What's fascinating is the amount of training time necessary to qualify. Uncle invested a lot of time to get them ready. Film takes it from enlistment to first mission. Shows the difficulty in getting into the tiny space, basically wearing it.
Burgess Meredith plays Smith, the stuttering trainee. Ronald Reagan also stars. Well worth the time.
There were not a lot of gunners who officially made "ace" - confirming kills was probably a difficult issue. I found this list on the internet (no idea how accurate it is):
Rank- Name- Kills- Unit- Airforce- Aircraft- Gun position
S/SGT Michael Arooth- 17- 527 BS 379 BG 8 AF- USAAF- B-17(Tail Gunner)
S/SGT Arthur J. Benko -16- 374 BS 308 BG 14AF- USAAF- B-24(Top Turret)
S/SGT Donald Crossley-12- 95 BG 8 AF- USAAF-B-17 (Tail Gunner)
S/SGT Benjamin F Warner- 9 – 99 BG 12 AF-USAAF- B-17 (Waist Gunner)
S/SGT John B Quinlan -8- 324 BS 91 BG 8 AF/20 AF-USAAF- B-17(5),B-29(3)(Tail Gunner)(Gunner on Memphis Belle)
T/SGT Thomas Dye -8- 51 BS 351 BG 8 AF -USAAF-B-17(Ball Turret)
S/SGT John D. Foley-7+8 prob- 22ND BG 5 AF- USAAF-B-26(Top Turret)
S/SGT John A. Murphy-6- 500 BS 345 BG 5 AF- USAAF- B-25(Top Turret)(all Zero’s)
T/SGT Weston (Wes) Loegering-5 -574 BS 391 BG 9 AF -USAAF-B-26 (Top Turret)
SFC Richard H Thomas-5- VPD 117- US Navy-PB4Y (B-24)(Front Turret)
ARM2 Paul Ganshirt-5- VD 3-US Navy-PB4Y(B-24)(Top Turret)
T/SGT Thomas Dye is the only ball turret gunner listed...
I think the first USAAF Congressional Medal of Honor awardee was this ball-turret gunner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maynard_Harrison_Smith