DHfan (your #7460),
".....The Mk 1 Halifax had two .303s in a nose turret. It was deleted in later variants as part of the search for improved performance." I would think they'd have to put a block of concrete up front (ā la "the blue circle fighter") to balance the aircraft !
".....According to wiki, a Lancaster Bomb Aimer just had to stand up to man the front turret...". That would make good sense - but if he were further aft around the Nav position, it would take longer - and when you want a gunner, you want him quick !
I remember reading somewhere that three of the engines had individual hydraulic pumps, each supplying one turret, so that loss of one engine would not render all turrets inoperable. But I can't find (after a cursory Google search) anything to back it up. Anybody know whether this was true ?
Chugalug (your #7461),
".....A small number of early Lancasters were also equipped with a ventral turret on the bottom of the fuselage fitted with two .303s, but this turret was phased out from 1942....." (Wiki: "Rose Turret"). But this was well before the introduction of "Schräge Musik" in mid-'43. And then, as you say, the H2S "bagged" the space.
".....I would not have been a safe pair of eyes to stand watch in that vital defensive position!... " But a very lucky pair to be standing there then ! I would have given my eye teeth (if I had any) for your 20 minutes ! (or, better yet, to be poling along one of the Spits !) Very recently someone put a link on here (?) to a short YouTube taken from a camera behind the right shoulder of a W/Cdr in a BBMF Hurricane as he is turning to tuck-in on the left wing of the leading Spitfire. You get a good view of the RH side of the Sperry Panel; the Climb/Descent is all over the place as it is very bumpy, but the pilot has the "bank" needle stuck nicely at 6 o'clock all the time.
".....I read somewhere that there was constant lobbying to remove one or more of the turrets throughout the night bombing campaign, always for it to be quashed (by Harris?) because of the supposed effects on morale. The weight saved could have been traded for ceiling, range, and/or bomb load of course.....".
I would've thought (never having been there !) that it wouldn't worry them too much (at night) if the front turret had gone, but then you'd have the CoG problem as before.
Cheers both, Danny.