Remarks by Andrew
Watson: "The aircraft provided 'top cover' for convoys, as well
as a first strike aircraft for incidents in the West Nicholson/Beit
Bridge area of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) during the Rhodesian Bush War in
the 1970's. Matabele Air in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, did the conversion in
1979.
The guns are not all that apparent - they are in pods under the wings,
beside the wheel-wells. Nevertheless, to anybody who knows anything
about Bonanzas, the pods will be very obvious. If you look carefully,
you can see the tips of the barrels sticking out from the pods. The
brownings were fed by two 600 round ammunition trays that were recessed
into the wings. The guns themselves were on their sides, which not only
allowed easy opening of the breeches, but it also facilitated the
ejection of the spent cartridges through a slot in the side of the pod,
as well as the gathering of the belt links in the bottom of the pod,
which were then re-used.
The guns were fired by solenoids which were activated by a push-to-talk
button on the control column. The sighting mechanism was very simple,
yet effective. A fold-out arm with a ring sight on it was snapped into
place. A dot on the windshield provided the second reference - line up
the dot in the ring, put both on the target and press the trigger.
A further modification was done to the aircraft - unfortunately I don't
have any photos of it - which provided my father the ability to drop a
series of three or five grenades from the bottom of the aircraft.
Basically, there was a hole in the floor (which was normally sealed with
a resin plug) between the co-pilot's feet. The grenades were stored in
steel tubes in a removable armoured box right behind the pilot and
observer, directly over the C of G. All pins were removed from the
grenades; the handles were held in place by the walls of the tube. The
tube was blocked on both ends by means of two large steel pins, and
locked in place by split pins (re-used from the grenades). A spring
loaded cap was fitted to the top-end of the tube. At the required time
the resin plug was removed from the floor and the tube was attached over
the hole in the floor and locked in place. The top pin was removed
causing the spring loaded cap to exert pressure on the grenades. A cable
was attached to the bottom pin by means of a dog-leash clip. On final
approach to the target, the bottom safety pin was removed. Once over the
target, the cable was pulled, removing the bottom pin and causing the
spring loaded cap to force the grenades from the tube. A further safety
device was available and used in the event of a 'hang-up' in
the tube. I had to use it on two separate occasions. While not very
scientific it worked... Dad would hold the aircraft very steady and I
would carefully remove the spring loaded cap, take a small pole (cut
from a mopane tree) and push the hung-up grenades out the tube.
The aircraft saw a fair amount of action; Dad was awarded a Meritorious
Conduct Medal for his efforts. At the end of the war the aircraft was
returned to its 'civilian' state in about 1983. Eventually the
aircraft was re-registered Z-WHM (Zimbabwe) and was sold after my Dad
died in 1990. To the best of my knowledge, it was the only V-tail
Bonanza to be equipped in such a manner."
