exceptions) not put to much use at all (“too little-too late”), resulting in a few (possibly quite Senior) red faces when the efficacy of the S.M. equipped night fighter was finally realised.  I think this may help explain why it has, in effect, been airbrushed out of Bomber Command history.

Mind you, I love a good conspiracy theory!

p.s.

From what position in the aircraft was this famous image taken?  If I was on the lookout for a night fighter sneaking in for an underside attack I think I would have been grateful for this view, wouldn’t you?