Forward of the entrance to the ball turret, a bulkhead door led to the radio room. This was the only sealed and self-contained cabin on the bomber. The radio operator sat at a small desk facing the front of the plane. Above him, in an open slot, was his handheld .50 caliber machine gun, pointing rearward. In later model B-17s equipped with radar guidance systems for bombing through overcast, the radar navigator sat just forward of the radio operator. The bomb bay, the belly of the whale, was just ahead, through the radio room’s other bulkhead. Bombs were stacked in racks from floor to ceiling
...more
