The Tucker gun turret was a fast-traversing electrically powered

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanis ...

widely described as having been mounted on

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

s and on some ground vehicles and small naval vessels like

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

PT boat A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, and it was valued for its maneuverability and speed. However, PT boats were hampe ...

s. American industrialist

Preston Tucker Preston Thomas Tucker (21 September 1903 – 26 December 1956) was an American automobile entrepreneur who developed the innovative Tucker 48 sedan, initially nicknamed the "Tucker Torpedo", an automobile which introduced many features that ...

first developed the turret for the experimental Tucker armored car in 1938. Steve Lehto in his biography of Tucker, asserts that it is a misconception that Tucker's turret was widely used on US bombers during the war. He states that different manufacturers were each assigned contracts to develop different turrets for different planes, and that Tucker's firm was to build turrets for the

Douglas B-18 Bolo The Douglas B-18 Bolo is an American twin-engined medium bomber which served with the United States Army Air Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force (as the Digby) during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Bolo was developed by the Douglas Airc ...

. In the end no Tucker turrets equipped any bombers. When Tucker was under investigation by the Security and Exchange Commission, a half-hour film entitled '' Tucker: The Man and his Car'' was prepared and shown to the Commission members. Lehto and

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno ( ; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, and writer. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 until 200 ...

described the film's narrator "gushing" over Tucker and noted: "A short section on his wartime efforts to create the Tucker Combat Car introduced the Tucker Turret and may have been the source of the myth that his turrets were widely used during the war." A

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

biopic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudrama films and histo ...

of Tucker covered Tucker's production of the turret, prompting reviewers to characterize the turret design as "incredibly ergonomic, effective and convenient".

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite book , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=f1A9DAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Tucker+Turret%22&pg=PT28 , title = Preston Tucker and His Battle to Build the Car of Tomorrow , publisher =

Chicago Review Press Chicago Review Press, or CRP, is a U.S. book publisher and an independent company founded in 1973. Chicago Review Press publishes approximately 60 new titles yearly under eight imprints: Chicago Review Press, Lawrence Hill Books, Academy Chicago, ...

, isbn = 9781613749562 , author1 = Steve Lehto , author2-link = Jay Leno , author2 = Jay Leno , date = 2016 , page = , archiveurl = , archivedate = , accessdate = 2017-02-01 , quote = The chief of the air corps called the turret “ingenious” and invited Tucker to a conference at Wright Field to discuss the needs of gun turrets with the military. {{cite news , url = http://autoweek.com/article/car-life/highlighting-tucker-tiger-114-mph-tank-could-have-been , title = Highlighting the Tucker Tiger, a 114-mph tank that could have been , publisher = Autoweek , author = Blake Z. Rong , date = 2013-12-25 , archiveurl = , archivedate = , accessdate = 2017-02-01 , quote = It weighed in at 10,000 pounds (a full ton lighter than existing vehicles), was entirely bulletproof, featured air conditioning and the "Tucker Turret," whose 360-degree powered dome later found its way from PT boats and LCM-8 Mike Boats to B-17 and B-29 bombers. {{citation , url = http://www.cheatsheet.com/automobiles/the-tucker-48-the-greatest-car-that-ever-could-have-been.html/?a=viewall , title = The Tucker 48: The Greatest Car That Ever Could Have Been , publisher = Cheat Sheet , author = James Derek Sapienza , date = 2016-02-23 , page = , location = , archiveurl = , archivedate = , accessdate = 2017-02-01 , quote = It was out of this environment that the Tucker emerged. Preston Tucker was a self-made man who came to prominence during the war with his “Tucker Turret,” a rotating gun turret that saw duty in everything from PT boats to B-29 bombers. Weapon turrets Vehicle-mounted weapons