[Flag_This]

I saw an interview with a former ball turret gunner. He said he didn’t feel particularly vulnerable in the ball turret because there were no safe places on a B-17.

[NorthMountain]

I vaguely recall reading that the ball-turret was (counter intuitively) the “safest”, or nearly so, position in the B17 or B24. It presented a relatively small target, and the plexiglass is about 2” thick.