The Ball (Belly) Turret Gunner
by Harold (Diz) Kronenberg

Because of necessity, a ball-turret gunner could not be very large. There just wasn’t enough room in the turret for a man of much size.

The ball turret was cramped and hung like a bubble on the underside-belly of the airplane. The occupant had to be stout-hearted, free from claustrophobia, and unafraid to fly without a parachute. It was particularly uncomfortable on missions of deep penetration. To be isolated from the rest of the crew, in a huddled and cramped position for about eight hours, like during the Berlin mission, was not exactly “a walk in the park.”

The bulky, sheep-lined flying suits of the earlier days did not aid comfort. Once gunners, however, received lighter, less bulky electrically heated suits--called bunny suits--some discomfort was relieved.

Having to “relieve himself’ was a constant--some would say a serious--problem. Relief tubes in the fuselage benefited the other crewmen, but were of little value to a ball turret gunner. There were a few accidents along the way. At high altitudes, even the relief tubes froze up and were, therefore, of no value to anyone. To be on the safe side and, just in case it was needed, an empty can was brought along on each mission.

Most, but not all turret gunners, preferred the ball to any other position on the plane. They felt the advantages far outweighed the disadvantages. Because of the 360-degree rotation of the turret, gunners could see almost everything that happened in combat, and they wanted to see what was happening. The negative side was that they never knew what the rest of the crew was doing, except via the inter-communication system. Each crew member had earphones and a throat microphone.

Few things happened above the formation, about the only place the gunner could not see. One exception to this was when the Germans attempted to drop bombs, or cables, from above, onto the formation. This proved to be ineffective, so they abandoned the idea.

Belly gunners could see the enemy aircraft coming in, from just about every angle, whereas the tail gunner could see only from the rear and a little to the side. The bombardier and navigator, located in the nose of the plane, could only see forward. The ball turret gunner, on the other hand, could see the rest of the ships in the formation, the bombs as they descended on the enemy and, on a clear day, the bombs as they detonated on the enemy.

Since the ball turret gunners could see almost everything, we could never understand why the G-2 interrogation officers did not rely more on the turret gunners’ observations. I have heard people say that, if you talk to five different people who observed the same accident, you are apt to get five different versions as to what happened. Certainly, different versions and different perspectives were reported when men, located in different positions, relayed information to intelligence officers. I recall one mission report that made me wonder if I was even on the same mission.

After we bombed Padua, in northern Italy, we left the target area and were headed for home, when 18 Focke-Wulfs jumped us. They were easy to count, because they were in three groups of six each. After the initial attack, they peeled off to the left and queued up to make another pass. This was repeated four times, but minus a few planes each time, because the gunners knocked a few down.

Jimmy Weaver, our radio gunner, viewing the action from above, saw things differently than I did. He reported that there were about eighty enemy planes. There were only eighteen, but he saw the same planes over and over again.

Editors Note:
Harold Kronenberg flew 20 missions with the 390th from 18 April 1944 to 15 June 1944 after being re-assigned from Italy and North Africa where he flew 21 missions for a total of 41.
The blue book has Harold awarded with a DFC and a total of 7 Air Medals. He should know the ball turret quite well with his extended experience when enemy fighters were plentiful .