Sperry ball turret on a B-17 Flying Fortress - 1942. show full show summary. Remembering his friend and comrade, he said that Magee was a great friend and a kind human being. The ball turret, like this one on a B-17 in England in 1943, was designed small to reduce drag, so its gunner usually was the shortest man in the crew. 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. It was the job of the ball turret gunner, armed with a pair of.50-caliber machine guns, to defend the aircraft from attacks below. Access was severely restricted by the guns' location in the small turret. The ball turret gunner was crushed to death when a mechanical malfunction trapped him inside his plastic cage and a damaged electrical system made it impossible to lower the plane’s wheels. He was considered a perfect fit for the B-17’s ball turret. For those manning that station death was indeed a … [Via]. The space inside the turret was very small and cramped. A-2 jacket worn by Fifteenth Air Force ball turret gunner SSgt Emil Barney. Our colour pasty. The Sperry nose turret was tested and preferred, but its use was limited due to poor availability of suitable aircraft designs. Or maybe he knew the dangers of singing up for the army but had no … When he regained consciousness, as the Germans were taking him to hospital, he exclaimed, ‘Thank God I am alive.” Magee once told his friend that the Germans had great respect for those who survived miraculously. Once the B-17 was in … Barney bailed out and was rescued two days later. Magee had no idea how to control the plane and saw a small opening,  which he quickly jumped through. Everybody else in the plane understood that the [ball turret gunner] was a dead man. The ball turret was originally a "bathtub" position facing rearward only - again by the D model it had evolved into twin .50s. The Ball Turret Gunner tells us how he basically got to be in the army, “From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State” to me this seems like his mother is unaware of her son being in the army. 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. The ball turret gunner has not had a living instant to achieve the self-recognition celebrated by Aries or Yeats's Major Gregory. WWII-era ball turret gunner. Magee had to jump out of it to escape certain death. The ball turret was a hellish place to be. They took off from Molesworth, England, and their target was a German submarine port in France. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose. The gunner released the latch and removed the cover which allowed space to clear the action. The father of T.S. The gunner placed his feet in the heel rests and t… The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner By Randall Jarrell About this Poet Poet and critic Randall Jarrell was born in Nashville, Tennessee. from mortar and bricklaying. He could then open the hatch and would climb in. He was considered a perfect fit for the B-17’s ball turret. The gears that rotated the ball to put the gunner in position to … The Sperry ball turret was very small[clarification needed] in order to reduce drag, and was typically operated by the smallest man of the crew. Bodies crushed and swollen. Magee’s survival story has featured in many magazines and is considered one of the most miraculous survivals of WWII. (NASM (SI-80-20353)) Aerial gunnery training had a make-do, try-anything quality, resulting in the design of 16 types of outdoor ranges. In many cases, when a stoppage occurred, it was necessary for the gunner to "reload" the gun, which required access to the firing chamber of the guns. It was their second mission in “Berlin Special,” a B-17 “Flying Fortress.” Their four-engine bomber was part of the 92nd Bomb Group, 407th Squadron of the 8th Air Force flying out of an airbase near Podington, a tiny farm village some 40-miles northwest of London during World War II. Magee plunged almost 22,000 feet, falling unconscious before crashing into the roof of the St Nazaire railway station. 66 years after the crash he still remembers his part of World War II. This left him positioned with his eyes roughly level with the pair of light-barrel Browning AN/M2 .50 caliber machine guns which extended through the entire turret, located to either side of the gunner. Like a noose of the free. Our crew trained together in the states as a ten man crew with two waist gunners but when we got to England and were assigned to a heavy bomb group, they were flying crews with only one waist gunner instead of two. Being a ball turret gunner was definitely one of the most dangerous assignments during WW2. In a US gun turret the gunner opperated a large wire wound variable resistor called a rheostat which applied the current to the amplidyne. It is about the death of a gunner in a Sperry ball turret on a World War II American bomber aircraft. $4.5 million buys you a P51 Mustang & twenty, yes TWENTY Merlin engines! Death of the Ball Turret Gunner By Randall Jarrell. To remedy that, the front end of the cover was "slotted". Ball Turret Gunner. There are cases in which the ball turret operator could not be released, and if the airplane was damaged so the landing gear could not be lowered, the person inside the turret would be crushed to death. Quite the contrary. Ball turrets appeared in the nose and tail as well as the nose of the final series B-24. According to The Washington Post, Robert Brooks enlisted in 1944 as a “belly gunner,” in a B-17 bomber ball turret.His frame of 5-foot-1 was perfect for the assignment which is considered as one of the most dangerous during World War II. S/Sgt. The space inside the turret was very small and cramped. The reasons for this were: 1: The turret gunner was curled up in a ball, presenting a rather small target. It served a double purpose, defense against bow attacks as well as fire suppression and offensive strafing in antisubmarine warfare. The gunner placed his feet in the heel rests and th… Ball Turret Gunner: Staff Sergeant William H. Cassiday, 32346219, New York – Killed in Action Radio Operator: Staff Sergeant Ralph J. Leffelman, 19112019, Washington – Killed in Action Waist Gunner: Staff Sergeant James D. Houtchens, 37483248, Nebraska – Killed in Action In almost every case, there was not enough room for the ball turret gunner to wear a parachute. Once the aircraft was in enemy territory the ball was rotated so that the door was in the floor of the plane. Our crew trained together in the states as a ten man crew with two waist gunners but when we got to England and were assigned to a heavy bomb group, they were flying crews with only one waist gunner instead of two. Alan Magee decided to join the US Army after Japanese attacked the American fleet at Pearl Harbor. [Via]. 'The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner' is a short, violent poem showing more than just how brutal war can be. The Sperry Corporation designed ventral versions that became the most common version; thus, the term "ball turret" generally indicates these versions. Alan Magee decided to join the US Army after Japanese attacked the American fleet at Pearl Harbor. The ball turret gunner has not had a living instant to achieve the self-recognition celebrated by Aries or Yeats's Major Gregory. A few gunners wore a chest parachute. To get in the turret the gunner would manually crank the guns straight down after take off. Time in Service: 1943-45. So this undated photo shows what looks like a disintegrating turret, and … "He said one time they forgot he was there, and he thought he was going to be crushed. The primary target was Oranienburg, Germany. Since this turret is of the ball type, the gunner moves with his guns and sight in elevation and azimuth by means of control handles. The ball turret, like this one on a B-17 in England in 1943, was designed small to reduce drag, so its gunner usually was the shortest man in the crew. (NASM (SI-80-20353)) Aerial gunnery training had a make-do, try-anything quality, resulting in the design of 16 types of outdoor ranges. The space inside the turret was very small and cramped. The Ball Turret Gunner from B17 42-31377 Pot O´Gold crashed on 22 FEB 1944, tells in BALL TURRET about his job. Alan Magee received the Air Medal for meritorious service and the Purple Heart for his achievements in the war. After testing in mid-1943, the ERCO ball turret became the preferred bow installation in the Navy's Consolidated PB4Y-1 Liberator and PB4Y-2 Privateer patrol bombers although other types continued to be installed. Image credit: Wikipedia. When his bomber came under fire from German anti-aircraft guns, he ran out of options. … It also kept the gunners inside the pressurized cabin, which the earlier bombers did not have. On 3rd January 1943, Magee got into a Flying Fortress bomber on his seventh bombing mission. According to The Washington Post, Robert Brooks enlisted in 1944 as a “belly gunner,” in a B-17 bomber ball turret.His frame of 5-foot-1 was perfect for the assignment which is considered as one of the most dangerous during World War II. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. Ironically, post war analysis of B-17 crew fatality records revealed that the ball turret gunner had the safest job on the plane (with the pilot having the most dangerous). Magee lived another 61 years after his fall during WWII and died of kidney failure and complications from a stroke. [POEM] The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell. The ball-turret gunner was caught in a plastic cage. The Sperry-designed ventral system saw widespread use and production, including much sub-contracting. The Ball Turret Gunner tells us how he basically got to be in the army, “From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State” to me this seems like his mother is unaware of her son being in the army. The name arose from the turret's spherical housing. Permanently fixed and unable to be retracted, there was no hiding from enemy attack. German fighters preferred to attack head-on and aim for the cockpit, and the ball turret gunner could not escape from his position unaided. " Ranked among the luckiest people in the world, Alan E. Magee survived a free fall of almost four miles from a B-17 bomber during a bombing raid in WWII. It was a manned turret, as distinct from remote-controlled turrets also in use. Due to scheduling and additional training received by some members of Frank’s crew, he flew his first combat mission as a ball turret gunner with the Lt Dow C. Pruitt crew on April 18, 1944. Contrary to an answer appearing below, there are no substantiated incidents of ball turret gunners being crushed on … A glimmering of conscious awareness comes to him, if at all, only after the moment of death. From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Ball Turret Gunner: Staff Sergeant William H. Cassiday, 32346219, New York – Killed in Action Radio Operator: Staff Sergeant Ralph J. Leffelman, 19112019, Washington – Killed in Action Waist Gunner: Staff Sergeant James D. Houtchens, 37483248, Nebraska – Killed in Action He also said that during almost 40 years of their friendship, Magee only spoke about the incident three times. When Pirates Kidnapped Julius Caesar He Laughed at Their Ransom Demands & Told Them To Ask for More, Repelled 30 Taliban: 400 Rounds, Launched 17 Grenades, Detonated a Mine, and Used His Tripod as a Weapon, The WWII Ace Whose Helicopter was Attacked by the World’s Largest Snake, Pull Your Finger Out: The Royal Navy Slang You Never Knew You Were Speaking, USS Nevada Found Off Coast Of Pearl Harbour. It was built especially for the PB4Y-1 whose ground clearance calls for a ball turret that can be kept out of the way on takeoffs and landings. There was no room inside for a parachute, which was left in the cabin above the turret. On the day Magee went on the mission of his lifetime, he left his parachute on the bomber’s deck because there was not much space inside the turret. Two of the engines of the B-17 were stopped, about 3,000 pounds of dead weight hanging from the wings. Published in 1945 it drew directly from his own involvement with military aircraft and airmen during WW2. The belly gunners were protected only by a glass bubble which made them an easy target for the enemy. Three months before being shot down, the original crew assigned to the B-17F Snap! On the return leg, the ball turret gunner left his turret once the aircraft had cleared the area in which fighter resistance was a factor. Ball Turret Gunners on B-17 bombers were protected only by a glass bubble jutting out from the bowels of the plane. 2: The ball turret had a steel for that protected the gunners back. Like a noose of the free. unholy tokens of Christ, Nailed to a tree (That) You hang around your neck. The ball turret gunner was usually the shortest crewmember. His bomber was spinning mid-air and spiralling towards the ground. Not according to this study http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/woundblstcs/chapter9.htm It found waist gunners had the most but there were 2. The hardware has survived; the soft flesh has been crushed. It was the job of the ball turret gunner, armed with a pair of .50-caliber machine guns, to defend the aircraft from attacks below. The Sperry ball turret was very small in order to reduce drag, and was typically operated by the shortest man of the crew. The city was the site of a Nazi nuclear energy project. The city was the site of a Nazi nuclear energy project. He could then open the hatch and would climb in. To get in the turret the gunner would manually crank the guns straight down after take off. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. Small ammunition boxes rested on the top of the turret and additional ammunition belts fed the turret by means of a chute system. The Sperry Lower Retractable Ball mounted in the belly of the PB4Y-1, is the deadly and efficient defender of the bomber's once soft underside. He was released in May 1945. After the war, Magee did not discuss his ordeal or his survival story with anyone. 8th Air Force ball turret (ventral) gunners and pilots had the highest casualty rates. He would put on a safety strap and close and lock the turret door. He was 24, and was one of the ten-man crew of the B-17 bomber. A ball turret features in the poem "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner", by Randall Jarrell. Then the crank to put him back up didn't work," Charlotte said. The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner. To enter the turret, the turret was moved until the guns were pointed straight down. Once inside he could turn on the turrets electrical and hydraulic power. Statistically, the ball turret was one of the safest crew positions during WWII as ball turret gunners had the lowest loss rate. This happened while Andy Rooney was in England reporting a news story. He felt a need to enlist in the Army and defend his country. I was trained as a waist gunner so how did I end up in the most hated position on the B-17 as the lower ball turret gunner? To enter the turret, the turret was moved until the guns were pointed straight down. He'd be crushed." Armed with two 50-caliber machine guns and capable of rotating 360 degrees, the ball turret gunner was responsible for protecting the otherwise-exposed underbelly of the flying fortress. [POEM] The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell. A ball turret was a spherical-shaped, altazimuth mount gun turret, fitted to some American-built aircraft during World War II. Ironically, post war analysis of B-17 crew fatality records revealed that the ball turret gunner had the safest job on the plane (with the pilot having the most dangerous). | The mission Magee was a part of turned out to be a failure for the Allied forces. Britannic: A Century After Being Lost to the Waves, Opened to Divers, The 10,000 room German WW2 resort complex never had a single guest, now luxury beachfront Condos, The “Red Zone” In France Is So Dangerous that 100 Years After WWI It Is Still A No-Go Area. It wasn’t easy what they had to go through. See much more from Sgt Lester Schrenk! And it often went to the shortest man among the crew. He is buried in San Angelo, Texas. Crackle! Crackle! Our colour pasty. They told me that Marshall Yorra, waist gunner, and Joe Reljac, tail gunner, had been crushed on the flight deck when the tremendous force of water hitting the top turret had collapsed it on top of them. Ray H. Peterson, T/Sgt, B-17G Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner, United States Army Air Forces, Eighth Air Force, 305 th Bomb Group, 366 th Bomb Squadron, Airbase: Chelveston, England. Source: 303rd BG  [Via]. A reflector sight was hung from the top of the turret, positioned roughly between the gunner's feet. The gunner placed his feet in the heel rests and occupied his cramped station. From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. According to an article in Snopes regarded a Reagan anecdote, there is a story by Andy Rooney(in his book “My War”) about a stuck ball-turret gunner who was crushed when his B-17 had to belly land. The cocking handles were located too close to the gunner to be operated easily, so a cable was attached to the handle through pulleys to a handle near the front of the turret. The US Army lost 75 airmen, along with 7 planes, while 47 planes were badly damaged. To enter the turret, the turret was moved until the guns were pointed straight down. I was trained as a waist gunner so how did I end up in the most hated position on the B-17 as the lower ball turret gunner? The Sperry ball turret was very small in order to reduce drag, and was typically operated by the shortest man of the crew. On the 23rd of September 1995 Alan E. Magee, accompanied by his wife Helen, returned to St Nazaire to take part in a ceremony sponsored by French citizens, dedicating a memorial to his seven fellow crewmen killed in the crash of Snap! 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. Garp, the main protagonist in John Irving's fourth novel The World According to Garp (1978), is a severely injured ball turret gunner. Once the aircraft was in enemy territory the ball was rotated so that the door was in the floor of the plane. But he was not aware that he had jumped in a 4-mile drop without his parachute. Bodies crushed and swollen. Earlier designs appeared in other patrol seaplanes. Our accents thick. Ball Turret Gunners on B-17 bombers were protected only by a glass bubble jutting out from the bowels of the plane. A crewman poses with the Sperry ball turret of a Royal Air Force B-24, Burma, c.1943-1945, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Development of Aircraft Gun Turrets in the AAF, 1917-1944, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ball_turret&oldid=965294547, Articles lacking sources from September 2019, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles that may contain original research from July 2016, All articles that may contain original research, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from July 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, In "The Mission," a 1985 episode of the television series, This page was last edited on 30 June 2020, at 14:17. The ball turret gunner was one of the most dangerous assignments in World War II. The ventral turret was used in tandem in the Convair B-32, successor to the B-24. The name arose from the turret's spherical housing. The gunner never entered the turret before take off. In the case of the B-24, the Liberator's tricycle landing gear design mandated that its A-13 model Sperry ball turret have a fully retractable mount, so that the ball turret would always be retracted upwards into the lower fuselage while the aircraft was on the ground, providing ground clearance with it in the stowed position. The Sperry ball turret was cleary in need of replacement. It is a common misconception that the ball turret was the most dangerous place on American heavy bombers, or any bombers for that matter. When Magee’s bomber reached the French town of St Nazaire, it came under heavy fire from German anti-aircraft guns. The ball turret ended up proving to be the safest position in a B17. "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" is a five-line poem by Randall Jarrell published in 1945. In total, there were 85 B-17s involved in the raid, along with some fighter planes escorting them. Hands like shovels. In November 1944, his B-17 fell out of control over the Adriatic Sea after being attacked by Bf 109s. The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner Randall Jarrell - 1914-1965 From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Another factor was that not all stoppages could be corrected by charging (cocking) the guns. unholy tokens of Christ, Nailed to a tree (That) You hang around your neck. Actual Nose Art panel from crashed B-17 at St. Nazaire, France – 03 January 1943 [Via]. 3: The turret … Our accents thick. In the TV series Season 1, Episode 6 there is a very similar story of the Ball Turret gunner being trapped in his turret after FLAK damage with the real possibility of being crushed upon landing due to landing gear damage as well. Who was this gunner? He was considered a perfect fit for the B-17’s ball turret. The ball-turret gunner was trapped in the plastic bubble hanging beneath the B-17. Magee stayed in various German camps as a Prisoner of War. Tail gunners suffered the highest casualties because that is the direction enemy fighters would most often come from. As a child, he spent time in Los Angeles, where his grandparents lived, and he would later write movingly about the city in “The Lost World,” one of his best-known poems. Normally, the gunner accessed the firing chamber by releasing a latch and raising the cover to a position perpendicular to the gun but this was not possible in the ball turret. Randall Jarrell - 1914-1965. Magee was 5-foot-7 and could barely fit into the small space inside the turret. Not according to this study http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/woundblstcs/chapter9.htm It found waist gunners had the most but there were 2. In Band of Brothers, Malarkey Asks a German POW Where he Was From, He Answered Eugene, Oregon. Alan E. Magee poses for the camera, halfway into the tight confines of the ball turret of a B-17 Flying Fortress. Randall Jarrell's poem The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner can be found in many anthologies and is his most well known work. Ball Turret Gunner. I know it was a concern to him, but fortunately, he made it through the war without an issue with the ball. Did That Actually Happen? The belly gunners were protected only by a glass bubble which made them an easy target for the enemy. The gunner never entered the turret before take off. The bomber took a couple of nasty blows on its wing and engine; it started spiralling towards the ground, and was spinning at a very high speed. Pop! 26 missions. I know it was a concern to him, but fortunately, he made it through the war without an issue with the ball. The gunner was forced to assume a fetal position within the turret with his back and head against the rear wall, his hips at the bottom, and his legs held in mid-air by two footrests on the front wall. Hands like shovels. As a child, he spent time in Los Angeles, where his grandparents lived, and he would later write movingly about the city in “The Lost World,” one of his best-known poems. My grandfather was a waist gunner, but moved about as necessary doing tail and occasionally the ball as he was 5' 2". Fun Fact: American poet Randall Jarrell wrote a five-line poem called “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” which was published in 1945. With the E model, the top twin guns were moved directly behind the cockpit with the Bendix powered turret, which was manned by the Flt Eng. Statistically, the ball turret was one of the safest crew positions during WWII as ball turret gunners had the lowest loss rate. Now he is 87! Sperry and Emerson Electric each developed a ball turret, and the designs were similar in the nose turret version. The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner . This was mainly because German fighters would target the gunners first. He felt a need to enlist in the Army and defend his country. in the forest at La Baule Escoublac on Jan. 3, 1943. The turret held the gunner, two heavy machine guns, ammunition, and sights. Once inside he could turn on the turrets electrical and hydraulic power. Pop! Development of the spherical Emerson was halted. The primary target was Oranienburg, Germany. He felt a need to enlist in the Army and defend his country. True? Sperry ball turret on a B-17 Flying Fortress - 1942. show full show summary. Due to scheduling and additional training received by some members of Frank’s crew, he flew his first combat mission as a ball turret gunner with the Lt Dow C. Pruitt crew on April 18, 1944. The Sperry ball turret, meant for ventral defense needs on aircraft, was used on both the B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-24 Liberator as well as the United States Navy's Liberator, the PB4Y. A glimmering of conscious awareness comes to him, if at all, only after the moment of death. The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner By Randall Jarrell About this Poet Poet and critic Randall Jarrell was born in Nashville, Tennessee. The Sperry Ball Turret was under the plane as seen in the photo. The Sperry ball turret, meant for ventral defense needs on aircraft, was used on both the B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-24 Liberator as well as the United States Navy's Liberator, the PB4Y. 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. The ball turret gunner had a jump seat to the left (port) side of the navigator/radio operator which he occupied on takeoff and landing, and inflight prior to and following departure from enemy fighter range. The conventional landing gear of the B-17 meant that the ball turret did not need to be retracted for clearance on the ground, but if the plane was required to do a belly landing (such as in the case of landing gear system failure), the ball turret would likely be destroyed due to the lack of clearance, meaning anyone occupying the turret would be in a precarious position if unable to escape. #41-24620 (PU-O), under Jacob W. Fredericks, from October 14, 1942. A ball turret was a spherical-shaped, altazimuth mount gun turret, fitted to some American-built aircraft during World War II. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. The four officers had managed to clamber aboard the other raft; three had been injured in the ditching. Permanently fixed and unable to be retracted, there was no hiding from enemy attack. Magee’s friend, Don Jenkins, also a veteran of WWII, said that being a B-17 gunner was not an easy job during WWII. The ball turret gunner was one of the most dangerous assignments in World War II. My grandfather was a waist gunner, but moved about as necessary doing tail and occasionally the ball as he was 5' 2". It was common knowledge among soldiers that the B-17 ball turret gunners had a very high casualty rate. Alan Magee decided to join the US Army after Japanese attacked the American fleet at  Pearl Harbor. From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. from mortar and bricklaying. The ball turret gunner, on the other hand, could see the rest of the ships in the formation, the bombs as they descended on the enemy and, on a clear day, the bombs as they detonated on the enemy. The hardware has survived; the soft flesh has been crushed. Ball turret gunner’s tale . Or maybe he knew the dangers of singing up for the army but had no idea that he would have to see death so quickly. 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