Ball turret gunner (B-17/B-24) bail out
 

Hi all,

I would like to ask if anybody can give me more information about rules for ball gunner bail out. I have found in B-17 manual that he was suppose to bail out through waist side door as the third one after both side gunners.

But my question is - was there enough space in Sperry ball turret to fasten his parachute before he enter the turret or in case of emergency he left the turret and run for his parachute stored somewhere in rear part of fuselage?

Was there any rule for this or it depends on gunner?

Many thanks for any info

Pavel

Re: Ball turret gunner (B-17/B-24) bail out
 

Small men were generally chosen as ball turret gunners. There was no room for a parachute in this cramped position. The gunner did not usually climb into the turret until well after take-off, and climbed out again before landing. From the standpoint of numbers and types of battle wounds, the ball turret was statistically the safest position.

Regards
Peter.

Re: Ball turret gunner (B-17/B-24) bail out
 

Thanks Peter!

Pavel

Re: Ball turret gunner (B-17/B-24) bail out
 

Some additional information on the ball turret:

-Just spoke to a vet who was in a B-17 ball turret, and he said that it was the job of one of the waist gunners to help the ball turret gunner out if they needed to bail out. The second waist gunner was trained to assist the ball turret gunner out if the fist waist gunner was unable to help.

-As Peter said, the ball turret gunner did not enter or leave the turret until the aircraft was in flight. One reason for this is that the door to the ball turret is on the opposite end of where the guns are pointing, so the turret must be positioned with the guns facing downward for the gunner to enter & exit. Another reason was that landing gear would occasionally fail for various reasons, and the ball turret was not a good place to be if that happened.

-There was no specific location that the ball turret gunners parachute was kept, just someplace close by. I was told that when a crew had to bail out, there were a few times that in a state of panic, the ball turret gunner would rush out the side door without his parachute. This would occasionally happen with the top turret gunners also, as they did not have room to wear a parachute in the top turret.

-The door to the ball turret was opened and closed from the outside of the turret by a waist gunner. If the waist gunners are unable to open it, there is an emergency release that can be operated from the inside of the turret, however, it was located behind the ball turret operator and I am told that it was very difficult to operate.

Hope this helps.
Na shledanou - Eric Zemper

Re: Ball turret gunner (B-17/B-24) bail out
 

Many thanks for this additional info Eric!

Pavel