Meantime 60 B-17's were lost to all causes (including flak). How many b17s were shot down? As the Americans flew further into Europe and Germany, the missions became deadlier. ", "WWII gunner 'Babe' Broyhill dies: Set record for downing Nazi jets", "100th Bomb Group Foundation Personnel LT COL Robert ROSENTHAL", "The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944). B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 398th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force, taking fire from flak over Germany, 1944-45. An overwhelming majority of them were women and children. the B-17 Flying Fortress were equipped with lots of machine guns for self-defense against single-seat fighter aircraft. [30] One suggestion adopted was the use of a preflight checklist to avoid accidents such as that which befell the Model 299. ", Frisbee, John L. "Valor: A Tale of Two Texans.". As sufficient Consolidated Liberators finally became available, Coastal Command withdrew the Fortress from the Azores, transferring the type to the meteorological reconnaissance role. Also, the Y1B-17A's new service ceiling was more than 2 miles (3.2km) higher at 38,000 feet (12,000m), compared to the Y1B-17's 27,800 feet (8,500m). The British had been bombing from the air, but heavy losses forced them to switch to nighttime area bombing, greatly reducing its effectiveness. Though many were shot down, many more severely damaged aircraft were able to return their crews safely to base. The Allison V-1710 was allocated to fighter aircraft. The only prototype XB-38 to fly crashed on its ninth flight, and the type was abandoned. There are very few films left in existence showing the Me 262 in action, especially shooting down allied bombers with P-51 escorts. Later that year, two groups moved to Algeria to join Twelfth Air Force for operations in North Africa. [112], On 7 December 1941, a group of 12 B-17s of the 38th (four B-17C) and 88th (eight B-17E) Reconnaissance Squadrons, en route to reinforce the Philippines, was flown into Pearl Harbor from Hamilton Field, California, arriving while the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was going on. While models A through D of the B-17 were designed defensively, the large-tailed B-17E was the first model primarily focused on offensive warfare. A 1943 survey by the USAAF found that over half the bombers shot down by the Germans had left the protection of the main formation. Bigger WWII bombers like e.g. Swiss aircraft attempted to intercept and force individual aircraft to land, interning their crews; one Swiss pilot was killed, shot down by a U.S. bomber crew in September 1944. [118] [41], Opposition to the air corps' ambitions for the acquisition of more B-17s faded, and in late 1937, 10 more aircraft designated B-17B were ordered to equip two bombardment groups, one on each U.S. [93][94] The operation, carried out in good visibility, was a success, with only minor damage to one aircraft, unrelated to enemy action, and half the bombs landing in the target area. This B-17F-27-BO (41-24585; PU-B) was crash-landed near Melun, France by a crew from the 303d Bombardment Group on December 12, 1942 and repaired by Luftwaffe ground staff. The two "E"s were used to develop B-17 air combat counter-tactics and also used as enemy aircraft in pilot and crew training films. They also believed they had an aircraft which could fight its way in and out of the target area, unescorted, and return home safely. Of the 291 attacking Fortresses, 60 were shot down over Germany, five crashed on approach to Britain, and 12 more were scrapped due to damage - a loss of 77 B-17s. Three squadrons undertook Met profiles from airfields in Iceland, Scotland and England, gathering data for vital weather forecasting purposes. As the war intensified, Boeing used feedback from aircrews to improve each new variant with increased armament and armor. ", "Second-Generation Norden Bombsight Vault", "Aviation Photography: B-17 Flying Fortress. ", "Giant Bomber Flies Four Miles Per Minute. [20] The YB-17 incorporated a number of significant changes from the Model 299, including more powerful Wright R-1820-39 Cyclone engines. [citation needed] After the defeat in Java, the 19th withdrew to Australia, where it continued in combat until it was sent home by General George C. Kenney when he arrived in Australia in mid-1942. The B-17F also carried light gray flash letters "RD" and "I" on either side of the fuselage's Swiss national insignia. The current total of surviving B-17 bombers located in the United States stands at 40: Nine (9) B-17 planes are airworthy, such as "Texas Raiders", "Sentimental Journey" and "Aluminum Overcast". The RAF's No. Of 2,900 men in the crews, about 650 did not return, although some survived as prisoners of war. [158][159] Strategic Air Command (SAC), established in 1946, used reconnaissance B-17s (at first called F-9 [F for Fotorecon], later RB-17) until 1949. The. All were Allison powered. 7071, 83, 92, 256, 26869. [97], The two different strategies of the American and British bomber commands were organized at the Casablanca Conference in January 1943. Wiki User. [38] The aircraft was delivered to the army on 31 January 1939. Wiki User. Between 1 March and 4 August 1937, 12 of the 13 Y1B-17s were delivered to the 2nd Bombardment Group at Langley Field in Virginia for operational development and flight tests. They could also pose as ground controllers themselves with the intention of steering nightfighters away from the bomber streams. The first raid on 17 August 1943 did not result in critical damage to the factories, with the 230 attacking B-17s being intercepted by an estimated 300 Luftwaffe fighters. ", "Army Bomber Flies 2,300 Miles In 9 Hours, or 252 Miles an Hour; New All-Metal Monoplane Sets a World Record on Non-Stop Flight From Seattle to Dayton, Ohio. [citation needed] As a result, the B-17s' loss rate was up to 25% on some early missions. Although initially deemed repairable, 40-2049 (11th BG / 38th RS) received more than 200 bullet holes and never flew again. [100], A second attempt on Schweinfurt on 14 October 1943 later came to be known as "Black Thursday". The first Eighth Air Force units arrived in High Wycombe, England, on 12 May 1942, to form the 97th Bomb Group. in 1970, and in Memphis Belle with Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, Billy Zane, and Harry Connick Jr. in 1990. [102] Of the 291 attacking Fortresses, 60 were shot down over Germany, five crashed on approach to Britain, and 12 more were scrapped due to damage a loss of 77 B-17s. Most of the escorts turned back or missed the rendezvous, and as a result, 60 B-17s were destroyed. At the same time, the German nightfighting ability noticeably improved to counter the nighttime strikes, challenging the conventional faith in the cover of darkness. No products in the cart. [citation needed] It was subsequently used in various films and in the 1960s television show 12 O'Clock High before being retired to the Planes of Fame aviation museum in Chino, California. [39] Once service testing was complete, the Y1B-17s and Y1B-17A were redesignated B-17 and B-17A, respectively, to signify the change to operational status. The B-17's armament consisted of five .30 caliber (7.62 mm) machine guns, with a payload up to 4,800 lb (2,200 kg) of bombs on two racks in the bomb bay behind the cockpit. General Ira C. Eaker and the Eighth Air Force placed highest priority on attacks on the German aircraft industry, especially fighter assembly plants, engine factories, and ball-bearing manufacturers. [123] The allied fighter pilots claimed 15 Zeros destroyed, while the B-17 crews claimed five more. Frisbee, John L. "Valor: Gauntlet of Fire". Also on board were Wright Field test observer John Cutting, and mechanic Mark Koegler. [160] At first, these aircraft operated under their original USAAF designations, but on 31 July 1945 they were assigned the naval aircraft designation PB-1, a designation which had originally been used in 1925 for the Boeing Model 50 experimental flying boat. [25] Army Chief of Staff Malin Craig cancelled the order for 65 YB-17s, and ordered 133 of the twin-engined Douglas B-18 Bolo, instead.[19][20]. The Soviets restored 23 to flying condition and concentrated them in the 890th bomber regiment of the 45th Bomber Aviation Division,[153] but they never saw combat. Frisbee, John L. "Valor: Rabaul on a Wing and a Prayer". It carried Swiss national white cross insignia in red squares on both sides of its rudder, fuselage sides, and on the topside and underside wings. [clarification needed] Stories circulated of B-17s returning to base with tails shredded, engines destroyed and large portions of their wings destroyed by flak. Losses were so heavy on the mission it became known as Black Thursday." The B-17G was the final version of the Flying Fortress, incorporating all changes made to its predecessor, the B-17F,[57] and in total, 8,680 were built,[68] the last (by Lockheed) on 28 July 1945. Posted on . "Operation Pointblank: Evolution of Allied Air Doctrine During World WarII". Frisbee, John L. "Valor: 'I Am the Captain of My Soul'". The RAF entered World War II with no heavy bomber of its own in service; the biggest available were long-range medium bombers such as the Vickers Wellington, which could carry up to 4,500 pounds (2,000kg) of bombs. In a 1943 Consolidated Aircraft poll of 2,500 men in cities where Consolidated advertisements had been run in newspapers, 73% had heard of the B-24 and 90% knew of the B-17. [92] On 17 August 1942, 12 B-17Es of the 97th, with the lead aircraft piloted by Major Paul Tibbets and carrying Brigadier General Ira Eaker as an observer, were close escorted by four squadrons of RAF Spitfire IXs (and a further five squadrons of Spitfire Vs to cover the withdrawal) on the first USAAF heavy bomber raid over Europe, against the large railroad marshalling yards at Rouen-Sotteville in France, while a further six aircraft flew a diversionary raid along the French coast. [160][168] PB-1Ws continued in USN service until 1955, gradually being phased out in favor of the Lockheed WV-2 (known in the USAF as the EC-121, a designation adopted by the USN in 1962), a military version of the Lockheed 1049 Constellation commercial airliner. [33] The mission was successful and widely publicized. It is part of the USAAC World War II Memorial Flight and makes dozens of appearances across the United Kingdom and Northern Europe. She was featured in a USAAF documentary, Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress. No traces of the 3 captured Flying Fortresses were ever found in Japan by Allied occupation forces. 2012-04-07 03:53:31. [125][126] The remaining seven transports and three of the eight destroyers were then sunk by a combination of low level strafing runs by Royal Australian Air Force Beaufighters, and skip bombing by USAAF North American B-25 Mitchells at 100ft (30m), while B-17s claimed five hits from higher altitudes. Gift of Peggy Wallace, 2010.308.041, B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 398th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force, in-flight above cloud level in Europe, 1944-45. Donald, David. Work on using B-17s to carry airborne lifeboats had begun in 1943, but they entered service in the European theater only in February 1945. The AAF's worst accident rate was recorded by the A-36 Invader version of the P-51: a staggering 274 accidents per 100,000 flying hours. The ammunition load was over 11,000 rounds. Japanese activity forced them to divert from Hickam Field to Bellows Field. [111], By September 1944, 27 of the 42 bomb groups of the 8th Air Force and six of the 21 groups of the 15th Air Force used B-17s. The B-17 finally had a fighter which could escort them in and out of Germany, and began to overwhelm German defenses and industry. B-17s flown by the Eighth saw some of the fiercest combat of the war. Almost all of the other bombers suffered some level of damage. The first Schweinfurt-Regensburg Raid occurred during >World War II (1939-1945). On 1 June, Seigrist and Price returned and picked up Smith and LeSchack using a Fulton Skyhook system installed on the B-17. It should have been a peaceful Sunday morning in Hawaii. the Germans broke off to refuel having shot down 15 B-17s. By the time the B-17s and escorting Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighters were about to get airborne, they were destroyed by Japanese bombers of the 11th Air Fleet. In the infamous "Black Thursday" raid of 14 October 1943, B-17 gunners claimed 288 German fighter aircraft kills whereas in actuality about 40 were shot down. On landing, the aircraft overran the runway and ran into a ditch, where it was then strafed. And of those 276,000 planes, 68,000 were lost. [19][20], On 30 October 1935, a test flight determining the rate of climb and service ceiling was planned. [223][224] Works such as The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell and Heavy Metal's section "B-17" depict the nature of these missions. [164] One hundred and seven B-17s were converted to drones. [90] The device was able to determine, from variables put in by the bombardier, the point at which the aircraft's bombs should be released to hit the target. [36] Experiments on this aircraft led to the use of a quartet of General Electric turbo-superchargers, which later became standard on the B-17 line. Covering 12,000 miles (19,000km) they returned on 27 February, with seven aircraft setting off on a flight to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, three days later. In theory, in the words of British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin,the bomber will always get through. The Americans believed the B-17, with the Norden bomb sight, could be that bomber. Two experimental versions of the B-17 were flown under different designations, the XB-38 Flying Fortress and the YB-40 Flying Fortress. [37] Scheduled to fly in 1937, it encountered problems with the turbochargers, and its first flight was delayed until 29 April 1938. [130], B-17s were still used in the Pacific later in the war, however, mainly in the combat search and rescue role. A New Orleans native, James Linn first became involved with the institution then known as The National D-Day Museum in 2001 as an eighth-grade volunteer on weekends and during the summer. [144], After examining wrecked B-17s and B-24s, Luftwaffe officers discovered that on average it took about 20 hits with 20 mm shells fired from the rear to bring them down. These modifications resulted in a 20% increase in aircraft weight. The Ball turret itself has inspired works like Steven Spielberg's The Mission. [92], The U.S. did not offer B-17s to the Soviet Union as part of its war materiel assistance program, but at least 73 aircraft were acquired by the Soviet Air Force. 504-528-1944, Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy, Black Volunteer Infantry Platoons in World War II, Kasserine Pass: German Offensive, American Victory, Gallantry against Great Odds: LTC George Marshall and Operation RESERVIST, Prelude to Liberation: Genesis of American Amphibious Assault in the ETO, Black Thursday October 14, 1943: The Second Schweinfurt Bombing Raid, An Exercise in Depravity: The Establishment of the Warsaw Ghetto, Unsung Witnesses of the Battle of Stalingrad, Stalingrad: Experimentation, Adaptation, Implementation. 206 Squadron RAF sank U-627 on 27 October 1942, the first of 11 U-boat kills credited to RAF Fortress bombers during the war.[86]. [citation needed], In July 1945, 16 B-17s were transferred to the Coast Guard via the Navy; these aircraft were initially assigned U.S. Navy Bureau Numbers (BuNo), but were delivered to the Coast Guard designated as PB-1Gs beginning in July 1946. Log in. B-17 Flying Fortresses The B-17 Flying Fortress became a symbol of the power of the United States and its air force. [79][80] On 24 July three B-17s of 90 Squadron took part in a raid on the German capital ship Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen anchored in Brest from 30,000ft (9,100 m), with the objective of drawing German fighters away from 18 Handley Page Hampdens attacking at lower altitudes, and in time for 79 Vickers Wellingtons to attack later with the German fighters refuelling. The Combined Bomber Offensive was effectively complete. [75] In the campaign against German aircraft forces in preparation for the invasion of France, B-17 and B-24 raids were directed against German aircraft production while their presence drew the Luftwaffe fighters into battle with Allied fighters.[7]. The B-17s were primarily involved in the daylight precision strategic bombing campaign against German targets ranging from U-boat pens, docks, warehouses, and airfields to industrial targets such as aircraft factories. By the end of the war, the B-17 was an obsolete aircraft which had been surpassed by another Boeing bomber, the B-29 Superfortress. These aircraft were painted dark blue, the standard Navy paint scheme which had been adopted in late 1944. [140] Despite an inferior performance and smaller bombload than the more numerous B-24 Liberators,[179] a survey of Eighth Air Force crews showed a much higher rate of satisfaction with the B-17. At the Arcadia Conference, held in Washington, DC, from December 24, 1941 to January 14, 1942, the Western Allies agreed to a Germany First policy to govern global strategy, but the question where to engage Germany, and when, remained unsettled. How many helicopters were shot down in Vietnam? The 4x Hornet Radial Engines could produce 750 HP at 2100 meters. 0. Categories Video World War II Related Topics World War II [9] Requirements were for it to carry a "useful bombload" at an altitude of 10,000ft (3,000m) for 10 hours with a top speed of at least 200mph (320km/h).[10]. [72], The first four drones were sent to Mimoyecques, the Siracourt V-1 bunker, Watten, and Wizernes on 4 August, causing little damage. Still, the Air Corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation, then introduced it into service in 1938. [15], Boeing was quick to see the value of the name and had it trademarked for use. How many b17 are still flying? It had a crew of ten and could carry 6,000 pounds of bombs at 300 miles per hour for a range of 2,000 miles. [64][65][66] The final production blocks of the B-17F from Douglas' plants did, however, adopt the YB-40's "chin turret", giving them a much-improved forward defense capability. The resulting "Combined Bomber Offensive" weakened the Wehrmacht, destroyed German morale, and established air superiority through Operation Pointblank's destruction of German fighter strength in preparation for a ground offensive. World War 2 . Air Corps doctrine dictated bombing runs from high altitude, but they soon found only 1% of their bombs hit targets. [172] N809Z was used to perform a Skyhook pick up in the James Bond movie Thunderball in 1965. More than 250 aircraft crashed or made emergency landings in Switzerland during the Second World War. The aircraft was powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet radial engines, each producing 750hp (600kW) at 7,000ft (2,100m). Although the prototype was company-owned and never received a military serial (the B-17 designation itself did not appear officially until January 1936, nearly three months after the prototype crashed),[29] the term "XB-17" was retroactively applied to the NX13372's airframe and has entered the lexicon to describe the first Flying Fortress. [28][31][note 2] In one of their first missions, three B-17s, directed by lead navigator Lieutenant Curtis LeMay, were sent by General Andrews to "intercept" and photograph the Italian ocean liner Rex 610 miles (980km) off the Atlantic coast. Moreover, German fighter aircraft later developed the tactic of high-speed strafing passes rather than engaging with individual aircraft to inflict damage with minimum risk. The plane was pulled out of front-line service and used as a transport plane and even drones. [14] The most distinct mount was in the nose, which allowed the single machine gun to be fired toward nearly all frontal angles. [140], After the first Y1B-17s were delivered to the Army Air Corps 2nd Bombardment Group, they were used on flights to promote their long range and navigational capabilities.

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