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was an experience pilot. He had not been in combat but he had trained other pilots how to maneuver the plane how to avoid fighters and so forth. John: What aircraft were you flying in? Edward: The B-24 Liberator. I was lucky to get such an experienced pilot. That was the first great luck I had. John: How many people are there in the crew of a B-24? Edward: Ten. John: Your position on tht aircraft was what? A turret gunner? Edward: Yes. Everyone was scared of who was going to get what, because some of those positions were more dangerous than others. The best position to get was the top turret because you had armor around you that protected the pilot who sit right down below you. Also, most of the attacks came from the front or the rear. The normal attack was becoming pretty dangerous for these enemy pilots, so if they could come straight in at you from the front as fast as they could and fire away. If they could take out the front or back guns out they could take you out without being worried about running into the other guns. You had six fifty Calibers from the turrets and two from the side, which were fired by the radio operator and the engineer. You had four Officers. They were the Pilot, the Co-pilot, Navigator and Bombardier and you had six enlisted men. You had four professional gunners, in the turrets and the radio operator and engineer on the
side guns. John: Where did you join the crew? At Laredo? Edward: The next assigned area was Tonopah, Nevada, in the middle of the desert. That's where we met the rest of the crew. In other words, the gunners left and the officers left
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Edward Campbell. Campbell joined the Army Air Forces in late 1943. He completed gunnery school. He served as a B-24 turret gunner with the 394th Bomb Squadron. He completed 50 combat missions, over Tarawa, Borneo, bombing oil fields, refineries and ports. He returned to the US and received his discharge in 1945.
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