Made of Plexiglas and about four feet in diameter, the ball turret was a sphere attached to the bottom of the airplane. The Sperry Corporation designed ventral versions that became the most common version; thus, the term "ball turret" generally indicates these versions.[4]. Some gunners had to maintain this position on missions of up to 10 hours. From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. The target that day was Kassel, Germany. ", Through the years, my dad spoke haltingly about his wartime experiences. Size mattered when it came to selecting ball turret gunners. The nose cone was painted yellow. September 26, 2012 in MILITARY AIRCRAFT & AVIATION. Rank: Staff Sergeant A trunnion system provided vertical movement. $5.99 + $1.09 shipping. He had to get into one to see why it wasn't working, then redesign them and get the back in the war all within a 6-week period. Via: B-17 flying on a mission over Stuttgart, 1943. The NMUSAF calls it an "urban legend" according to that account. It was published in 1945 and based on his own unforgettable experiences in World War II. After that: three hours of circling the airfield to get in formation -- an absolute necessity to protect themselves against German counter attack. . Staff Sgt. 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. Seems very possible. The link to the story ishttps://www.ww2history.org/war-in-europe/wwii-camp-shanks-new-york-and-a-visit-by-archbishop-spellman/. In "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner," what does the speaker wake up to? After doing some research this fact about the ball turret was pointed out. Twenty-six thousand never returned. Bobgee. Once inside if anything went wrong the spheres were hard to escape from since they were raised and lowered into position via a mechanism that could be easily damaged. -S. McColl. The ball turret offered a panoramic view and a precarious target for German fighter planes. Ball turrets appeared in the nose and tail as well as the nose of the final series B-24. He knew they were going to make it. Left Waist Gunner: 5. The gunner placed his feet in the heel rests and occupied his cramped station. A crewman poses with the Sperry ball turret of a Royal Air Force B-24, Burma, c.1943-1945, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Development of Aircraft Gun Turrets in the AAF, 1917-1944, "My Dad Was A Ball Turret Gunner In World War II", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ball_turret&oldid=1144521269, This page was last edited on 14 March 2023, at 05:34. Arguably one of the worst was as a ball turret gunner. At their height, the schools were pumping out 3,500 graduates a week, producing approximately 300,000 by the end of the war. The ball turret was mounted underneath the aircraft and was used to defend the bomber against aircraft attacking from below. Graduates of the school became a B-24 Liberator Flight Engineer. The gunner looked through a central window between the guns to aim. Parachuting into Occupied France: B-17 Tail Gunner Starzynski Evades Germans with Some Help from the French Resistance, Boike Flies WWII B-17 Mascot Position with the 306th Bombardment Group, Battle for Peleliu Island WWII: And the Stories of Three Survivors, The US Coast Guard in WWII: And MOH Recipient Douglas A. 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Here's what he wrote: There was quite a dscussion about this story on the armyairforces forum. Discharged: October 1944 The waist blisters were a poor design that caused considerable drag, disturbed airflow, and limited the gunners traverse. Change). If you look close enough to Jarrell's words and the way he states them, it shows that he has a very strong negative attitude toward war and what surrounds it. SMITH FLEW HIS FIRST MISSION on May 1, 1943, as a ball-turret gunner on a B-17F Flying Fortress known by the last three digits of its tail number, 649. It served a double purpose, defense against bow attacks as well as fire suppression and offensive strafing in antisubmarine warfare. After what seemed like an eternity, he saw the White Cliffs of Dover on the English coastline. Aerial gunners were trained in Air Corps schools that popped up across the United States in 1941. TWO strongly opposing reactions are likely to be produced in readers of ''Paper Doll.''. Tail Gunner: The pilot and co-pilot. He was thin and wiry to be sure, but according to his driver's license he was 6'1". He was flying a Messerschmitt-109 (fighter). If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. It was the best sight in the world -- second only to spotting the famous White Cliffs of Dover late in the afternoon after completing yet another harrowing mission.". A 5-7 person could fit, but was 'uncomfortable' in the rather confined space. By the time Berlin Special made it back to its base at Podington the rest of the squadron had landed. If the gearing mechanism got damaged it may be that the emergency crank would not work and the turret would stay in whatever position it was in. The plane was flying at treetop level with only two of the four engines working. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. The underside was protected by another blister with a single machine gun. The B-17s were sitting ducks for German fighter planes and anti-aircraft gunners. You need to be a member in order to leave a comment. No answer. The base was about two miles east of Corby, Northampshire, England. In many cases, when a stoppage occurred, it was necessary for the gunner to "reload" the gun, which required access to the firing chamber of the guns. $15.95. A few gunners wore a chest parachute. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Frank said before a combat mission a priest was available to those men who wanted to receive Absolution (part of the Sacrament of Penance). Small, tight, difficult to escape from and with minimal visibility, the ball turret was a sphere of danger. There was no room inside the ball turret for a parachute. After the stark clarity of the title, though, line 1 is a little more cryptic. Due to scheduling and additional training received by some members of Frank's crew, he flew his first combat mission as a ball turret gunner with the Lt Dow C. Pruitt crew on April 18, 1944. Rolling the aircraft into a flaming ball on the runway isn't going to help the ball gunner. After all, he had trained with them in Biloxi, Mississippi. Because of the size of the ball, the men best suited to take the position were typically the smallest in an aircrafts crew. This however quickly flips when the aircraft is shot down, as the gunner has to turn to the turret to the exit position, climb out and put on his parachute, all while the aircraft is falling out the sky. PBY Blister Gunner, Rescue at Rabaul, 1944. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. Later I talked with the crewmen who survived that landing. Frank returned to California and earned a Degree in Agriculture from California Polytechnic University. ", But if the Brits were ambivalent, the Dutch more than made up for it. A diagram depicting how a gunner sits inside a Sperry A2 ball turret. Unfortunately, this was not a very good place for the parachute, as the gunner needed to open the turret door, enter the fuselage and strap themselves in all before the plane crashed. Whoops! Entered Service: 21 November 1942 Bob Burling was 20-years-old when this picture was taken during World War II. The Death Of The Ball Turret Gunner From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. A good friend of mine was a flight engineer on B-17s. It took him 15 years to convince the owner to sell it, and he's . Each turret contained 2 .50-caliber machine guns which could be moved to hone in on enemy targets. Hot meals. "I flew my first mission on a B-17 as a ball turret gunner with the 8th Air Force at the age of 21," he tells me while driving me to school one morning. To warm beds. Powered by Invision Community. I had no idea how cramped it was for the men to go in that thing. A courageous young World War II gunner and aspiring cartoonist, trapped in the belly gun of a B-17 aircraft with the landing gear destroyed, has only his imagination as a force that might be able to save him. It's easy! 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. B-17 Ball Turret Gunner (Dangerous Jobs in History) Simple History 4.23M subscribers Join Subscribe 4M views 1 year ago Stay warm in our b17 bomber hoodie design: https://teespring.com/SH-b17. Another factor was that not all stoppages could be corrected by charging (cocking) the guns. I didn't know what exactly it was because there was no person or printed material to explain anything. Commendations: Distinguished Flying Cross, an Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters, campaign ribbons with three battle stars representing the Normandy Invasion, Northern France, European, African and Middle Eastern Theatre and the Air Offensive in Europe. Staff Sergeant Perez was stationed at Amarillo Army Air Field, Texas, as a B-17 Inspector when WWII ended. After testing in mid-1943, the ERCO ball turret became the preferred bow installation in the US Navy's Consolidated PB4Y-1 Liberator and PB4Y-2 Privateer patrol bombers although other types continued to be installed. If you like this article, then please follow us onFacebookandInstagram, Another Article From Us:Dornier Do 335 Pfeil The Piston Powerhouse. I also remember watching this as a kid, I did not like the ending. I was stuck, Burling said with a tremor in his voice and tears in his eyes more than half a century after the incident. separation from his new bride back home in England. His position resembled the fetal position. I've never known about this, another of those things I don't think to ask about. As Director of the East Anglia Air War Project, he interviewed Frank Perez and many WWII Eighth and NinthArmy Air Force veterans and also members of British communities who grew to know and love (and sometimes marry) the Yanks. The link for information about the project is http://www.angliaairwar.org/. Pintrest. 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. In April 1944 the Connolly crew with other recently formed B-17 crews ferried new B-17s over the Atlantic Ocean northern route and landed in Prestwick, Scotland. By Ball Turret Gunner: 3. After a pause Frank continued his story. Once in, the door was closed shut, and he placed his feet into stirrups in front of him, holding the triggers above his head. The poem's speaker suggests that he slips from the protection of his mother's womb into "the State," where he finds himself in a ball turret (the round compartment on a bomber plane from which a gunner shoots). Then he called anyone. No answer. He was posted to the 360th Bomb Squadron and the 303rd Bomb Group as a Ball Turret Gunner on a Boeing B-17 Bomber known as "Snap! B-17 models A and B had blister canopies on the waist section of the fuselage armed with machine guns. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. Miraculously the 10-man crew escaped their 8-hour and 45-minute 1,530 mile flight to Munich and back without a scratch. Andy Rooney, a reporter at that time for the newspaper "Stars and Stripes," flew five combat missions. The first gunner in any position to spot an enemy plane alerted the rest of the crew via the plane's intercom system. Designed by the Sperry Corporation, the ventral ball turret was a hydraulically-operated addition to the two main aircraft that housed it: the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator. He always had a passion for life and considered every day a blessing. Jarrell, who served in the Army Air Forces, provided the following explanatory note: 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. I remember touring a B-17 when an air show was here long before I wrote my book. I couldnt open my hatch and escape into the plane and I could swivel my turret around. 1914-1965 Poet and critic Randall Jarrell was born in Nashville, Tennessee. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. He thought he was going to be killed and started to pray.
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