Big Picture - Gunnery School

This weeks Big Picture is another photo from the Newlyn Collection. Ray bought this at one of the many Militaria fairs he visits and its an interesting photo because it shows some of the gunnery training given to aircrew.

Gunnery Training

There is a typed caption on the back which reads: "Training Air Gunners for the R.A.F. - The panoramic trainer in action. The gunner under instruction is in the enclosed gun turret with his instructor seated in the open alongside. A model enemy plane moves in front of a panorama background. The Gunner is instructed to fire a burst when the plane is at a certain distance as judged by the size of the plane in his gun sight. As soon as he presses the trigger and [sic] mechanism stops a light shows in front of instructor. The gunner is then told the amount of his error if any."