Ball Turret Gunners---- A Breed Apart

This is from my personal collection. It's an ad from a magazine during World War Two advertising Nash-Kelvinator and their role in the manufacturing of ball turrets. This is my favorite shot of the ball turret.

The ball turret gunners were a breed apart. Suspended in their pot-metal cacoon on the underside of the B-17 and B-24 bomber, these men had to deal with three of man's main fears---heights, enclosed spaces, and death---while at the same time defending their ship from intense enemy attack.

An Army Air Corps schematic of the Sperry Ball Turret.

I have been impressed by these men since I first interviewed two of them for my book. Frank Coleman and Bob Capen were both ball turret gunners in the 95th Bomb Group. I spent hours interviewing Frank and Bob sent me several hours of taped memories. These became the basis of my chapter 'Ball Turret Gunner' in my book, Untold Valor.

The caption on this photo says this is a gunner from the 95th. However, he looks a lot like Clifford Puckett, the ball turret gunner on 390th Bomb Group's 'Betty Boop/Pistol Packin' Mama' and I'm willing to bet it is.

By necessity small in stature, these men were long on courage. When I met Frank and his wife in Salt Lake some years back, I was impressed with how much his experience had impacted him as a human being. He still suffered from hours at fifty below zero, curled up in the ball turret of a B-17, often unable even to relieve himself for hours at a time. Frank anguished about the people the bombers killed on the ground in Germany. A strong Mormon, he came home from every mission, and the first thing he did was go to a nearby farm where he could be alone and pray. He would ask God's forgiveness for what he'd had to do, knowing at the same time that somebody had to do it to keep facism at bay.

The American poet Randall Jarrell wrote a sobering poem about ball turret gunners. Here it is:

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner

From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,

And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.

Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,

I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.

When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.

No glamor here, just sudden death and the end of dreams for one young gunner.

The following is from the Commemorative Air Force website:

"Flying Fortress crew members considered the ball turret the worst crew position on the aircraft. The confining sphere fastened to the underside of the aircraft required an agile occupant immune to claustrophobia and brave enough to be without a parachute close by.
The turret revolved a full 360 degrees, providing an extraordinary vantage point and covering the aircraft against attackers from below. Ironically, thought of as being the most dangerous position in a B-17, it turned out to be one of the safest-as far as suffering battle wounds. The gunner, curled up in the ball in a fetal position with his back against the armor plated door, had less of his body exposed to enemy fire than the other crew members.

The turret was stowed with the guns facing rearward for takeoff and landing. Once the aircraft was airborne, the turret would have to be cranked by hand to position the guns straight down, revolving the hatch inside the airplane. The ball gunner would then enter the turret, fasten his safety strap, turn on the power and operate the turret from inside.
The ball turret gunner would be hunched, legs bent, with his feet in stirrups on each side of the 13 inch diameter armored glass panel. His face was about 30 inches from this panel, and suspended in between was the optical display of the computing gunsight. A pedal under his left foot adjusted the red sight on this display and when a target framed within, the range was correct. While sighting, he would be looking directly between his knees. Two handles projected rearward above the sight and controlled movement of the turret. At the end of each handle was the firing button for both guns."

Finally, I salute my friend Les Poitras's grandpa, Leslie Moore, who also served as a ball turret gunner in the 100th Bomb Group.

Lest we ever forget the sacrifices of these brave men.

If you'd like to read a website by one of these true heroes, I recommend Andy Anzanos' website at this location: http://www.andyanzanos.com/. And while you're at it, order Andy's SIGNED biography about his experiences as a ball turret gunner in the 390th Bomb Group. Check it out. You will not be disappointed!

390th Ball Turret gunner Andy Anzanos holds a copy of his book about his experiences. You can order it, signed and inscribed by this living legend, at the address above.