I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. It was cramped and very loud when the guns began to fire. After the war, Magee did not discuss his ordeal or his survival story with anyone. On 3rd January 1943, Magee got into a Flying Fortress bomber on his seventh bombing mission. The poem's speaker suggests that he slips from the protection of his mother's womb into "the State," where he finds himself in a ball turret (the round compartment on a bomber plane from which a gunner shoots). When he regained consciousness, as the Germans were taking him to hospital, he exclaimed, ‘Thank God I am alive.” Magee once told his friend that the Germans had great respect for those who survived miraculously. My first thought is unbolting a radio-they were huge, my Father had one for his ham radio hobby-and two or three guys smashing the plexiglass with it. Based on a little quick reading the gunsight was adjusted by turning a control so that an aiming circle matched the wingspan of the incoming fighter. The mission Magee was a part of turned out to be a failure for the Allied forces. Magee was 5-foot-7 and could barely fit into the small space inside the turret. It wasn’t easy what they had to go through. Once the aircraft was in enemy territory the ball was rotated so that the door was in the floor of the plane. I believe it happened a number of times. His frame of 5-foot-1 was perfect for the assignment which is considered as one of the most dangerous during World War II. … It also kept the gunners inside the pressurized cabin, which the earlier bombers did not have. One would think that the crew could break the plexiglass and get the guy out. Contrary to an answer appearing below, there are no substantiated incidents of ball turret gunners being crushed on landing. The ball turret on a B-17 didn’t retract. The US 8th Air Force, which flew daylight missions over Europe, had a 19% death rate, if you survived being shot down, you had a 17% chance of become a POW. The poem, written in first person, gives the deceased turret gunner a … Being a ball turret gunner was definitely one of the most dangerous assignments during WW2. This thread is archived. Who was this gunner? Magee had no idea how to control the plane and saw a small opening,  which he quickly jumped through. Magee’s friend, Don Jenkins, also a veteran of WWII, said that being a B-17 gunner was not an easy job during WWII. However, since it would have been a pretty natural fear of the bomber crews, in general, he may be recalling an actual event or his memory might have converted legends into a “memory.”. This was mainly because German fighters would target the gunners first. With no USAAF documentation of such an event, we are left with having to choose between an uncorroborated memory and a lack of documentation. Crackle! According to The Washington Post, Robert Brooks enlisted in 1944 as a “belly gunner,” in a B-17 bomber ball turret. It wasn’t just early on. [Via]. Early on, the bombers had greater range than their escorting fighters and, on deep missions, they had no cover - those guns were all that there was for defense. Jul 19, 2014 - B-17 Ball Turret Gunner Crushed | Turret Gunner on B-17. 11 comments. This is clearly something that wartime censors would have edited out. But he was not aware that he had jumped in a 4-mile drop without his parachute. Source: 303rd BG  [Via]. The ball turret gunner was usually the shortest crewmember. The gunner never entered the turret before take off. This was war. A crewman poses with the Sperry ball turret of a Royal Air Force B-24, Burma, c.1943-1945. Sergeant Smith was a ball turret gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress on his first combat mission. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. This thread brings remote turrets to mind. We have so much respect for these outstanding men! This happened while Andy Rooney was in England reporting a news story. Magee’s survival story has featured in many magazines and is considered one of the most miraculous survivals of WWII. The US Army lost 75 airmen, along with 7 planes, while 47 planes were badly damaged. He felt a need to enlist in the Army and defend his country. From this sphere a gunner, upside down, could track the enemy, revolving as he let fly with his machine guns. Crackle! Alan Magee received the Air Medal for meritorious service and the Purple Heart for his achievements in the war. Armed with two 50-caliber machine guns and capable of rotating 360 degrees, the ball turret gunner was responsible for protecting the otherwise-exposed underbelly of the flying fortress. The ball turret had lost all power, so to get out he had to manually retract the ball using a hand crank. By renfield, September 26, 2012 in MILITARY AIRCRAFT & AVIATION. no one knows… The gunner entered the ball turret via a door at its rear, which also served as an emergency exit in case of trouble. My question is: Were the gunners on bombers actually useful, or did they serve the purpose of providing the crews with the belief that they were protected from high-speed interceptors? No surprise, it is selling Miller’s book here. Air gunners could and did shoot down fighter planes. Magee stayed in various German camps as a Prisoner of War. #41-24620 (PU-O), under Jacob W. Fredericks, from October 14, 1942. The bomber was salvaged 3 May 1943. Saved from ww2incolor.com. http://www.lonesentry.com/blog/b-29-remote-control-turret-system.html. I have no doubt that it happened more than once. A made-for-TV drama from the 1980's was built around that scenario, but it was by and large fictional. The ball turret mechanism was prone to jamming and if the plane had to land…. Ball Turret Gunners on B-17 bombers were protected only by a glass bubble jutting out from the bowels of the plane. When his bomber came under fire from German anti-aircraft guns, he ran out of options. They took off from Molesworth, England, and their target was a German submarine port in France. *The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner With Kevin Costner, Casey Siemaszko, Kiefer Sutherland, J.J. Cohen. How many Ball Turret Gunners died in World War II? It was the job of the ball turret gunner, armed with a pair of .50-caliber machine guns, to defend the aircraft from attacks below. Magee had to jump out of it to escape certain death. 86% Upvoted. The fighters never had the range of the bombers. And even if it didn’t, as long as the (tricycle) gear extended and the pilot didn’t flare too much, he’d be fine. A ball-turret gunner, sits in his position on a B-17 "Flying Fortress" shortly before take off for a mission into Germany, 1943. He was released in May 1945. He was considered a perfect fit for the B-17’s ball turret. Prev; 1; 2; Next; Page 2 of 2 . S/Sgt. The gears that rotated the ball to put the gunner in position to … How did the gunner see the bad guy? Pop! • A ball turret features in the poem "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner", by Randall Jarrell.