Ball Turret Gunner Death Rate
The death of the ball turret gunner is a five line poem by randall jarrell published in 1945.
Ball turret gunner death rate. Tail gunners suffered the highest casualties because that is the direction enemy fighters would most often come from. But i presently have no details. 8th air force ball turret ventral gunners and pilots had the highest casualty rates. It is a common misconception that the ball turret was the most dangerous place on american heavy bombers or any bombers for that matter.
The ball turret gunner was one of the most dangerous assignments in world war ii. Death and the gunner. The death of the ball turret gunner title right from the start jarrell confronts the reader with ideas and images of war. Permanently fixed and unable to be retracted there was no hiding from enemy attack.
The us eighth air force which flew far riskier daylight raids over europe albeit far less risk of midnight mid airs had 135 000 men that flew in combat during the war and suffered 26 000 killed a 19 3 death rate and 23 000 17 became prisoners of war. The father of t s. How does all the war and death in the title work with the poem s first line. This was mainly because german fighters would target the gunners first.
A ball turret features in the poem the death of the ball turret gunner by randall jarrell. Somebody told me this yet again just a couple of hours ago. It was an enclosure that at any time could become an airman s. 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.
Maybe snopes is worth a look. It is about the death of a gunner in a sperry ball turret on a world war ii american bomber aircraft. Does it conflict with anything any word in particular. Magee s friend don jenkins also a veteran of wwii said that being a b 17 gunner was not an easy job during wwii.
Mortality rate avg b 17 ball turret gunner 1943. Garp the main protagonist in john irving s fourth novel the world according to garp 1978 is a severely injured ball turret gunner. From my mother s sleep i fell into the state and i hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.