A few mistakes in this. A B-17 turret did not retract, you could exit it up into the aircraft without retracting, because it simply did not retract. And their knees were not up beside their ears. It was cramped but basically they were in a seated position with their feet on pedals. It’s roughly analogous to being in a car seat with the seat back pushed pretty far forward, and the whole affair laying on its back.
And someone always finds an excuse to publish that disrespectful gross out shock poem.
Sorry. I’ll stick with the quotes by Freeman and Musgrove.
A friend of mine enlisted in the Army in the mid-1960s and took Airborne training. Their theme song was called "He Ain't Gonna Jump No More". Oh...wait; The correct name is "Blood on the Risers". (AKA "Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die") The song ends with "he ain't gonna jump no more" after a graphic description of a crash from a 'chute malfunction. "Poured him from his boots" comes to mind. My friend delighted in singing it!