Warbird Information Exchange

B-29 gunnery trainer at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, late 1944.
Funky looking contraptions.

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Zero Surprise!!...

Structure looks like built out of wood!!!!

If so must have been very shaky when firing!!!!!!

neat, no guns, or the maybe censored out? Looks like the even copied the tail gunner window shapes.

I like the ones on Saipan that I believe Mark posted earlier, made from real B-29 bits!

In the summer heat in Vegas - they look more like B-29 shaped ovens to me

It makes me wonder how much use they got - does not appear to have any power immediately available, and as stated before - no guns or real turrets - unless censored out.

Tom P.

That's exactly what I thought.
Many years ago I knew a gentleman who'd been a B-17 co-pilot with the 91st BG, and he wound up at Vegas. I remember him telling me how oppressively hot it was and how little accommodation had been made for the heat.

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

I’m guessing that if wreck chasers were to pinpoint the location, they’d find 12 concrete footings and a lot of burned lumber.

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Cheers,

Craig

Facebook Groups:

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Something doesn’t seem right with these two platforms. Could they have been used for some other training tool? Perhaps “Manipulation” had a different meaning.

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Zero Surprise!!...

From a history of Air Education and Training Command:
"Throughout 1944, B-29 gunners received practically the same training as those for other aircraft, but at the end of the year a few of them began to receive training in B-24s modified by the addition of central fire control turrets to make them more like B-29s. Then, as the year progressed, Buckingham Field, Florida; Las Vegas Field. Nevada; and Harlingen Field, Texas, all began offering B-29 gunnery instruction … Among the training devices used in this instruction was the manipulation trainer...1 2 [sic] towers arranged to resemble a formation of planes. The towers ranged in height from 10 to 40 feet, each equipped with 2 nose, 2 tail, 2 ring sighting, and 4 blister positions. As students in these positions faced simulated attacks from PT-13 and PT-17 aircraft, they "fired" camera guns at the attacking fighters."

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474th Fighter Group (WWII) Historian

As the links to the pictures have since broken, for future reference, an archived version of the relevant thread can be found here: Saipan Gunnery Range ...

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/loc ... las-vegas/

Go to the end of Range Rd. (in Street View), Look E-NE, mountain range.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/I-215 ... 15.1342161

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45-47=-2

I sure hope the Stearmans got the opportunity to shoot back! Sounds like fun duty.