Gondola (airplane)
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Gondola is the general term for the usually-armored ventral casemate-style positions used on many World War II-era military bomber aircraft, especially on German designs,[1] where they were usually known as Bodenlafette, often shortened to Bola.[2] Gondolas were either used to house a gunner or a bombardier.
Gallery
Examples of gondolas on WWII military aircraft:
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-385-0587-07, Flugzeug Heinkel He 111 H-Z.jpg
Heinkel He 111H bomber with its bola gondola just behind the bomb bay
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Junkers Ju 88A bomber's nose, clearly showing the classic bodenlafette, or bola, undernose form of gondola fitted, in one form or another, to almost all German bomber designs of World War II
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File:Boeing B-17D "The Swoose".jpg
B-17D Flying Fortress of 1940, having its "bathtub" gondola in virtually the same location as the He 111H
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File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-674-7766-07, Flugzeuge Heinkel He 177.jpg
Heinkel He 177As, with the foreground aircraft's nose prominently showing the highly integrated bola under the cabin
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A flight of four Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero trimotor bombers, each with a similar gondola behind the bomb bay, but primarily used for the bombardier on this design, because of the nose-mounted engine taking up a bombardier's usual location
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See also
Other types of aircraft equipped with gondolas:
References
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