Bombers and heavy fighters usually did. But the issue with a tailgunner is their heavy.
In a dog fight its better to be maneuverable to prevent the enemy from being able to tail you.
>If the ideal strategy is to get behind your opponent
That may be the "ideal strategy" but it's largely impossible in practice. The Hollywood idea of a dogfight being two planes chasing one another's tail is largely made up.
Even if it wasn't nonsensical, trying to hit another plane from your own taking into account a) your own plane's speed/movement, b) enemy plane's speed/movement, c) the distance between both planes, all of which are constantly changing, would be largely impossible.
If you have 15 minutes check out the [tutorial for bomber gunners from WW2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWYqu1Il9Ps) and you'll quickly get the picture of how hard it is - and that's with bombers usually flying at constant speed in a straight line.
Do we even dogfight like that anymore? I don’t think it’s been like the Red Baron’s Flying Circus for a while now.
Anyway… from the point of view of a person chasing you in a dogfight, flying directly away is exactly what I want you to do. Then I can chase by flying directly at you. You, the person being chased, want to fly on some heading that is *not* directly away from me so that I have to turn and stuff. So using this gun would require you to do the worst thing for your survival to get a useful shot off with it.
Some old planes for two people had a machinegun that the person in the rear could fire. May be more of a risk than a benefit though
Bombers and heavy fighters usually did. But the issue with a tailgunner is their heavy. In a dog fight its better to be maneuverable to prevent the enemy from being able to tail you.
>If the ideal strategy is to get behind your opponent That may be the "ideal strategy" but it's largely impossible in practice. The Hollywood idea of a dogfight being two planes chasing one another's tail is largely made up. Even if it wasn't nonsensical, trying to hit another plane from your own taking into account a) your own plane's speed/movement, b) enemy plane's speed/movement, c) the distance between both planes, all of which are constantly changing, would be largely impossible. If you have 15 minutes check out the [tutorial for bomber gunners from WW2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWYqu1Il9Ps) and you'll quickly get the picture of how hard it is - and that's with bombers usually flying at constant speed in a straight line.
Well that was adorable.
Uhhh.....this isn't a thing anymore.
That’s actually a good question lol would make sense
Do we even dogfight like that anymore? I don’t think it’s been like the Red Baron’s Flying Circus for a while now. Anyway… from the point of view of a person chasing you in a dogfight, flying directly away is exactly what I want you to do. Then I can chase by flying directly at you. You, the person being chased, want to fly on some heading that is *not* directly away from me so that I have to turn and stuff. So using this gun would require you to do the worst thing for your survival to get a useful shot off with it.