Tail gunner

Increasingly capable tail gunner positions were developed during the interwar period and the Second World War, resulting in the emergence of the powered turret and fire control systems incorporating radar guidance.

The first aircraft to ever have incorporated a tail gunner position was the Sikorsky Ilya Muromets bomber, which became active during the First World War and the last years of the Russian Empire.

It was specifically developed as a heavy bomber by Handley Page, who designed a relatively large four-engined biplane for the era; it was reportedly capable of bombing Berlin from bases in East Anglia.

[8] The tail gunner position of the Whitley would be revised on later-built models, adopting a more powerful Nash & Thompson power-operated turret mounting four Browning machine guns.

During the Second World War, this extreme tail compartment typically conformed to the inside fixed gunner configuration, in which the gunner operated the articulated mount of autocannon or machine gun fire (usually one or two weapons); examples of aircraft such fitted include the Japanese Mitsubishi G4M bomber (which had one Oerlikon 20 mm autocannon),[10] and the American B-17 and B-29 bombers (which were fitted with a mount of two 0.50 Browning M2 machine guns).

[24] Due to its success, aspects such as speed and altitude performance were often prioritised over defensive armaments on future bomber aircraft, such as the widely procured jet-powered English Electric Canberra.

By this point, the position had become largely obsolete due to advancements in long-range air combat weapons such as air-to-air missiles, as well as modern detection and countermeasures against such armaments.

On 18 December 1972, during Operation Linebacker II, USAF B-52 Stratofortresses of the Strategic Air Command conducted a major bombing campaign against North Vietnam.

As the bombers approached the target, they would be heavily engaged by North Vietnamese anti-aircraft units, firing barrages of Surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) that exploded around the Stratofortresses.

[27] On 24 December 1972, during the same bombing campaign, B-52 Stratofortress Diamond Lil was attacking railroad yards at Thái Nguyên when the tail gunner detected a MiG-21 8 miles (13 km) away climbing to intercept.

As these aircraft operated individually instead of being part of a bombing formation, the bombers' first reaction to an attacking night fighter was to engage in radical evasive maneuvers such as a corkscrew roll; firing guns in defense was of secondary importance.

In contrast, Royal Air Force heavy bombers, such as the Avro Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax, used a powered turret capable of 180-degree rotation containing the tail gunner and four 0.303 inch Browning machine guns.

The image from the radar's cathode ray tube was projected onto the turret's gunsight, allowing the gunner to fire on targets in complete darkness, with corrections for lead and bullet drop being automatically computed.