Ball Turret Gunner Crushed Landing
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Ball turret gunner crushed landing. Ditching entails the pilot landing the bomber on the surface of the water. A ball turret features in the poem the death of the ball turret gunner by randall jarrell. Ball turret gunners on b 17 bombers were protected only by a glass bubble jutting out from the bowels of the plane. It was an enclosure that at any time could become an airman s.
B17 belly landing at podington base bedfordshire uk 1944 taken from my dvd which i have produced called the doc furniss war in ntsc pal. The landing gear was stuck also and being after a mission the aircraft probably low on fuel. Rolling the aircraft into a flaming ball on the runway isn t going to help the ball gunner. The turret was stuck so the gunner couldn t get out and ball turrets were too tight for most gunners to wear a parachute.
He d be crushed. So they couldn t just drop the turret. A ball turret gunner in the belly of a b 17 who was killed when his turret stuck and the crippled plane had to make a wheels up landing. The life of a ball turret gunner.
The death of the ball turret gunner is a five line poem by randall jarrell published in 1945. Ball turret gunner was a dead man. The ball turret gunner was one of the most dangerous assignments in world war ii. In the following clip from wing and a prayer.
From my mother s sleep i fell into the state and i hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Garp the main protagonist in john irving s fourth novel the world according to garp 1978 is a severely injured ball turret gunner. Permanently fixed and unable to be retracted there was no hiding from enemy attack.