This auction is for a FULL COLOR high-quality modern reprint of the vintage WWII flight manual entitled Fighter Gunnery".

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These are not your grandmother's scans. Every page has been hand-corrected to remove as many blemishes as possible. Color correction with a known color standard sheet was used to get the colors as close to the original as possible. Special care was taken with the half-tone images to make sure all the depth and range of the originals is preserved. Manuals are printed on 24 lb paper and comb-bound with clear plastic front cover and black plastic back sheet. (please note - the comb-binding is NOT like the original stapled binding - this is not an exact duplicate of the way the original manual was made. It is a modern printing where each page has been scanned, printed in full color and high resolution, and faithfully reproduced - then bound together with acetate covers and comb binding).

"Fighter Gunnery", 1944, 120 pages, Army Air Forces Training Command, Army Air Forces Instructors' School (Fixed Gunnery), Matagorda Peninsula, Foster Field, Texas. This manual is in full color and is in cartoon-style. This manual is for pilot training and goes over all the subtleties of calibrating, aiming and firing fighter-mounted machine guns - principally the Browning M-2 (Ma-Deuce). The P-51 sported 6 of these. From the introduction:

"Hanging on the wall of a Fighter Gunnery ground school room is this legend:

THE PENALTY FOR SLEEPING IN THIS CLASS IS DEATH!

A little strong - perhaps. But fighter gunnery is an exact science and requires a corresponding approach on your part. Too many fighter pilots think good flying is a substitute for poor marksmanship. Too many believe they can cut down the enemy by blasting away with a terrific pattern of bullets from multiple guns. They are the ones, good pilots all, who are shot down several times on ineffective attacks . . . This manual gives you the basic principles of fighter gunnery"

Sections include Limits of Effective Range, The Optical Sight, Harmonization, Range Estimation, Deflection Allowance, Curves of Pursuit, Synthetic Training Devices, Gun Camera and Assessing, Camera Firing Exercises, Air Firing Practice and more.

I especially liked the training devices. Page 61 shows a picture of the BB Link Trainer. This was a Link Trainer that had been modified by the inclusion of a BB machine gun! I want one of these for Christmas! From the description: "Simulates the ideal curve of pursuit for AT-6 fixed gunnery . . .". I have never seen any other mention or documentation of the BB Link Trainer. This is it!