The B-17 that Hunted down the Luftwaffe

During World War II, the U.S. Army Air Forces constantly experimented with ways to keep their bombers alive. One of the biggest threats to a B-17 Flying Fortress wasn’t flak, but head-on attacks from German fighters. Pilots and bombardiers sitting in the nose were especially vulnerable, so engineers came up with a bold idea: give the bomber’s front end a wall of firepower.

An Experimental “Chin Turret”

One B-17G, serial number 42-31435 and nicknamed West End, was fitted with an unusual installation — six fixed .50 caliber machine guns in the nose. Designed by Armaments Officer Mike Mazer, the system was more of a forward-firing gun pod than a true turret. The guns were fixed in place, fed from ammunition chutes running through the fuselage, and controlled directly by the pilot.

Putting It to the Test

In combat, the idea was simple: if German fighters charged head-on, the B-17 could fire a concentrated burst straight into their path. West End flew many operational sorties with the new nose guns and proved the system worked mechanically. Unfortunately, by the time it was ready, head-on attacks by the Luftwaffe had already dropped off, leaving no chance to test its real effectiveness.

Fate of West End

Despite the unproven concept, the bomber itself carried out its missions successfully — until flak caught up with it. Damaged on a raid, West End crash-landed at an RAF airfield. The aircraft was destroyed in the process, and with it, the experimental nose guns.

Though the six-gun nose never went beyond this single test aircraft, it captures the spirit of wartime innovation. When survival was on the line, nothing was too strange to try. The idea may not have changed the air war, but it remains one of the more fascinating experiments in B-17 history.