Ball Turret Gunner B 17

Permanently fixed and unable to be retracted there was no hiding from enemy attack. A ball turret was a spherical shaped altazimuth mount gun turret fitted to some american built aircraft during world war ii the name arose from the turret s spherical housing. The sperry ball turret was under the plane as seen in the photo.

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Ball turret gunner b 17. The emotional impact of combat is honestly portrayed in a diary my father john j. B 17 and the ball turret nbc2. Hunched upside down in his little. Gunner mason howe operates two of them in one of the b 17 s most innovative features the ball turret.

The ball turret on a b 17 was a small metal and glass sphere that hung down under the airplane. Nasm si 80 20353 aerial gunnery training had a make do try anything quality resulting in the design of 16 types of outdoor ranges. Video by kate irby the bradenton herald more from the bradenton herald. The ball turret is kind of like this in between the tail position and the top turret position.

A ball turret was a plexiglas sphere set into the belly of a b 17 or b 24 and inhabited by two 50 caliber machine guns and one man a short small man when this gunner tracked with his machine guns a fighter attacking his bomber from below he revolved with the turret. He was a ball turret gunner of the 457th bomb group 748th squadron at glatton air field england. It was an enclosure that at any time could become an airman s. It was a manned turret as distinct from remote controlled turrets also in use.

A b 17 see photo had 13 see the drawing of the crew of a b 17. World war ii veteran hal millett describes what it was like to be a ball turret gunner in a b17 bomber in 1945. Briol pictured with my mother marcella wrote while flying on b 17s during wwii. Ball turret gunners on b 17 bombers were protected only by a glass bubble jutting out from the bowels of the plane.

All you can just see is that little ball. In this story you ll learn about a machine gunner stationed in one of the most perilous and cramped positions on the b 17 bomber plane. The ball turret like this one on a b 17 in england in 1943 was designed small to reduce drag so its gunner usually was the shortest man in the crew. The turret held the gunner two heavy machine guns ammunition and sights.

See video b 17 with 19 guns. The ball turret gunner from b17 42 31377 pot o gold crashed on 22 feb 1944 tells in ball turret about his job. Jarrell who served in the army air forces provided the following explanatory note. Seen here is a ball turret gunner in a b 17 from the 92nd bomb group during world war two.

The ball turret gunner was one of the most dangerous assignments in world war ii.