AIRCRAFT GUNNERY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23615, 27 March 1940, Page 11

AIRCRAFT GUNNERY

REMOTE CONTROL NEW BRITISH DEVICE [FROM OrR OWN correspondent] . LONDON, March 1 British designers have perfected an j invention which will take away much i of the peril from the Royal Air Force ; rear gunners' work. In this war the rear gunners in bombers have been the ! first object of attack by Nazi fighter aircraft and their job has been recognised as one of the most dangerous in the service. Tho new invention will make them, in one sense, no longer rear gunners. They will now sit in a well-protected position in tho centre of the aeroplane and fire their guns situated a few feet away in a turret. Other gunners will also benefit by this remote control device. Three British aircraft companies have taken out patents on. the invention. Tl/e details have only just been released. Each patent differs slightly in method, but in each case the broad idea is that the gunner sits in a rotatable turret, with the gun-sights fixed in front of his eyes. When the gunner manipulates a lever which rotates his own turret the turret containing the guns moves in perfect sympathy by means of mechanically or electrically-1 controlled connecting systems. The sights through which the gunner ! keeps his target in view are connected j with the guns, so that the line of fire is either parallel with, or converging on, the gunner's view. The remotelycontrolled gun follows the poweroperated turret, also a British invention, as a revolutionary device in fighting aircraft.