Air Force·Weapon system retired·In Memoriam
B-17 Ball Turret Gunner
the smallest man on the crew
Served: 1941–1945
Curled into a 3.5-foot Sperry sphere slung below the belly of the Flying Fortress, working twin .50s by foot pedals and a hand controller for 10–12 hours over Europe.
The Story
Statistically the *safest* crew position (best armor, lowest fatality rate) — but had no room for a back parachute. The one detail that gave Randall Jarrell's poem its weight: "When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose."
Epitaph
“Curled into 3.5 feet. No parachute. Best armor on the bomber.”
Sources
- AFHRA — B-17 Ball Turret Gunnersafhrafromthestacks.wordpress.com
- Wikipedia — Ball Turreten.wikipedia.org