Ball Turret Gunner Casualty Rate

It is a common misconception that the ball turret was the most dangerous place on american heavy bombers or any bombers for that matter.

Ball turret gunner casualty rate. Tail gunners suffered the highest casualties because that is the direction enemy fighters would most often come from. The turret held the gunner two heavy machine guns ammunition and sights. It was a manned turret as distinct from remote controlled turrets also in use. Magee s friend don jenkins also a veteran of wwii said that being a b 17 gunner was not an easy job during wwii.

Somebody told me this yet again just a couple of hours ago. 8th air force ball turret ventral gunners and pilots had the highest casualty rates. From my mother s sleep i fell into the state and i hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. 60 there s one incident of which i ve heard many times wherein a fort needed to belly land and the crew was unable to get the ball gunner out of his turret.

Mortality rate avg b 17 ball turret gunner 1943. German fighters preferred to attack head on and aim for the cockpit and the ball turret gunner could not escape from his position unaided. 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 death of the ball turret gunner is a five line poem by randall jarrell published in 1945.

But i presently have no details. This was mainly because german fighters would target the gunners first.