Posted By Kevin M. Pearson on November 13, 2007 at 11:36:15:
In Reply to: Re: How did ball turret gunners bail out ? posted by Hugh on November 12, 2007 at 16:20:47:
One more thing to what Hugh has expertly said. Sometimes the Ball would jam due to a nasty short circuit that affected many of the early designs, or from combat damage. If the gunner was trapped in the Ball and couldn't get it to rotate so he could fall out the hatch immediateby behind his back, other crew could use a big wrench mounted on the radio room bulkhead and actually drop the ball from the plane by unscrewing several bolts surrounding the ring gear, I think there were 10 or 12. Once the ball was free, the gunner, hopefully, could open the escape hatch behind his back and fall free.
If a plane was damaged and loosing altitude and the Pilot needed to lighten the ship, the Ball was the first thing to go, followed by the weapons, ammo, and oxygen walk around bottles (once at lower altitude).
Many of the BTGs with whom I have spoken wore a chest pack chute into the ball. Some were ordered by their pilots to do so. Although bulky in the Ball, they did provide a bit more warmth.