I've noticed that in the HäT artillery sets it's customary to position the gunner with the splayed legs on the left side of the gun. However, this actual shot of a Turkish crew shows him on the right (and I've seen a similar one of a British crew). When you think about it, sitting on the left in that position is very unstable and awkward. Trouble is that the HäT guns don't have a seat for him on the right.
Even our founding father, Peter, isn't immune to this.
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Hi again, once the gun is layed on a weapon with an automatic recoil mecanism the aimer becomes redundant until the gun needs to be relaid...the guy on the right operating the breech becomes more important as he's controlling the rate of fire and hence the effect... assuming the shells are landing on target..... Correct me if I'm wrong..
In theory, yes. But my experience, being an ex-artillery man myself, is that it is a common practice, or at least highly recommendable, to briefly check the alignment of the tube after each shot.
You can see this even in fast-firing pieces like the French "75" with movies from WW1 showing how the angle of the tube is being checked with a small clinometer (I think that's the correct term) between the shots.
Almost all guns I have ever seen HAVE the aimer to the left of the breech, controlling the traverse of the gun using the dial sight (unless they are firing directly over open sights) and the elevation, using an elevation drum. The breech operator is to the right. I don't know why it is so, if it is just a convention or what.
I can't compete with that kind of knowledge, but what I meant was that the figure in question is intended to be the breech operator, and should be facing it rather than having his back to it. The fig in the Ottoman Artillery is almost a perfect replica of the man in the pic of the Turkish gun. It might even be that this pic was the inspiration for the sculptor, as the rest of the crew poses are very similar.
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That's VERY true. I would say that on those guns in the HÄT sets it is quite IMPOSSIBLE to operate the breech sitting to the left of the tube, as the breech opens to the right!
