In article ,
Dale writes:
In article ,
"Gord Beaman" ) wrote:


Dale, with some time on them I'm sure that you'd agree that when
limping home on two engines having your flaps or gear down would
very likely ruin your chances of ever getting home, right?.

At the weights I flew the airplane it performed fairly well on two
engines, even so why stack the deck against yourself by adding drag. G
On a hot day, or high field elevation having the gear/flaps out could
certainly make a difference in the outcome.

There was a bunch of discarded ammo and .50s from the continent to
England for a reason. G

And Ball Turrets, as well. If you're hedgehopping across Belgium,
it's a fiar bet that if you could, you'd jettison the Ball Turret.
That would leave off something arounf 1500#. IIRC, the procedure was
to pull the traversing motor (that drives the pinion that engafges the
traversing ring gear that's on the edge of the fuselage hole for the
turret, and undo the retainer that holds the spindle for the turret
yoke to the fuselage bracket. Takes about 5 minutes with a wrench,
hammer, and chisel. The end result would be no turret, the fuselage
mounting bracket in place, and teh ring gear at the turret opening.


--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster