Inside the B-17 Ball Turret

The B-17 Ball turret. Every military aviation fan has looked at this iconic piece of ww2 equipment and wondered how on earth anyone could be brave enough to spend a mission inside this cramped, cold and exposed environment. This small sphere was tightly packed with weapons, ammo, sophisticated mechanisms and one brave gunner who had to contort himself into position. This gunner was usually the shortest guy in the crew and his job was exceptionally tough. If you ever wanted to know more about the details of how the ball turret worked, what it was like to operate and its secrets then this is the video for you.

00:00 Intro
00:55 Basic layout
01:55 How the turret moved
02:54 Take Off
03:19 Getting In
04:48 Initial Operation inside the ball turret
10:30 Protection
12:23 Guns
14:59 Getting Out and Jettisoning
16:58 Conclusion
17:46 Brilliant

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[jamess]

My uncle died in his ball turret in a B17 named Leap Year Lady in 1944 when it was hit with shrapnel. This video helped me understand what he dealt with. I have the utmost respect for him. He was 26 years old.

[kavzz]

Holy hell the technology for this was nuts. Especially when you consider it was the 40's.

[ITNerd]

I guess the gunner had to forego his parachute so he would have room for his BALLS to fit in the turret.... The courage and bravery of these men can NEVER be under estimated....

[Liz_S]

My uncle Andrew was a Mighty 8th B17 ball turret gunner. His plane was hit and went down after a successful bomb run over the loading docks of Palermo, Sicily. He was able to parachute only to be machine gunned while floating. He was 27. Thank you for this wonderful video. I always knew he died a true hero but this educational film shows me how extraordinarily so!

[frankbruno]

My neighbor, a Seminole native American 5'7", was a B-17 ball turret gunner, lived to be over100, served in the Pacific theatre the entire war told me not much room in there.This vid proves it.RIP good buddy.

[kensloth]

Had absolutely no idea such a targeting computer even existed back then, much less inside the ball-turret.

[ADAM]

Always heard that the ball turret was the worst seat in the house but never knew the specifics on how bad it would truly be. Fantastic video

[Abu_shbab]

I can't believe a YouTube channel doing ART like this.

[splintershield]

My grandpa was a bellygunner, trained in B-17s but after coming overseas they trimmed the crews from 10 down to 9 and he ended up being shipped down to Italy and working on B-24s most of the time. One of my favorite memories was when we found a B-17 and B-24 at a municipal airport for Memorial day and he took us through both and pointed out lots of cool bits of trivia. This video was amazing, thank you.

[emu]

My grandfather was a ball turret gunner in WW2 on the B-17. His plane was shot down over Magdeburg Germany. He often described the harrowing escape he had to do to get the ball to line up correctly so he could escape, all this while his plane was on fire and plummeting down. He had to grab his parachute and successfully landed on the ground, but I believe all other members of the crew died with the plane crash. After he landed, the German military found him and he was a POW for years. It was always fascinating listening to his story. RIP. Thank you so much for this video, it was wonderful to understand thoroughly how the ball turret worked and what it was like.

[FeralPatrick]

My uncle was a ball turret gunner in a B-17 that flew 111 missions with zero casualties. He flew 35 total missions in a few different Forts but Li'l Audrey was his main plane (42-32006). He claimed at least one enemy plane shot down, and he caught a piece of flak in the sole of his boot but wasn't injured. He also had to bail out of one Fort over Belgium and with their help made it back to England. Excellent video!

[Crazcosmopwnu]

My grandfather was a ball turret gunner on a B24 and I always thought that he had the coolest position on the plane and wanted to be just like him. The stories he told about his time up there were amazing.

[johnshurts]

My father-in-law was a top turret gunner/flight engineer/crew chief on B-17's during WWII. He was a relatively short individual and was offered the ball turret as a gunner position, probably because of his size. He said he looked at it and said "You ain't gettin me down in that hole!" - so much for that idea.

[dococapocalypse]

Single greatest animated breakdown of anything i've ever seen. The shear amount of detail is amazing. The willingness to add in the extra dramatic flair was not even necessary but absolutely incredible and added so much to it. It's strange to be on the edge of your seat during an informative video but i loved every second of it. fantastic work. I'm about to go watch the rest.

[KevinHoneycutt-kr]

Thank you for making this video! My Grandfather flew 32 missions & he didn’t like to share very much of his experience. This has been incredibly fascinating & powerful

[ericbarnett]

A couple of years ago I visited a museum with one of the few operational B-17's. For a fee I was able to sit in the ball turret. I'm 5'9", 175lbs, and it was tight, and I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. The men that flew these beasts had balls of titanium.

[faithinverity]

My dad was a tail gunner. I was visiting him on day and he said “there’s a B17 out at the airport.” When we arrived, we walk up to it and the crew was there. They knew instantly that he was a former crew member.

It is a tiny airplane.

The most interesting story was how he got the job. They had him stand in the back of a pickup truck and use a shotgun to hit targets that were thrown up. So the gunners were all good shots.

He and another fella both hit a 262 one day. The second jet aircraft ever downed in combat.

Late in the war apparently most of the rounds were armor-piercing and incendiary. The exceptions were the tracers.

My dad’s parents were German and Italian Americans. So often it was cousins fighting cousins. My dad and most of the ex-

[tristanrussell]

“Sir your back pain is not service related”

[Manuel-unvm]

The ball turret may have been the safest part of the airplane but it was also the most detrimental for long term injuries. I read a letter from a WW2 ball turret gunner to a doctor explaining why he needed benefits and he described the excruciating pain he dealt with all his life from being in the turret in the fetal position for 12 hour missions in the pacific theater. His wounds were not only physical but psychological as well. The turret gunner experience was terrifying and traumatic

[garyweber]

Incredibly well done video on the B-17 turret. Thanks for the masterful production on this.