Saturday, November 20, 2021

Belly gunner position. If you weren't claustrophobic before,...

 


13 comments:

  1. I've heard a few cases where the B-17 was damaged to the point where ther still occupied ball turret couldn't be retracted, the door was jammed due to battle damage and the landing gear could not be lowered. It didn't end well.

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    1. I don't know the type of aircraft but there was one in use by the RAF where the belly turret was external, couldn't be retracted. Those guys in there were the bravest of the brave.

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    2. I don't think the ball turret was ever retractable. There was a hatch in the floor of the B-17 where the gunner entered and exited. This photo does not show any sort of standard practice for manning the turret. No disrespect intended for those who served there. Big, big balls they had, even though they were all little guys by necessity.

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    3. On the B-24 they were retractable due to low ground clearance.

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  2. It doesn't look comfortable...

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  3. A job for a 5'2 guy with brass cue balls.

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  4. You know that the guy who designed this never had to actually serve or fight in one of these ball turrents.

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  5. I often wonder why they didn't make that ball a little larger to contain the gunner(with parachute on)and having that door that could be opened for in-flight emergency!

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  6. Balls of Steel. God bless them all.

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  7. The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
    BY RANDALL JARRELL
    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.

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    1. This. This. Read this. Read it again, and again until you think you begin to understand. Then read it over until you fall to your knees thanking your grandparents for what they endured to make this country safe for you little sniveling liberal bastards to riot and "peacefully demonstrate" and burn and loot whenever you think a nonwhite person has been inadequately respected. From the depths of history, the Ball Turret Gunner says "Fuck youse guys. This ain't what I died for."

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    2. daddy was a ball gunner. Technically a flex gunner. Was pissed because he was slightly taller than the tail gunner, and the tail gunner should have been in the ball. The B24 had a retractable ball. Smashed and smeared gunners were very rare. Statistically one of the safest positions on the ship.

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