Development of Aircraft Gun Turrets in the Army Air Force, 1917-1944

Here is a historical piece straight from the archives! This is a reprint of Army Air Forces Historical Studies #54 - Development of Aircraft Gun Turrets in the AAF 1917-1944 prepared by Captain Irving B. Holley, Jr., in 1947. This document was declassified in September 21, 1959 and has been sitting in the USAF Historical Archives at Maxwell AFB.

The good news is that the data and perspective in this document are fresh from recent combat experience during World War II. The bad news is that they didn't have computers or even word processors, so this reprint is a copy of a type-written document. From my own experience dealing with old documents, this copy is probably more legible than the original.

This document is a case study into the development of defensive aircraft armament from World War 1 through the 1920s and 1930s into World War 2. The coverage deals with development and production designs, issues, and mass production. While this study is an interesting in-depth look into specific turrets and their development, it is actually a look at managing the technology of weaponry in peacetime as well as during wartime. As the saying goes, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

The coverage of this informative title is presented as follows:.

1. Turret Origins, 1917-1939
2. Bombardment Defense Policy, 1932-1939
3. The Armament Laboratory and Fire Power Theory, 1934-1939
4. Bombardment Armament: Transitional Phase, 1934-1939
5. Evolution of Power Turrets: Experimental Phase, 1939-1940
6. Power Turret Development: First Industrial Phase, 1939-1940
7. Power Turrets and General-Station Fire Control 1939-1940
8. An Attempt at Standardization, 1940-1941
9. Power Drives, 1940-1942
10. Power Turret Development: Second Industrial Phase, 1941-1944
11. Power Turret Development: Production Phase, 1941-1944
12. Conclusions

With the exception of the front and rear cover photos and fourteen reprinted illustrations, all of the material inside is text.

This title is a nice reprint of an interesting topic and will be useful to aviation historians that want to get the proper perspective on the technologies and the state of the art in the context of the period. What industry accomplished during the war was nothing short of amazing.

This title is available directly from the publisher at Dataview Publications (www.dataviewbooks.com).

My sincere thanks to Dataview Publications for this review sample!