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crew member behind the pilot with a single machine gun, as was seen all through WWI and onward; more complex aircraft might have a gunner located in the actual tail of the aircraft, giving a wider arc of fire and freeing them from the danger of hitting their own tail surfaces. Rear guns could be found in aircraft of many different sizes and types. The nose gun was perhaps the second most common position, although almost exclusively used in multi-engine aircraft, due to the difficulty in firing a flexible gun through the propeller arc or fitting a nose gun position at all with an engine filling the nose area. Twin engine aircraft were ideal for fitting a defensive nose gun, especially since many already had a
289:(bomb-aimer) located in the nose area. These could range from a simple machine gun on a ball socket in the glazing of the cockpit windscreen (Ju 88), or similar mountings in the nose glazing (early B-17, B-24, G4M, Ki-48, Halifax, etc.), up to power operated manned turrets (late B-24, Avro Lancaster, Vickers Wellington), or even basic remotely controlled turrets such as seen on late B-17's, and more complex ones such as those used on the He 177 and the B-29 (which had a gun-aiming sight, but no actual guns in the nose).
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During World War II, many aircraft were equipped with flexible (aimable, as opposed to fixed) machine guns and cannon for protection against other aircraft. The most common and basic of these was the rear gun or "tail gun", to cover the upper-rear arc of fire. In its basic form, this was a second
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was invented, allowing a fixed machine gun to fire through the propeller, the pusher-engined fighter fell into disuse, although nose guns were still commonly seen on multi-engine bomber aircraft.
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fighters; a gunner would be stationed in the nose, covering the arc ahead of the aircraft. Once the
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nose turret was operated by the bomb aimer, whose position was directly below the turret.
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with a crew of four (pilot, bombardier/nose gunner, two gunners). It had a single
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navigator/nose gunner and bombardier). It also had five enlisted men (
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navigator/nose gunner and bombardier). It also had five enlisted men (
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forces. Early in WWI, nose-gunners enjoyed a period of popularity on
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440:(introduced in 1943), which carried a lead crew made up of five
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344:– turret, 1 x .303 caliber VGO or Browning
106:Learn how and when to remove this message
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460:/waist gunner, a second waist gunner,
415:/waist gunner, a second waist gunner,
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44:adding citations to reliable sources
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124:Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
156:in the front, or "nose", of the
122:The nose gunner position on the
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31:needs additional citations for
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636:Military aviation occupations
525:North American B-25 Mitchell
308:/navigator, the nose-gunner/
225:Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2
350:– turret, 2 x .303 Browning
338:– turret, 2 x .303 Browning
300:(produced 1936 onwards), a
298:Armstrong Whitworth Whitley
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515:Consolidated PBY Catalina
485:(introduced in 1937), a
428:M2 Browning machine guns
545:Blohm & Voss BV 138
473:M2 Browning machine gun
273:Boulton Paul Overstrand
475:turret below the nose.
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438:B-17G Flying Fortress
317:Vickers K machine gun
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598:Notes and references
456:/top turret gunner,
411:/top turret gunner,
330:Handley-Page Halifax
237:and related aircraft
40:improve this article
184:, employed by both
491:7.92 mm (0.312 in)
466:tail turret gunner
444:(pilot, co-pilot,
421:tail turret gunner
399:(pilot, co-pilot,
348:Vickers Wellington
220:Handley-Page 0/400
141:is a crewman on a
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612:"The Nose Gunner"
520:Douglas B-18 Bolo
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143:military aircraft
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555:Bristol Beaufort
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510:Martin Baltimore
470:.50 in (12.7 mm)
425:.50 in (12.7 mm)
354:Mitsubishi Ki-21
342:Short Sunderland
314:.303 in (7.7 mm)
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96:December 2022
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55:"Nose gunner"
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51:Find sources:
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29:This article
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540:Tupolev Tu-2
487:light bomber
430:in the nose.
374:Yokosuka P1Y
319:in its nose.
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235:Caproni Ca.1
215:Vickers Vimy
198:synchronizer
182:World War II
139:front gunner
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38:Please help
33:verification
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616:Warbirdnews
587:Tail gunner
464:gunner and
462:ball turret
448:navigator,
419:gunner and
417:ball turret
403:navigator,
263:Martin B-10
251:Martin MB-1
178:World War I
147:machine gun
135:nose gunner
310:bomb aimer
287:bombardier
241:Gotha G.IV
166:bombardier
151:autocannon
66:newspapers
265:– 1934 –
246:Gotha G.V
162:navigator
127:Lancaster
630:Category
576:See also
454:engineer
450:pilotage
442:officers
435:American
409:engineer
405:pilotage
397:officers
390:American
257:Interwar
204:Examples
174:co-pilot
158:airplane
295:British
129:(PA474)
80:scholar
480:German
186:Allied
154:turret
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494:MG 15
267:USAAF
170:pilot
87:JSTOR
73:books
478:The
433:The
388:The
322:The
293:The
190:Axis
188:and
180:and
59:news
209:WWI
172:or
149:or
137:or
42:by
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164:,
133:A
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