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My youngest son inside the waist gunner’s compartment of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress “Sentimental Journey”. If there’s a haunted spot on the B-17, it’s the waist gunners’ position.⠀ ⠀ I had found a while back the US Army Air Forces' casualty survey on the European strategic bombing campaign done at the end of the Second World War. By far, the most dangerous position on the B-17 was that of the two waist gunners in the aft fuselage with a 21% casualty rate (killed + wounded). Next most dangerous position in the Flying Fortress was the bombardier with an 18% casualty rate, primarily due to the exposed position in the nose.⠀ ⠀ Tail gunner and navigator (again due to the navigator's exposed position in the nose) were next down the list, with a casualty rate of 13%. The radio operator and dorsal turret gunner were next with a casualty rate of 8%.⠀ ⠀ Next down the casualty rate list are the pilot and co-pilot at 7%. One of the favored tactics by the Luftwaffe was to attack the bombers head on to try and kill the pilots. It was one of the primary driver why the B-17G got the chin turret on the nose that earlier B-17 variants lacked- added firepower up front to combat the Luftwaffe's tactics.⠀ ⠀ Safest position on the B-17 Flying Fortress? Believe it or not, the ball turret gunner had a casualty rate of only 6%. Despite the exposed position in the belly and being in the same part of the aircraft as the two waist gunners.⠀ ⠀ Being a physician, I found it interesting that the most common lethal injury to B-17 crews were head wounds but the most common non-lethal injury were lower extremity wounds. Surprisingly the least common injury were chest and abdominal injuries, likely due to flak vests the crew wore.⠀ ⠀ November Aviation Photo Challenge | @kjdphoto1971 | #1119planes | “Lest We Forget" | Day 11⠀ ⠀ #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #CAFAirbaseArizona #Mesa #Phoenix #FalconField #KFFZ #FFZ #Arizona #airport #planespotting #instaplane #instagramaviation #Boeing #B17 #FlyingFortress #USAAF #instaaviation #aviationlovers #mil-aviation_originals #aviationphotography #flight #AvgeekSchoolofKnowledge #AvGeekNation #TeamAvGeek (at CAF Airbase Arizona) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4vTxCYBYcq/?igshid=1aho45shgn99e

In January 1942, the USAAF was looking at tactics for low level bombing attacks on shipping and ground targets using medium bombers. Tests began at Eglin AAF in the Florida panhandle to develop techniques for what would become low level skip bombing against ships. ⁣ ⁣ Parallel to the USAAF tests at Eglin, the Thirteenth Air Force in the Southwest Pacific theater under General George Kenney began field modifying A-20 Havoc and B-25 Mitchell medium bombers for low level attack using Australian bomb fuses that made skip bombing possible. ⁣ ⁣ Initial combat operations showed the best results came when RAAF Beaufighters teamed up with the Havocs and Mitchells to rake the target ships with machine gun fire to suppress anti-aircraft fire.⁣ ⁣ A colorful USAAF officer, Pappy Gunn, worked with North American’s field engineer, Jack Fox, in Australia to combine both roles in one aircraft- since the bombardier wasn’t needed on low level attacks, the nose was modified with a battery of 50-caliber machine guns so that skip bombing and strafing could be combined in the same aircraft.⁣ ⁣ As most of the A-20 Havocs were being sent to Russia under Lend-Lease, work focused on the B-25 Mitchell which had a bigger load and long range. Not only were guns installed in the nose, but external “package guns” were installed on the sides of the fuselage to increase the forward firepower of the B-25. ⁣ ⁣ This particular B-25 at the CAF’s Airbase Arizona has the package guns and a bombardier glass nose. These were more common in the Mediterranean theater than the Pacific where B-25s based in Italy still had level-bombing tasks from medium altitude. Some attacks on shipping were carried out, but the package guns were particularly effective against Luftwaffe transport aircraft.⁣ ⁣ In the Pacific, solid nose B-25s were more common, their heavy gun battery made the B-25 Mitchell one of the most lethal aircraft not just against Japanese shipping but also against area targets like air bases. ⁣ ⁣ #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #CAFAirbaseArizona #Mesa #Phoenix #FalconField #KFFZ #FFZ #Arizona #airport #planespotting #instaplane #instagramaviation #NorthAmerican #B25 #Mitchell #USAAF (at CAF Airbase Arizona) https://www.instagram.com/p/B29YgxOB7K7/?igshid=1wellyu0h7ihz

This McDonnell F-4 Phantom II on display at the Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum at Falcon Field is an F-4N variant which was a refurbished and modernized F-4B which was the Navy’s primary initial production variant. Beginning in 1970 under the Bee Line program, 228 F-4Bs were upgraded to F-4N standard at NAS North Island’s overhaul depot. In the F-4B, that undernose pod housed the AAA-4 IRST (infrared search and track) sensor which could cue the radar. It wasn’t an imaging IR system, rather it was a simple horizontal scan that had a display under the radar that showed an IR blip that was used to cue the radar to try and get a lock on the target. The Navy wasn’t particularly fond of the system and only the F-4B had it. When the USAF ordered the F-4C/D, the chin pod was present but didn’t contain the AAA-4 IRST, rather it was used as a mounting for radar warning receivers (RWR antennas). The definitive Navy variant, the F-4J, didn’t have the pod at all and on the F-4Ns the undernose pod was empty other than RWR antennas. Advances in airborne radar made these early IRST systems redundant. The F-4N had a short life in the fleet as it was soon replaced by the F-14 Tomcat. VF-154 kept its F-4Ns until 1983 as the USS Coral Sea’s catapults weren’t compatible with the Tomcat. Reserve units lasted longer, the last Navy F-4N was retired by VF-201 at NAS Dallas in 1984 and the last Marine Corps F-4N was retired in 1985 by VFMA-134. The upgraded F-4J, the F-4S, lasted a bit longer, into the early 1990s before getting replaced by primarily the F/A-18 Hornet. #avgeek #aviation #aircraft #planeporn #CAFAirbaseArizona #Mesa #Phoenix #FalconField #KFFZ #FFZ #Arizona #airport #planespotting #instaplane #instagramaviation #McDonnell #F4 #Phantom #USNavy #instaaviation #aviationlovers #mil-aviation_originals #aviationphotography #flight #AvgeekSchoolofKnowledge #AvGeekNation (at CAF Airbase Arizona) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1IED0oB6D5/?igshid=72hwk3y79t9a

Passed my CPL skills test today! Officially a commercial pilot! #cpl #pilot #pilotlife #multiengine #semonole #piper #commercialpilot #avgeek #aviation #kffz #phoenix