Back in the late '70s I went on a short flight in a b25 mitchell operated by a forestry service contractor. It had an all-glass extended nose with just a few insubstantial bits of aluminum inside to hang onto (it was like the nose was sticking out on a aluminum ladder or something). The operator had cleaned it up and lightened it so it was a quite bit faster than stock. It was pretty amazing to crouch down in the very front and be almost completely surrounded by glass over the desert about 100' agl and 270+ KIAS...no charge for a teenager who was willing to help out around the airpark...
That sounds like it was something else.
Here is a couple of useable seconds from the nose of the B17. The shake was rough on the Canon 60D.
http://tysonneil.smugmug.com/Airplanes/Old-Aircraft/i-dmstwpk/A