B-17 pilot describes ball turret

"You can see here that if the guns are straight down, then that hatchway... he couldn't get out. He wouldn't get in there until we were up to altitude, and then you could rotate that and you could get in there and close the hatchway, and he'd be in there all by himself, but he would have radio contact with the rest of us. He also had an electric flying suit. He also had breathing oxygen. In the event that the electricity was out, and he couldn't maneuver this thing, couldn't turn it around, there's a little crank; you could pull on this post here, and people up here could crank him around."

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• wwii
• b-17
• flying
• fortress
• pilot
• ball
• turret
• gunner