[303rd-Talk] Sperry Ball Turret

[wargroom at localvertical.com]

By electro hydraulic it means that the turret was moved hydraulically but 
the controls were electric, moving the control sent an electrical signal to 
move a valve that ported hydraulic fluid to motors or actuators that moved 
the turret.  modern fly by wire flight controls work on the same principal 
as do a lot of other things. for example if you have a snow plow on the 
front of your pickup truck it is probably electro-hydraulic.  I haven't dug 
into the books on the B-17's flight controls to see if they were "boosted" 
in any way or were strictly on cables alone.  I do know that the Automatic 
pilot ( and the link between it and the bomb sight were electrical in 
nature. meaning that the autopilot commanded electric motors to move the 
cables to move the flight controls.
( and yes, I am an Avionics Tech...with autopilot being my specialty)
-John
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Van Pelt" <bvp6565 at yahoo.com>
To: "303rd Bomb Group Talk Forum" <303rd-talk at 303rdBG.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 12:47 PM
Subject: Re: [303rd-Talk] Sperry Ball Turret


> All:  At the beginning of the article it says the ball was electric, 
> however, at the very end of the article it does say the ball was 
> electro-hydrualic.
>
> Anside the yoke inside the fuselage on top of the ball turret is a 
> canister that almosts look like a walk around oxygen bottle.  Is this what 
> that cylinder shapped object is?
> Bob
>
>
> --- On Mon, 12/1/08, Maurice Paulk <mjpmtmanenterprises at cccusa.net> wrote:
>
>> From: Maurice Paulk <mjpmtmanenterprises at cccusa.net>
>> Subject: [303rd-Talk] Sperry Ball Turret
>> To: 303rd-talk at 303rdbga.com, "herb shanker" <shank1 at gis.net>
>> Date: Monday, December 1, 2008, 8:12 PM
>> http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~josephkennedy/sperry_ball_turret.htm
>>
>>
>> HERB--- see "description" FOR POWER FOR BALL
>> TURRET
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>
>
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