Tail gunner
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A tail gunner or rear gunner is a crewman on a military aircraft who functions as a gunner defending against enemy fighter attacks from the rear, or "tail", of the plane.
Tail gunner in a USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress, 1943
The Russian Sikorsky Ilya Muromets (model S-25 variant Geh-2, from March 1916) was the first aircraft equipped with a tail gun position
Vickers Virginia in flight
A row of Halifax bombers under assembly, 1942. Note the rounded turret position towards the end of the tail
Scarff ring
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The Scarff ring was a type of machine gun mounting developed during the First World War by Warrant Officer F. W. Scarff of the Admiralty Air Department for use on two-seater aircraft. The mount incorp
Tail gunner
…usually associated with a crewman inside a gun turret, the first tail guns were operated from open apertures within the aircraft's fuselage, such as the Scarff ring mechanism used in the British Handley Page V/1500, which was introduced during latter months of the First World War. Increasingly capable tail gunner…
Scarff ring on an Airco DH.9
Scarff ring on a Bristol F.2B at the Shuttleworth Collection
Soviet aircraft used the Scarff ring into WWII, here seen mounting a ShKAS machine gun.