During World War II, Navy PB4Y-1 Liberators and PB4Y-2 Privateers engaged in low level bombing and strafing attacks against Japanese targets. Part of the aircraft's arsenal were gunners in nose-mounted Erco ball turrets. The cramped confines of the turret were not for the faint of heart or those prone to claustrophobia, for down the barrels of twin-machine guns youthful gunners, some still teenagers, were the first to stare down the enemy.