Once in, the door was closed shut, and he placed his feet into stirrups in front of him, holding the triggers above his head. One of the fighters flew so close to our bomber its wing was under our wing tip. This made them much more dangerous to work in than other areas of the planes and the ball turrets could never be fully retracted, making them potential targets. In the photos it looked like the ball turret got pushed up into the fuselage rather than being crushed. Each turret contained 2 .50-caliber machine guns which could be moved to hone in on enemy targets. April 19, 1944, Frankssecond combat mission, he rejoined the Connolly crew. The plane was losing altitude fast and. More from us: The Mark 14 Torpedo Scandal of 1941-43, Poet Randall Jarrell, who served in the US Army Air Forces, outlined the terrifying and grim nature of being a ball turret gunner in his poem, The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner. Another time, we glean a little more. "[1] Most commentators agree, calling the poem a condemnation of the dehumanizing powers of "the State", which are most graphically exhibited by the violence of war. Pilots navigated. My Dad relates, "I saw one of our planes -- right next to me -- shot down. Despite the strong association with the aircraft, the B-17 was not originally designed with a ball turret. What happened that day, a (Junker) JU-88, German twin-engine attack bomber, flew into our formation of B-17s and tore into us. Originating from air bases in England, the B-17s left to attack enemy targets in broad daylight because The Air Force believed in precision bombing -- bombing to hit a specific target. I could see our bombs fall away, the 87-year-old local resident recalled. The spherical manned ball turrets, deployed mainly on the bottoms of B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers, were very small in order to . The bomber is flying at a very high altitude and the speaker's life before war (even life itself), left far below, feels like an illusion. I'm the proud daughter of a World War II veteran. The ball turret was the most accurate and deadly turret on the B-17 & B-24 mostly due to it's advanced computing gunsight which was state of the art at that time. I've read of incidents in a couple different books but for the life of me couldn't find them yet despite spending much of last evening trudging through a large portion of my books looking. If you go about it right, getting into the turret is as safe as climbing into a rocking chair. I SAW A GREAT MANY TRAIN STATIONS AND NOT ONE WAS FREE OF ANY DAMAGE. The Dornier Do 19 was a long-range strategic heavy bomber that faced off against the Junkers Ju 89 as part. Two enemy fighters stayed right with us. The waist blisters were a poor design that caused considerable drag, disturbed airflow, and limited the gunners traverse. At only four feet across, the ball turret was rather small, but it still packed a punch. September 26, 2012 in MILITARY AIRCRAFT & AVIATION. Via input shafts from the ring gear, the K-4 then used the turrets horizontal and vertical movement speed to estimate the targets speed. =). See video, B-17 with 19 guns! (LogOut/ Motivational speaker, consultant, author, blogger. I guess that didn't matter since your dad was over six feet. He spent almost a month recuperating and then was grounded for weeks. All rights reserved. A nightmare situation to be sure. He understood. The Sperry-designed ventral system saw widespread use and production, including much sub-contracting. Each turret contained 2 .50-caliber machine guns which could be moved to hone in on enemy targets. A ball turret was a spherical-shaped, altazimuth mount gun turret, fitted to some American-built aircraft during World War II. ", Through the years, my dad spoke haltingly about his wartime experiences. It was named the Sperry turret, after the company that made them; the Sperry Corporation. Ball turret gunner. This guy couldn't get out til they got on the ground. As fate would have it, Frank knew many of the military personnel at the B-24 base. 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. I just came across this article. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. They also received shooting practice on the ground and in tester aircraft. Needless to say, my Dad made it through the war. Permanently fixed and unable to be retracted, there was no hiding from enemy attack. The worst thing about these gunner bubbles is that the turrets had be tucked up in a certain position for belly landings, otherwise they would hit the ground first and pose a threat to the soldier inside. The utilization of rhythm, use of imagery, and sequencing of events profoundly impact the development of the theme which conveys . Randall Jarrell, "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" from, Time and the Thing-in-Itself in a Textbook. Obviously that's a B-17 not a B-24 so that might be different as . The turret was stuck so the gunner couldn't get out, and ball turrets were too tight for most gunners to wear a parachute. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. I would like to know the Bomb Group, the Bomb Squadron. Ball turrets were eventually abandoned in later aircraft in favour of remote controlled systems, and then radar aimed turrets in aircraft like the B-52. My British father-in-law served in the 8th Army under Montgomery and saw action at Dunkirk, Normandy and throughout Europe. The turret on the B-24, however was retractable, as it hung much lower down. I grew up believing the tale my father told me -- that I had spent World War II being toted around on his back. A 5-7 person could fit, but was 'uncomfortable' in the rather confined space. This is a mix between sci-fi and fantasy. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. Sadly, a number of B-17s and crews were lost enroute. 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. Small, tight, difficult to escape from and with minimal visibility, the ball turret was a sphere of danger. Lines 1-2. Now that shows what kind of catastrophic damage would immobilize the turret with the gunner in it. He handed it to me, Bob said. He talked about the terrible flak that ripped holes in the plane. If a B-17 did have to be belly-landed with a man trapped in the ball turret, I am pretty sure they would have also picked a field to land on rather than a concrete runway. The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" was written around the end of World War II in 1945 by Randall Jarrell. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. In "Why Soldiers Won't Talk," Steinbeck uses the imagery of a body waking up from anesthesia to describe. My dad was never in the war because of his health history and being 4F. Dad didn't talk much about the war, but I think he'd be tickled that I'm writing a blog about Ball Turret Gunners. Frankcalled the pilot on the intercom. The base was about two miles east of Corby, Northampshire, England. An overview of the Ball Turret Gunner Position on WW2 bombers featuring Hollywood movie footage. The spherical manned ball turrets, deployed mainly on the bottoms of B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers, were very small in order to . It was a manned turret, as distinct from remote-controlled turrets also in use. The Connolly crew then went to Sioux City Army Air Base in Iowa for advanced overseas crew training. To enter the turret, the turret was moved until the guns were pointed straight down. D.O.B: 3 February 1922 A bombers ball turret position is often looked at with fear in ones eyes, being suspended underneath a bomber with 30,000 ft between you and the ground. Ball Turret Gunners on B-17 bombers were protected only by a glass bubble jutting out from the bowels of the plane. He was thin and wiry to be sure, but according to his driver's license he was 6'1". Did you intend this? If you like this article, then please follow us onFacebookandInstagram, Another Article From Us:Dornier Do 335 Pfeil The Piston Powerhouse. He is retired and lives in Grantville, MD. Bob Burling holds up his leather flying jacket with the bombs on the back representing 31 combat missions he flew over Nazi-occupied Europe in a B-17 bomber during World War II. By that time, thousands of airmen had perished over the skies of Europe. That trauma changed him and the course of his life.Thanks for sharing a bit of your family history. The bomber was so badly damaged that, on landing, the airplane's structure failed from battle damage and it broke in half. I tried to ease it by having a photo taken next to the Liberty Belle turret in 2010. Via: US National Archives. [I] had my whole life flash before me from the time I was a little kid to that moment. Since this turret is of the ball type, the gunner moves with his guns and sight in elevation and azimuth by means of control handles. Once training was complete, aerial gunners were sent out to operational bomber units as crewmen, serving as waist gunners, tail gunners, or most physically demanding, as ball turret gunners. It's easy! [1] The name arose from the turret's spherical housing. It was mounted above and in front of the gunners head, so its reticule would be in line with his eyes. Then he called anyone. No answer. The hose was a steam hose. But when I said that, at that instant, everything was just as peaceful as it can get. The name arose from the turret's spherical housing. Already a well-known poet and professor, Jarrell had enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942 but washed out of the flight part of his pilot's training program. At their height, the schools were pumping out 3,500 graduates a week, producing approximately 300,000 by the end of the war. Small windows allowed them to see under the plane, but not above. Hot meals. He now lives in Lazy River Mobile Home Park in North Port, Fla. Photo provided. The Sperry Corporation designed ventral versions that became the most common version; thus, the term "ball turret" generally indicates these versions.[4]. Taller men would have struggled in the cramped, tiny space. I remember watching it when I was young. Liberator. The gunner held two joysticks in either hand, one to pivot the ball and the other to trigger the firing mechanism for the machine guns. Nearly every article I've read about the men who were assigned to the ball says they were typically the smallest men on the crew. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. The poem was written later in Jarrell's service career. In the tulips were spelled out the words, "Thank you Yanks. In 1943 the Ground Echelon of the 401st BG stayed at CampShanks before boarding the Queen Mary in New York City to cross the Atlantic Ocean to England. 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. By the end of a battle (which he never spoke of) he was promoted to captain. "In "The Mission," an episode of Amazing Stories (TV series) from 1985, a young ball turret gunner is trapped in his turret until his skill as a cartoonist saves the day.". Crackle! Powered by Invision Community. It was able to turn on two axis; 360 degrees horizontally and 90 degrees vertically. It was a sickening site. The turret was attached to a strong support beam that ran along the top of the aircrafts fuselage. This left him positioned with his eyes roughly level with the pair of light-barrel Browning AN/M2 .50 caliber machine guns which extended through the entire turret, located to either side of the gunner. It was a manned turret, as distinct from remote-controlled turrets also in use. It carried two .50-caliber machine guns and one man, who was usually short and small. After what seemed like an eternity, he saw the White Cliffs of Dover on the English coastline. With the thousands of B-17s in combat it is logical to think it did happen. Tell me about it! "The first in/The last out The most exposed/The least protected. Former Staff Sgt. Magee suffered . In fact, a literal reading of the line is downright confusing. The small size of the ball turret didnt allow for additional equipment to be housed within it. There were over 3,500 bullet and shrapnel holes. The American writer Randall Jarrell published "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" in 1945, the final year of World War II. By The nose cone was painted yellow. The Ball turret itself has inspired works like Steven Spielberg's The Mission. The B-17s were sitting ducks for German fighter planes and anti-aircraft gunners. The city was the site of a Nazi nuclear energy project. 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. Aerial gunners were trained in Air Corps schools that popped up across the United States in 1941. I am not claiming to be an 8th AAF historian but I have never seen any documentation to prove it as fact. To get inside the ball turret, the gunner had to enter through the door located on the floor of the aircraft, positioning the ball so the guns were pointed toward the ground. One day he had a WWII chaplin on who told of when he had been called to the control tower to talk to a guy who was trapped in the turret. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, i woke black! Service career Sperry Corporation, after the company that made them ; the Sperry turret, as it can.. 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