B-17 Flying Fortress/42-31435/West End

[Scott Rose]

B-17 Flying Fortress/42-31435/West End received a field-engineered and fabricated nose mount with six .50-caliber machine guns. These guns were fixed forward and fired by the pilot.

[Michel Lemieux]

Now this is cool.......

Was it ever used in combat?

[TheBigBadGman]

The forward gun system on West End was the brainchild of Group armaments officer CPT Nathan H. Mazer. Judging by the date on her photos - 17 June 1944 - she must have seen combat with this arrangement. The following dates are listed as sorties after the 17th.

19 June 1944 - NO BALL strike against Crepy
21 June 1944 - Berlin
30 June 1944 - Airfield strike against Montdidier
6 July 1944 - NO BALL strike against Coubronne

She crash-landed at RAF Manston on her last mission and was written off.

-G

G. A. Blume
Historian
www.GBlume.com
www.HangarThirteen.org

[Scott Rose]

Two questions I have on this installation.

1. I assume the fairings are left open at the back of the assembly to discharge spent casings?
2. What is the ammo load for this assembly and where was it stored?

I'd love to see pictures of the interior of the nose.

[airnutz]

What is the ammo load for this assembly and where was it stored?

I'd love to see pictures of the interior of the nose.

I was wondering the same thing Scott. There must have been very little room for the bombardier or the nav. if ammo amounted to any more than a few short bursts. It looks like the bombardier stand is present, but surely the Norden wasn't mounted when that beast let fly the lead? Ditto on interior photos! Cool setup tho, thanx for the pics!

[wendovertom]

Col "Nate" Mazer volunteered at the Hill AFB museum for many years until his passing. He was super helpful and supportive of the Wendover museum project having been stationed here with the 384th BG during their training. Truly an awesome guy.

Tom P.

[JohnB]

You'd almost pity the 190 pilot who tried to attack it from the front thinking it would be easy pickings...