The Ball Turret Gunner

Made of plexiglas and about four feet in diameter the ball turret was a sphere attached to the bottom of b 17s. The ball turret gunner was one of the most dangerous assignments in world war ii. As a child he spent time in los angeles where his grandparents lived and he would later write movingly about the city in the lost world one of his best known poems.

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The Ball Turret Gunner Was One Of The Most Dangerous Assignments

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I M Amazed By The Ball Turret Gunners Of Wwii Sitting In A Tiny

Permanently fixed and unable to be retracted there was no hiding from enemy attack.

The ball turret gunner. 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. The poet s own explanation of the poem was 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. The death of the ball turret gunner is a short violent poem showing more than just how brutal war can be. Armed with two 50 caliber machine guns and capable of rotating 360 degrees the ball.

The poem written by randall jarrell makes the soldiers out to be puppets with no. Hunched upside down in his little sphere he looked like the fetus in the womb. It was an enclosure that at any time could become an airman s coffin. The poem is only five lines.

When this gunner tracked with his machine guns a fighter attacking his bomber from below he revolved with the turret. The death of the ball turret gunner by randall jarrell about this poet poet and critic randall jarrell was born in nashville tennessee. Randall jarrell wrote his poem the death of the ball turret gunner in 1945 having recently returned himself from serving in the army air force during world war ii. The death of the ball turret gunner from my mother s sleep i fell into the state from my mother s sleep i fell into the state the academy of american poets is the largest membership based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting american poets.

A ball turret was a spherical shaped altazimuth mount gun turret fitted to some american built aircraft during world war ii. Ball turret gunners on b 17 bombers were protected only by a glass bubble jutting out from the bowels of the plane. A ball turret is a rotating ball with mounted machine guns located underneath the aircraft. When this gunner tracked with his machine guns a fighter attacking his bomber from below he revolved with the turret.

The gunner sits inside the ball. It was a manned turret as distinct from remote controlled turrets also in use. The gunner sits inside the ball. The turret held the gunner two heavy machine guns ammunition and sights.

The name arose from the turret s spherical housing. Hunched upside down in his little sphere he looked like the fetus in the womb.