US Fairchild A21 ''Gunner'' Bomber Plane

By Crusader1307

Introduced into The US Military Inventory in 1943, The Fairchild ''Gunner'' was a Bombing-Trainer aircraft used in World War II. It specifically trained new Crews in how to operate electrically operated Gun Turrets in American Bombers. After this training in The A-21, Crews could operate a wide variety of electric Turrets in the American Bomber inventory. While widely used in The US, it would be determined that excessive vibrations throughout the aircraft fuselage caused problems in flight. This would also led to issues with controlling the electrics. The A-21 would served only 1 year as a Light Bomber Trainer due to this. The Contract with Fairchild for this production Model was canceled after only 175 built. The A-21 crewed (5) and was 40-feet in length with a wingspan of 53-feet. It was powered by (2) Ranger V770 12-cylinder Radial Engines which produced around 850-HP. The A-21 airspaeed was rated at 225-mph with an operational ceiling of 22,000-feet. Armament for The Trainer was (1) 7.62mm Browning Machine Gun which was Turret Nose mounted and (2) additional Dorsal Turret mounted Machine Guns.