Favorite toys as a child ?
OH HELL I damn near forgot about the alltime favorite family toy!!!!
After WWII, a person could buy all sorts of useful, semi--useful, and just plain useless junk "military surplus." Some of these ads were outright LIES
One such lie was the Crocker-Wheeler training top turret my Gramps bought, was supposed to have "motors and pumps." Right. Two motors, maybe three, all 28V DC
Nevertheless, this thing was set up in two different barn/ shops over the years, and before Dad sold it to some of the warbird collectors for 500 bucks in the late '80s, it was mounted on an old well cover in Dad's backyard "for the Grandkids."
We shot down COUNTLESS enemy aircraft with that thing!!!
(Photos not ours, just what I found on the www.)
The one in the top is missing the ammo recovery bags, which are visible in the bottom photo, attach to the vertical chute slightly to right of center. These had a mirror "heads up" gunsight which I managed to apply voltage to and get to work. Orange reticule and spot. In the bottom photo, on the top "green box" you can see one of the triggers on this side. The green box swiveled right/ left, and controlled azimuth. The identical left/ right handles rotated towards/ away from the gunner, controlling firing. There was a safety latch, triggers, and a radio PTT switch on them. Our turret was "new surplus" never been in an aircraft. It had one tag that said "when installed in aircraft type XXXXX (I forgot) ONLY ONE GUN will be installed, so either they were concerned with ammo use, or more likely, stress on the AC fuselage.
The silver tank(s) hanging down from the top area in the bottom photo were the ammo cans
These had a basic O2 regulator, a retractible night light, and a 24V rheostat suit heat control, a camera switch, dimmer for the gunsight, and the basic firing controls. As you can see, a small O2 tank mounted on under the seat, which was a "Harley" bike type seat with belts.
A shot of one mounted in an AT-11. The huge ventilated box contains very large resistors which control motor speed and movement, and must have a safe place to eject their heat.
Beech AT-11 with one of these turrets
OH HELL I damn near forgot about the alltime favorite family toy!!!!
After WWII, a person could buy all sorts of useful, semi--useful, and just plain useless junk "military surplus." Some of these ads were outright LIES
One such lie was the Crocker-Wheeler training top turret my Gramps bought, was supposed to have "motors and pumps." Right. Two motors, maybe three, all 28V DC
Nevertheless, this thing was set up in two different barn/ shops over the years, and before Dad sold it to some of the warbird collectors for 500 bucks in the late '80s, it was mounted on an old well cover in Dad's backyard "for the Grandkids."
We shot down COUNTLESS enemy aircraft with that thing!!!
(Photos not ours, just what I found on the www.)
The one in the top is missing the ammo recovery bags, which are visible in the bottom photo, attach to the vertical chute slightly to right of center. These had a mirror "heads up" gunsight which I managed to apply voltage to and get to work. Orange reticule and spot. In the bottom photo, on the top "green box" you can see one of the triggers on this side. The green box swiveled right/ left, and controlled azimuth. The identical left/ right handles rotated towards/ away from the gunner, controlling firing. There was a safety latch, triggers, and a radio PTT switch on them. Our turret was "new surplus" never been in an aircraft. It had one tag that said "when installed in aircraft type XXXXX (I forgot) ONLY ONE GUN will be installed, so either they were concerned with ammo use, or more likely, stress on the AC fuselage.
The silver tank(s) hanging down from the top area in the bottom photo were the ammo cans
These had a basic O2 regulator, a retractible night light, and a 24V rheostat suit heat control, a camera switch, dimmer for the gunsight, and the basic firing controls. As you can see, a small O2 tank mounted on under the seat, which was a "Harley" bike type seat with belts.
A shot of one mounted in an AT-11. The huge ventilated box contains very large resistors which control motor speed and movement, and must have a safe place to eject their heat.
Beech AT-11 with one of these turrets
