Ball Turret Gunner Survival Rate

It is about the death of a gunner in a sperry ball turret on a world war ii american bomber aircraft. This was mainly because german fighters would target the gunners first. Ball turret gunners on b 17 bombers were protected only by a glass bubble jutting out from the bowels of the plane.

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Magee s friend don jenkins also a veteran of wwii said that being a b 17 gunner was not an easy job during wwii.

Ball turret gunner survival rate. How does all the war and death in the title work with the poem s first line. From my mother s sleep i fell into the state and i hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. It was common knowledge among soldiers that the b 17 ball turret gunners had a very high casualty rate. Permanently fixed and unable to be retracted there was no hiding from enemy attack.

Mortality rate avg b 17 ball turret gunner 1943. The death of the ball turret gunner quotes. A ball turret features in the poem the death of the ball turret gunner by randall jarrell. It was an enclosure that at any time could become an airman s.

Garp the main protagonist in john irving s fourth novel the world according to garp 1978 is a severely injured ball turret gunner. The ball turret ended up proving to be the safest position in a b17. History suicide missions. But i presently have no details.

Flight engineer top turret gunner they are both there every sunday from 10 am till 4 pm sitting under the wing of the picadilly lilly a b 17 that they are encouraging people to help restore by donations t shirts sales etc. 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. Do yourself a favor and go and shake hands with these two men and. Death and the gunner.

The ball turret gunner was one of the most dangerous assignments in world war ii. The turret gunner was curled up in a ball presenting a rather small target. The reasons for this were. 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.

Warfare the death of the ball turret gunner title right from the start jarrell confronts the reader with ideas and images of war. Does it conflict with anything any word in. Maybe snopes is worth a look. Ball turret gunners.

So was the ball turret position the most dangerous position on the plane. 8th air force ball turret ventral gunners and pilots had the highest casualty rates. The ball turret had a steel for that protected the gunners back. Somebody told me this yet again just a couple of hours ago.

The father of t s. The death of the ball turret gunner is a five line poem by randall jarrell published in 1945.