Issue 30 & 31.13
No one on a WWII bomber crew is more important than the pilot. He flies the airplane and he is the airplane commander. When there is one who out ranks the pilot on board his airplane, the pilot who sits in the pilot’s seat is still the airplane commander. Sometimes this happens when perhaps the Wing Commander (the three group organization) flies a mission. Each bomber crewman is important. I have always said that I was the lowest man on the crew because I was the lower ball turret gunner and I was hanging beneath the bomber in that small round cage. Crewmen are assigned to a certain position on the airplane because of their training. Navigators, bombardiers although they had gunnery training, had their specific position. Mechanics always had the position as top turret gunner because they were close to the pilot to help him transfer fuel and other chores. Of course radio operators were in the radio room. I was trained as a waist gunner so how did I end up in the most hated position on the B-17 as the lower ball turret gunner? Our crew trained together in the states as a ten man crew with two waist gunners but when we got to England and were assigned to a heavy bomb group, they were flying crews with only one waist gunner instead of two. The two waist gunners were removed from all new crews and put in pool. Some were trained as “Spot Jammers” that flew one to a squadron of twelve. Their job was to use electronic equipment and constantly move dials to find and jam enemy anti-aircraft radar aiming gear. Our intelligence told us that this helped some. Some were trained as toggaliers.
These people took the place of bombardiers. There was one truly needed bombardier for each squadron of twelve bombers. He used specialized bomb aiming devices to find the target. When he dropped his bombs with a smoke bomb coming out first, then the other eleven bombardiers, or toggaliers, dropped at the same time. The rest of the waist gunners were in a pool and when a mission was planned, they were assigned to whichever crew needed them. I would have been in one of those categories but, our pilot came to me and told me that he would like me to stay with the crew, but if I did I would have to take the dreaded position as ball turret gunner. The men of a crew that had trained together were very close companions and I did not want to lose my crew friends so without hesitation, I said I would like to be the ball turret gunner. They had to pound me into that sardine can for the first few times but after that, it wasn’t so bad. It is a very cold job at minus 65 degrees and a very isolated job because I could not see anyone else of the crew. That is defiantly not a place for a person with claustrophobia. Not having room for a parachute down there with me, was something I thought about constantly. I saw one B-17 come home minus its ball turret due to FLAK. I flew all of my thirty-five missions in the ball. I was once unconscious for an extended period of time but that event is written about at another time.
Sam Wyrouck can be contacted at 801-707-2666.