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I can send you it. Have you checked out the "Air Force Historical Research Agency"? They have millions of pages of documents microfilmed and now digitized. They'll send you 1500 page PDF documents free of charge, you can probably find all kinds of things related to your thesis there. The index is a bit clunky to use and doesn't always have as much detail as you want, but there are very few barriers to getting tons of documents: airforcehistoryindex.org/

​@@kellyshistory306 It would be great you could send it to me. I didn't know about the page you are mentioned, I'll check it out. Could you give me the link of the site where I can download the pdf? I know a page called "general staff", I'm sure you will get interesting stuff to make new videos for your channel

@@Manuui28 I'll just link you a link from my Microsoft drive. I host other documents on my website, but Eaker's memo isn't separated on there. I get to it tomorrow if you're in no particular rush.

​@@kellyshistory306 No problem! I can wait. Thank you!

​@@Manuui28 So I'm gonna send this to you through a Google Docs link. The original PDF was kinda faded, so back when I did the video I had to adjust the contrast and brightness to make the text legible, and I saved those to JPEGs. Also the person who microfilmed everything in the 80's did two photos of every page, one only showing the top half of the page while the next had the whole page. Sometimes however the top of the image from the full page was cut off, so you'll see a few images in there of half pages when the full pages had parts cut off. You can copy the images to word or some other program if you want to. For citation purposes for your Thesis this came from "Reel A1756" Pages 4-35. I'd recommend checking out Maxwell for any air force related documents, it is probably the easiest military historical archive to get stuff from, but there is a bit of a process. If you ever need any help navigating the index and figuring out how to order documents, feel free to reach out. It's simple once you do it once, but that first time can be a little confusing. docs.google.com/document/d/13Pz-RjpmWGP62pRMy2tjCoME64pWhSM7aYad3cXP8_g/edit?usp=sharing

I don't believe the FN64 saw much if any use past 1942, the periscope sight was not designed for night use, and even then the gunner suffered really horrible eye strain and they found people scanning below the bomber in darkness could only use the sight for 30 minutes at most before their became horribly motion sick. I pretty sure it was ditched by the Ruhr. In terms of the field mods for the bottom gun, it was a bit more than that. Bomber Command became aware that many attacks were coming from below in 1942, and implemented a few efforts to counter this. The first was a downward vision blisters, which didn't work for a whole host of reasons, but also a program for the Lancaster, Halifax and Stirling for downward gun positions. The Halifax ultimately had the best designed one (often called the Preston-Green turret), which sat below the bomber and looked similar to the H2S dome. The Lancaster was just a hole int he floor the gunner sat above with a .50 cal and had worse visibility, and was pretty unpopular with crews from reports. The British made equipment to install downward guns on about 2000 aircraft. However there was a decision in 1943 to have H2S actually built into production models of RAF heavies rather than have them installed later. This increased reliability, and also H2S production had grown enough that they could look to equip all mainforce bombers. By the time the German upward firing guns were discovered (sometime in the spring of 1944 the RAF confirmed its existence), the bombers were already rolling off the assembly line with H2S already built in. Essentially the number of aircraft that could actually have downward facing guns installed would just get smaller over time as bombers with H2S built into it were already coming off the assembly line. This issue was hoped to be mitigaged by the fact H2S had fishpond, which allowed radar to scan below for any night fighters, Visual Monica, and the Rose turret and (hopefully) the other newer .50 cal armed turrets would have better downward visibility allowing the tail gunner to spot anything trying to slip in under the bomber from below. However Monica was ditched when it was found the Germans were homing in on it, Fishpond had a minimum range of several hundred yards and wouldn't actually see a night fighter close in below using upward firing guns, and the Rose turret production was slow while the other .50 cal turrets just never got into service (and still had poor downward visibility). AGLT, another tail radar was a bright spot, but only fixed to 3 squadrons by wars end. A very complicated story.

@kellyshistory306 sources online show that several 1 Group Squadrons reinstalled the FN.64 turrets in mid-1944, with the mid-upper gunner being responsible for both turrets. There's a photograph on the RAF Memorial Flight Club of Lancaster HK687 taken in early 1945. This aircraft has the FN.64 turret, which you can just make out behind the crew (wrong shape for a H2S radome. There's also a picture of a 460 Squadron Lancaster taken between November 1941 and May 1943 showing a FN.64 turret. Lancaster II DS685 was shot down on the night of 2nd/3rd August 1943 was fitted with the FN.64, although they didn't have an extra gunner.

@@neiloflongbeck5705 Hmmm. The Air Ministry files I have really talk badly about the FN64, I'm surprised it was still used on any aircraft after 1942. The only thing I can think of in terms of 1944 and 1945 use was that there was talk about possibly reinstalling them for daylight operations as the periscope sight wasn't such a handicap and the turret had pretty good coverage as far as where it could point the guns. The .50 cal mounts they had designed for under-defense were only really useful for attacking an aircraft directly below the bomber. Any information about whether those Lancaster squadrons were doing mostly daylight missions?

@kellyshistory306 no, they were on nighttime operations. HK687 was in night camouflage..

My mistake then. Thanks for the correction.

OK, they did.

@@garynew9637 Yeah, when I was at the British National Archives back in February I finally actually found pictures and drawings of the German decoys from British intelligence files when they investigated decoy sites after VE day. I'll eventually get a video out about it, but I've been just busy with life and not been putting out much the last few months.

Fortunately the information doesn't age, so even if you find it later it is still valid. Glad you enjoyed it though Curtis.

Indeed sir.thank you for your efforts.

Well, that is just embarrassing! Fortunately it is an easy correction, so thanks for letting me know so I can change the subtitles.

Thanks. Yeah that was my feeling when I made the video. Too many of the books on the ME262 took pilot claims and accounts at face value, creating a distorted impression of the aircraft and the combat in the last months of the war. It also does a bit of a disservice to the USAAF, which actually managed the Jet threat quite effectively. You don't get that impression when books play up inflated kill claims which made the Jets seem like these lethal war machines that attacked almost at will US bombers.

Yeah, gunfire certainly can cause a lot of wiring faults!

Well he was fortunate to get out at all given the altitude, but from the accounts in books he basically mangled his leg and I think sat out the rest of the war in a hospital.

I'm still making them, but life got in the way the last year and my output of content really slowed down. I do hope to get things going again starting this month. Glad you liked it though, yeah its quite a bit of work to make them but also really rewarding to do because I find a learn a lot as well. There is very few books that go into any detail on individual raids, so I never knew much about the specifics I talk about in these videos. The simple process of making the videos means I learn all kinds of stuff I never knew before.

So its April, have you gotten to the archives yet or is it later this month?

@@kellyshistory306 Its later this month :) I'm getting excited for it and hope to bring back a great haul of information. Mostly HW 5 and AIR 40 series

​@@ww2hungary827 You books your rooms and documents yet? The 14 document tables you can book any time, but the 40 document rooms you need to book almost a month in advance. Also you gotta register online and get your ID and stuff, which doesn't take too long but you wanna do that sooner rather than later.

@@kellyshistory306 Yes I have done the online booking well in advance :) I fired off an email to you as well :)

Oh by the way, Military Aviation History just talked (positively) about your book on his channel, so hopefully you see a few more sales. Congrats!

Yeah, the voice actress Joy was very talented and did an excellent job. Hope you enjoy the other videos.

Thanks for letting me include your Uncle in the series. I'll pass on your thanks to Joy who voice acted Mary's note.

@@stephenhall1099 Thank you for your comments. I remember when I was disposing of the family farm my aunt recounting how they were informed when their brother was killed by a submarine. My grandfather bellowed like a wounded animal and my grandmother held his shoulders and said : It is alright Albert, we will see him in heaven. It is missed on most how devastating the war was on average people.