Regarding the bow machine gun, I was surprised to see that the mount is still present in Avalon - it is visible in one of the photos in post #29 - compare with the photo of Adrian Barrel's gun tank in post #45. I thought that the ball mounts were removed and the hole plated over or plugged but not in this case. There would be good reason for keeping the hull gunner as a crew member as another pair of hands when maintenance or repairs were required (or cooking or making camp).
As David Dunlop mentioned, the gap between the hole in the hull side and the chain case would have allowed vast amounts of dust to be sucked into the tank so I think that the crew would have very quickly plugged it with anything available - I have heard of socks being used to plug bullet holes, making the crew feel much safer as they couldn't see out then. The engine cooling system is designed in such a way that it sucks air from the tank interior through the propeller shaft tunnel and also the oil coolers on the bulkhead, then through the fan and the main radiator, past the engine and out of the back of the tank. This clears gun fumes from inside the tank but if hatches are open there is a huge flow of dusty or cold air into the tank. This can make head out driving quite unpleasant.
David
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16-09-20, 13:24
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