I ran across this the other day and I have to say I would do this in a heartbeat. Not many people have the chance to climb into and fire a fully functional WWII ball turret. Simply amazing that any still exist today.
BK
That looks great!
$4K for everything. Better than I expected, but still a lot!
Now that would be a real fun day. Also expensive.
I wonder if he could do the dame thing wityh a B-52D tail gun. At one time I put in for a cross train to tail gunner but never got to class. They did send me the books for the course but I ended up stayingin the Security Police. I even talked to one of the bomber squadrons on the base but there was no openings even for getting some studying with the gunners there. Too busy with the war and so on.
Bomber camp… sounds like fun!
shooting .50’s is always a good time!
After watching the video, you quickly realize why you don’t want an air battle going on over you; all that brass and links come ‘a rainin on down’ everywhere!!! Not to mention the fired bullets that don’t get caught in something, which is a good percentage.
Not to mention FLAK & SAMs… that stuff all has to come down somewhere.
But speaking of brass raining down, I always loved that scene on Blackhawk Down where the Pave Hawk door gunners are firing their mini guns at the bad guys and showering the Rangers below in hot brass. If you’ve ever had hot brass get under your collar and body armor, you can sympathize…
My dad was a boy during WWII, and one of his enduring memories is the clattering noise that AA shell fragments made when they fell, and skittered down the sloping slate rooftops during air raids. Collecting pieces of shrapnel was a big pastime among boys of his age. No SAMs in those days, thankfully!
That looks like a great time! And I shoot a rifle left handed so I’ve had brass and powder burns but I couldn’t imagine that kind of volume raining down on you!
1600 rpm times $ 3 per round = $ 4,800 per minute, or $ 80 per second.
Expensive but fun.
Bill
…but you have to squeeze yourself INTO the turret before pressing the “play” button! And then you will find yourself lying on your back, sighting the guns between your legs, and firing the guns using triggers located above your head, like a biker riding a chopper with “ape hangers”!
Oh and for us older gentlepeople - getting OUT afterwards! Maybe they put a cushion below the hatch and just let you kind of fall out. [:|]
Many years ago when I was helping with Fuddy Duddy, just after Geneseo acquired her, we miraculously found a ball turret - and this was pre-internet. The top turret was really hard to find and we had a lousy looking plexiglass piece for a long time. We went in with the other B-17 owners to have a number of bomb aimers nose pieces made. There was a restaurant out in California with a B17 on its roof that actually had an intact top turret that I think went to Sentimental Journey.
Awesome! I’d do this as well. I can’t believe my grandfather did 13 missions in one of these. He wasn’t short either. Thanks for the video Brandon!