Ball Turret Gunner Killed Landing

Staff sergeant ralph j.

Ball turret gunner killed landing. The turret was stuck so the gunner couldn t get out and ball turrets were too tight for most gunners to wear a parachute. Getting into the ball turret in the b 17 909 while in flight at bomber camp 2015. It was a manned turret as distinct from remote controlled turrets also in use. Also if the pilot had been able to get one main wheel down the a c would have been far enough off the centerline to avoid a blow to the turret.

Permanently fixed and unable to be retracted there was no hiding from enemy attack. So they couldn t just drop the turret. Staff sergeant james d. Ball turret gunner s tale it was their second mission in berlin special a b 17 flying fortress their four engine bomber was part of the 92nd bomb group 407th squadron of the 8th air force flying out of an airbase near podington a tiny farm village some 40 miles northwest of london during world war ii.

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. It is about the death of a gunner in a sperry ball turret on a world war ii american bomber aircraft. From my mother s sleep i fell into the state and i hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Houtchens 37483248 nebraska killed in action.

At a later date i put together a video to go with it the video was taken from news footage of the time. The landing gear was stuck also and being after a mission the aircraft probably low on fuel. It was an enclosure that at any time could become an airman s. Cassiday 32346219 new york killed in action radio operator.

The death of the ball turret gunner is a five line poem by randall jarrell published in 1945. With also some air to air between the b 17 and at 6. Leffelman 19112019 washington killed in action waist gunner. Rolling the aircraft into a flaming ball on the runway isn t going to help the ball gunner.

Inspired me to compose some music. One of the poems the death of the ball turret gunner. The turret held the gunner two heavy machine guns ammunition and sights. I have heard the survival stories of a ball gunner inside on a crash landing in which the turret and gunner were punched into the fuselage.