Thanks for the kind words on my diorama. They are appreciated. Concerning the ball turret, I agree that if both main landing gear failed the turret would be crushed and the gunner killed (if he was inside). On this diorama only one main gear failed, so as long as both remaining tires stay inflated the ball turret would suffer only minor damage. One example I referenced is in Squadron/Signal's book "B-17 Flying Fortress In Color". On page 28 they have a picture of a B-17 (Madam Shoo Shoo) that landed with one main gear failure. The caption for the photo says the ball turret suffered no damage at all in the landing.
Also, in Sheperd Paine's original diorama the ball turret on his plane was not crushed, and he is a pretty good researcher on details like this. Since the plane in my diorame slid off the runway I would think the ball turret did suffer some damage from the grass and dirt. This may have cracked some plexiglass and bent some framing, but I still do not think it would have been crushed. Either way (like mentioned above) the ball turret gunner would not have been killed since he would not have been at that station during the landing. The ball turret position was cramped and uncomfortable and the only time the gunners manned them was when the aircraft was in the combat zone. The only situtation I can think of where the ball turret would be manned during a landing would be if the turret was damaged and could not rotate to line up the exit hatch with the fuselage. My two cents worth anyway...
Thanks
Phillip1