[Bonemaker]

Our fathers, grandfathers, uncles, great uncles, cousins.

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.”

Randall Jarell 1945

[Oatka]

DEATH OF THE BALL TURRET GUNNER

Andy Rooney told of a bomber that had it's landing gear shot up so bad it wouldn't deploy. They also couldn't get their ball turret gunner out. He just said it was "awful" but you can imagine the poor guy was just a red smear on the runway.

That being said, it has since been called an Urban Legend by historians. "Amazing Stories" had an episode called "The Mission" about a similar situation, but had a happier ending.

here's a pic of a guy getting into one during a flight in 2015.

The crews of those planes must have clanked when they walked.