On October 11 he volunteered for a mine laying mission and served as the plane's nose gunner.

The surviving Ju 88s continued to attack, but the nose gunner damaged one of these, setting its engines on fire.

It had a crew of four: pilot, copilot, nose gunner and fuselage gunner.

For 54 years there was no definitive answer as to whether he had been brought down by friendly fire or the Japanese bomber's nose gunner.

The same manoeuvre caused the nose gunner some delay in getting to his position, but as soon as possible he opened fire with the forward-firing guns.

In part this was achieved by completely removing the nose gunner's position.

The navigator poked his head into the nose to tell the nose gunner to jump.

The nose gunner was dead.

This position was usually manned by someone who only operated the gun, however, the nose gunner could have a dual role (navigation, bombardier, etc.).

Many military targets were strafed by the bombers' nose gunners.