10 Foot Diameter Turrets?
To pass the time while dutifully locked down I’ve been re-reading the Putnam book The British Bomber Since 1914. In discussing the B.1/39 specification which eventually led to the Halifax, it quotes one of the requirements as four Hispano 20mm cannon in dorsal and ventral turrets, with a turret weight of 1,460 lb and a diameter not exceeding 10 feet.
A spot of Googling suggests that a gunner and a loader in each turret was planned, but a 10 foot diameter turret seems a bit unlikely to me. Four 20mms firing at a beam attack might have given the pilot a bit of a problem too. Any thoughts?