A work collegue was talking about his late father’s wartime experiences. He claimed his father was an under gunner on Lancasters which I had not heard of at the time. He very kindly copied the relevant section of his log book and had no objection to it being posted. Just found it again during a bit of a clearout. HK612 was lost two months later. There are a couple more pages if anyone is interested.
By: Moggy C - 12th May 2010 at 00:38
Interesting that the Calais sorties were daylight ops. When you’d least expect Schräge Musik fighters to be effective.
Moggy
By: ian_ - 11th May 2010 at 23:09
That was quite a thread, Air Ministry. Nice to see the drawings of the mount. The Lanc was a BI, Vickers Aircraft Castle Bromwich Manufacture and serving with 15 Sqn. No idea of the group.
By: Arabella-Cox - 11th May 2010 at 22:44
It’s all in this lengthy thread from a couple of years back, including drawings of the Mod.
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=67563&highlight=lancaster+gun
Mod. 925 introduced a .5″ Browning into the original under turret position intended for the FN64.
It wasn’t really like the Dams Raid Mod., except it utilised the same position.
Thanks for posting this, ian_, it’s good to see some actual proof that they were manned.
Judging by the serial number – HK612 – I’ll guess that the Lancaster had the 8,000 lb. bomb doors (probably) and was in 3 Group?
By: Peter - 11th May 2010 at 22:39
Ian there was two types, one was a dustbin turret the other was a 303 machine gun on a mount facing rearwards.
By: ian_ - 11th May 2010 at 22:35
Thanks Peter, from what I was told the arrangement was simply a .5 Browning firing through the hatch towards the rear, a similar system to that used on Dambuster ED825G.
By: Peter - 11th May 2010 at 22:23
Very interesting Ian, I can honestly say I have never heard actual accounts of a lower turret gunner on a Lancaster. Thanks for sharing this!
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May 11, 2010 at 10:20 pm