# WW2 Bomber Ball Turret Comes to Life



## RedLion (Sep 23, 2015)

Pretty cool. I have a good amount of experience shooting a M2 from a vehicle and tripod, but a ball turret would be cool.



> In what is probably one of the coolest historical recreations to happen at a national machine gun shoot in recent years, the folks from the Bomber Camp program out of Stockton Aviation Field Museum actually got a Sperry Ball Turret (as used on the prolific B17 and B24 Heavy Bombers of the Second World) working with live ammunition at the recent Big Sandy Machine Gun Shoot in Arizona. What appears to be twin .50 BMG M3 aircraft machine guns were fed from several hundreds rounds of linked ammunition and as the saying goes, "Money was turned into smoke" on the plains of an Arizona desert. Perhaps the only thing cooler than shooting from the ball turret on the ground, is shooting live rounds from it in the air.
















https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/10/30/ww2-bomber-ball-turret-comes-to-life-at-big-sandy-shoot/


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## Sasquatch (Dec 12, 2014)

It'd be nice to have one of those attached to the porch when shtf.


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

And.......... no hearing protection..............................


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

To fit into the ball, the gunner is almost in a fetal position with his feet up above head level, working the pedals that controlled the movement of the ball
The receivers of the two guns were right next to his head, and the empty cases and links spewed out into the interior of the ball, the gunner having to shovel them out a chute with his hand.
Add to that discomfort the heavy, electrically heated flight suit for the below zero temps, and the oxygen mask.

Ball turret gunners were a special breed.


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## Lunatic Wrench (May 13, 2018)

I'm going to mount that to the roof of my truck, then download the Sperry ball app for Android.

Truck bed full of ammo should give the Helwig overload springs a workout.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Being claustrophobic, you could never get me into a ball turret.
HOWEVER, a Quad 50 would be the way to go.
Designed in WWII as an anti-aircraft weapon, they were mounted in trailers, and in half tracks.
In Vietnam they were mounted in the back of Deuce and a Halfs, and 5 Tons. They were used for convoy security, and in our AO (Area of Operations) there was a company sized unit that used Quad 50 trucks, and 40MM Duster tracked vehicles for mobile base camp perimeter defense.

If you think the ball turrets on B-17's and B-24's were bad, get a load of a Quad.
Below is the only video I could get to actually post, but You Tube has a ton of them. Just type Quad 50 or Vietnam Gun Trucks into the search bar.


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