B-24H-1-FO 42-7580 "HAP HAZARD"

Stephen:

One of the biggest complaints of the H and later model B-24's was the bombardier's forward vision or the lack there of as well as the navigator.  I've seen photos of a B-24 with a B-17 nose grafted on including the chin turret.  I also have a photo of a B-17 with a B-24 nose turret mounted in the upper half of the nose.  Oddly enough the B-17 nose on the B-24 screwed up it's flight characteristics.  I don't know about the reverse.  The B-26 tail turret had similar controls to the B-17 chin turret so that the bombardier could swing out of the way when on the bomb sight.

By the way, have you seen the pictures of Boeing's XB-38 - a B-17 with 4 Allison V-12 engines!

This looks like something they would have done locally at Wright Field to test out various combination's of increased forward  visibility and forward firepower.

The Wright Aeronautical Center at Wright Patterson AFB, OH is really on the cutting edge of technology.  While conducting training there for the computer design center, I got to witness a test of something right out of the movie Firefox with Clint Eastwood - a thought controlled weapons system.  It seems that certain thought or words will produce an electrical field that sensors in the pilot's helmet could register.  They could only do about 10 actions (this was in 1987).  The pilot would look at a particular sensor return on a multi-function radar display panel; then look at a particular weapon station display on another panel and think 'Lock up' at which point the desired missile would be paired with that target and in the case of a sidewinder missile, you would hear the pitch change as the missile acquired the target.  The pilot thinks 'Shoot' and away goes the missile!

 
Steven - To make a long story short, the HAP HAZARD nose mod (along with several others) originated in England as possible solutions to the visibility problems mentioned by Mike. It was judged the best of the lot by 8AF and sent back to the US for evaluation. It was studied by Consolidated and provided input to the development of the XB-24K. (first photo) Meanwhile some other B-24s were similarly modified by the Eighth, as shown by the photo of B-24J-60-CF 44-10508. See page 59 of TBL for more details.
 
Al