Staff Sergeant EDward M. PELT--ASSISTANT ENGINEER/WAIST GUNNER

 

 

Sgt. Ed Pelt of Florida had the distinction of manning the position with the most casualties. It was the least well protected and frostbite was a major concern. Unlike the nose, ball and tail turrets, which dumped spent .50 caliber shells through shoots in the floor, the floor of the waist positions filled with spent shells during attacks. The gunners sometimes used a shovel to clear a place to stand. The first waist guns used simple open sights, but compensating sights were developed which took into account air speed and relative speed of target. In the waist, at 20,000 feet the temperature was about 40 below zero. It was quite easy to get frostbite on bare skin. The only bare skin Sgt. Pelt  had exposed was a small facial area above the oxygen mask and below the goggles. Otherwise he and the rest of the crew were completely covered with heavy clothing and underlined with an electrically heated suit. The intense cold was terrible.