Hell no! The worst part is when the things jam and won't raise up to land. You could see your buddy down there but you couldn't get him out. Very scary and sad that engineers weren't smart enough to give those poor kids a way to safety. No Chute in there either so...sad. Great idea but bad application.Could you imagine being 19 or 20 years old flying over Germany in that turret shooting at German fighter pilots scarry times for sure
I heard stories where pilots would have crew members jump with their chutes and ditch in a lake to give the ball guys a chance to escape. At least if they didn't make it out they could recover a complete body.I think a belly landing with failed hydraulics would be messy!
It was and much like racing, we owe so many of the technologies we use every day due to war and racing as the proving grounds of what works and doesn't. Last time I had the chance to jump up in a B24 and B17 for a fun ride, I couldn't shake how many of our service members died in those aircraft. A year after my flight in the Collings Foundation B17 here at the Ankeny Airport, 7 people lost their lives in it including the pilots that took me up for my flight. Sad, scary and just how life works out sometimes.War is Hell.