B-17 man…I was in the 99th BG towards the end of the war….and they installed the Formation sticks…they were installed only about 2 weeks and they came right back out.

As Jules said….the close formations we flew were too close to use the Formation Sticks, and I understood the pilots refused to use them….I can recall a mission or two with them installed and my pilots did NOT use them.

My copies of the Dash-1,Dash-2 , do not show anything on the Formation Sticks….
the Dash -4 shows the installation and shows it applicable to 43-39209 and subsequent.

Jim 🙂

late war B-17G;s without chin turrets

An observation….I served in the 15th AF, and we did not remove any turrets, either chin or ball, and we kept the radio compartment guns.
I posted this thread to the armyairforces.com website, and the concensus of the B-24 units in the 15th was the same….the 15th AF did not remove any turrets..we kept them until the end.

On the longest mission of the 15th AF to the Daimler-Benz Tank Factory at
Berlin, on March 24,1945, there were several ME-262s shot down by the bomber’s gunners. I think there would have been losses if all the turrets had not been installed.

Jim

Hi…According to my -4, the part Number 41-9831-53 is a Spacer Engine Control Lever, from the Control Stand Mixture Control Levers. This is part of the Control pedestal, where the throttles, mixture levers, prop pitch,cowl flap control, etc are located.

Jim 🙂
B-17 Flt Engr, 99th BG 5th Wing 15th AAF Italy.
Also Parts Procurement Officer for the CAF,
AZ Wing Sentimental Journey B-17G, N-9323Z
1978-1991.