LIFE Magazine photo of a serviceman getting into a B-17 ball turret

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LIFE Magazine photo of a serviceman getting into a B-17 ball turret

And a second photo with him almost fully secured in the containment capsule:

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Oof. I feel like this is obligatory to post with any mention of it.

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner Randall Jarrell —-

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.


One of the rawest gigs in a war full of raw gigs


gotta be so fucking cold in that thing with the plane at altitude

Not to mention hamster balls have more room to move about.


And a very Bad place to be if they had to perform a belly landing.

for sure, it’s the red mist gunner seat




That really took some balls.


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