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Holy hell the technology for this was nuts. Especially when you consider it was the 40's.

Grandfather was a B-17 tail gunner, his plane was shot down and he was captured as a POW by the Germans, lived till he was 99, thank you for your service Martin Parisot

My Dad was a ball turret gunner for 18 missions on the B17G IDA RED. His last mission on that plane had over 300 bullet holes in it and everyone survived but 2 were injured by flakes over France. We Miss You Pop!!!

Had absolutely no idea such a targeting computer even existed back then, much less inside the ball-turret.

The historical accuracy and attention to detail here is astounding. The uniforms, models, even the voice chatter in the background all add to this concept of what it must have been like.

I took care of a WW2 Veteran who recently passed away. He was a Speary Ball Gunner , part of a ten man crew out of New Guineau. He said you could not fire the gun for more than 10 seconds or the Barrels would Melt. He had some great war stories.

"contrary to popular belief, the ball turret could not retract into the fuselage" I'm just imagining a bf109 coming from below and the turret getting performance anxiety and not being able to get out

The technology is wild for the 1940s, but what hits harder is the human cost behind every rivet and lever.

The Narrator sounds familiar and the animation looks familiar. Im gonna leave it as an inside joke. If you know, you know.

9:30 the pin to cut power to gun for propeller safety is pure genius