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There are stories about ball turret gunners on the B17...
There was no room for a parachute in the turret, obviously.
Several stories of planes damaged where the turret would not rotate, so the gunner could not get back into the plane.
At least one jumped without a chute from a plane that was falling apart on fire (there's an outside hatch too) and lived. Fell almost 2 miles and landed in trees and very deep snow. No broken bones.
Another couldn't get out either way and the plane crash landed wheels up. The turret disappeared. He knew it was going to happen.
Almost everyone on the B-17s were in their teens or very early 20's.
Thank you for the wonderful pics.
Where's the B-52?
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