YEP, zero CAD/CAM, just drafting pencil, T-square, and *smarts* ... and the urgency of winning a massive World War which actually threatened N. America... hats off to The Greatest Generation (who, btw, NEVER refer to themselves that way... ;')
I always think about the possibility to use something similar in space for example, and mount say a robotic arm on it in the middle where one can put various tools and other things, in space, or under water, it would be possible to even stop the vehicle and still and keep floating.
Yeah....however it's also the worst gun position to be assigned to. Especially when the bomber needs to make emergency crash landing and they cannot retract the ball turret and get you out of it. Its It's especially worse for B17 ball gunners.
John="Alright our bomber boys are taking an increasing beating against those huns. We need to come up with an escort fighter that can escort them the entire mission. Steve= *looks at spare turrets and .50's Steve= Or we double the amount of turrets and .50's! John= Or we double the amount of turrets and .50's! John= AMAZING! same idea! Steve= I know right?
This is incredible. My grandpa was a ball turret gunner on a B24, 15th AF, 484th, 824 Bombardment Squadron. His plane was shot down during his 17th mission after bombing Vienna on 21 Feb 1945. The 10-man crew bailed out and were captured by the Germans. He was a POW until liberated by Patton’s 3rd Army on 29 Apr 45. I was too young to appreciate his stories, but I remember many of them. They were real heroes.
Hey! My Great Uncle was in the 15th AF too! San Giovanni Airfield with 740th BS(H), 455th BG(H). Also a Ball turret gunner/assistant radio operator. He was killed in an air to air with another B-24H over the Adriatic on their way back from Austria, it was the 455th's 11th mission.
My father was a ball turret gunner in a B-24 in World War 2. Wish he could have been around to see this airplane and perhaps take a ride in it if he was of a mind to. He really didn't like to fly after he came home. They were all white knuckle trips for him. This from a man who was Oregon's youngest licensed pilot in the 1930s and who couldn't get enough flying before the war. Great video. Thanks very much!
U can be proud to had a such a good person as father. WW2 was really dangerous for the crew of bomber planes and the plane's crew knew there was a high chance of getting shot down. Those people who fought for the freedom in WW2 are my real heros.
My wifes uncle Arthur was a nose turret gunner in Wellington bombers. He was only 5ft 2 ins tall and underage when he joined the RAF. He vowed never to fly again after WW2 and he never did. I don't know how ball turret gunners kept their sanity. Its an awful job and your dad has my utmost respect. My dad was a very low flying gunner...well he was in a Sherman tank in Normandy.
I talked to a vet who was a belly turret operator on thw B24 in europe. He sewed chords in his flight suit to be used as tourniquets by him. He said that he could bleed to death before they cranked the ball back up and it could also be damaged. He said that when they crossed over german areas near the coast they would send up rockets that looked like telephone poles coming up thru the formation. He also said it was scary when the weather was cloudy and the bombers had to form up with poor visibility. Planes would collide and crash.
"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 Jarrell's 'The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner My dad was a B-24 pilot in WWII. This poem and "High Flight" are the only two I ever heard him recite completly from memory. He passed in 93. All of these guys had "balls of steel".
rob black Condolences. Here's to His, & all who serve,, & have served's memory. ''None are closer to the very aurthor of sacrifice Himself... Than those who perform it, for the very sake of others.''-gilpin -former recondo sgt. 'rock' 82nd abn. inf. 2318
"High Flight" is from WW 1, but it does capture the experience of flying (without mentioning the horror of war). "Up, up, the long delirious burning blue!" Now if the human race can just learn to go along without blowing each other up...
Just look at those monster radial engines, going on *70* years old... and not a wisp of smoke at cruise, or even idle. *That* takes a whole lot of love and diligence and no-excuses competence on the part of these preservationists. SALUTE!
My dad used to service those engines in Corpus Christi,Texas and Lathrop, California. He also did jet engines and was trained by Beechcraft. Somewhere, I have the diploma signed by Beech.
The turret was retractable only on the B-24 because of the very limited ground clearance of the that the Liberator had. There was plenty of room for the ball turret on the B-17 so it didn't need to be retracted. For the gunner to get in the ball turret the guns had to be pointed straight down which allowed the hatch to be accessed from inside the aircraft since the hatch is on the opposite side of the turret than the guns. On both the B-17 and the B-24 the guns cannot be pointed straight down when the aircraft is on the ground so the gunner really cant get in the ball turret from inside the aircraft unless it is flying. The hatch is accessible on the B-17 on the ground from the outside when the guns are horizontal as can be seen in many wartime photos. The gunner could in theory bail out of the ball turret in flight if he wore his parachute while in the turret and he could have the guns horizontal in flight. It seemed like the normal procedure was for the gunner to keep is quick attachable chest pack parachute stowed inside the aircraft near the turret in case he had to bail out. If the turret became jammed at any position of the guns outside of nearly straight down then the hatch would be blocked by the turret ring structure and the airframe thus trapping him inside. There were manual cranks both inside the turret for the gunner and outside for the crew to crank the turret in azimuth and elevation. I would like to hear any stories of a ball turret gunner bailing directly out of his ball turret as I have not come across any evidence of this happening but I am sure it must have happened sometime. Check out my other videos of the view from inside the ball turret on the Collings B-17G
To your first comment: Except when a B-17 was forced to belly land - this caused atleast a few unnecessary deaths. In the event that the hydraulics for the landing gear was damaged the B-17 was forced to ditch on landing, and there was nothing that could be done to prevent the loss of the poor belly gunner.
***** Unless flak damage made it so the belly turret couldn't move into a position where the gunner could get out. There were some people in the belly turret that did die... not unnecessarily but simply because in spite of surviving the mission they couldn't get out. It didn't help if the plane was shot down and falling, the guy in the belly turret was usually the last to bail out... if it was even possible. Fortunately, you are correct that most of the time they would just be sitting in the back of the plane with the rest of the crew and enjoying the ride.
333keb There had been at least one case where the ball turret was damaged and the gunner could not get out. And the B-17's landing gear were also damaged forcing a belly landing, thus trapping and crushing the gunner.
333keb Problem is that the turret had to be in a certain position for this to be possible, and if the power traverse to the turret was lost or it was jammed in some way, well then the poor gunner was trapped in there.
that looks already scary as it is. Now think about doing that in a flak field while flying wing to wing beside other bombers and with dozens of enemy fighters strafing you. For fuck sake that is hell
Yeah, that's why turret ball gunner is one of the most respectful crew position in a bomber. Imagine the turret stuck in lower position and you can't get out
Don't forget it's 50 below Zero and you are in an inner electric suit with a bulky Lamb Skin and Fleece Suit and boots, a 90 lb Flak Jacket over your shoulders to your waist, a full Oxygen Mask Fleece Hat and saliva dripping out of you mask and freezing on you chin. You could always tell if someone was from a Heavy Bomber Crew because they always had slight frost bite on their cheeks where the mask did not cover. It was no picnic, Missions could be 10-12 hrs long.
My grandfather was a ball turret gunner on the maiden warrior of the 454th.The stories he would tell me would give me goose bumps. They dropped allot of bombs.
Great video. I have seen the Collins B-24 in Huntsville, Al. My uncle was a tail gunner on a B-24, he and his crew were all killed on a mission to bomb Ploesti on July 15, 1944. Their bomber was shot in half by flak, they had no chance. I have great respect for the men who flew during World War 2. Thank you.
Saying a little prayer for the young men who endured real hell in these warbirds so that we all could live as we do. Thanks to all who serve and have served!!!
My Father was a 24 Navigator and believe me they we always scared, but they took it like Job. Their CO always said at the end of each Mission Briefing. "Gentlemen lets go to work". They also removed the exact number of chairs based on casualty reports they received on the Flight back, so no one knew how many Crews were lost until later in the evening because there were no empty chairs in de-briefing.
No it resembles A REAL PLANE THAT EXISTS what are you mental? where do you think Lucas came up with the idea for turrest on the millenium falcon from in the first place.
A great video! I flew on this aircraft about 12 years ago, and had an unforgettable experience-however, seeing the ball turret in operation is awesome! Thank you Collings Foundation!
Whenever i saw tie fighter in star wars movie. I always remember the ball turret gunner. Salute to the men who operate this during WW2. A BIG THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!
This is absolutely awesome and the coolest use of a GoPro camera I've ever seen. Gives one a different perspective of what ball turret gunners went through as we watch from the outside & underside.
As a kid growing up in the 1960s, I remember people buying WW2 surplus ammo, .30 caliber--belted for machine-gun use--in the original rugged and waterproof green ammo cans. This was pre-NATO so it was identical dimensions to the .30-06 civilian rifle cartridge. You could just slide them out of the cloth belt, and into your bolt-action deer rifle... or surplus (never issued!) M1 Garand! IIRC the tracer every 5th round was already removed--don't want to start the woods on fire. But one "odd" neighbor had a couple cans of belted *.50 cal* ammo, all metal-linked... but nothing to shoot it in. I remember how *huge* the rounds were in my then-tiny hands. He was aware of the 1934 NFA, but his theory was that US factories had cranked out SO DANG MANY of the "Ma Deuces" that he was bound to find one, "lying around somewhere"... and who knows, maybe he did... lol...
The ball was retracted which gave the B-24 more range than the B-17, it was faster and carried a heavier bomb load than the B-17. It's problem was that is was very heavy on the controls and pilot's could not keep it in tight formation during attacks so it was more of a sitting suck for the Germans hence a higher loss rate. ALL these men were brave beyond words!
The ball turret retracted on the B-24 because there was not enough room between the fuselage and the ground for it to be fixed in position like on the B-17. It retracted for ground clearance.
My cousin was in 512th squadron of 376th Bomb Group. He was in Yugoslavian Royal detachment and he was pilot on B-24D. He was a crew member on B24 42-73085 #20 when it collided in mid air with B24 44-40502 #31 after a mission to Lobau in Austria (US B-24 #31 was badly dmg by flack). He died on August 22nd 1944. In that collision only 2 members of 2 crews survived, from Yugo B-24 # 20 was 2nd Lt.Vojin Stojkovic, and one from US B-24 #31 unfortunate i dont know his name... His name was Blagoje Radosavljevic and he was Cap. 1st class and pilot of that Liberator... This was crew of that Liberator die on that day: Cap. 1st class Blagoje Radosavljević Cap. 1st class Borivoje Vulić Cap. 2nd class Slobodan Pavlović Lt. Vuko Šijaković 2nd Lt. Obrad Crvenković 2nd Lt Boris Parapatić 2nd Lt Toma Živanović Ssgt. Milutin Bobek Sgt. Emil Trampuš
I got to fly in this exact plane(the witchcraft). The ball gun was not in use but in the waist gun bay you could stick your head out plane, by far the coolest thing I've ever done.Thanks pappy for letting me ride in ur bird.
Awesome! My brother-in-law's Father piloted a B-24 in the Pacific in WW II. He passed away last fall. John R. was a great guy and I was luck and proud to know him!
Very nice! Thanks for posting this. My father was Flight Engineer / Top-Turret Gunner on B24s out of Seething (Sta. 146) 1943-44, and flew 32+ missions, Sq 712 lead crew with radar.
If you want to actually fly in a powered up ball turret in a real B-17G or a B-24J you can do just that and tons more at Bomber Camp in California. Check out www.bombercamp.org or bomber camp on facebook. Come on out and be a part of "Battle of the Bombers" for a great living history event like no other. You can shoot a full auto 50 cal from the waist window and drop a bomb with the famous Norden bomb sight. Not only that but experience an action packed camp using all of the equipment from WWII. You can even fly in a P-51, B-25, BT-13, AT-6 or C-45 and come along on the missions and see both bombers shoot and drop from one of the best seats in the house. Just google Bomber Camp for more information photos and videos or try bombercamp.org to sign up. Enlistments start at $1400 and up for the day. Come and see why so many previous campers keep coming back each year. If you could, please help us to spread the word about Bomber Camp so we can keep this living history alive.
Old glory I could go to school for two years or two times at bomber camp. Really, it's your situation. Do you have the resources necessary to accomplish this sort of mini vacation goal? Certain people would probably even spend more to do this.
Although I’m not a real war historian, the photography captures an amazing perspective. What an engineering accomplishment almost 80 years ago!! Thanks for posting this fascinating look 👍
I kept waiting to see the Gunnars view and it never came. Would love to see from the inside looking out as he rotated to get a feel for how they lived and died in those coffins. My Dad was a Bomber Mechanic in WWII and cleaned out a lot of airplanes after they landed. He said that was not something he enjoyed remembering.
Wow, awesome video! I always wondered what it looked like under the belly of a B-24 or B-17 in the ball turret at 20,000+ feet. I'm sure this was lower but still. Man, those guys had "guts" to do what they did with flak and fighters all around. We owe them a lot forever. Thanks for posting!
Thank you for this video. I can ONLY imagine the courage, grace and patriotism the men that DID this job posessed. I hope we never again have to ask these kinds of men and women to DO these jobs
My Grandafther, may he rest in peace, served as a B-24 ball turret gunner with the 459th bomb group based at Coffee Tower, Guilia Field in Cerignola, Italy. He survived 32 missions. I have his air service medal with silver oakleaf cluster. He had some amazing but horriffic stories to tell...
Interesting to hear that your Grandfather was stationed in Cerignola, so was my Dad, a ball turret gunner 764th Sq, 461st BG. He flew 51 missions and was shot down on last mission before being rotated out and was a POW for remainder of war. . Quite possible they knew each other. (Dad was shot down on 7-25-44.)
... timeless and priceless views that NO ONE has ever seen before. EVER ~ Kudos from all the future aviation buffs who are not even born yet . THANK YOU !
My dad was a ball turret gunner on a B 24 (Cherokee Maiden) out of Foggia Italy during WWII. They made 50 missions and no one even got a scratch. They did take an anti aircraft shell through the wing and up another 100ft. before it expldoded. When they got back the repair guy said, had it been a foot in any direction and they would have lost the wing. I was named after the pilot (Dean Buck Buchannan) very proud of that fact. I took a ride on the Dragon and his Tale out of Santa Barbara in 2003. What a trip. I asked about getting in the bottom turret and the guy said it's too dangerous and besides I'd never fit. at 6'3 & 225lbs. My dad was 6'3 but only 150. I actually talked to the nose gunner of his bomber and he said they never figured out how he got in there. My sincere thanks to all the brave men and women of that era. They deserve it.
I have to agree. My father was a ball turret gunner, I would like to see that. The B-24 came to a local airport and my father gave me a guided tour through it. It was great.
Well, this is definitely my new favorite video on RUclips. I didn't think in these "we can't do that because of the insurance, or it's too dangerous" times we live in, they would let anyone get in and operate a ball turret like this. Bravo.
I sat in this same aircraft in Omaha. A crew seating bench facing rearward. Hefty safety belts. Got chills. Dad was a ball gunner. 8th AF, 487 bg, 839 bs. Bless the folks keeping the warbirds flying.
Absolutely brilliant camera angles...and colours well worth the effort...and for those gunners too what balls...others can move around the aircraft...but this person...no stays put...courage...l salute you...we 👍
This video is very impressive and well made. It must have been horrendous to have been a gunner suspended in one of these turrets. It makes us all appreciate the huge sacrifice Air Personnel made in WW2.
"BZ" Loved every moment of this video. It gave me a perspective of the brave young men who manned those guns of long ago. We should never forget their sacrifice. My hat is off to you.
Awesome HD, fascinating to see. I just don't care for the 'greatest generation' crap. Let's remember that most Americans were opposed to entering that war and wanted nothing to do with it until Pearl Harbor. As far as the soldiers, I think we have just as many courageous Americans today as then, and had just as many during the Vietnam war too - those poor guys got sacrificed in an unwinnable war started by a bunch of arrogant armchair generals. I'd say the same about the Bush/Cheney war too - dragging on for ten years for what? For nothing.
naww just mad that the u.s. is trying to enter wars that doesn't help its citizens at all. just look at communist china today, its no wonder general macarthur regretted starting war with Japan. the u.s. government just keeps on starting wars that never ends while the american people gets poorer every year lol
Ym Mm what? oh sorry, I was busy deciding if I should take the car, or the motorcycle to head downtown and have a nice steak dinner. And I'm not even rich. you see what we consider "poor" in the US, is middle class in the rest of the developed world. and that makes the middle class in the US,... well I think you can figure that out.
IIR on the B-24 it could still be hauled up manually. Would suck but if you made it back to England, all you'd really be is sore. And have the shit scared out of you. It was the B-17 guys that got royally fucked.
Thanks for posting this amazing video. I also enjoyed the B-17 bombing video. We must never forget the sacrifices that generation went through - the horror of going to battle. I had the great honor of taking a ride on their B-17 which I posted on my RUclips. It was an experience of a lifetime and we are so lucky the Collings foundation and CAF keep these birds flying!
If I remember correctly, the extended turret on the B-24 caused handling problems, and the turret was often removed from planes in the Southwest Pacific theater, replaced with hand-held guns. Presumably, the fighter threat wasn't as bad in that theater, so the turret could be dispensed with, and the reduced weight & drag increased range.
clever piece of engineering that retracting ball turret.....it must have taken alot of courage and endurance to sit in such a confined space for long periods while flying on missions.......crystal clear filming......nice job.......thanks!
Great video. My dad flew in the ball turret in WW2.Cramped and scary when it dropped out of the plane for the first time. But a great view. Dad said you had a great view of tracer coming up at you on anti shipping missions in the pacific, but statistically the safest part of the plane to be in combat.
I dunno. The death toll of belly gunners was pretty high, although I think that had more to do with the fact that it was hard to vacate that position in hurry during an emergency than anything else. The Sperry Ball Turret was actually pretty well armored. If any position is hell on wings, I would imagine it would be the tail gunner. Hell, the Russians used to strap penal battalion members into the tail gun positions on the IL-2 Sturmovik because the death toll of tail gunners on that plane was horrendous.
My grandfather was a waist gunner on a Bristol-Blenheim Mk.1 in the RAF(Romanian Air Forces). He was only 19 at that time but now he's a retired 85 year old General.
this guy is having the best view in the entire plane,i flew in witchcraft in the bombardier section on the nose and even i have a blast view i didn't have the 360' view his getting ,a woundefull foundation to be part off great job guys keep these extraordinary machines flying high
Some time ago I had the honor to talk to Wilber Richardson, a WW2 ball gunner. Great guy with a lot of trigger time including D-Day. Well after talking for a bit somehow going to the bathroom came up, he said do your business before you fly cause there could be an 8 or 12 hour flight coming up. He did eventually say hey If you had to go, while cramped on the ball, you just went, no shame in it cause everybody did it. We both got a chuckel, God bless him.
Ball turret gunners also took photos after bombs were released . . . my Dad flew out of Torino, Italy . . . 461st Bomber Group . . . his plane was shot down Aug, 1944 . . . spent the remainder of war in Stalag 4 . . . they were truly the "greatest generation" . . .
Sweet. My uncle Willis Steburg, was in the 8th Air force during WW2. He was a ball turret gun on b-24's. He had 2 kills to his credit before he was shot down over France in 1944. He survived the downing, but spent the rest of the war in a POW camp. He passed away in 1980.
![Twenty One Pilots - “The Line” (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/E2Rj2gQAyPA/mqdefault.jpg)
My father was a belly gunner in a B-24 Liberator durring WW2. He survived 54 bombing missions. He turns 91 this week. A true American hero.
DistantEarlyWarning 611 Congratulations! My grandfather, who's still around at 92, was a front gunner on a B-24 during the war.
Spelt "during" wrong mate
My dad was a waist gunner on B-24 during WWII past away back in 1982.
siemensohm "Civilians" weren't flying Nazi fighter planes jackass.
Ryan Davidson None. He was in Europe and Africa.
I always found the ball turrets to be mechanically fascinating, quite a feat in engineering
mrKozmoz AA guns are made the same way :^)
YEP, zero CAD/CAM, just drafting pencil, T-square, and *smarts* ... and the urgency of winning a massive World War which actually threatened N. America... hats off to The Greatest Generation (who, btw, NEVER refer to themselves that way... ;')
I always think about the possibility to use something similar in space for example, and mount say a robotic arm on it in the middle where one can put various tools and other things, in space, or under water, it would be possible to even stop the vehicle and still and keep floating.
Yep, and also wondered how cramped it felt. Too bad I will never be able to try it... (Not referring in war time of course...)
Yeah....however it's also the worst gun position to be assigned to. Especially when the bomber needs to make emergency crash landing and they cannot retract the ball turret and get you out of it. Its It's especially worse for B17 ball gunners.
I feel like the motto behind American planes in WW2 was "How many .50 cals can we slap on this thing?"
uh 5001 no more no less
John="Alright our bomber boys are taking an increasing beating against those huns. We need to come up with an escort fighter that can escort them the entire mission.
Steve= *looks at spare turrets and .50's
Steve= Or we double the amount of turrets and .50's!
John= Or we double the amount of turrets and .50's!
John= AMAZING! same idea!
Steve= I know right?
30 cal
@@gavinsepulveda6460 party pooper
@@gavinsepulveda6460 20mm
huge shoutout to the cameraman for not falling off the plane
I’m waiting for the dumbass to comment here
@@kremit5084 it's been 4 months now
@@rayneb5313 yeah
What are you talking about there's a camera on the plane not a human!! 🙄
@@thegermanfool8953 I FUCKING FOUND YOU
The amount of courage needed to operate this in combat is impossible to be measured. True heros. Respect.
This is incredible. My grandpa was a ball turret gunner on a B24, 15th AF, 484th, 824 Bombardment Squadron. His plane was shot down during his 17th mission after bombing Vienna on 21 Feb 1945. The 10-man crew bailed out and were captured by the Germans. He was a POW until liberated by Patton’s 3rd Army on 29 Apr 45. I was too young to appreciate his stories, but I remember many of them. They were real heroes.
Hey! My Great Uncle was in the 15th AF too! San Giovanni Airfield with 740th BS(H), 455th BG(H). Also a Ball turret gunner/assistant radio operator. He was killed in an air to air with another B-24H over the Adriatic on their way back from Austria, it was the 455th's 11th mission.
Now we need a gunner's eye view.
Check out my other videos for a ball turret view from inside
Taigh Ramey Cool, thanks. Always thought I'd enjoy the seat if I wasn't getting shot at. I' thin and fold easily.
Bro this comment is old
@@Rayculdio yep
It’s pretty cramped in there, to be honest.
My father was a ball turret gunner in a B-24 in World War 2. Wish he could have been around to see this airplane and perhaps take a ride in it if he was of a mind to. He really didn't like to fly after he came home. They were all white knuckle trips for him. This from a man who was Oregon's youngest licensed pilot in the 1930s and who couldn't get enough flying before the war. Great video. Thanks very much!
Flying in the USA in the thirties, well ,he was not siting to be shot at,and one must eel damn exposed in a ball!
U can be proud to had a such a good person as father. WW2 was really dangerous for the crew of bomber planes and the plane's crew knew there was a high chance of getting shot down. Those people who fought for the freedom in WW2 are my real heros.
All the people who fought against the nazi, fascists and japanese army and all of their allies were heroes.
My wifes uncle Arthur was a nose turret gunner in Wellington bombers. He was only 5ft 2 ins tall and underage when he joined the RAF. He vowed never to fly again after WW2 and he never did. I don't know how ball turret gunners kept their sanity. Its an awful job and your dad has my utmost respect. My dad was a very low flying gunner...well he was in a Sherman tank in Normandy.
I talked to a vet who was a belly turret operator on thw B24 in europe. He sewed chords in his flight suit to be used as tourniquets by him. He said that he could bleed to death before they cranked the ball back up and it could also be damaged. He said that when they crossed over german areas near the coast they would send up rockets that looked like telephone poles coming up thru the formation. He also said it was scary when the weather was cloudy and the bombers had to form up with poor visibility. Planes would collide and crash.
"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 Jarrell's 'The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
My dad was a B-24 pilot in WWII. This poem and "High Flight" are the only two I ever heard him recite completly from memory. He passed in 93.
All of these guys had "balls of steel".
rob black
Condolences. Here's to His, & all who serve,, & have served's memory.
''None are closer to the very aurthor of sacrifice Himself...
Than those who perform it, for the very sake of others.''-gilpin
-former recondo sgt. 'rock' 82nd abn. inf. 2318
"High Flight" is from WW 1, but it does capture the experience of flying (without mentioning the horror of war). "Up, up, the long delirious burning blue!"
Now if the human race can just learn to go along without blowing each other up...
Do you mind if I put that on my Facebook page on remembrance day sir?
*Not steel ALUMINUM!*
SHUT UP SOUP TRUSTED YOU MAN
Very cool camera angle! Great video!
+TAOFLEDERMAUS :D you
i love ur chanel cool 2 see u hear
love ur channel
Dude every video I watch you’ve commented on. You’re everywhere
lol that camera angle was absolute shit, i was expecting some footage from the inside
Just look at those monster radial engines, going on *70* years old... and not a wisp of smoke at cruise, or even idle. *That* takes a whole lot of love and diligence and no-excuses competence on the part of these preservationists. SALUTE!
My dad used to service those engines in Corpus Christi,Texas and Lathrop, California. He also did jet engines and was trained by Beechcraft. Somewhere, I have the diploma signed by Beech.
The turret was retractable only on the B-24 because of the very limited ground clearance of the that the Liberator had. There was plenty of room for the ball turret on the B-17 so it didn't need to be retracted.
For the gunner to get in the ball turret the guns had to be pointed straight down which allowed the hatch to be accessed from inside the aircraft since the hatch is on the opposite side of the turret than the guns.
On both the B-17 and the B-24 the guns cannot be pointed straight down when the aircraft is on the ground so the gunner really cant get in the ball turret from inside the aircraft unless it is flying. The hatch is accessible on the B-17 on the ground from the outside when the guns are horizontal as can be seen in many wartime photos.
The gunner could in theory bail out of the ball turret in flight if he wore his parachute while in the turret and he could have the guns horizontal in flight. It seemed like the normal procedure was for the gunner to keep is quick attachable chest pack parachute stowed inside the aircraft near the turret in case he had to bail out.
If the turret became jammed at any position of the guns outside of nearly straight down then the hatch would be blocked by the turret ring structure and the airframe thus trapping him inside. There were manual cranks both inside the turret for the gunner and outside for the crew to crank the turret in azimuth and elevation.
I would like to hear any stories of a ball turret gunner bailing directly out of his ball turret as I have not come across any evidence of this happening but I am sure it must have happened sometime.
Check out my other videos of the view from inside the ball turret on the Collings B-17G
To your first comment: Except when a B-17 was forced to belly land - this caused atleast a few unnecessary deaths.
In the event that the hydraulics for the landing gear was damaged the B-17 was forced to ditch on landing, and there was nothing that could be done to prevent the loss of the poor belly gunner.
bellator11 he could get out of the turret maybe... you know, so he didnt die a horrible death..
*****
Unless flak damage made it so the belly turret couldn't move into a position where the gunner could get out. There were some people in the belly turret that did die... not unnecessarily but simply because in spite of surviving the mission they couldn't get out. It didn't help if the plane was shot down and falling, the guy in the belly turret was usually the last to bail out... if it was even possible.
Fortunately, you are correct that most of the time they would just be sitting in the back of the plane with the rest of the crew and enjoying the ride.
333keb There had been at least one case where the ball turret was damaged and the gunner could not get out. And the B-17's landing gear were also damaged forcing a belly landing, thus trapping and crushing the gunner.
333keb Problem is that the turret had to be in a certain position for this to be possible, and if the power traverse to the turret was lost or it was jammed in some way, well then the poor gunner was trapped in there.
Awesome, I sure am glad someone cared enough to save these old warbirds. Great to see the turret up and running.
that looks already scary as it is. Now think about doing that in a flak field while flying wing to wing beside other bombers and with dozens of enemy fighters strafing you. For fuck sake that is hell
Yeah, that's why turret ball gunner is one of the most respectful crew position in a bomber. Imagine the turret stuck in lower position and you can't get out
that's why they wore parachutes so if they have to jump or get shot out they can survive
@@MichaelThe-Pyro i am pretty sure they could not wear chutes, too big for the ball turret
Don't forget it's 50 below Zero and you are in an inner electric suit with a bulky Lamb Skin and Fleece Suit and boots, a 90 lb Flak Jacket over your shoulders to your waist, a full Oxygen Mask Fleece Hat and saliva dripping out of you mask and freezing on you chin.
You could always tell if someone was from a Heavy Bomber Crew because they always had slight frost bite
on their cheeks where the mask did not cover. It was no picnic, Missions could be 10-12 hrs long.
My grandfather was a ball turret gunner on the maiden warrior of the 454th.The stories he would tell me would give me goose bumps. They dropped allot of bombs.
Great video. I have seen the Collins B-24 in Huntsville, Al. My uncle was a tail gunner on a B-24, he and his crew were all killed on a mission to bomb Ploesti on July 15, 1944. Their bomber was shot in half by flak, they had no chance. I have great respect for the men who flew during World War 2. Thank you.
Saying a little prayer for the young men who endured real hell in these warbirds so that we all could live as we do. Thanks to all who serve and have served!!!
My Father was a 24 Navigator and believe me they we
always scared, but they took it like Job. Their CO always
said at the end of each Mission Briefing. "Gentlemen lets go to work". They also removed the exact number of chairs based on casualty reports they received on the Flight back, so no one knew how many Crews were lost until later in the evening
because there were no empty chairs in de-briefing.
Amazing they have restored the aircraft to have an operating ball turret. It kind of resembles a TIE fighter cockpit, or even a space pod from 2001.
No it resembles A REAL PLANE THAT EXISTS
what are you mental?
where do you think Lucas came up with the idea for turrest on the millenium falcon from in the first place.
@@jonathanwaggoner2265 No I am not mental smartarse, and how should I know where he came up with the idea?
Tie Fighter the humble beginning
LOL!!!!
The Fighter: A Star Wars Story
so true :o
I noticed the similarity myself years back.
Bruhh
Gimme 3000 rounds of Ammo and fly over my ex's house.
Why not bomb it btw it design for bombing
+RoadCaptainEntertain 4000 rounds
lol its like you remove the bombs replace it with more ammo xD
RoadCaptainEntertain y
RoadCaptainEntertain lol I'm dead
I love the fact these planes are restored and still flying. Makes me want to be part of the crew just so I could keep up with it.
A great video! I flew on this aircraft about 12 years ago, and had an unforgettable experience-however, seeing the ball turret in operation is awesome! Thank you Collings Foundation!
TIE Fighter...anyone?....knew it looked familiar...
Whenever i saw tie fighter in star wars movie. I always remember the ball turret gunner. Salute to the men who operate this during WW2. A BIG THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!
Nice camera work. But it would have been nice to have a camera inside looking outward
Check out my other videos to see a video shot from inside the ball turret
That bomb bay opening a 8:22 was unexpected but cool to see.
Amazing! I could not imagine how cramped it was for the gunner to be inside that ball.
This is absolutely awesome and the coolest use of a GoPro camera I've ever seen. Gives one a different perspective of what ball turret gunners went through as we watch from the outside & underside.
As a kid growing up in the 1960s, I remember people buying WW2 surplus ammo, .30 caliber--belted for machine-gun use--in the original rugged and waterproof green ammo cans. This was pre-NATO so it was identical dimensions to the .30-06 civilian rifle cartridge. You could just slide them out of the cloth belt, and into your bolt-action deer rifle... or surplus (never issued!) M1 Garand! IIRC the tracer every 5th round was already removed--don't want to start the woods on fire.
But one "odd" neighbor had a couple cans of belted *.50 cal* ammo, all metal-linked... but nothing to shoot it in. I remember how *huge* the rounds were in my then-tiny hands. He was aware of the 1934 NFA, but his theory was that US factories had cranked out SO DANG MANY of the "Ma Deuces" that he was bound to find one, "lying around somewhere"... and who knows, maybe he did... lol...
Hopefully he did heck I think today you could still find one somewhere
The ball was retracted which gave the B-24 more range than the B-17, it was faster and carried a heavier bomb load than the B-17. It's problem was that is was very heavy on the controls and pilot's could not keep it in tight formation during attacks so it was more of a sitting suck for the Germans hence a higher loss rate. ALL these men were brave beyond words!
The ball turret retracted on the B-24 because there was not enough room between the fuselage and the ground for it to be fixed in position like on the B-17. It retracted for ground clearance.
My cousin was in 512th squadron of 376th Bomb Group. He was in Yugoslavian Royal detachment and he was pilot on B-24D. He was a crew member on B24 42-73085 #20 when it collided in mid air with B24 44-40502 #31 after a mission to Lobau in Austria (US B-24 #31 was badly dmg by flack). He died on August 22nd 1944. In that collision only 2 members of 2 crews survived, from Yugo B-24 # 20 was 2nd Lt.Vojin Stojkovic, and one from US B-24 #31 unfortunate i dont know his name...
His name was Blagoje Radosavljevic and he was Cap. 1st class and pilot of that Liberator...
This was crew of that Liberator die on that day:
Cap. 1st class Blagoje Radosavljević
Cap. 1st class Borivoje Vulić
Cap. 2nd class Slobodan Pavlović
Lt. Vuko Šijaković
2nd Lt. Obrad Crvenković
2nd Lt Boris Parapatić
2nd Lt Toma Živanović
Ssgt. Milutin Bobek
Sgt. Emil Trampuš
And I thought the us only used the b24 Lib. Rest In Peace.
I hope ur cousin is now in heaven and finds his peace
all the best to your cousin R.I.P
slightly odd that you remember all that though
RIP
They are real heroes.
We will never forget those who fought bravely.
I got to fly in this exact plane(the witchcraft). The ball gun was not in use but in the waist gun bay you could stick your head out plane, by far the coolest thing I've ever done.Thanks pappy for letting me ride in ur bird.
*Me going to bomber camp after playing war thunder:*
JUST LIKE THE SIMULATIONS
Star war × War thunder Reference
Awesome! My brother-in-law's Father piloted a B-24 in the Pacific in WW II. He passed away last fall. John R. was a great guy and I was luck and proud to know him!
id pay 150$ to ride in a ball turret in the air
If someone tried to force me to ride in a ball turret in the air, I'd GIVE you 150$ to take my place.
ill hold u up to that
bummer6 The ball looks heavy and since it moves, I would be afraid that it would fall out from under the plane. The WW2 generation had guts!
I won't fit!
SUCKERS!!
Looks like belly guns for me..
Bruh I woud be scared and some how happy give me 2000 rounds and fly over my school to scare the crap out of my classmates the
The fact that people didnt like this video should be none of our business-great video!
This may be the coolest thing ever! I didn't know that the ball retracted into the plane fuse. Now I was to see the same thing on a B-17!
God, I'd love to take this ride (inside the airplane, though...)!
Thanks for sharing, Mike Keller!
B-17 ball turrets dont retract
Very nice! Thanks for posting this. My father was Flight Engineer / Top-Turret Gunner on B24s out of Seething (Sta. 146) 1943-44, and flew 32+ missions, Sq 712 lead crew with radar.
If you want to actually fly in a powered up ball turret in a real B-17G or a B-24J you can do just that and tons more at Bomber Camp in California. Check out www.bombercamp.org or bomber camp on facebook. Come on out and be a part of "Battle of the Bombers" for a great living history event like no other. You can shoot a full auto 50 cal from the waist window and drop a bomb with the famous Norden bomb sight. Not only that but experience an action packed camp using all of the equipment from WWII. You can even fly in a P-51, B-25, BT-13, AT-6 or C-45 and come along on the missions and see both bombers shoot and drop from one of the best seats in the house. Just google Bomber Camp for more information photos and videos or try bombercamp.org to sign up. Enlistments start at $1400 and up for the day. Come and see why so many previous campers keep coming back each year.
If you could, please help us to spread the word about Bomber Camp so we can keep this living history alive.
+Taigh Ramey That would be awesome although I live on the other side of the globe in Australia. Don't suppose you could come and pick me up? Haha
+Old glory It's funding the fuel, blank ammo, maintanence, and personell. I'd hardly say it's not worth it for just keeping the planes running.
+Diax1324 Its still too much for only 2 days
Old glory I could go to school for two years or two times at bomber camp. Really, it's your situation. Do you have the resources necessary to accomplish this sort of mini vacation goal? Certain people would probably even spend more to do this.
+Diax1324 Sorry bud, but I don't got the funds.
Although I’m not a real war historian, the photography captures an amazing perspective. What an engineering accomplishment almost 80 years ago!! Thanks for posting this fascinating look 👍
I kept waiting to see the Gunnars view and it never came. Would love to see from the inside looking out as he rotated to get a feel for how they lived and died in those coffins. My Dad was a Bomber Mechanic in WWII and cleaned out a lot of airplanes after they landed. He said that was not something he enjoyed remembering.
Wow, awesome video! I always wondered what it looked like under the belly of a B-24 or B-17 in the ball turret at 20,000+ feet. I'm sure this was lower but still. Man, those guys had "guts" to do what they did with flak and fighters all around. We owe them a lot forever. Thanks for posting!
Amazingly cool effect. Great video.
Thank you for this video. I can ONLY imagine the courage, grace and patriotism the men that DID this job posessed. I hope we never again have to ask these kinds of men and women to DO these jobs
#BestSelfieStick
seth daigle true
Until the cannons get in action and the camera gets burned by the extreme heat lol
@@techmaniac43 Goes BRRRRTT
@@YCTedy the thing goes really
Hot
@@YCTedy yea
My Grandafther, may he rest in peace, served as a B-24 ball turret gunner with the 459th bomb group based at Coffee Tower, Guilia Field in Cerignola, Italy. He survived 32 missions. I have his air service medal with silver oakleaf cluster. He had some amazing but horriffic stories to tell...
Interesting to hear that your Grandfather was stationed in Cerignola, so was my Dad, a ball turret gunner 764th Sq, 461st BG. He flew 51 missions and was shot down on last mission before being rotated out and was a POW for remainder of war. . Quite possible they knew each other. (Dad was shot down on 7-25-44.)
seriously, how can anybody dislike this?
This has to be the single most exciting footage I have seen in my entire life!!!!
Did anyone else think of a tie fighter when they saw this?
... timeless and priceless views that NO ONE has ever seen before. EVER ~
Kudos from all the future aviation buffs who are not even born yet .
THANK YOU !
A great view and great editing you didn't waste time either. Thank you for no music because the engines and the slipstream WAS the music.
My dad was a ball turret gunner on a B 24 (Cherokee Maiden) out of Foggia Italy during WWII. They made 50 missions and no one even got a scratch. They did take an anti aircraft shell through the wing and up another 100ft. before it expldoded. When they got back the repair guy said, had it been a foot in any direction and they would have lost the wing. I was named after the pilot (Dean Buck Buchannan) very proud of that fact. I took a ride on the Dragon and his Tale out of Santa Barbara in 2003. What a trip. I asked about getting in the bottom turret and the guy said it's too dangerous and besides I'd never fit. at 6'3 & 225lbs. My dad was 6'3 but only 150. I actually talked to the nose gunner of his bomber and he said they never figured out how he got in there. My sincere thanks to all the brave men and women of that era. They deserve it.
Its too bad we didn't get some glimpses of the gunners birds eye view as well.
I have to agree. My father was a ball turret gunner, I would like to see that. The B-24 came to a local airport and my father gave me a guided tour through it. It was great.
Incredible view. The camera stabilized on the gun barrel while the aircraft continues to shake, rattle and roll.
Fun fact: being a ball turret gunner in WW2 is one of the most dangerous jobs in history
First target for fighters
Not very funny tho 😔
@@zeta1960 my great uncle died in one in ww2
@@jamaaljackson5464 R.I.P
Simple history describing.
Well, this is definitely my new favorite video on RUclips. I didn't think in these "we can't do that because of the insurance, or it's too dangerous" times we live in, they would let anyone get in and operate a ball turret like this. Bravo.
2:29 me need cookie (look in one of the windows)
I could never have been a ball turret gunner. God Bless all that took on that roll.
I would not want to sit in it, people shooting at me or not. It took tons of GUTS for those fly boys to volunteer for this. Salute!
I sat in this same aircraft in Omaha. A crew seating bench facing rearward. Hefty safety belts. Got chills. Dad was a ball gunner. 8th AF, 487 bg, 839 bs. Bless the folks keeping the warbirds flying.
The ball looks like the thing from portal
Absolutely brilliant camera angles...and colours well worth the effort...and for those gunners too what balls...others can move around the aircraft...but this person...no stays put...courage...l salute you...we 👍
Ladies and gentlemen, what you have witnessed here today was a plane going through puberty and its ball dropping. XD
Icarusv2x lol
Nice joke lol
You win
Did you really have to wait until puberty?
Icarusv2x
Warm day, ball turret drops.
Cold day, ball turret retracts
all the way up & inside🤣
One of the finest videos on RUclips hands down.
If only they had go pros in WW2.
This is the coolest thing I've ever seen, even though this thing is 70 years old!
Love this sound !
Fantastic! I can't imagine being back then and having to actually defend this aircraft without this. A camera view from inside would be fabulous.
Amazing....
This video is very impressive and well made. It must have been horrendous to have been a gunner suspended in one of these turrets. It makes us all appreciate the huge sacrifice Air Personnel made in WW2.
Cod 3 memories anyone? ( ww2 cod 3)
And I thought I was the only one to still have it lol but the trolls are annoying
"BZ" Loved every moment of this video. It gave me a perspective of the brave young men who manned those guns of long ago. We should never forget their sacrifice. My hat is off to you.
Here i am wasting 15 minutes of my life looking at balls rotating..
That was super cool,best $25 I ever spent was for a tour of their B-17 and the '24.A must for all history buffs.
Awesome HD, fascinating to see. I just don't care for the 'greatest generation' crap. Let's remember that most Americans were opposed to entering that war and wanted nothing to do with it until Pearl Harbor. As far as the soldiers, I think we have just as many courageous Americans today as then, and had just as many during the Vietnam war too - those poor guys got sacrificed in an unwinnable war started by a bunch of arrogant armchair generals. I'd say the same about the Bush/Cheney war too - dragging on for ten years for what? For nothing.
Too bad the government wanted to interfere into the South Manchuria Railway business in order to start a war with Japan.
the bitterness is strong with this one
agreed, the u.s. never learns from its past lol
naww just mad that the u.s. is trying to enter wars that doesn't help its citizens at all. just look at communist china today, its no wonder general macarthur regretted starting war with Japan. the u.s. government just keeps on starting wars that never ends while the american people gets poorer every year lol
Ym Mm
what? oh sorry, I was busy deciding if I should take the car, or the motorcycle to head downtown and have a nice steak dinner. And I'm not even rich. you see what we consider "poor" in the US, is middle class in the rest of the developed world. and that makes the middle class in the US,... well I think you can figure that out.
The B-24j Liberator is such a beautiful plane. The Witchcraft is by far my favorite B-24.
Lose hydraulics and you're stuck in that thing
IIR on the B-24 it could still be hauled up manually. Would suck but if you made it back to England, all you'd really be is sore. And have the shit scared out of you. It was the B-17 guys that got royally fucked.
the hydraulic liquid powering the pistons in flammable so if a fighter got a good hit you'd catch fire or explode
both the 24 and 17 had manual ways of moving the turrets
Thanks for posting this amazing video. I also enjoyed the B-17 bombing video. We must never forget the sacrifices that generation went through - the horror of going to battle. I had the great honor of taking a ride on their B-17 which I posted on my RUclips. It was an experience of a lifetime and we are so lucky the Collings foundation and CAF keep these birds flying!
Anyone here from CoD WWII? :]
at least one of the best videos I've ever seen to give a functional and an emotional view from the outside of the tiny ball-grave.
b24 flying coffin
If I remember correctly, the extended turret on the B-24 caused handling problems, and the turret was often removed from planes in the Southwest Pacific theater, replaced with hand-held guns. Presumably, the fighter threat wasn't as bad in that theater, so the turret could be dispensed with, and the reduced weight & drag increased range.
I don’t know which is more impressive - the mechanics of the turret or the quality of the images from the GoPro camera!
clever piece of engineering that retracting ball turret.....it must have taken alot of courage and endurance to sit in such a confined space for long periods while flying on missions.......crystal clear filming......nice job.......thanks!
Flew on the WitchCraft 12 yrs ago...Surviving 54 missions-Wow! We owe them so much, keep em flying!!!!
Now that was neat, plain and simple. Thank you for getting that put up for us to see.
Great video. My dad flew in the ball turret in WW2.Cramped and scary when it dropped out of the plane for the first time. But a great view. Dad said you had a great view of tracer coming up at you on anti shipping missions in the pacific, but statistically the safest part of the plane to be in combat.
I dunno. The death toll of belly gunners was pretty high, although I think that had more to do with the fact that it was hard to vacate that position in hurry during an emergency than anything else. The Sperry Ball Turret was actually pretty well armored.
If any position is hell on wings, I would imagine it would be the tail gunner. Hell, the Russians used to strap penal battalion members into the tail gun positions on the IL-2 Sturmovik because the death toll of tail gunners on that plane was horrendous.
Sending this to a WWII veteran whose brother was a copilot in a B-24 and was one of the many who never came home.
Absolutely amazing footage.....and the sound just makes it.Thanks so much!!
Thank you for the kind comments! You are most welcome
My grandfather was a waist gunner on a Bristol-Blenheim Mk.1 in the RAF(Romanian Air Forces). He was only 19 at that time but now he's a retired 85 year old General.
Awesome video. Puts things in perspective. Can't even imagine what it would be like sitting in there and fending for your life as bullets rained.
this guy is having the best view in the entire plane,i flew in witchcraft in the bombardier section on the nose and even i have a blast view i didn't have the 360' view his getting ,a woundefull foundation to be part off great job guys keep these extraordinary machines flying high
A true hero because a ball turret is a really hard, dangerous, and big job,
Therapist: Wheatley with a gun isn’t real he can’t hurt you.
Wheatley with a gun:
Some time ago I had the honor to talk to Wilber Richardson, a WW2 ball gunner. Great guy with a lot of trigger time including D-Day. Well after talking for a bit somehow going to the bathroom came up, he said do your business before you fly cause there could be an 8 or 12 hour flight coming up. He did eventually say hey If you had to go, while cramped on the ball, you just went, no shame in it cause everybody did it. We both got a chuckel, God bless him.
Ball turret gunners also took photos after bombs were released . . . my Dad flew out of Torino, Italy . . . 461st Bomber Group . . . his plane was shot down Aug, 1944 . . . spent the remainder of war in Stalag 4 . . . they were truly the "greatest generation" . . .
Nice video! This provided great angles, perspectives and views, which have not been seen before. Very well done. Thanks for sharing!
That sir is as bad ass as it gets!
Thank you so much for sharing!!!!
B-24 is da BOMB!!!!!
Sweet. My uncle Willis Steburg, was in the 8th Air force during WW2. He was a ball turret gun on b-24's. He had 2 kills to his credit before he was shot down over France in 1944. He survived the downing, but spent the rest of the war in a POW camp. He passed away in 1980.
olentangy74 Rest in Peace sounds like he would have quite some stories to tell.
Pigeon yes, although as I recall he did not like to talk much about it.
olentangy74 No doubt. Talking about details of war and Nazi camps would for sure bring back some painful and undesirable memories.
that is just a brilliant angle! thumbs up !!! excellent work!