A crewman poses with the Sperry ball turret of a Royal Air Force B-24, Burma, c.1943-1945
Service history
Used by
United States, United Kingdom, China
Wars
World War II
Specifications
Caliber
.50 BMG
A ball turret is a spherical-shaped, altazimuth mount gun turret, fitted to some American-built aircraft during World War II.[1] The name arose from the turret's spherical housing.
It was a manned turret, as distinct from remote-controlled turrets also in use.[2][3] The turret held the gunner, two heavy machine guns, ammunition, and sights. The Sperry Corporation designed ventral versions that became the most common version; thus, the term "ball turret" generally indicates these versions.[4]
^Aircraft Fire Control. Great Neck, New York: Sperry Gyroscope Company. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
^Holley, Irving B. Jr. (June 1947). Development of Aircraft Gun Turrets in the AAF, 1917-1944 (Report). Army Air Forces Historical Studies. AAF Historical Office, Headquarters, Army Air Forces. Archived from the original on May 21, 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
^"My Dad Was A Ball Turret Gunner In World War II". HuffPost. 2015-11-11. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
^Aircrewman's Gunnery Manual. Aviation Training Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. 1944. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
A ballturret is a spherical-shaped, altazimuth mount gun turret, fitted to some American-built aircraft during World War II. The name arose from the turret's...
the BallTurret Gunner" is a five-line poem by Randall Jarrell published in 1945. The poem is about the death of a gunner in a Sperry ballturret on a...
a mostly derisive welcome, and she is quartered in the empty Sperry ballturret for the takeoff. With no room left for her document valise, she reluctantly...
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There were two main configurations, one with several turrets including a prominent ballturret in the nose with two 50-cal machine guns, and one unarmed...
Simon & Schuster, 2001. p. 299 [ISBN missing] Johnsen, Frederick A. "BallTurret: Shattering the Myths." Air Power History 1996 43(2): pp. 14–21. ISSN 1044-016X...
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airframe and a two-seat, tandem cockpit, featuring a grenade launcher in a ballturret on the nose, a 20 mm belly-mounted gun pod, and stub wings for mounting...
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mission, on May 1, 1943, Staff Sergeant Smith, who was assigned to the ball gun turret, helped save the lives of six of his wounded comrades and put out a...
the author of several anthology poems (for example, "The Death of the BallTurret Gunner"), a charming book or two for children, and a panoply of influential...
at this time was 12 machine guns: ballturret (2), waist guns (2), tail guns (2), radio compartment (1), top turret (2), cheek guns (2), and nose (1)...
T/Sgt. James Shoesmith, top turret gunner T/Sgt. John H. Bigham, radio operator/waist gunner S/Sgt. Nick Premenko, ballturret gunner S/Sgt. Harry J. Teems...
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