@ Mojave, CA
October 2009
The Mesa, Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force brought their gleaming B-17 “Sentimental Journey” to the 2009 Edwards AFB Open House. The top turret seen here is one of the first American fully-powered machine gun turret designs. An electro-hydraulic system powered both the elevation and traverse of the turret’s two .50-cal. M2 Browning machine guns. The top turret gunner also happened to be the bomber’s flight engineer. The turret was manufactured by the Emerson Manufacturing Co. from a Sperry Gyroscope Co. design. Built by Douglas Aircraft and delivered in 1945, this B-17 saw a variety of postwar roles such as photo-mapping, air-sea rescue, and lastly as a DB-17P drone for in-flight exposure to atmospheric nuclear weapons testing. Pulled out of a boneyard in 1959, she flew for 18 years as a fire bomber before donation to the CAF in 1978. A 1985 restoration completed the transformation back to her wartime configuration. Nikon D300 w/35-70 mm.
