Halifax – Preston Green Mid-Under Turret Information/Drawings

Deryck,

I also meant to say that you can see the same lino pattern around the entrance to the turret that is present on Halifax NA337.

Hi Everyone,

Attached is an outstanding image of the interior of the Preston Green mid under turret from Wallace Clarke’s British Aircraft Armament. It shows how limited the visibility and field of fire was for the single .50 cal. However, it was better than nothing, I would think, and would provide some much needed protection from attacks from below.

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Thanks for the great information, everyone. I will try to find a copy of Wallace Clarke’s British Aircraft Armament. If anyone has this book and can post the picture of the interior of the Preston Green turret, it would be great to see it. Thanks.

The Merlin Halifax was unable to climb to the same altitude as the Lancaster. There are accounts of the pleasure felt by crews converting to the Hercules Halifax and looking down on Lancasters for a change. I must admit a little wonder as to whether they were talking about Mk.VIs.

Ronl

I seem to be unable to send a response to your most recent PM. I did not have a problem with your earlier ones.

“I have one more quick question. I was watching a video on NA 337, and saw a clip of someone opening up the covers on the drop hole opening which would have been where the mid under gunner would have accessed the PG turret. Are those covers heavy? I have read an account from a MU gunner where he stated that he climbed down into the turret and then closed the covers over himself. That wouldn’t have been too much fun. I’m just curious how heavy they are, as the gunner would have to open them from the turret to get out, and they look fairly heavy in the video clip.”

The doors were made from 3/4″ thick plywood with the checkered tiles on top. The floor opening was about 4 ft square and each door was about 48″ by 24″. They were not heavy but awkward. The space between the floor surface and the bottom of the fuselage is not sufficient to crawl into and close the 3/4″ thick doors. The reference to closing the doors probably referred to closing the turret doors.

The Halifax was unable to climb to the same attack altitude as the Lancaster and the Halifax crews would not have been looking forward to adding the weight of an extra turret, the ammunition and an additional crew member.

Regarding the topic I had to chime in.
IIRC there are some pics in the latest edition of the book From hell to victory and beyond.

There are internal photos in Wallace Clarke’s British Aircraft Armament Vol 1. This appears to be the bible on the subject of RAF turrets, which deals with gun turrets, or perhaps more strictly gun positions. I picked one up recently via Amazon, and I don’t think it was the only copy available – I admit it was the cheapest. I’d recommend it to anyone interested in the subject. However I think it may still leave you wanting more information on this one. The external photo in the second reference above is not a Preston-Green but a BP Type R, but the drawing as good.

I remember some details in one of my Halifax books so will take a look tonight.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/hphalifax/guns.htm : Has some written information but no drawings.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235013962-halifax-b-vii-airfix-conversion/ : has a couple of photos of the interior.

Googling will bring you up several external photos of the turret. One thing that puzzled me is that it often seems to have its windows blacked out!

Some other more learned folk may reply but most on here seem to be Daily mirror bomber types.