B-17 Six-Gun Nose "Turret," 384th BG

[Jackson Duvalier]

Anybody seen this oddity before?  

 

B-17G 42-31435, dubbed "West End," was fitted with a one-off nose installation packing six .50 Brownings.  Apparently it was wasted effort in the end due to a change in Luftwaffe tactics, but it's a modelgenic unicorn.  Might make a fun modelling project for a chap with a taste for the unique.  

 

The arrangement appears to this observer to be a fixed, forward-firing battery rather than a turret proper, given the absence of elevation/depression slots in the mantlet and the fully forward orientation of the guns in all the photos.  I haven't run the numbers to get more info on who built the airframe, but the American Air Museum In Britain website has some tidbits about her service career.

 

 

[MarkoZG]

This is great find. Any chance the fuselage markings could be reconstructed?

[Jackson Duvalier]

42 minutes ago, MarkoZG said:

Any chance the fuselage markings could be reconstructed?

 

I'd say there's potential for such.

 

The overall scheme is clearly OD over NG; figuring out which plant it came from would give some clues about the demarcation pattern and if the fin left the factory in a darker green.  Dates of service would suggest the national markings used.  Photos of other aircraft from the same wing/group/squadron contemporaneous to 42-31435 could give an idea of the general marking patterns.  

 

There might even be additional photos of "West End" out there; a good view of the port side of the nose would be especially helpful.

[smackers]

A few photos available - https://photos.384thbombgroup.com/index.php?/category/G42-31435

[RAF4EVER]

Boeing B-17G-20-BO Fortress:

 

31435 Delivered Cheyenne Oct 31, 1943; Gt Falls Nov 11, 1943; Kansas City Dec 7, 1943; Eglin Dec 17, 1943; Wright Fd Jan 11, 1944; Kearney Jan 14, 1944; Oklahoma City Jan 26, 1944; Grenier Feb 18, 19/44; Assigned 544BS/384BG [SU-S] Grafton Underwood Mar 2, 1944; Made battle damage landing May 11, 1944. Fitted with fixed, six gun chin modification and returned to servive Jun 6, 1944 and flew a series of missions. (384th BG, 544th BS, *West End*) crash landed Marsden, England Jul 6, 1944. Aircraft DBR.

Credit:USAF Serial Listings    by Joe Baugher

[Jackson Duvalier]

Excellent find, smackers.  Those photos might just crack the nut for any bloke sufficiently mad to model "West End."  The blurring on the colour shot(s?) suggest they were pulled from a cinema reel.  I'm a bit surprised the port nose doesn't have much in the way of artwork; seems it was the left side what was decorated mostly.

 

10 hours ago, RAF4EVER said:

Boeing B-17G-20-BO Fortress

Hm.  An actual Boeing-built Fort.  If we have the block number we're halfway home!

 

Cheers gents. 😄

 

I checked my copy of Bishop's Fortresses of the Big Triangle First, where 42-31435 is listed under the name "West's End" (as also mentioned at one of the links included above). The photo of the starboard nose clearly shows the name "West End," the photos smackers linked to show nothing definitive on the port side other than an interestingly darker shade of paint beginning aft of the windscreen.  Perhaps at some point she had a pilot named West and some confusion ensued with the paperwork?  Doesn't look like anyone named West is in the photo of the crew.

Edited September 17, 2020 by Jackson Duvalier
paragraph improperly justified to left margin. I simply can't abide that.

[e8n2]

1 hour ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

Hm.  An actual Boeing-built Fort.  If we have the block number we're halfway home!

RAF4EVER, and the Detail in Scale book on production B-17s both list it as a block 20 Boeing built B-17G.  With that low a block number, the waist gunner positions WERE NOT staggered.  It was built with the original tail turret, and as quoted by others above, it was retrofitted with the Cheyenne tail turret before it got over to the UK.

Later,

Dave

[72modeler]

...and I thought the F-106A was the original six-shooter! Great find and great photos, @smackers! 

Mike