B-17 Ball Turret, Combat Effectiveness and Interior Systems Review 

My great uncle manned one of these. His plane got so shot up he had to bail out. When he went to pop his chute it malfunctioned. He fell in a farmer's field and left a crater. He hit a lone olive tree and the farmer had plowed his field the day before. He survived, but broke nearly every bone and damaged many of his organs. He became a Baptist preacher and lived to be around 80.

I was a ball gunner on a B17, shot down on my 10th mission,2/22/44, I found it impossible to frame an enemy plane due to the fact that when they attack in mass, they were only a few hundred feet between attacking planes. They were mixed, as one could be an Me109, followed by a Ju88, followed by a Me210. There was no way one could change settings fast enough . And yes I was much too large to fit comfortably as I was 5-11 in,but I had no choice as other crewmen were scared of the turret. I got to like it as I had by far the best view. See flak gun blasts and enemy planes take off of the ground, see where our bombs hit.t. Les

One of my closest uncles was a ball turret gunner in B-24’s. He was with the 44th Bomb Group based at RAF Shipdham. He had two confirmed kills before he was shot down in April 1944 near the French/ Swiss border. He was one of only three crewmen to get out. He was badly burned as he had to crawl through flames in order to escape. He was taken to a Luftwaffe hospital where he spent several weeks. He was transferred to a POW camp in Poland where he spent the rest of the war. I was a kid in the sixties, and was a fanatic of the series 12’o Clock High. I peppered uncle Willy with questions about his time in the Bomb Group, but he would always give a short answer, and after a while I figured out that the war was something he didn’t want to talk about. It was the past for him. Uncle Willy passed away in 1996 at the age of 76. Thank you for this video, and how it helped me learn of my uncle’s “office”.

Thank you so much for this video! My father in law volunteered for military service in WWII, lying about his age, so that he could join the fight against the Nazis. So he became a bottom turret gunner on a B-17 at the age of 17, flying over a dozen suicide missions over German-occupied Europe until he was shot down over Germany and became a POW. He mentioned many years ago before he died that he had to learn a mnemonic phrase in order to extricate himself from the turret and navigate the labryinth inside the plane to get to an exit and jump out with a parachute wrapped around one shoulder as the plane plummeted to the ground in a tail spin. He said that bottom turret gunners would normally sit on their parachutes and flak jackets as added layers of protection against anti aircraft flak. Only he and one other crewman survived. Thanks to this video his sons and daughter can truly appreciate what this war hero had to do in order to execute his duties as a bottom turret gunner. He also mentioned that he acquired the ability to fall asleep in the bottom turret during the flight across the English Channel on the way to his bombing targets in Europe. Throughout his life we all marveled at the way he could just plop down anywhere, take off his stetson and place it over his face, and fall into a deep sleep power nap, and wake up refreshed 20 minutes later. Now we understand how much of a bad-ass kid he was, along with all the other bad-ass kids that were his fellow crew members!!

I am an old fire control mechanic. Back in 1966, I went to Air Force tech school in Lowry AFB Colorado and was trained on the MA8 fire control system for the F 86 Sabre Jet which included a lead computing gunsight like the one in your video. The wingspan setting and the accelerometer and all of that stuff, except the F86 had a simple radar horn in that little nose. My guess would be that the Ball Turret gunner was even more effective than the records show because his presence alone kept a lot of airplanes out of that area. You are much better off shooting down on someone than shooting up at them. No way could you get me in that thing though.

Holy crap….this was FAR more involved than I’d previously thought. Thank you for making such an enlightening video.

I think a lot of the effectiveness and hesitancy of German pilots to engage from below comes from the fact that if you’re a fighter climbing up to shoot at a plane, you’re losing airspeed the entire time and spending a longer time in an exposed slow position for those guns to hit you. Contrast this to the fact in the opposite position, diving from above, you could quickly fly through the formation, minimizing the time the turrets can fire at you.

Cool! Thanks! My dear dad was trained as a ball turret gunner in WWII Pacific theatre. Fortunately, he saw no combat action but flew with his new crew to Hawaii before becoming part of the Occupation of Japan at Tachikawa air base. He LOVED his time in the ball turret and the B24. He died last May, 2021, at 95.

My grandfather was a ball turret gunner in a B-17. Loved his war stories.

Incredible level of detail. Told in an informative and never dramatic fashion. I have never seen such a comprehensive explanation of how this iconic gun turret was operated. Thanking you from an aviation admirer in Iceland. Father was ex RAF, and great uncle was in Wellingtons then Halifaxes. If only the RAF had persevered with their underside belly turrets to counteract the deadly Schräge Musik attacks. And maybe added larger escape hatches to the Lancaster!

The complexity of all of the subsystems that make up the whole gun turret unit is absolutely amazing. 💯!

Nicely done, My father was a navigator on a B-17, he flew 25 missions & was shot down twice over France. I can’t imagine climbing back in to one of those planes after being shot down, let alone climbing in to a ball truant. Thanks for putting this together, reminds me of Dad & those who fought for our freedom. God bless America & those who are willing to fight to keep her free & independent.

My grandfather flew 34 missions over Germany as a ball turret gunner.it takes a man with courage and a huge sack to constantly run the turret.

Fascinating video. I never realized how complex the ball turret was. I always imagined the gunner just got in, controlled the ball with his feet, and fired the guns. It's amazing how hard it sounds to do.

Shockingly complex and advanced piece of equipment. I always imagined the ball being very simple and barebones, but it was clearly thoroughly thought out and developed.

The tech knowledge you contributed here is unrivaled. Frankly, I wasn't that interested in the ball turret gunner role until I heard how insanely difficult, And Important it was. I wanted to see the tech part without the fluff and this video hit the spot.

Just found your channel randomly, The B17 has been my favourite plane ever since I watched Memphis Belle as a child.

Fascinating, really really interesting & informative. I really appreciate these well edited & brilliantly produced Mini documentaries. My Mother & Three of her sisters came across from Ireland to England to become nurses during the war, my Mum was just 17 when she arrived in Portsmouth in 1941 during the worst of the German bombing in that city. Her oldest sister, Hanna my Godmother was a nurse in Northampton & was courted by a young USAAF airman from New York, the relationship came to an end when he was invalided home with respiratory problems. But whilst they were together she met Captain Clark Gable on several occasions. He was credited with five combat missions but it was understood that he flew many more. He was a waste gunner & filmed some of the missions as well. He was twice the age of most of his young crew members. My Father, a Royal Navy engineer didn’t seem to care for Americans much, possibly because my Mother & sisters talked of them often, so personally I crew up being really interested in these young flamboyant men & their contribution & sacrifice during the war. It’s never left me. Last May (2022) I stopped off at Kessingland in Suffolk to Pay my respects to the simple but moving memorial in the Village church yard that was dedicated in 2010 to 10 crew members of a B24 shot down just a few miles from their base as they returned home from a raid. It was a long time ago, but they are not forgotten here. A.T.H Southern England.

Thanks for sharing this information. My Dad was a ball turret gunner in WW2 on a B17. He did not talk much about it and I always wondered what his job was like.

Thank you for making these "university-level" video's. Amazing job.

Wow, that has to be the most chilling feeling to be exposed to enemy fighters and anti-aircraft fire. Amazing bravery. Thank you. 👍

Is crazy that an airman got in there for such long periods of time i cannot imagine what went through their heads during those long and dangerous mission the mortality rate in those missions was staggering for bomber crews. Also the harsh environment the crews had to deal with while fighting the enemy frostbite, lack of oxygen, flak, add to that ear drum reaping exploding shells near the aircraft, fatigue, and fear which cause many men severe disorders. War is frightening and devastating hats off and respect to those who fought and to the ones fighting today and their families in all branches of the arm forces.

You forgot to mention when you talked about the gunner entering the turret at 9k feet. They also got out of the turret on bomb runs that involved flak. They didn't have to worry about fighters attacking during the flak, so this made for an easier bail out if they were hit and were going down.

Very informative. My father in law wanted to be a crewman on the b17 but he was too tall at 6’5”. Instead he was put in charge of the quartermaster corp. counting beans and bulotts

Myself and a friend took a walk through tour of a B-17, mind you I'm 6' 3" and he's 5' 3". The tour began back by the ball turret and the guy there commented to my friend "You would have been in here" pointing to the ball turret. Then he looked at me and said "And you wouldn't have even been on this plane". I found out why on board, not a single spot I could stand up straight.

My Father flew 50 missions as a ball Turret gunner on a B17. Enjoy one of his stories right here: RELIEF WAS JUST 30,000 FEET AWAY. The Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle, Washington built the B-17 bomber, known as the Flying Fortress. It was called that because it was equipped with 13 fifty caliber machine guns. Two of these were located in the ball-turret, located under the belly of this wondrous machine. The ball-turret was where fate decreed that I spend my time in World War Two. Absolutely nobody wanted any part of this fine piece of equipment, which was electro-hydraulic operated. It would go round and round, and up and down. Any German fighter plane that ventured within it’s 1500 yard range was what my mama called “A blowed-up Jew.” Of course, mama didn’t know there were no Jews in the German Air Force. The people at Boeing did the best they could to furnish us with a place to pee. They came up with a funnel and a piece of rubber tubing which ran outside the plane. With me being in the position I was in, with my feet above my head, and wearing an electrically heated suit, a pair of long-handle drawers and a heavy flight suit over all that that, peeing was out of the question. Once, on an especially long rough 10 hour mission, I peed in my pants. All three pair. I had to use a fifty caliber shell to pry my pants loose from the seat. I kept that to myself. To make matters worse, at 30,000 feet, the temperature was often 65 degrees below zero. Everything liquid froze. The waist gunners, whose positions were just above me, also had these useless funnels with a rubber tube. They could, however, stand on an ammunition box and pee out the open window. Actually, with the temperature being what it was, they just broke it off and threw it out the window. There’s no telling how many German troops on the ground were fatally wounded by pee icicles coming down from 30,000 feet. What the pilot and co-pilot and the engineer did, I don’t know. They were in about as dire circumstances as I was. They were not my worry. The bombardier and the Navigator usually peed in K-ration boxes and dropped them out the hatch so they hit my ball-turret while still in a liquid state. We often had words about this. The tail-gunner, I guess, peed anywhere he wanted. Nobody cared where he peed, being where he was. Fear, for some reason or other, increases the urge to pee. While waiting to take off on a mission, we often peed over about 40 acres of Italian soil. Still, the minute we left the ground, the urge returned. When the first burst of flak hit our plane, the urge tripled. Flak, for those who don’t know, was what the German anti-aircraft gunners fired at us. It was a large shell filled with scrap-iron. It also put out one hell of a big puff of black smoke which scared hell out of us and drew our spinchter up to the size of a shingle nail. I won’t go into what a spinchter is. A good question for “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.” Boeing, other than their bathroom facilities, did a great job. The B-17 usually brought us safely back to Italy, sometimes on only two engines. Of course, the first thing we did when we were on the ground was to pee. Then, we peed some more.

The engineering on this is amazing

This was very well done. I learned many new interesting facts about the ball turret and watched the entire video start to finish. Thank you!

Extreme danger and inverted controls to move the turret. Crazy. I can't even realise how though and dangerous this stati on was. Big respect and honour to all those guys being inside.

Keeping the memories alive of our greatest generation. Thank you for posting.

That was an interesting bit of information about the difference between dealing with a fighter coming up from below and one diving. Very well explained.

Thank you so much for the detailed explanation. If it is not bad enough cramming yourself into such a vulnerable position it is extremely complex trying to do your job. I naively thought they pointed the guns and pulled the trigger. I never realised they had to use a sperry gunsight, whilst everything is happening so fast and being shot at as well. My late uncle was rear gunner in a lancaster, I have a greater understanding of what he had to do. Will check out other vids. Thanks

Incredibly informative and effective in conveying the essence of a lived experience

Amazingly informative with zero overused 'stock' footage and in such little time. Top work.

Your videos are very much appreciated and are excellent. I live in London and recently visited the US Military Cemetery at Madingley near Cambridge where many B17 aircrew are buried. These videos are very useful to understanding the air crew's role and missions flown from England during WWII. Thank you. I have subscribed.

As a former ball turret operator I can tell you that this was very combat effective.

Nice job on this! Man, I am sure if I had to get in a turret I would only last 15 seconds before I would bolt out due to claustrophobia. I always thought this was the toughest position in the WW2 bombers.

There are no adequate words to describe the courage and skill of a WWII bomber’s turret gunner.

Completely fascinating!! Sort of hands on detail I’ve looked for in over 50 years of curiosity!!

Holycrap think of the minds that designed just this part of the plane- amazing

Well thank you for giving me a detail instruction on how to run this entire Ball Turret

Thank you so much for these vids!

You are incredible! Thanks for the video. It is amazing how well designed all the particulars of the B-17 and all war planes are. I have the gunsmithing DVD for the Browning 1919 and yeah you gotta crank it to jack a round and crank it once more to cock it. Then a symphony of mechanisms take place!

Excellent video! I don’t doubt for a second that the gunner activated those safety switches as soon as they entered France. I believe the good batting average for the ball turret was due to the fact that attacking fighters had fewer options on how they approached; plus they were climbing, not diving, so air speed was lower. These factors made it easier for the gunner to track the incoming fighter.

I just found your channel and it's amazing! You clearly put in a lot of effort to make these videos, and it pays off. You have extremely clear scans of original documents that I've never been able to find! You make graphs. You're a legend, dude. Keep it up! I'm looking forward to what you're 'cooking up' for the future!

I watched a show on the B17 and a gunner said when he volunteered, the casualty rates were so high they were taking about anybody. That moved me. I assumed gunners got the luck of the assignment draw but this guy said, put me in, I'll go. The mechanisms are more complicated than I imagined. Very interesting video.

Fascinating. Thank-you for such a detailed description, all 3 parts.

Great video. Great ingenuity of ww2 creations and war in general. And the sacrifices and tight squeezes these guys lived thru is incredible

I once worked with a former WW II ball-turret gunner...he was a mean, nasty SOB...but, I believe that he was that way before any war experience.

Thank for the very informative video. I have learned a lot about the Ball Turret. Never known before, that the food range peddles were used for gun sight and framing the enemy fighters. So, when I remember the Memphis Belle movie, when the ball turret was jammed, it was useless to push the peddles :D

Absolutely fascinating

My dad did a couple of missions in the ball turret and he hated it. He was 6' so he was cramped for hours. He also complained about the heated suits didn't work all the time.

Another good reason to not attack from below is energy loss. Diving from above, the fighter attacks with a higher velocity.

My dad was a bomb loader during WW2 in the Marines in the Pacific. I dug this video. hope to see more like this. WAS VERY COOL. THANKS!

My dad flew 33 missions as a ball turret gunner in a 17 in 1943. Lived to 98 and very seldom talked about it, Air medals, Purple Heart with 2 stars, medals from the Polish Government for air drops to assist their liberation and the Chevalier from the French Government. If I live to be half the man he was I’ll feel I lived a good life.

Very cool video. I watched Memphis Belle a lot growing up and I remembered a lot from the movie that was spot on accurate to what you were describing. Very cool. Thanks for the video bro :)

A very interesting and informative set of videos, thanks for sharing your knowledge. Subscribed, regards from an RAF veteran aircraft engineer. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇺🇸🇺🇦 P.S Can I suggest that your visual aids are left on screen for a few seconds longer, I suggest this as I have early dementia and don’t read as quickly as other people, and I am sure there must be others who will hopefully find your channel, in addition you might look at slowing your narration down slightly, on occasion you have moved on to a new segment before viewers have had time to assimilate your narrative, I have noticed that there are quite a few channels produced by American 🇺🇸 RU-vidrs that are the same, I don’t know if that is an American trait or pure coincidence. I sincerely hope my suggestions have not offended you or any viewers, it was sincerely not my intention, but just in case, I apologise to yourself and anyone else reading my comment. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇺🇸🇺🇦

Never seen that much detail. Too Cool! Thank you. Excellent video on all three.

Solid work and very good informative! Some incredible engineering

Well done, very well done! Thank you for sharing!

Wonder how many got away from the left goes right right goes left control's

Far more complicated than I would have ever imagined.

A surprising but impressive degree of engineering complexity. Good explantation.

Memphis Belle. Great actor , Sean Aston was the turret operator !! Awesome Movie

Just discovered your channel, love it. Keep up the great work!

Imagine the courage to get into one of these. What a generation of people.

my great grand father was a flight navigator, at that stage in the war they had the B-17D which had no chin turret and only the bombadier and navigator operated cheek guns. the common German interceptor attack was a low level 10/11 or 1/2 o'clock ingress attack then break and peel off low altitude. if successful they could destroy the bomber station, but the cockpit or most commonly target the ball turret as it was the only underside defense. disabling the ball turret would open the bomber to the second and third flights

Very informative! You answered questions I never thought of.

The ORIGINAL inverted controller! I have always played video games inverted. I want this job!

Thanks for this! Very informative. Especially it seemed you were reading the procedures out of a tech manual.

Words are inadequate to describe the courage and skill of a ball turret gunner on a bomber in WWII.

I remember hearing of an incident in which battle damage jammed the ball turret such that the gunner couldn't get out. It also disabled the landing gear. They flew around as long as they could trying to get him out, but eventually had no choice but to make a belly landing with him still in the ball turret. That would have to be the stuff of nightmares.

Surprisingly abundant technology. Superheroes!

I grew up with Oxman's Surplus! He sold the Radials to the ill-fated attempt to fly out a B29 of the arctic and after Old Man Oxman's passing his family sold a BALL TURRET fully packed for install in WORKING CONDITION!! As I was a well versed history nerd young man/boy he would Enjoy giving ME tours of his collection others may not see! RIP Mr Oxman you Are Missed!

You guys just popped up on my list... that was a COOL look at the underbelly of a machine that I have dreamed of from a young age...!! Great show, fellas...!!

once had the honour of talking to an air gunner.he was front gunner on a [wimpy] wellington. and then went on to be rear gunner on a [lank] lancaster...a very lonely place..i asked if he ever engaged any fighters...he said he shot down a 109..and 190...he said the night fighters if you spotted them in time and gave a good burst they usually dived away and went after other planes....lovely old guy

That was great, really informative and interesting. Like most, I knew very little about how the Ball turret worked or what was actually in there in terms of equipment, now I know more than I did. I've always been very impressed with those willing n able to go to war over enemy territory in those aircraft but being folded into a ball hanging below the plane seems like a very exposed, dangerous and uncomfortable position to fly in, but at least the got a great view ;). Thanks for doing these videos, they are really well done.

Right on. Thanks for sharing.

Finally seen one,inperson and up close. Cant believe how small actual turret is!!

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" is a five-line poem by Randall Jarrell published in 1945. The poem is about the death of a gunner in a Sperry ball turret on a World War II American bomber aircraft.

I was stationed on Guam in 1972. We took the ball turrest out of old B-17's and installed them in B-52's. We upgraded the fire control system and made other improvements. The turrets were very effective in downing enemy Migs and SAM's. I received an USAF commendation medal for my work.

Great video. Loving the deep dive into these amazingly cool turrets. Not sure how nitpicky you are grammatically but @ 6:02 your autocorrect betrayed you. "Peddle" means "to sell something". The word you wanted is "Pedal", in the sense of a "foot operated lever or control"

Well done.

interesting stuff, all of those guys were total studs, fighting with cannons up close and at 300 miles an hour...insane

This was enjoyable. Always wondered how they did it?

Almost all of the information you presented was new to me. It would've been a terrible fighting position to have been allocated to. Thank you 👍🏻

The noise must have been tremendous in that turret with 4 big radial engines just in front of you, the slipstream all around you and god knows what the sound of two .50 cal guns going off virtually in your lap sounded like.

Awesom video. I'd like to see moe in depth of the ball turret. Very interesting.

Very good info and presentation.

Just having the ball turret deterred fighters passing underneath. I understand the Lancaster design incorporated a belly turret with a periscopic sight, but the effect was too nauseating for the gunner so it was removed, forever rendering the Lanc open to attack from beneath.

A lot more tech behind this than I initially thought. I assumed it was aimed only with iron sights.

My uncle James Kennedy Sullivan was a crew member of a Liberator. 82nd Army Air corps. He was a country boy and a good wing shot. Traits sought by bomber crews. He showed my father and I piece of shrapnel that lodged in the framework of the turret. Not an easy place to work.

Nice! Having seen your video, if ever called upon I feel more qualified then most to be ball turret gunner !

Very nice video series! Thank you for your efforts. But apparently I'm the only one amused by the concept (as you ID'd it) of a ball turret "walk through." 😊

Love the video man! keep the history alive!

Need more! Especially some snippets of the men's thoughts on them, before getting in one, (meaning "first time" experience..."im...getting...into...THIS!?" the use/characteristics of one in combat at altitude, and/or thoughts of them "today". If I remember correctly, most had a deep, uncommon love,( and hate) for them, after they settled in, doing a few missions. Sadly I understand if there are no more remaining ball turret gunners alive today, do get in an interview, but I'm sure there are many quotes that can be found.

As a kid I used to try and depict twin engine fighter designs that surrounded this style gun turret whereby the aircraft could be rudimentarily flown while the pilot blazed away in his turret. As an adult the idea is of course completely impractical. I guess the Ty fighter is somewhat inspired by this turret at least in the cockpit area.

Great video, very informative. Thank you very much. 👊🏻

I am always amazed by the technical aptitude these young pilots and crewman displayed. Looking at 23 year olds today they seem like such clueless kids.

This is fkn awesome! The nine year old me is geeking out sooooooo hard right now!