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While anyone who flew on a B-17 bomber during World War II had a pretty dangerous job, the ball turret gunner was undoubtedly put in the most-precarious position.
“You literally had your knees up to your chest and in between you had the machine guns,” said Gary Lewi, spokesman for the American Airpower Museum based at Republic Airport. “You really had to have pretty tough nerves to be in there.”
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Kaiten (回天, literal translation: “Turn the Heaven”, commonly rendered as “turn of the Heaven’s will”, “the heaven shaker”) were manned torpedoes and suicide craft, used by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the final stages of World War II.
Kaiten pilots were all men aged between 17 and 28. Initial training consisted of sailing fast surface boats by periscope and instrument readings alone.
How does a grenade work?
Operating the hand grenade is a relatively simple task as there are few moving parts.
The operator uses one hand to hold the safety lever firmly against the grenade body, whilst the other hand is used to remove the safety pin. Providing the operator does not release the safety lever the grenade will not explode.
Once the operator has thrown the grenade, the safety lever will be released, and the striker spring will rotate the striker, until it impacts upon the primer.
The primer ignites a chemical delay fuse, which will burn for approximately four seconds. The delay burns until it reaches the detonator, at which point the detonator will explode and cause an even larger explosion as it ignites the charge.
The contents explode, fragmenting the outer casing (which holds all the explosive inside). These fragments then move outward as shrapnel, damaging the surroundings.
(photo: R.I.V.A.R.S. Registro Italiano Veicoli Abitativi Ricreazionali Storici, foto di C.Galliani)
The 150 TAPs mounted a M20 75 mm recoilless rifle, a U.S.-made light anti-armour weapon. It was very light in comparison to a standard 75 mm cannon but was still able to penetrate 100 mm of armour with its HEAT warhead. The recoil was counteracted by venting propellant gases out the rear of the weapon which eliminated the need for a mechanical recoil system or heavy mount.