gunnery – Hinges of History

Page Out of the Newsletter

Taking a look at a page out of the WAVES Newsletter, it shows how the Navy uses its photographs to talk about the work of Air Gunnery Instructors. We saw this image earlier in the week. The women are working on .50 caliber machine gun turrets, and needed to learn how to shoot the guns in order to take over in training men in the skills needed for war.

According to the article

The instructor of these WAVES will see its results in the war zones.

The clipping comes from the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

Gunners on Duty

WAVES Florence Johnson and Rosamund Small walk out to the target range at the Naval Air Gunners School in Hollywood, Florida. They were among the first WAVES to qualify as instructors of electrically-operated 50 caliber machine gun turrets in April of 1944.

The photo comes from the National Archives.

Film Simulator

From the Navy description of this photograph of WAVES in training at the Aviation Gunnery School in Pensacola, Florida:

This 3A-2 trainer shoots a beam of light at the moving picture of a pane projected on the screen. Movement of the place is controlled by the operator of the projector, a WAVE who completed the course 2 weeks earlier.

The photo comes from the National Archives.

A Close Group

Josette Dermody (at far left in this photo), worked as a gunner’s mate at Treasure Island in San Francisco, training men to shoot at moving targets. It was a small, close-knit group who worked and played together.

Mostly we stuck together because, you know — let me see, there were probably 30 of us. And depending upon your duty hours and that sort of stuff — then since our work was with the guys, it wasn’t with the gals as much — although it wasn’t exclusive particularly. It was just the way the work went.

This photograph comes from the collection of Josette Dermody Wingo.