[Epapazian]

[Cruver Collecter]

Neat to see that they are still coming out with some new models.

[mikeb1958]

Very nice! I love the German BV-222 with the wing turrets. How cool is that? I will pick up that one.

[ZS-VAN]

Looking good! Another flying boat to add to my collection. The P108B must be the best looking Italian bomber too.

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by mikeb1958

Very nice! I love the German BV-222 with the wing turrets. How cool is that? I will pick up that one.

How about the gun turrets on the outboard engines nacelles on the Piaggio P.108B?

[parsig9]

Can you post a link to the site where these photos are located?

[ZS-VAN]

Originally Posted by Cruver Collecter

How about the gun turrets on the outboard engines nacelles on the Piaggio P.108B?

Very cool, but did they work and were they effective I wonder?

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by ZS-VAN

Very cool, but did they work and were they effective I wonder?

Definitely an odd place to put a gun turret. I was able to find a picture that you can make out the turret on the engine nacelle, looks a bit strange.

[mikeb1958]

Originally Posted by Cruver Collecter

How about the gun turrets on the outboard engines nacelles on the Piaggio P.108B?

Opps...yes you are right! I missed them. They looked like some kind of super-chargers.

[SkyBuffalo]

Originally Posted by Cruver Collecter

How about the gun turrets on the outboard engines nacelles on the Piaggio P.108B?

Here's the info. I researched on the P.108B :

The defensive armament of the first P.108 series consisted of eight Breda-SAFAT machine guns. One Breda "O" 12.7 mm machine gun and 450 cartridges was fitted in the nose, and a Breda "G" 12.7 mm in a retractable ventral turret, with 400-450 rounds per gun. In addition to these two fully hydraulically-powered turrets, there were two 7.7 mm guns in the flanks, with 500 rounds each. The wing armament, which constituted the main defence of the aircraft, consisted of two radio controlled, hydraulically-powered Breda "Z" turrets with 600 rounds per gun in the inner-engine wing gondolas, linked to one of the two cupolas in the fuselage "hump", with an operator in each. The wing turrets represented the most innovative aspect of the P.108's technology.
Although considered a very advanced design, the operational suitability of the wing gondola turret installations was questionable. The wing turrets were vulnerable to battle damage, icing, jamming, and were notoriously unreliable due to the complexity of the sophisticated gun control and computing device (the hydraulic systems had circuits stretching for several metres to the external engine turrets). The firepower endurance was adequate for limited combat such as that likely to be encountered during night missions, but insufficient for the needs of extended combat. A total of 300 rounds, fired at full ROF by the Bredas (no synchronizer present, different to fighter installations) was enough for only 25 seconds of use (around 12 two-second bursts). American bombers generally had 500 cartridges for each 12.7 mm gun and often carried extra ammunition. In contrast with the fuselage turrets, there was no possibility of maintaining, reloading or repair while on a mission. The mainly rear-directed field of fire was poor, partially blocked by the tail surfaces, with fire in a frontal arc possible only with high degrees of elevation (avoiding the propellers), and no capability against targets below. If these turrets were disabled, the P.108 was left with only 2 x 12.7 mm and 2 x 7.7 mm machine guns, leaving many blind spots all around the bomber, because none of the flank, nose, or ventral guns' fields of fire covered attacks from the rear or above.

^{I've got this model and it looks quite good. The Piaggio P.108 was the only 4-engine heavy bomber the Italians used during WWII.}

LIVERY : This aircraft was named in memory of Captain Bruno Mussolini, son of Il Duce, Commander of 274º Squadriglia who died in a P.108 flying accident on August 7th, 1941, while landing at Pisa, Italy.


P.S. - Can't wait to get me little hands on one of those SM. 79s, too.