Crushed ball turret gunner

[Cascabel]

The landing gear on a B-17 is indeed electrically powered. It operates from jackscrews, and even if only halfway down, it will not normally collapse, as jackscrews will hold their position. Most things on a B-17 were electric motor operated, rather than hydraulic, unlike other aircraft.

 

Boeing loves to operate things on their arcraft with jackscrews even today. No longer landing gear retraction, but usually wing flaps, etc. Jackscrews may be either electrically powered or run by hydraulic motors to rotate them. The big advantage to jackscrews is that they cannot be forced in either direction, but must be rotated either with the motor or manually, which means once something is positioned, it stays put.

[38Driver]

Saw the airway in hd bit tonight. Rooney was at Polebrook watching the 306th return on August 17, 1943 after Schweinfurt. The ball turret story stems from that day. 306th losses would clear up the mystery

 

Sorry for the bump. I remembered this thread when I saw the show

[hawkdriver]

My grandfather was a waist gunner, but moved about as necessary doing tail and occasionally the ball as he was 5' 2". I know it was a concern to him, but fortunately, he made it through the war without an issue with the ball.

[renfield]

If I am reading the statistics right in Freemans book Mighty Eigth War Diary the 306th BG dispatched 30 aircraft and did not suffer any losses on the 17 Aug. 1943 Schweinfurt raid. They had 14 ships damaged but no KIA, WIA, or MIA. They came through one of the worst missions in 8th AAF history in great condition.

 

Steve

[Johnny Signor]

Try the book "Flying Fortress" by Ed Jablonski, not sure , but I think there was something about it in there, if not try this site, b-17.com

Johnny