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After watching a B-17 flying recently, I was curious how the underside ball turret gunner entered/exited the turret. Was it from below or from inside? I had heard a couple of horror stories of how they were trapped if they aircraft had to do a wheels-up landing, etc., but I didn't know if they were true or not. I would think it would be terribly uncomfortable to be in one of those things for hours on end, or stuck in one with the electricity out and so on.
Thanks in advance for any answers.
After watching a B-17 flying recently, I was curious how the underside ball turret gunner entered/exited the turret. Was it from below or from inside? I had heard a couple of horror stories of how they were trapped if they aircraft had to do a wheels-up landing, etc., but I didn't know if they were true or not. I would think it would be terribly uncomfortable to be in one of those things for hours on end, or stuck in one with the electricity out and so on.
Thanks in advance for any answers.
If a wheels up landng was done with the ball turret down it would crack the fuselage in half or cave into the fuselage. Half the ball was a chunk of extremely thick aluminum casting, the over half was plexiglass, several inches thick.
No models of the B-17 had a retractable turret?
I know you have seen the B-17 and B-24 Ball, but at risk of boring others..
I agree Paul - I am aware of none - with 3 point landing gear designe rather than tricyscle there was plenty of room - so why add the weiight.
I did love the modified B-17 "liberator" - but like the B-17G chin turret better from a weight standpoint
If you look just aft of the ventral turret on 12443, I think you can see the sighting station for the turret. The Bendix turret on the B-25 had 2 problems: First, it was extremly difficult to use the gunsight, and many gunners got vertigo looking through it. Second, the sight would get oil residue from the engines on the lens, obscuring the view through it.