The ball turret gunner had the most uncomfortable position to be in.
He sat in that little compartment for the length of the mission, having entered into the ball before takeoff or after they were in the air.
They would have sit with their knees up by their head with no room for a parachute.
The gunners would really be on their own sitting there isolated from the rest of the crew.
There were two ways to enter the ball turret.
One was through a small door from the outside and the other was from the inside once the turret was hand cranked around so the door aligned with the hatch in the floor.
When aligned this way the gun barrels would be facing down.
The turret itself had two .
50 caliber machine guns with 250 rounds each that feed down from boxes mounted just above.
There was an optical sight that was in front of the gunners face with a pedal under the left foot to adjust the sight.
Two handles located above the sight were used to control the movement of the turret.
Buttons at the end of the handles controlled each gun.
Empty casings went out through an opening under the barrels.
The turret was operated by an electro-hydraulic system.
It could rotate 360 degrees and turn 90 degrees.
The gunner could spin around and raise and lower the guns at the same time.
The gunner had a communication radio, first aid kit, oxygen regulator and a plug-in for his heated flight suit.