How Many Ball Turret Gunners Were Crushed

Jarrell who served in the army air forces provided the following explanatory note. The ball turret gunner was one of the most dangerous assignments in world war ii. It was an enclosure that at any time could become an airman s.

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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.

How many ball turret gunners were crushed. Hunched upside down in his little. One of the poems the death of the ball turret gunner. Ball turret gunners on b 17 bombers were protected only by a glass bubble jutting out from the bowels of the plane. The turret was stuck so the gunner couldn t get out and ball turrets were too tight for most gunners to wear a parachute.

At a later date i put together a video to go with it the video was taken from news footage of the time. As a ball turret gunner aboard the duchess a b 17 bomber in the 8th air force s 457th bombardment group death was something buczak faced constantly. A ball turret gunner in the belly of a b 17 who was. Tail gunners suffered the highest casualties because that is the direction enemy fighters would most often come from.

So they couldn t just drop the turret. In the following clip from wing and a prayer. Nasm si 80 20353 aerial gunnery training had a make do try anything quality resulting in the design of 16 types of outdoor ranges. Permanently fixed and unable to be retracted there was no hiding from enemy attack.

It was a manned turret as distinct from remote controlled turrets also in use. The ball turret gunner was caught in a. The turret held the gunner two heavy machine guns ammunition and sights. Up into the aircraft had been hit and were jammed.

Our losses were greater than the marines. Inspired me to compose some music. The landing gear was stuck also and being after a mission the aircraft probably low on fuel. 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.

A ball turret was a plexiglas sphere set into the belly of a b 17 or b 24 and inhabited by two 50 caliber machine guns and one man a short small man when this gunner tracked with his machine guns a fighter attacking his bomber from below he revolved with the turret. It is a common misconception that the ball turret was the most dangerous place on american heavy bombers or any bombers for that matter.