And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Friday, October 19, 2018
What a way to make a paycheck. A 384th Bomb Group tail gunner inside his new “Cheyenne” style position, March 1944.
Upside down, in a powered turret (armor works against anything except the 20mm cannon rounds that the Germans shoot. And if the power line is cut by flak, rockets or bullets, you're just there. You're locked in and often can't get out.
back in 05, at the EAA museum Oshkosh WI i had the opportunity to meet a vet ball turret gunner, we spoke of his survival and the loss of others. very sharp man with a memory that was clear. He spoke of the differences between the sperry and emmerson turrets. he didn't like the emmerson unit. sucked too much electrical power from the aircraft systems and spoke of the 8th AF trying an apu for the turret, but it was a fire hazard and discarded. He had three confirmed and six probable. never ever fuck with short bastards that have that look. you just don't know where they have been or who they have done in.
From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
Still better than being the ball terret gunner !
ReplyDeleteThe ball turret was actually the safest position in a B-17.
DeleteUpside down, in a powered turret (armor works against anything except the 20mm cannon rounds that the Germans shoot. And if the power line is cut by flak, rockets or bullets, you're just there. You're locked in and often can't get out.
DeleteBetter to be the first to die in the tail chair.
back in 05, at the EAA museum Oshkosh WI i had the opportunity to meet a vet ball turret gunner, we spoke of his survival and the loss of others. very sharp man with a memory that was clear. He spoke of the differences between the sperry and emmerson turrets. he didn't like the emmerson unit. sucked too much electrical power from the aircraft systems and spoke of the 8th AF trying an apu for the turret, but it was a fire hazard and discarded. He had three confirmed and six probable.
ReplyDeletenever ever fuck with short bastards that have that look. you just don't know where they have been or who they have done in.
The Death of a Ball Turret Gunner
ReplyDeleteFrom my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
Randall Jarrell