Ball Turret Gunner Size

I was 5 8 a little tall for the turret but i accepted the assignment which some deemed as a suicide position my dad points out.

Ball turret gunner size. Just wanted to share some cool pics of ball turret gunners from the 388th bomb group. Jarrell who served in the army air forces provided the following explanatory note. A ball turret was a particular form of spherical form altazimuth mount movement manned aircraft gun turret accommodating the gunner with nearly all the needed equipment for defensive firepower except for the ammunition storage mounted either within or onto the spherical shell of the turret structure mounted on aircraft during world war ii the most common one was manufactured by the sperry. The sperry ball turret was under the plane as seen in the photo.

Airman in the bubble were hunched over almost in a fetal position knees up to chin machine gun controls inches away. At the height of world war ii allied bombing missions often include hundreds of boeing b 17 flying fortresses that strike deep behind enemy lines. The ball turret gunner would be hunched legs bent with his feet in stirrups on each side of the 13 inch diameter armored glass panel. 66 years after the crash he still remembers his part of world war ii.

The turret held the gunner two heavy machine guns ammunition and sights. 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. Hunched upside down in his little. 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.

Gunner mason howe survives these harrowing missions while operating one of the plane s most innovative defenses. The ball turret gun. Size mattered when it came to selecting ball turret gunners. Getting into the ball turret in the b 17 909 while in flight at bomber camp 2015.

See much more from sgt lester schrenk. Nasm si 80 20353 aerial gunnery training had a make do try anything quality resulting in the design of 16 types of outdoor ranges. I have been doing tons of research on ball turret gunners over the last few years and im interested in acquiring any items related to ball turret gunners during wwii especially photos and i d d medals. It was a manned turret as distinct from remote controlled turrets also in use.

The ball turret gunner from b17 42 31377 pot o gold crashed on 22 feb 1944 tells in ball turret about his job.