Originally Posted by
El Grifo
In such a crowded sky amongst all of the chaos, surely some of the B17 formation must have been hit by their own gunners.
Was that in fact ever an issue ?
El Grifo
No worries ! In absence of a response, I found this.
Live and learn !
"Gunners on US bombers flying in tight formations did not just spray machine gun fire all over the place trying to track fighters. The formations were designed to give clear fields of fire to the gunners, but each gunner was assigned a certain sector to cover and he only fired at targets entering his sector.
A aerial gunner who broke discipline and hit other aircraft would be removed from flight duty quickly and likely find himself as an infantry replacement. Aircrew took a dim view of undisciplined gunners."
El Grifo