Help! I Need More Turret Manuals.

[astixjr]

I'm in over my head. I'll be lucky to stay out of divorce court unless I can speed up this process. Our museum has acquired 275+ 55 gallon drums of turret parts from the old Emerson Electric Turret Division here in St. Louis. Many of the drums have about 250 Lbs of small parts for several different turret types. I've tipped three drums onto sorting tables and I've spent all weekend trying to sort out this "Turret Potpourri". I need to find copies of several turret parts manuals like the Emerson A-15, Martin 250CE5, and the Emerson 128. Here's a Photobucket link with some photos so you can see what I'm dealing with. It's fun but at this rate, it will take years to sort this stuff out.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/a ... t%20Parts/

[Former Member]

Hi Albert,

I just sent you an email about the turret shell shown in the pics. I can't say for sure but I would bet that this is the tail turret of a B-52 (the part that holds the guns and rotates). I did some research on the internet and discovered that Emerson made the AN/ASG-21 fire control system for both the B-47 & B-52. However, I'm not certain if they made the actual turrets. If anybody out there can put their 2 cents in on this I would greatly appreciate it (I could be wrong).

On a personal note, I'd like to thank Albert for all of his hard work and dedication over the past year while trying to make this deal happen. He has devoted a huge amount of time and MONEY $$$ to save these turret parts from the smelter. For turret restoration nuts like me, this huge stash of parts will be a goldmine when it comes to restoring turrets. Hopefully some of these parts will eventually end up on flying aircraft as well.

If anybody out there has parts breakdown manuals which can help identify some of this stuff please try to help him out. I've already given him copies of all my manuals and am currently trying to order another from the Smithsonian (takes a long time). The last thing we want to see is Albert sleeping in the doghouse (or on one of his sorting racks).

John

Last edited by Former Member on Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

[DryMartini]

John,

I agree - That was the first thing that poped into my head when I
saw that picture. B-52 .50 cal tail turret.

I also would like to thank Albert for his diligence in the face of
adversity on aquiring these parts.

[groundpounder]

wow, and youve got 250+ drums of this stuff?? take the divorce!! just think of all the new friends youre gonna have!! just kidding! but holy smokes what a collection. im sure that you are going to find some very interesting and valuable stuff before youre done!! working turrets for every airworthy warbird in the land!! good score !!!!!!!!!!! sim.

[astixjr]

Thanks for the kind words guys. I appreciate it but I guess the thanks goes to the salvage yard's original owner for not melting all the small parts. Also, thanks are due the guys who work there now, they decided to make a few calls before they melted it. So it's survived two attempts at destruction. I'm also happy our museum's two directors decided to fund this adventure. We were able to get the stuff at a bit below scap metal prices but when you consider there will be four 53' trailers of the stuff when I'm done moving it, it was still a good chunk of change to buy it.

Groundpounder, you've never seen my wife mad have you? I'm not going to sit here and tell you she could be a test pilot at a broom factory but she's a bit tired of "King Tut's Turret Tomb". She came down to the hangar yesterday to see this stuff for the first time. It's dirty, it's dusty, it smells bad, and there are lot's of sharp things to cut yourself on. I handed her a NOS Sperry upper turret hand control with the WWII tag still hanging from it and tried to explain what a rare thing it is. The look on her face was priceless. I think she was trying to figure out what it would look like sticking out of my rear end. Yikes!

[groundpounder]

im gonna totally leave this one alone! once again though, good score!! best of luck, sim.

[Former Member]

Albert,

She's not making you sleep on one of your newly constructed sorting tables yet???!!!

John

[TAdan]

Holy $*&@!!!!!

What a haul! As someone who gets weak in the knees when finding NOS car parts, I cant imagine the thrill of 275+ 55 gal drums of NOS parts. That would be enough to put me in a cloud 9 coma!

Awsome awsome awsome...

[astixjr]

If anyone is interested, I just posted about 20 more pics on the photobucket page. I found a set of entry/exit doors for the A-15 B-24 nose turret this evening.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/a ... t%20Parts/

[Dan K]

Absolutely amazing, Albert. Don't hesitate to post parts numbers of the mystery bits and put the WIX board to work for you.

[astixjr]

I just posted another 20 or so photos. I'll try to generate some P/N lists in .xls format the second week of August. If you recognize any specific parts, send me a PM. I would appreciate the help. Remember, we mostly collect antique aircraft at Creve Coeur. I've never seen a ball turret on a WACO and my Stearman would look kind of silly with a Martin 250 CE in place of the back seat so all of this stuff will need a new home.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/a ... t%20Parts/

Ok WIXers, who's good with Paint or photo editing software? What would a Stearman look like with Martin 250 CE stuck in the rear cockpit?

[astixjr]

I just posted another 23 photos on Photobucket. I'll post some more in the next few days. So far I've found parts for Sperry uppers, Sperry balls, Martin uppers, Grumman Avenger turret, Aero 9C, Aero 11, TBY turret, A-15 B-24 nose turret, Emerson 128 "ball in the nose" turret, and maybe B-47/B-52 turrets. Thanks for all your help folks, I really appreciate it.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c21/a ... t%20Parts/

[Former Member]

Albert,

Have you been able to solve the mystery as to why there were so many TBM/TBF Avenger parts mixed in with all these Emerson parts? Was Emerson a sub-contractor for the Avenger turret parts???

John

[astixjr]

John,
So far, it looks like they built complete Avenger turrets. Emerson must have been cost effective and very good at building turrets in general. I have not seen any Bendix turret parts or B-29 RCT parts but beyond those I'm finding bits and pieces of nearly all other types used during the war. This is good news for the warbird bomber folks but it's making the inventory job much more difficult, if not a little bit more fun.

[Matt Gunsch]

Albert,
It would be easier for someone to contact you if you put your Email address on your profile, or on your posts.