Suspended beneath the belly of the B-17 bomber, the ball turret was a claustrophobic sphere of glass, guns, and guts. Discover what it was like to serve in one of the most perilous roles in the U ...

A man in Marengo, Illinois, is on a mission to fully restore a World War II-era B-17 bomber—a project he’s been diligently ...

Piece-by-piece, the massive World War II-era bomber the city ... day," he said. The ball-turret arrived at the museum 367 days before it was mounted Tuesday morning, said B-17 project manager ...

Summary and Key Points: The Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” revolutionized aerial ... protected by waist guns as well as two guns in a ball turret mounted on the bottom of the aircraft.

Project volunteers at the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force Tuesday morning installed the ball-turret on its B-17G the City ... massive World War-II era bomber's belly marked a ...

The B-17 Flying Fortress was a workhorse heavy bomber employed ... 50 caliber twin tail guns, a waist gun, twin guns in the ball turret, a top turret, a chin turret, and a single cheek gun.

After takeoff, the ball turret gunner—who was typically one ... s little friend all the way to Berlin and back. The B-17 Flying Fortress went on to make its mark on history and became among ...

The ball turret, like this one on a B-17 in England in 1943, was designed small to reduce drag, so its gunner usually was the shortest man in the crew. Gunners on World War II bombers had only a ...

The second plane served as a water bomber and nuclear test target. The restored "Nine-O-Nine" crashed in 1987 and was subject to an extensive rebuilding. Nine-O-Nine, the B-17 bomber involved in ...

Jerry Duran is sitting at his dining room table, explaining what it’s like to man the ball turret of a B-17 bomber, and feigns like he's going to draw his knees to his chest. At 92 ...

It’s brief but brutal — and for me, somewhat personal. The turret in question could be found at the bottom of a B-17 bomber — a plexiglass ball containing two .50-caliber machine guns and a very short ...