Injuries from flak accounted for more loss of life among the B-17 crews than any other factor. He was flying a Messerschmitt-109 (fighter). US MILITARIA FORUM - COLLECTORS PRESERVING HISTORY From this sphere, a gunner, upside down, could track the enemy, revolving as he let fly with his machine guns. Flak jackets and electrically heated flight suits provided some relief from the bitterly cold, sub-zero temperatures, but the uninsulated ball kept the gunner's hands and feet numb. They were fully aware of how susceptible to death they were, nevertheless, they would continue to fight time after time. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. If the power system and hydraulics were knocked out an emergency hand crank could be inserted into the gearing mechanism of the turret and it could be returned to the neutral position to allow the crewman to exit the turret. Wearing flak jackets and electrically heated flight suits, the gunners were ready to enter the uninsulated sphere that, if they did not react quick enough, would make them vulnerable to enemy fire. Size mattered when it came to selecting ball turret gunners. By all accounts, the ball was very small and very cramped. Once the B-17 was in the air, the gunner would enter the turret . 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. Location of the Ball Turret in a B-17. [2][3] The turret held the gunner, two heavy machine guns, ammunition, and sights. It wasn't until I was about 9-years-old that I realized the impossibility. The turret mounted two Browning 50 caliber machine guns that would fire 750 to 850 bullets in a minute , that's about 14 bullets a second. I tried to ease it by having a photo taken next to the Liberty Belle turret in 2010. In "Why Soldiers Won't Talk," Steinbeck uses the imagery of a body waking up from anesthesia to describe. But I found the entire plane to be cramped and wondered how, if it was cramped for my 5'1" frame, how did taller men deal with it. 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. It served a double purpose, defense against bow attacks as well as fire suppression and offensive strafing in antisubmarine warfare. If you need to flag this entry as abusive. Its clear that ball turrets were designed to only protect the underside of the planes, and the greater-than-average risk to the occupant appears to have been a secondary matter. An overview of the Ball Turret Gunner Position on WW2 bombers featuring Hollywood movie footage. $0.99 + $1.09 shipping. Veering off course, heading for Sweden, I watched as it was blown up. 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. Dad was a 20-year old young man when Pearl Harbor was attacked. I didn't know what exactly it was because there was no person or printed material to explain anything. 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. Sadly, a number of B-17s and crews were lost enroute. I just know that everything in the 8th AAF was so well documented I thought I would have read about it. I remember watching it when I was young. The secondary target was the Kumarkische-Zellewolle Viscose Fiber factory at Wittenburg, Germany. We should have been blown to bits. "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" was written by Randall Jarrell in 1955. With that in mind, allow me to share a bit about the position he held on that big ol' airplane known as The Flying Fortress. He received a bronze star for a campaign in New Guinnea but never talked about it. I have a question for the forum members to ponder. Pilots navigated. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose. Thank you for sharing. He saw me and he gave me the OK sign, Burling remembered. 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. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. He knew they were going to make it. 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. ", But if the Brits were ambivalent, the Dutch more than made up for it. 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.. I didnt want to go down in flames so I tried everything to escape, he said. This was the same for the return flight. He was a staff sergeant and ball turret gunner who contorted himself to squeeze into the clear, plastic bubble on the underbelly of the massive aluminum bird. As you get in, take these steps carefully and in proper order. It was a manned turret, as distinct from remote-controlled turrets also in use. He was back in the US before the Battle of the Bulge began on December 16, 1944. Frank and the crew stayed there for a few days while the B-24 mechanics repaired the B-17 engines. During the oral history interview Frank asked for a moment to collect his thoughts. Our servicemen, past and present, are amazing people!!! (LogOut/ Despite the strong association with the aircraft, the B-17 was not originally designed with a ball turret. Tail Gunner: The pilot and co-pilot. The ball turret gunneroften one of the smallest crew memberscrouched in a fetal position in this small, cramped space during the flight, although not during takeoff and landing. On the ends of the grips were the buttons to fire the guns. Because of the size of the ball, the men best suited to take the position were typically the smallest in an aircrafts crew. My father was a co-pilot for B-17s. He wrote, When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.. Flight suits were heated and insulated but the crew often reported icicles on their eyebrows and frostbite around their mouths. It would take equal damage on both sides to jam the gear. 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. After gunnery school at Laredo Army Air Field, Texas, and ten days leave, Sergeant Perez reported to Salt Lake City Army Air Field, Utah, where flight crews were being formed. Frank was still in the ball turret and was there for the entire mission. Der Tod des Kugelturmschtzen") ist ein 1945 verffentlichtes fnfzeiliges Gedicht von Randall Jarrell.Das Gedicht handelt vom Tod eines Bordschtzen in einem kugelfrmigen Sperry-Browning-MG-Turm eines amerikanischen Bombers whrend des Zweiten Weltkriegs.. Jarrell, der selbst in der Army Air Force diente, fgte dem Gedicht folgende . Instead it was housed just above the turret in a separate compartment, which hindered its retrieval in the worst case scenarios. Frankwas very active in his church and his community. Taller men would have struggled in the cramped, tiny space. I also remember watching this as a kid, I did not like the ending. Two hundred, ten thousand airmen flew over Europe. In the 1941 B-17E model, the tub was replaced with the famous ball turret. See much more from Sgt Lester Schrenk! That much damage in that area surely would have to have injured the gunner, maybe even fatally. Gunners protected, constantly twisting and turning -- checking for enemy fighter aircraft. Every person involved in fighting or caring for the wounded in World War II had a risk to their life. The waist blisters were a poor design that caused considerable drag, disturbed airflow, and limited the gunners traverse. I knew we had lost an engine and I thought we were going down. Later in the war the US Navy also used ball turrets on their PB4Y-1 Liberator and PB4Y-2 Privateer bombers with less-dangerous positions on the plane at the side or the front below the cockpit. The design was mainly deployed on the B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-24 Liberator, as well as the United States Navy's Liberator, the PB4Y-1. Michelle, In 1942 my father was classified as 4F due to a heart defect. The poem was written later in Jarrell's service career. For 1941 this was cutting edge technology. Small, tight, difficult to escape from and with minimal visibility, the ball turret was a sphere of danger. He always had a passion for life and considered every day a blessing. Also, one of my uncles was a ball turret gunner on B-17s. B-17 models A and B had blister canopies on the waist section of the fuselage armed with machine guns. The poem uses the job of a ball turret gunner to represent birth, death and their similarities. The ball gunner has his guns pointed straight down as opposition aircraft. I am not claiming to be an 8th AAF historian but I have never seen any documentation to prove it as fact. This guy couldn't get out til they got on the ground. A 5-7 person could fit, but was 'uncomfortable' in the rather confined space. He never lost his childhood love for flight. During this time period, Jarrell wrote many poems and novels about the army and the war while he was a celestial training navigator (Pritchard). He said the boy inside was not just killed, he was destroyed. Part of HuffPost News. Sergeant Smith was a ball turret gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress on his first combat mission. In "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner," what does the speaker wake up to? There was no room inside for a parachute, which was left in the cabin above the turret. The poem is about the death of a gunner in a Sperry ball turret on a World War II American bomber aircraft. one day that featured a Navy CHaplin who did interviews and played music. Among the earlier designs was the Martin 250SH bow turret of the PBM-3 twin-engined patrol flying boat which had many points of similarity in design and action. The ventral turret was used in tandem in the Convair B-32, successor to the B-24. 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