Page 10 - Aerotech News and Review, January 21, 2022

High Desert Hangar Stories
Pinball Wizards Part 2: World War II “Operation Pinball”

by Bob Alvis and rising temperature gauges, with
special to Aerotech News only moments to figure out where to
land a wounded bird that no longer
In the last issue of Aerotech wanted to fly. Luckily, most of this
News, I began the story of Operation gunnery training took place in the des-
Pinball, the United States Army Air ert southwest. The desert landscape,
Force manned aerial gunnery train- dotted with dry lake beds, was a happy
ing program during World War II. sight as a pilot glided down to a safe
(To read Part 1, visit https://www. landing in a dead aircraft.
aerotechnews.com/blog/2022/01/18/ One of the other unnerving aspects
world-war-ii-operation-pinball-how- for pilots of these missions was those
to-shoot-down-a-perfectly-good-air- live rounds hitting the over-engi-
craft/) neered, bulletproof cockpit glass that
This time out, I will finish up this surrounded them. Many pilots recalled
amazing story and share some of the they could never get used to the vio-
operational challenges, as well as re- lent sound and smoke erupting just
flections of the pilots who would fly inches from their heads, when those
a perfectly good airplane at bomber rounds exploded on that plexiglass.
aircraft and let the gunners fire live Sometimes when a few rounds would
rounds at them. hit the glass, it would shatter it so
It’s amazing to think that more badly it made flying back an almost
than 300 Bell Aircraft RP-63 Cobra instrument-only affair. Over the life of
“Pinballs” were produced during the program, the bulletproof plexiglass
World War II — which means that was the greatest casualty on these air-
an equivalent number of pilots, along planes (not counting the nerves of the
with ground crews, were needed to pilot.)
support this bold program. These per- Another aspect of the RP-63 Cobra
sonnel had to get up to speed not in the Pinball was that the plane was overly
classroom, but by manning the guns burdened with the extra weight of
and flying the airplanes that served thicker armor plating that affected its
as moving targets for live gunnery performance. It took a skilled pilot to
practice. Many a pilot reassigned to deal with issues such as overheating,
stateside duty — some returning from longer take off rolls and the constant Courtesy photograph
the war-torn skies of Europe — looked adjustment of power to compensate The original Pinball aircraft with two pilots.
forward to projects that kept them in for the added weight when perform-
the cockpit, but many of those reas- ing mock attacks on the bombers. it’s a bit baffling that this story of • 300 armored RP-63 Cobra target The program was such a success
signments were not overjoyed at the Luckily, the King Cobra P-63 model aerial combat gunnery training is not planes were produced for training by that, just prior to VJ Day, it was
prospect of becoming live bait for Pinballs boasted a marked increase in very well known. To add it up and see the spring of 1945. stated that from that point on all the
novice gunners on bombers. performance over its predecessor, the the investment and the involvement • The program totaled over 11,000 air gunnery programs of the training
Many of the stories of those fighter P-39 Air Cobra, and made the airplane leaves one to wonder why the program bomber missions in which some 12 command would thereafter be with
pilots reflected on how the training more manageable. was such a mystery. million rounds of frangible bullet am- specially designed aircraft and fran-
missions became a dance between a The program numbers that were tal- • In August 1945, frangible bullet munition were fired by student gun- gible bullets.
novice partner and the skilled pilot at- lied up at the end of World War II in production had reached 40 to 45 mil- ners, flown in seven gunnery training Initially passed over as folly, the vi-
tempting to give the gunner the best August 1945 are really amazing and lion shells per month. schools in the United States. sion of Maj. Cameron D. Fairchild and
target possible, without actually get- his supporters from Duke University,
ting shot down. Paul Gross and Marcus Hobbs, the
A few stories were shared of pilots program became one of the unsung
whose planes were not registering success stories of World War II.
any hits from the gunners-in-training, What would finally bring the entire
who would attempt to fly a bit closer program to an end was the advent of
in a less aggressive manner to give the the jet age. When the war came to an
gunner a better chance. As the pilot end and jet-powered aircraft came on
and the gunner were in radio contact the scene, the procedure of attacking
with each other, one frustrated Cobra/ bombers found that jet aircraft and the
Pinball pilot flew up alongside the speeds they flew would never again
bomber, matching its speed, and said, have a man at a gun firing at an at-
“Do you think you can hit me now?” tacker, at speeds that only a computer
That said, his plane was immediately and a heads-up display could attempt.
ravaged by gun fire and, being that the Thus, the need to carry on the mis-
armored protection of the RP-63 Co- sion of Operation Pinball became just
bra was designed for head-on attacks another aspect to find its way into a
and breakaways, he soon realized his book on a shelf, becoming just another
mistake! As shells hit all around the footnote in history.
cockpit, he broke away, never again To wrap up this second installment
attempting to make himself “an easy of the RP-63 Cobra Operation Pinball
target.” missions of World War II, we think
Some of the pilots who lost their of the great accomplishments of the
RP-63 Cobras would tell of the lucky World War II generation and what
shots that found the smallest openings they did in just a handful of years,
in the air ducts that were designed to with such basic evolving technology.
prevent penetration by the special I got to thinking about one Opera-
ceramic “frangible” bullets (refer to tion Pinball pilot who was sharing his
my first story installment for details), memories and it summed it all up. A
and end up taking out coolant line, oil B-17 pilot asked him to fly up to see if
lines and radiators. Many pilots after a fuel cap had come loose on the wing
flying a pass would make a break up, of his aircraft and if it was leaking.
as they were not allowed to pass under Courtesy photograph As he closed in tight on the bomber,
an aircraft, and suddenly find them- U.S. Army Air Force pilots stand with their RP-63 Cobra aircraft that were part of Operation Pinball.
selves in a world of leaking coolant See PINBALL, Page 12

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