Ball Turret availability

[Pat Carry]

If I were restoring a B-17 (I'm not) and was in need of a ball turret, where would I get one? Are they still available someplace? How about the Norden bombsite. Are they still out there? Just curious

[Cvairwerks]

Last Norden I saw for sale was in the mid to upper 4 digits....turrets occasionally come out of the woodworks.

[JohnB]

The local veterans museum has a display of a B-17 nose piece with a Norden placed in it.

I know that Nordens are fairly common, but the museum said it got the nose in its original wrappings. It's perfect.

So, stuff is out there.

[mike furline]

A simple google search of "Norden Bombsight For Sale" brought up several, some on ebay, some not.

[TheBigBadGman]

Good question. I guess those in the know would prefer to stay in the dark.

Ray's Lucky Thirteen project will certainly need turrets at some point in the future.

[Taigh Ramey]

The Sperry upper and ball turret seem to be the hardest turrets to find. The Martin 250 CE upper turret is about the most common turret today with more survivors around.

[warbirdcrazy]

Ball turrets are very hard to find. This is why a new one has is being made currently by Harland Avezzie for the Desert Rat B-17E. Harland has already cast several of the parts needed for this. For more pics please visit our website. www.vintageaviationmuseum.com

[Jerry O'Neill]

Yes, Harland is doing some great things for the turret world. He had molds made and is casting new ball turret parts. I've seen them and it's pretty amazing work.

[CoastieJohn]

I was watching a new Youtube last night (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1YhnjAxtTI) and it looks like the philosophy at this place is if you're going to invest the time to make one part, you may as well make a dozen of them while you're at it.