No Wikipedia article for some reason afaict

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Here are some of the most notable and tragic incidents involving ball turret gunners during WWII:

The Trapped Gunner at Belly Landing: Andy Rooney, a WWII correspondent, witnessed a tragic incident where a B-17 returned from a mission with its hydraulic system destroyed. The ball turret was damaged, jamming the mechanism and trapping the gunner inside. With no way to lower the landing gear, the pilot was forced to make a belly landing, resulting in the gunner being crushed to death between the runway and the aircraft fuselage.

SSgt. Maynard "Snuffy" Smith's Burning B-17: On May 1, 1943, SSgt. Maynard Smith was the ball turret gunner on a B-17 that was attacked by German fighters over Brest, France. Explosive ammunition inside the plane set the fuselage on fire, and the ball turret was damaged. Though not killed instantly, Smith spent over an hour managing fires, treating wounded crew members, and fighting off enemy fighters while keeping the plane afloat, a testament to the extreme hazards faced in that position.

Gerard C. Antaillia's Direct Hit: On July 16, 1944, B-17 ball turret gunner Gerard C. Antaillia was killed when his turret took a direct hit from anti-aircraft (FLAK) fire during a mission over Munich, Germany.

The "Available Jones" Incident: On April 4, 1943, during an attack by German ME-109 fighters, a B-17 nicknamed "Available Jones" was forced out of formation, according to a 305th Bomb Group historical account. Radio operator Jack Luehrs recalled hearing the ball turret gunner, Mescher, shout, "I've been hit!" before the entire intercom system failed.

Alan Magee's 4-Mile Fall: In a story that is both tragic in its cause and miraculous in its outcome, SSgt. Alan Magee's ball turret was destroyed by flak during a bombing raid on Saint-Nazaire, France, on January 3, 1943. He was knocked unconscious and fell from his B-17 ("Snap! Crackle! Pop!") at roughly 22,000 feet (about 4 miles) without a parachute, landing through the glass roof of the St. Nazaire train station. He survived.

The "Frozen" Gunner (Cultural Impact): The immense risk of being trapped or killed is famously summarized in Randall Jarrell’s 1945 poem, The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner, which describes a gunner trapped in a "plastic cage" whose "wet fur froze," eventually being "washed... out of the turret with a hose" after being hit.

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What in life is not?

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