Warbird Information Exchange

A friend of my dad's was a ball turret gunner on B-17s and flew combat with the 8th AF. Don't know more than that because he wouldn't talk about it...ever. It appeared to be the worst days of his life...scared to death everytime he got in the airplane and did that at least 25 times. No fond memories there, of if they were there, they were overshadowed by terror, horror, or some other emotion that he wanted to stay well away from for the rest of his life.

Jim...thanks for the info on the Colling's foundation ball turrets. I've seen some of your online pictures that you took while flying in the ball turret and they are truly amazing!

As for the casualty rate of gunners during WWII the so called experts actually did a study on all the different gun positions. After looking at casualty data they determined that the ball turret gunner was in fact the safest position on the aircraft. If I remember correctly I think the bombardier was the worst. I personaly think it has to do with the fact that the gunner was curled in a fetal position which decreases your odds of getting hit by flak or fighters. The ball turret was also armored very well with an armored seat/backrest and circular front window (can't remember if the hatch was armored). If the aircraft was going down the ball turret gunner would have to crank the turret with guns pointing vertical, climb out, grab his chest pack and bail out the side door by the waist guns (B-17). However, I've read many instances of ball gunners (if they were short enough) actually being able to stow their chest pack in the ball with them. They would attach one side to their harness and stow it off to the side of them so as not to get in the way while operating the turret. If the plane was hit and there wasn't enough time to get out the traditional way, all the gunner had to do was fasten the other side of the chute to the harness, undo his safety strap, open the crew hatch and simply kick himself out of the turret and into the slip stream.

John