History Channel - Suicide Missions (1998) Part 1 Ball Turret Gunners

They are the jobs that make legends of men and corpses of soldiers. They are the assignments that contribute to victory and create casualties. They are the SUICIDE MISSIONS. This four-volume set goes into the heat of battle for an extraordinary, up-close look at some of the most dangerous assignments in the history of warfare. Suicide Missions Dangerous Tours of Duty, which collects four compelling episodes from the History Channel's popular series, offers historical insight into four heroic, yet unappreciated, military posts the medic, sniper, ball turret gunner, and famous “Wild Weasel” of the Vietnam War. Each of the four volumes explores the distinct contributions and inherent dangers of the jobs. Two episodes, “Combat Medics” and “Snipers,” focus on land-based combat roles and will delight viewers with thorough historical background on how their roles developed and gained prestige over time. Both have only been formally added to the military arsenal in the 20th century (the term “medic,” for example, dates from WWI), yet the History Channel skillfully traces their evolution from the Revolutionary War era right up through the action of the Gulf War. The two other episodes, which focus on air combat, take a slightly different approach by focusing on roles within specific conflicts in history. “Ball Turret Gunners” documents the harrowing experiences of the men who fought the enemy from the exposed underbelly of the B-17 bomber during WWII. “Wild Weasels” hones in on the seemingly impossible missions undertaken by an elite group of Air Force fighter pilots during the Vietnam War. Each volume features combat footage, expert commentary and captivating testimony from the lucky survivors of these dangerous duties to clearly demonstrate why these roles have been dubbed “suicide missions.”

Part 1 Ball Turret Gunners

Fly over Nazi Germany with BALL TURRET GUNNERS, perilously suspended beneath the fuselage of B-17 bombers, exposed to the fire of enemy fighters. In war, certain missions demand the most and constitute much of the legends of bravery. Journey back to the Second World War when fearless airmen manned the B-17's belly guns–glass bubbles that at any moment could become their coffin. The ball turret gunners called their work “flying the ball”, others called it crazy!

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