request - aircraft turret reference?

[Illustratedman]

Hi folks, just recently discovered this site, can't believe I didn't find you earlier. Anyway, I have an idea bubbling away in the back of my brain for an image, a close up on an aircraft gun turret firing with an airgunner visible inside. I was wondering if anyone could recommend or point me in the direction of any reference material for aircraft turrets, at this point I have no preference for nationality or specific aircraft, although WW2 is the period I'd prefer to stay within. Any turret that would be manned rather than remote and any reference that actually shows a man within a turret, failing that any techinical ref that might help model a turret.

Congrats on a great site and an excellent resource, hope to be a regular/ish contributor from now on.

cheers
alex

[Illustratedman]

I've spent the morning looking at various pix of turrets and am inclined towards the Frazer Nash turrets on the Lancaster, especially the tail gunner, the one drawback with this is that it would require me to model more of the aircraft which would be visible behind. The Sperry Ball turret in the B17 would on the face of it be easier as only a bit of fuselage would needed to be modelled. However the gunners position with legs up is a little odd and think there might be a dfanger of the image looking comical which would not be appropriate. Any ref of RAF or Luftwaffe belly turrets? I don't know how many aircraft even had belly turrets, more research required.

BTW found a nice link to the Lancaster museums bit on turrets if anyone else is interested.
http://www.lancastermuseum.ca/s,airgunnerstories.html

[kevjon]

You might want to contact Peter Ewbank (who will be in the members list) as he may have detailed factory drawings of the turrets you are interested in.

Most drawings of aircraft that I've seen (aimed at scale modellers) only have very basic information about the turrret and you have to model the rest by eye from photos such as these (http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/dave_kitchel/lancaster/index.php?Page=2).

[Illustratedman]

Thanks for that Kev, will get in touch with Peter when I have a better idea what I need, also ta for the link.

[timmcmurdo]

IF you would like, I can ru over to the USAF museum in Dayton next weekend and see what they have. I know they will not have the Lanc. They do have many US bombers of the era.

Tim

[Illustratedman]

A very kind offer Tim, but please don't go to any trouble on my account. I have a lot of boring illustration jobs in the pipeline right now (this is my busiest time of year) and probably won't get around to giving this turret project any proper thought until the new year, by which time I'll have probably got really excited about something completely different. So thanks but don't worry about it. I need to stew the idea a bit on the back-burner of my brain for a while.

[Illustratedman]

Have pretty much decided to try doing a Boulton Paul Defiant Mk 1 as I think it leaves more options open, I still get to model a turret but don't have to get bogged down in a huge and complex bomber model. Besides, I just found arai's Lancaster thread and my head is still spinning from just how brilliant his model is. I think I will work my way up to a nice wellington eventually, but need much more practise so Boulton Paul Defiant it is. Will put something up in a WIP thread once I get going as I'd rather get feedback as I go rather than discover I've made a fundamental gaffe after I've done all the UV's. Thanks for all the helpful comments and offers in this thread.

[kevjon]

The Defiant is a good choice and one that I've always want to do myself so be interested to see how yours comes out.