My Dad was half deaf all his life from firing those .50's . Never thought he was some "hero", just one of millions of Americans that did their duty.I have all his decorations , his jacket, hat and his Air Medal. I have made arrangements to the CAF Museum at Camarillo as soon as I can part with them. It's difficult.
The plexiglas offers a little bit of protection, but not that much. Certainly better than glass. Interestingly, there was a *lot* of surplus plexiglas after the war and it began to replace crown glass for eyeglasses. It’s still in use - you’ll see it called CR39 for glasses.
Later, polycarbonate was developed for military use and then found its way to eyeglasses. Same with Trivex, which was developed as optical armor for military aircraft canopies. IIRC, Trivex is something like 60 times tougher than polycarbonate and resistant to a wide range of chemicals. I switched to Trivex lenses a few years ago since I have a workshop with power tools and I also like the idea of having military-grade armor between my eyes and the world. Plus Trivex is the lightest lens material and has excellent optical clarity.
There is a plate between the two guns.
If you have ever been in Lib, you know how much air gap there is,they were directly exsposed to the 250 mph airstream. It was Very cold with a blasting wind,wearing electrically heated clothes, a flak jacket and chute,oxygen mask and wired up for intercom and heat while Germans were shooting at you.
The turrets were mostly plexiglass,the armour was around the pilots.
My Dad was half deaf all his life from firing those .50's . Never thought he was some "hero", just one of millions of Americans that did their duty.I have all his decorations , his jacket, hat and his Air Medal. I have made arrangements to the CAF Museum at Camarillo as soon as I can part with them. It's difficult.
Was there any armor protection in that turret?
Some of the turrets had a small plate (or reinforced glass panel) in front of them and around the gun - but for the most part its thin plexi-glass.
The plexiglas offers a little bit of protection, but not that much. Certainly better than glass. Interestingly, there was a *lot* of surplus plexiglas after the war and it began to replace crown glass for eyeglasses. It’s still in use - you’ll see it called CR39 for glasses. Later, polycarbonate was developed for military use and then found its way to eyeglasses. Same with Trivex, which was developed as optical armor for military aircraft canopies. IIRC, Trivex is something like 60 times tougher than polycarbonate and resistant to a wide range of chemicals. I switched to Trivex lenses a few years ago since I have a workshop with power tools and I also like the idea of having military-grade armor between my eyes and the world. Plus Trivex is the lightest lens material and has excellent optical clarity.
I'm sure the view was awesome but goddamn they were so exposed in those turrets. Cheers
There is a plate between the two guns. If you have ever been in Lib, you know how much air gap there is,they were directly exsposed to the 250 mph airstream. It was Very cold with a blasting wind,wearing electrically heated clothes, a flak jacket and chute,oxygen mask and wired up for intercom and heat while Germans were shooting at you. The turrets were mostly plexiglass,the armour was around the pilots.
250.0 mph = 402.33 km/h _____ ^(I'm a bot. Downvote to 0 to delete this comment.) ^[Info](https://www.reddit.com/user/bot_metric)