Service History
- MFG: Sperry – design by Briggs
- Armament: (2) .50 caliber Machine Guns
- Application: B-17 and B-24
This is understandably the most famous of all the turrets, measuring
less than four feet in diameter and protruding from the lower
fuselage of the B-17. The ball turret is controlled completely from
within. This model carried 500 rounds per gun. Also used in the
B-24, where the turret could retract into the fuselage. The operator
was known as the belly gunner or ball gunner. Thought to be the
most dangerous place in a B-17, later statistics proved the ball turret
to be the safest position.
