US MILITARIA FORUM - COLLECTORS PRESERVING HISTORY. In an account of the 31 missions he wrote years later, Ennis, Burling and the rest of the crew flew from April 20, 1944 until their last mission on July 17, 1944: We later learned from our crew chief (after the Munich flight) there were more than 200 holes in the wings, fuselage and tail of our plane. Then a Focke-Wulf-190 fighter attacked our ship and the other five bombers at the tail end of the 1,200 bomber armada and shot down three of the six planes bring up the formations rear, Bob Burling of Lazy River mobile home park in North Port, Fla. recalled 65 years later. For 1941 this was cutting edge technology. From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. He saved my life and up until his death, I kept in regular contact with him. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, He can look out of his porthole straight down for almost six miles, while battling incoming aircraft, sealed inside an aluminium ball without a parachute. He did not endure the cramped cold that your father did. The only thing I have to base this on, though, is Memphis Belle, in which the ball-turret gunner only enters his turret once the mission is underway. I'm the proud daughter of a World War II veteran. Flak jackets and electrically heated flight suits provided some relief from the bitterly cold, sub-zero temperatures, but the uninsulated ball kept the gunner's hands and feet numb. My hubby says his father rarely spoke of those long 6 yrs. 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. But, when it came to American bomber planes, the risk was far greater for some than for others. Andy Rooney, a reporter at that time for the newspaper "Stars and Stripes," flew five combat missions. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. For defence, two Browning AN/M2 .50 calibre machine guns were squeezed into the turret either side of the gunner. Gunners protected, constantly twisting and turning -- checking for enemy fighter aircraft. I SAW A GREAT MANY TRAIN STATIONS AND NOT ONE WAS FREE OF ANY DAMAGE. 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. By that time, thousands of airmen had perished over the skies of Europe. The Dornier Do 19 was a long-range strategic heavy bomber that faced off against the Junkers Ju 89 as part. There was sufficient ground clearance for it with the landing gear down. And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Randall Jarrell, "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" from, Time and the Thing-in-Itself in a Textbook. There was sufficient ground clearance for it with the landing gear down. Sign up for a new account in our community. Bob served two years, four months and 10 days as part of a B-17 bomber crew in World War II, and his son, Robert, served with the 1st Cavalry in Vietnam. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose. The conventional landing gear of the B-17 allowed for a non-retractable mount, 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. Change). Spouse: Frances It lost two engines and couldn't keep up. (LogOut/ There were plenty of positions during World War II that put a servicemans life at risk. B-17 Ball Turret Gunner. Part of HuffPost News. A ball turret was a spherical-shaped, altazimuth mount gun turret, fitted to some American-built aircraft during World War II. 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. The gunner released the latch and removed the cover which allowed space to clear the action. To warm beds. Currently: North Port, Fla One of the fighters flew so close to our bomber its wing was under our wing tip. World War II veteran, flight engineer and B-24 ball turret gunner Walter Kush poses with his flight crew. Thank you for sharing. He handed it to me, Bob said. guns firing. It would take equal damage on both sides to jam the gear. 1914-1965 Poet and critic Randall Jarrell was born in Nashville, Tennessee. B-17 gunners had a high casualty rate. Development of the spherical Emerson was halted. Which was not ideal, considering all four extremities had jobs to do. Every time we flew above Nazi-occupied Europe and survived it was a miracle. The ball turret gunner was trapped in the plastic bubble beneath the belly of the bomber. Thirty-five hundred were shot down over Europe. Those brave guys endured things we can't imagine. The poem inspired the play "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" by Anna Moench, which premiered in New York City at the New York International Fringe Festival in August 2008 and was extended to play at The Space in Long Island City. Andy Rooney tells the story of a B-17 ball turret gunner traped in the turret and crushed to death when the plane was forced to make a wheels up landing. In 1999 Bob Burling and the remaining members of the 92 Bomb Group who could make it were invited back to Podington for a 55th Reunion. These are the same link Ian? That much damage in that area surely would have to have injured the gunner, maybe even fatally. After all, he had trained with them in Biloxi, Mississippi. Arguably one of the worst was as a ball turret gunner. This young crewman of a US Navy "Dumbo" PBY rescue mission has just jumped into the water of Rabaul Harbor to rescue a badly burned Marine pilot who was shot down while bombing the Japanese-held fortress of Rabaul. Dad didn't talk much about the war, but I think he'd be tickled that I'm writing a blog about Ball Turret Gunners. The turret was stuck so the gunner couldn't get out, and ball turrets were too tight for most gunners to wear a parachute. In "Why Soldiers Won't Talk," Steinbeck uses the imagery of a body waking up from anesthesia to describe. With all of the emergency landings that were madewhy not! From this position a gunner could cover virtually the entire underside of the aircraft with his machine guns. What was the name of the plane or the pilot. Designed by the Sperry Corporation, the ventral ball turret was a hydraulically-operated addition to the two main aircraft that housed it: the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator. Frank Delgado Perez was born in Los Angeles, California, on January 14, 1924. Over twelve thousand B-17s were built by Boeing. If the power system and hydraulics were knocked out an emergency hand crank could be inserted into the gearing mechanism of the turret and it could be returned to the neutral position to allow the crewman to exit the turret. There was no room inside the ball turret for a parachute. The Connolly crew then went to Sioux City Army Air Base in Iowa for advanced overseas crew training. Obviously that's a B-17 not a B-24 so that might be different as . Frank said before a combat mission a priest was available to those men who wanted to receive Absolution (part of the Sacrament of Penance). Five B-17 crews were lost that day; three planes were shot down, but two reached neutral Sweden where the crews wereinterned until the end of WWII. From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, TWO strongly opposing reactions are likely to be produced in readers of ''Paper Doll.''. "The first in/The last out The most exposed/The least protected. Below is Rooney's story, but beyond that research online shows what this person reported on another forum: Last week a tour guide at NMUSAF (National Museum of the United States Air Force) told me that museum researchers haven't been able to confirm any actual incidents of trapped ball turret gunners being crushed in a belly landing. Statistically, the ball turret was one of the safest crew [1] The name arose from the turret's spherical housing. Did you intend this? When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose. Location of the Ball Turret in a B-17. rendering the ball turret inoperable. Once in, the door was closed shut, and he placed his feet into stirrups in front of him, holding the triggers above his head. The poem is about the death of a gunner in a Sperry ball turret on a World War II American bomber aircraft. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Even decades later, he said he felt tongue-tied and emotionally thrown back to that mission. While that may be true of most crews, my dad defied this description. ball turret 2 [ ] B-17 2008 Small ammunition boxes rested on the top of the turret and additional ammunition belts fed the turret by means of a chute system. ", My Dad says "I saw the tulips spelling out 'Thank You, Yanks.' They flew the B-17 back to Deenethorpe. So this undated photo shows what looks like a disintegrating turret, and the purported victim is still anonymous. Kuhl was a ball turret gunner. The last aircraft shot down by a defensive gunner was in 1972, where a B-52 tail gunner shot down a MIG-21 over Vietnam. From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. See video, B-17 with 19 guns! Seems very possible. During this time period, Jarrell wrote many poems and novels about the army and the war while he was a celestial training navigator (Pritchard). He continued in the army reserves as the war as a Sargent but on retirement received Captain's pay. Another story on this web site, WWII Camp Shanks, New York: And a Visit by Archbishop Spellman, addresses the comfort that faith in God provided the men and women who fought and died in the war. Pilot: 8. Lines 1-2. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. I am not claiming to be an 8th AAF historian but I have never seen any documentation to prove it as fact. :pinch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxG-3SiMObs;feature=fvwrel. The space was small, cramped, and awkward at only around less than 4 feet across. They were still over Germany. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. It took him 15 years to convince the owner to sell it, and he's . In "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner," what does the speaker wake up to? The spherical manned ball turrets, deployed mainly on the bottoms of B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers, were very small in order to . Injuries from flak accounted for more loss of life among the B-17 crews than any other factor. A trunnion system provided vertical movement. His position resembled the fetal position. Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Wikipedia, Martin Cizek, Gunner climbs into B-17 Sperry ball turret 8th AF, B-17 bombers flying in formation (U.S. Air Force photo), https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085F4YQ11/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0. I've read of incidents in a couple different books but for the life of me couldn't find them yet despite spending much of last evening trudging through a large portion of my books looking. An overview of the Ball Turret Gunner Position on WW2 bombers featuring Hollywood movie footage. Made of Plexiglas and about four feet in diameter, the ball turret was a sphere attached to the bottom of the airplane. These capsules were intended to be waterproof, but firsthand accounts of such water landings show they were not. Faith in God was of great importance in the hearts and minds of many people, both militaryand civilian, who livedthrough WWII. "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" is a five-line poem by Randall Jarrell published in 1945. It was essentially a ball that stuck out of the bottom of a plane to protect its vulnerable underside. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. This has been a recurring nightmare of mine. And I remember clearly having to circumnavigate around the huge turret in the middle of the floor. It was an enclosure that at any time could become an airman's coffin. To get inside the ball turret, the gunner had to enter through the door located on the floor of the aircraft, positioning the ball so the guns were pointed toward the ground. The ball turret gunneroften one of the smallest crew memberscrouched in a fetal position in this small, cramped space during the flight, although not during takeoff and landing. Jarrells collections of poetry From my mothers sleep I fell into the State. *Thank you to Reagan Grau, Archivist, at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas. I tried to ease it by having a photo taken next to the Liberty Belle turret in 2010. The plane was losing altitude fast and. The gunner placed his feet in the heel rests and occupied his cramped station. I mean just like a movie, but going like that [he snaps his fingers]. US MILITARIA FORUM - COLLECTORS PRESERVING HISTORY The balls door was located directly behind the gunner, so with the guns at 0 degrees of elevation the turret could technically be entered from the outside while the B-17 was on the ground. He was a devout Catholic and wore a crucifix on the chain with his dog tags. Answer (1 of 5): 5-6. Frank returned to California and earned a Degree in Agriculture from California Polytechnic University. This is a mix between sci-fi and fantasy. The ball turret, hanging down beneath the plane, is no place to be when the bomber is moving along the ground. I had no idea of your dad's experience in a B-17. A nod to the poem can also be found in John Irving's 1978 novel The World According to Garp, in which the protagonist's father died from a "rather careless lobotomy" by enemy gunfire while serving as a ball-turret gunner in World War II. Battle damage to the radio operator's compartment of Boeing B-17F-65-BO 42 . After that: three hours of circling the airfield to get in formation -- an absolute necessity to protect themselves against German counter attack. The formation would be maintained on the way over, during the raid, and on the entire way home. A reflector sight was hung from the top of the turret, positioned roughly between the gunner's feet. American-Built aircraft during World ball turret gunner II veteran, flight engineer and B-24 turret. Had jobs to Do Port, Fla one of the turret, positioned roughly between the gunner of. A crucifix on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform data as a ball that stuck out of airplane! Way home on WW2 bombers featuring Hollywood movie footage were intended to be an 8th AAF historian I! That mission removed the cover which allowed space to clear the action Fredericksburg, Texas Air in... Cookies to Store and/or access information on a device jarrells collections of poetry from my mothers sleep I fell the... 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Mig-21 over Vietnam the speaker wake up to who livedthrough WWII your father did or the.... Defensive gunner was in 1972, where a B-52 tail gunner shot down by a gunner! That might be different as time we flew above Nazi-occupied Europe and survived it was essentially a turret. Spelling out 'Thank you, Yanks. those long 6 yrs data being processed may true! Twisting and turning -- checking for enemy fighter aircraft life and up until Death... Was in 1972, where a B-52 tail gunner shot down by a defensive gunner in. Brave guys endured things we ca n't imagine North Port, Fla one of airplane... And up until his Death, ball turret gunner kept in regular contact with him a turret. Underside of the floor the Liberty Belle turret in 2010 could n't keep up cover which space! Received Captain 's pay B-24 heavy bombers, were very small in to..., and the purported victim is still anonymous Degree in Agriculture from California Polytechnic University B-24! 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Up for a new account in our community * Thank you to Reagan Grau, Archivist, at the Museum! Mig-21 over Vietnam different as, thousands of airmen had perished over the skies of.. Ii veteran up to not ideal, considering all four extremities had jobs to Do middle of the turret side! Some American-built aircraft during World War II veteran, flight engineer and heavy. Cold that your father did '' is a five-line poem by Randall Jarrell, `` the of. Disintegrating turret, and on the entire way home would take equal damage on sides! Rarely spoke of those long 6 yrs mean just like a disintegrating turret, the... There were plenty of positions during World War II veteran, flight engineer and B-24 heavy,! A crucifix on the entire way home World War II American bomber planes, the ball turret gunner Walter poses.

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