Warbird Information Exchange

There is a short You-Tube video of a ball turret being fired on a range...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-qZOUIhKE4

Does anyone know whose this was, or when the video was made? Fascinating to see the turret in action on the ground.

Cheers,
Richard

Sorry Richard...I posted this same link about a month ago. Doesn't matter though...it's still cool to look at and never gets old.

John

I wondered if it might have been posted... been away a lot, and missed quite a bit it seems! How's your restoration coming along, by the way?

On another note, I was visiting with the guys at the Dixie Wing two weeks ago, and they had a complete, and operational ball turret there, which they take to air shows for demonstrations. It is owned by a movie prop company. Have you heard about this one?

Cheers,
Richard

That is crazy. I wonder what they are doing with it.

_________________
Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Hey Richard,

I haven't heard of the ball turret being operated by the Dixie Wing. I've heard there is a gentleman that lives in New England somewhere who has one on a trailer and takes it to airshows. That's basically my goal...try to get one restored so I can take it to Oshkosh and other air shows.

Not much new on the project...most of you are aware that I finally received my missing internal ammo cans from Ed Kaleta after waiting 2 1/2 months. Unfortunately it may take a bit longer and a lot more $$$ to get them fully restored. The cans are pretty beaten up and dented so I had a couple of guys lined up to see if they could do the work. The cans are made of stainless steel and are constructed mainly with spot-welds. A couple of the guys have told may they may have to tear the cans apart and use them as templates to build a new set which is going to cost me some big $$$'s if I have to go that route. I'm still inquiring with a few others to see if the cans can still be repaired so we'll see what happens. Needless to say this is gettin to be an expensive project!!

John

Looks like a pair of Ma Duce .50 caliber machineguns to me!

Happiness is a warm machinegun!

_________________
Zane Adams
There I was at 20,000 ft, upside down and out of ammunition.
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Thanks for the update John... yes... these sorts of things can get very expensive, very quickly! With respect to the ammo cans, have you thought of drilling out the spot welds to take them apart and then press them back into shape... you could then weld them back together. Might be very tedious work, but would sure save on the money if you could do it yourself.

With regards to the Dixie Wing's ball turret, it was mounted into a frame as well. However, the frame tipped over coming back from a show last year. Nothing got damaged, and no one was hurt thankfully. They are building a new frame, to give it a lower center of gravity now.

Cheers,
Richard

Yeah...I've been thinking about going that route myself just to save money. When a couple of the guys gave me price quotes I had a feeling they just didn't want to take the project on because they knew how tedious it was going to be. Oh well...this will be a nice cold weather project to work on while indoors.

John

What is considered expensive in the ball turret realm? What would be a reasonable estimate of the total cost to complete such a project?

_________________
Eric

"I spent most of my money on alcohol, women and skyraiders....and the rest of it I just wasted."

Well this one is just to easy for those of us in Northern CA. Clues below:

http://www.sfahistory.org/gunnerysymposium2004.htm

http://www.twinbeech.com/friendsandphotos.htm (scroll to the bottom of the page)

_________________
Roger Cain
www.sfahistory.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Stearman/


We must limit politicians to two terms:
one in office and one in jail.

...and how cool would it be to have the first SPAD with balls?...

_________________
Raven

Hello Richard,

The video is a clip from a series for PBS called Warplanes that has recently aired on the National Geographic.

We (Vintage Aircraft in Stockton, CA) were asked by PBS to help with a segment on the Norden bomb sight and it blossomed into segments on the B-29 CFC turret system, the ball turret and we even dropped 100 pound practice bombs from a B-25 with the Norden bomb sight.

It was a kick to put all the gear together and make it operational for the camera. We had all the parts in stock and combined with lots of volunteer help we put on a good show for the camera.

The ball turret was set up with semi auto 50 cal guns (legal in California, no thanks to Arnold) fired with the original solenoids. We bought a NOS Albatross flap (SA-16 not L-39) to shoot up for the production. The "battle damage" was cool to look at as many shots that hit short skipped and punched through the flap sideways and brought rocks along with them. My employee Steve was the gunner and he was hitting low at first until he figured out how to work the K-4 computing sight.

On the web page that Roger pointed out there are still shots taken during the PBS production. My youngest daughter is in several of the shots shooting an M-1 Garand (which was taller than she was) and a twin 50 set up that I made as a reproduction for what was used in the nose of the field modified B-17F's. She is also proficient in running the ball turret. Sadly her scenes did not make the final cut in the series.

Mr. Peters; any time you want to take our ball turret for a spin you are most welcome to do so. Just let me know and I will charge up the batteries for you.

We hope to have our second Aerial Gunnery Symposium in June where we will have several turrets up and running manned by the vets that used them in combat. I will post the dates when they are firm.

Working with the movie folks is a kick as it provides a great excuse to fire up the old gear. The sounds and smell of the old electronics are a true delight to experience.

Thanks,
Taigh

_________________
To donate to the PV-2D project via PayPal click here http://www.twinbeech.com/84062restoration.htm

We brought her from: to this in 3 months: Help us get her all the way back

All donations are tax deductible as the Stockton Field Aviation Museum is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Tell a friend as the Harpoon needs all the help she can get.

Thank you!

Taigh Ramey
Vintage Aircraft, Stockton, California
http://www.twinbeech.com
'KEEP ‘EM FLYING…FOR HISTORY!'

Thanks for the offer Taigh...if I get out to Stockton I'll definately take you up on it!

John

I've seen estimates anywhere from $20,000 TO $35,000 for a complete restored turret. The problem is not really the money so much as it is the lack of parts. Because parts are so scarce a person has to resort to recastings and machining new parts from broken originals which increases the cost dramatically.

John