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I'm no expert, but...

hubbabubba

hubbabubba

Charter Member
As I was perusing through Flight archives, I stumbled on this picture;

View attachment 62148

The caption is pretty straightforward and the photo tells the rest. After a glance at it, I clicked for the next page... then I went back. You see; I'm no expert in that domain but, unless some SOH know-it-all can explain what a fool I am, I think that something is wrong with this picture. The original page can be found HERE.

:kilroy:
 
Looks to me like he's loading the ammo into the wing backwards. The bullet end of the cartridge should be pointed to the front of the aircraft, not the rear.

Not good for morale with an enemy aircraft in your sights to find out that your guns won't work.
 
Gives a new meaning to 'backfire'.

Would be interesting to know if it's a real photo of the plane being armed or a staged photo by a couple of camera-men.

Could also be a secret modification - rearward firing MGs to shoot down those Zero's that get on your tail !!!!!!!!
 
Uhhhh... I guess the instructions for loading ammo were too complex. Maybe it should have simply read "pointy ends go towards the front". :icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol:
 
It looks completely staged: take a look at the background fuselage especially the wicked nose section on the right. Looks like a cardboard model. Or it´s the pacifist payload version...:icon_lol:

Alex
 
hubbabubba said:
As I was perusing through Flight archives, I stumbled on this picture;

View attachment 62148

The caption is pretty straightforward and the photo tells the rest. After a glance at it, I clicked for the next page... then I went back. You see; I'm no expert in that domain but, unless some SOH know-it-all can explain what a fool I am, I think that something is wrong with this picture. The original page can be found HERE.

:kilroy:
Click to expand...


That's Archie the Armourer ...a man of legendary wit and an all round practical joker. Was never too popular among the pilots for some reason,however.
 
That's Archie the Armourer ...a man of legendary wit and an all round practical joker. Was never too popular among the pilots for some reason,however.
Click to expand...

Hey Now !

I know some people who fit that remark !

Probably a Supply Officer suggesting a new method to cut cost on weapons maintenance and barrel changes.
 
... instructions for loading ammo were too complex...
Click to expand...

Down here in Dixie, we'd say... " Boy, you couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the heel." :isadizzy:
 
Also those rounds look like .30 cal. Judging by the protruding barrels, a P-40 B/C equivelent? With the .30 cal wing guns?
 
That's 50 caliber ammo, I'm sure of that. 30 caliber, both British and U.S., was actually rifle ammo (.303 British and .30-06 U.S.). The rounds in that picture are too long and too large in diameter to be 30 caliber.
 
No doubt the photographer wanted a posed action shot and the CO took one look at his weapons troops ragged out from loading aircraft outside in the desert all day and sent his squadron clerk to pose.
I've never known any weapons type who would be caught dead in those penny loafers.
 
Willy said:
Looks to me like he's loading the ammo into the wing backwards. The bullet end of the cartridge should be pointed to the front of the aircraft, not the rear.

Not good for morale with an enemy aircraft in your sights to find out that your guns won't work.
Click to expand...

I don't think he would have gone up with such a load. Again I'm no expert, but engaging the first round in the breech would have turned on the light bulb in this "armorer" head. My initial fear was that someone would came and say something like; "Anyone who knows a bit about the Kittyhawk knows that the "electric rotator actuating feeder" (place here any techno-babble you want) was turning the rounds before the breech.

Seagull V said:
Gives a new meaning to 'backfire'.

Would be interesting to know if it's a real photo of the plane being armed or a staged photo by a couple of camera-men.

(...)
Click to expand...

I vote for a staged one. In fact, I hope it was...

Piglet said:
Also those rounds look like .30 cal. Judging by the protruding barrels, a P-40 B/C equivelent? With the .30 cal wing guns?
Click to expand...

Nope, definitely .50 caliber. In fact, before realizing that something fishy was going on, I was trying to make out which sequence of bullet-tracer-API and so on it was. But the picture is too grainy to do that.

joe bob said:
No doubt the photographer wanted a posed action shot and the CO took one look at his weapons troops ragged out from loading aircraft outside in the desert all day and sent his squadron clerk to pose.
I've never known any weapons type who would be caught dead in those penny loafers.
Click to expand...

I do agree with you but, for Pete sake, even a clerk would know where the nose and the tail of a P-40 are! Flight was distributed all over the Empire, and you can bet that this guy had his 15 minutes of fame placarded on every mess billboard, his included.

From then on, he was probably known as "Butt First Jack" or "Backward Bob". A hefty price to pay...:kilroy:
 
Ah, perhaps he was from finance, I have met a few of those that didn't even know what type of aircraft the base flew much less which bit points upwind.


OR we could be kind and assume it was done for misinformation purposes.

Should Jerry capture an airfield the intel officer would read the mess billboard
and be perplexed by it
Hmmm hes wearing a sweater but at the same time shorts
whats with the leisure footwear? Are they so undermanned that dance troops loading their aircraft now?

hmm according to this bar tab a Bob,Backward Sgt RAF 121st Finance det. has bought the entire squadron 30 rounds of drinks and still owes 20 more

oh well, at least we know how to load their P-40s now.
 
joe bob said:
Ah, perhaps he was from finance, I have met a few of those that didn't even know what type of aircraft the base flew much less which bit points upwind.


OR we could be kind and assume it was done for misinformation purposes.

Should Jerry capture an airfield the intel officer would read the mess billboard
and be perplexed by it
Hmmm hes wearing a sweater but at the same time shorts
whats with the leisure footwear? Are they so undermanned that dance troops loading their aircraft now?

hmm according to this bar tab a Bob,Backward Sgt RAF 121st Finance det. has bought the entire squadron 30 rounds of drinks and still owes 20 more

oh well, at least we know how to load their P-40s now.
Click to expand...


:icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol: for all of the above!

BTW, Adolf Galland, in his book The First and the Last, says that he evaded two P-51 diving on his tail by firing his guns. The smoke would stretch behind and, at the time, they're was a rumor to the effect that some GAF aircraft were equipped with rear-firing guns. So the two Mustangs broke-off.

This was a case of propaganda back-firing (pun intended)...:kilroy:
 
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