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447 views24 pagesVintage Aviation Publications LTD - Aerodata International 008 - Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress
Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress
Uploaded by
KentCopyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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/ 24
AERODATA INTERNATIONAL N°8
Pie Seamer aa SMR rN ee RASS SEALED TRAIN
HISTORY * TECHNICAL DATA * PHOTOGRAPHS * COLOUR VIEWS » 1/72 SCALE PLANS Aerodata International
aircraft. monographs are self-contained 20-page A4 size booklets
containing 1/72 scale multi-view plans, colour artwork, sketches, large
Photographs and narrative (including. technical data)—everything. the
modeller needs to know to check the accuracy of plastic kits or scratch-build
his own replicas from wood or plastic. A special, additional wrap-around
inside cover gives a brief outline history of the subject aircraft in French and
German plus translations of the photo captions and drawing annotations in
those same two languages.
This particular title is one of six devoted to famous bombers of World
War 2, following the initial series of six famous fighters of World War 2
The series includes:
No. 1 Focke-Wulf 190A series by Peter G. Cooksley
No. 2 Supermarine Spitfire 1 & I by Philip J. R. Moyes
No. 3 North American P-S1D Mustang by Harry Holmes
No. 4 Messerschmitt Me 109E by Peter G. Cooksley
No. 5 Hawker Hurricane 1 by Philip J. R. Moyes
No. 6 Republic P-47D Thunderbolt by John B, Rabbets
No. 7 Handley Page Halifax (Merlin-engined variants)
by Philip J. R. Moyes
No. 8 Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress by Philip J. R. Moyes
No. 9 Junkers Su88A Series by Philip J. R. Moyes,
No. 10 Avro Lancaster Mk I by Philip J. R. Moves
No. 11 Consolidated B-24 Liberator by Philip J. R. Moyes
No. 12 Heinkel He 111 by Philip J. R. Moyes
Plans and artwork by Alfred Granger, MISTC
Colour artwork by Roy Mills
| Acrodata International Publications and their contents are copyright
© Vintage Aviation Publications Ltd., VAP House, Station Field
Industrial Estate, Kidlington, Oxford, England, and no part may be
reproduced in any way without the prior permission of the publishers.
Trade enquiries would be welcome, but the publishers regret that they
cannot deal with readers’ enquiries concerning the content of
Acrodata International Publications.
Printed by Visual Art Press Limited, Oxford, England
First published 1979.
ISBN 0 905469 55.0 BOEING B-17G FLYING FORTRESS
by Philip J. R. Moyes
i
Rel
Fine
’ Figs, 2&3. Serving as prototype of the B-17G was this Boeing-bulltB-17E, 42-30631, taken from the production line and modified to incorporate
the Bendix chin turet, revised side gun ports and certain other refinements, mostly internal. White rectangles were added to US star (nsignia in
‘July 1943, Surrounding red border was used only fo September and was then replaced by blue. Fig. 4 A contrailing B-17G with ts bomb doors open. The Fort's main failing—and this applied to all models—was that it was designed as a
‘medium bomber and although later inthe war If was capable of carrying as much as 20,8000 (943Skg) of bombs by utlsing external racks, Ht could
‘nly do so atthe expense of range. Normal bomb load on long-range missions was ony 4,000.0 (181k)
Six and a half years before America entered the Second
World War, the Boeing Model 299 (US Army Air Corps
designation’ B-17) first took 10 the air . A giant in its
day, the nearly 104ft (31632mm) span four-engined
plane had been designed to meet an Air Corps require-
ment for a long-range maritime patrol bomber to
protect America’s coastline, and the fact that it fairly
bristled with machine-gun emplacements led to it being
named by the press the “Flying Fortress""—the name
soon afterwards being registered by Boeing for the
plane,
The bomber that was to become legendary first saw
action not with the USAAF (as the USAAC was re-
named in 1941) but with the RAF when, in July 1941,
90 Squadron of 2 Group, Bomber Command, intro:
duced a handful of B-I7Cs (RAF name Fortress Is) on
high-altitude daylight raids against “‘fringe’” targets in
northern Europe. Despite warnings from the Americans,
they were mostly operated in ones, twos and threes
rather than in larger formations where their combined
crossfire would have given them added protection from.
enemy fighters, and partly because of this and partly
due to technical reasons the whole exercise was a sad
and costly mistake.
Meanwhile, Boeing had produced two successive
improvements on the B-I7C: the D and E models,
the latter, first flown in September 1941, incor:
Porating a redesigned aft end to improve firepower
and stability at altitude. The E was the first model
to have the large dorsal fin which became a Fortress
rademark’” and it first went into action on 2 April
1942 when, operating with the US 7th Air Force based
in India, it attacked Japanese targets in the Andaman
Islands
In August 1942 the UK-based US 8th Air Force
opened its bombing campaign against Hitler's ‘Festung
Europa” with B-I7Es. However, before the year was
out the 8th’s E models were being supplanted in first
line use by the vastly superior B17-F which, although
nearly identical to its predecessor externally (the frame-
less Plexiglass nosepiece was the most noticeable new
feature) did in fact incorporate some 400 design changes
—mostly internal and affecting most of the major com
ponents; these included uprated Wright Cyclone engines
(R-1820-975), self-sealing oil tanks, additional fuel
capacity, an improved oxygen system, and an electronic
link between the autopilot and the Norden bomb sight
The 8th AF’s initial strike against the German homeland
was made by B-I7Fs when, on 27 January 1943,
Wilhelmshaven and Emden were attacked. More raids
on Germany followed, and not surprisingly the
Luftwaffe fighters reacted strongly. Gradually they
devised successful tactics for attacking the Forts from
less heavily defended quarters, including head-on, and
American losses began to mount during the spring of
1943. As the months went by, the FW190s and Me109s
fought fierce battles with the increasingly large numbers
of B-17s that penetrated deep into German airspace far
143 Fig. S_ The B-I7G was the most-produced Flying Fortress of all, with a total of 8,680 built, This example was from the 524th BS, 379th BG,
Wh AF, based at Kimbolton, Huntingdonshire, Fig. 6 Forts of the 447th BG, 8th AF, from Rattlesden, Suffolk, on a practice mission
‘over the East Anglian countryside. Fig. 7 Bombs away! Forts of the
613rd BS, 40Ist BG, from Deene-
‘thorpe, Northamptonshire, in action.
The 401s, which flew B-17Gs through
out its WW2 combat career, had the
‘second-best rating in bombing accuracy
inthe Sth AF.
Fig. 8 B17G
-M of the 612th BS,
401s BG, Sth AF, over the V-weapons
‘research establishment at Peenemiinde,
‘om the Baltic coast, 25 August 1944. Fig. 94 B17G of the 524th BS, 370th BG from Kimbolton, Huntingdonshire. The 379th, which began operations with B-I7Es, flew more
sorties and dropped a greater bomb tonnage than any other group in the 8th AF
beyond the range of their erstwhile fighter escort. The
stepped-up ‘“boxes’” of Forts suffered crippling losses
(on occasions, as was the case during the notorious raid
of 17 August 1943 when, out of 376 B-17s despatched
to the Messerschmitt "fighter assembly plant at
Regensburg and the ball-bearing plant at Schweinfurt,
60 were shot down by flak and fighters and a further 35
damaged beyond repair. And again on 14 October
when, in a second strike against Schweinfurt, 60 Forts
were missing and 17 others damaged beyond repair out
of a force of 291 sent out. (The 305th Bomb Group
based at Chelveston, Northants, lost 13 out of the
16 Forts despatched). This second Schweinfurt raid
ended what became known in USAAF circles as “Black
Week"—8 to 14 October 1943—and left the 8th AF
with only about 200 first-line heavy bombers fit to fly.
By now the B-17F was being supplanted in first-line
service by the even better B-17G which, in an effort to
counter the German head-on attacks, featured a twin
0.50in (12.7mm) machine-gun Bendix ‘chin’? turret.
This turret, which was operated from inside the fuselage
by the bombardier using remote control apparatus, was
in fact seen on some of the last Douglas-built B-17Fs,
—which, incidentally, were always regarded as B-17Gs
by the 8th AF, Installation of the chin turret meant that
the streamlined fairing housing the direction-finding
loop had to be resited, so it was placed just forward of
the bomb bay and slightly to the left of the fuselage
centreline. Other external changes were that the two
pitot-static masts, which on the B-I7F had been
Positioned on each side of the nose, were replaced by a
single pitot-pressure mast on the nose entrance door and
Fig. 10. Smooth-functioning Boeing-Vega-Douglas “BVD" pool turned out Forts by the thousands in WW2, This brand new plane, seen on test,
was one of 2,250 G-modelsbullt by Vega Alrcraft Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lockheed. PLATE 1 B0EING 8-176 s35th BOMB SQUARON, BoaLeARIe,
486th BOMB GROUP A
8th AIR FORCE
APRIL 1945
339163 WAS BOEING BUILT.
BEING PART OF BLOCK B-17G-105-B0
THE "CHEYENNE" TAIL TURRET WAS
FITTED AS ORIGINAL BUT ALTHOUGH
THE WAIST GUNS HAD THE LATE
TYPE WINDOWS ADDED THEY
REMAINED UNSTAGGERED.
399163 WAS LOST
DURING A RAID ON
PARCHIM AIRFIELD
ON 7 APRIL 1945,
®
UNDERSIDE OF
PORT WING SIP
®
UNDERSIDE OF
STARBOARD WING TIP
RESEARCH: A. GRANGER ©
ARTWORK: ROY MILLS.
147 flush-mounted static fittings, one above the other, in the
same area on the starboard side.
Besides the chin turret, another standard armament
feature of the B-I7G—although some examples lacked
it—was the provision of projecting windows for the
side-mounted or ‘cheek’ nose guns. This, t00, was
inherited from the late-production B-I7F, but the
positions of the windows were reversed in the G model
so that the port gun was in the forward window and the
starboard gun on the second one. The B-17G also
incorporated modifications to the navigator’s facilites,
including a larger table with map shelf above, swivel
chair to aid access, and a step beneath the astro-dome
to aid taking sights. Many further changes were made
to the G model during production, including the
staggering of the two waist gun positions—with that on
the starboard side being further forward than hitherto.
and the fitting of glazed windows to protect the
gunners from the icy blast which had hitherto rushed in
at them. Another change involving armament was the
introduction of a new tail gun installation originally
devised by the Cheyenne Modification Centre in
‘Wyoming, to which production Fortresses were sent for
modifications prior to despatch to combat units. This
installation, which reduced the B-I7G's overall length
by Sin (127mm), enabled the twin 0.50in (12.7mm)
hand-operated guns to be manipulated to cover a much
larger field of fire and featured a reflector sight in place
of the old ring and bead. It also gave the gunner more
room and better visibility. The new tail-gun installation
was also incorporated, retrospectively, in many B-17Gs
in service.
14g
Fig. 1 BI7G WEA of the s6ah
BS, 305th BG, Sih AF, which was
based at Grafton "Undermood,
Northants. Known as the "Can Do
‘group, the SOSth suffered the heaviest
loss inthe infamous 14 October 1943
Schweinfurt mission (see p. 146) and
for this reason was given a Nazi flag
‘found ying in that city when cap
‘ured by US troops
Fig. 12 B-17Gs of the 40st BG, 81h
AF, on the line at Deenethorpe on
19 March 194s
On later production B-17Gs the radio operator's gun
mounting was incorporated in an enclosed window
after the style of the waist guns, but towards the end
of production the gun was deleted altogether, this
defence point having become regarded as of” little
practical value. Yet another production line modifica-
tion was the fitting of all-electric controls for the turbo:
superchargers (previously hydraulic).
‘The B-17G was the last production model of the B-17
series—all higher designations to B-17P being con-
versions—and it was by far the most numerous, a total
of 8,680 being built. Of these 4,035 were built by
Boeing, 2,395 by Douglas and 2,250 by Vega, with
production ceasing in April, June and July’ 1945
respectively. At the peak of B-I7 production in June
1944, Boeing alone was turning out 16 G models every
24 hours
Delivery of the new chin-turreted Fortresses to the
USAAF began in September 1943, the first examples
being the previously mentioned Douglas-built late
series Fs (B-17F-70-DLs, ’-75-DLs and *-80-DLs) which
the Air Force preferred to call Gs, although true Gs
soon followed. Both types began operations with the
8th AF early in October, and thus were operating along-
side the older B-17Fs when the second strike against
Schweinfurt took place, on the 14th. In November the
first USAAF bomber group to be sent to Europe with
the B-17G as original equipment, the 401st BG, reached
the 8th AF, and although bad weather conditions
greatly interfered with the bombing offensive during
that winter, it was not long before the 8th, thanks 10
growing numbers of new Forts and also the advent of PLATE 2.
SCALE
if
PULL EXTENDED
ure ree ©
UNDERCARRIAGE
FULL LOAD
CONDITION),
WING UNDERSURFACE
& UNDERCARRIAGE .
ING B-I7G
TPICAL
TREAD
PATTERKS
——— Fur conpresseo
~staric LoaD
LOCATION OF
STAR & OAR,
(UNDER SIDE OF
‘STARBOARD Mi
®
eat
BOTH SIDES, ON (1)
| AIRCRAFT wir
| WAIST GUNS.
LOCATION oF
STAR & BAR ON
STARBOARD SIDE ONLY,
(OW AIRCRAFT WITH
> GUNS
49 DI D2 D3 D4 DS D6
Cc 2 TE Foon wes
Gn ATW SUmNG HmBOKGY ES FHA TE a UTE Gp
ee \VIEMED OM ABOVE]
ase ae
(4 we Aoaiedies
pueeaa aes
A ese ‘ a
|
Location oF
-ABHIAL FARLEAD
= =
‘TRAIL ENIAL IRLEAD
2 +
ie Or ——-
1s ocAaTiON oF
STARA BAR,
(ror surrace
PORT WING).
wLe¥e
Nn wraies
PLATE 4. WING TOP SURFACE & NACELLES. BOEING B-I7G
seace 72
@ LANDING LicuTs
D gore wines ———
OUTBOARD SIDE OF
INBOARD NACELLE. (8)
NOTE
PORT & STARBOARD
ACELLES ARE
MIRROR IMAGES.
7G OUTBOARD SIDE
© an OF OUTBOARD
take. — NACELLE
reer
®@
LOCATION oF GRILL
‘ON STARBOARO WING
]
152 Fig. 13. Suffering the highest losses of all groups—11 alreraft—in the first Schweinfurt mission (17 August 1943) was the 38Ist BG, based at
Ridgewell, Essex, ne of whove B-17Gs s shown. Codes GD denote 534th BS.
the peerless Mustang long-range escort fighter, was able
to make its presence over Germany really felt. The
Mustang's capacity to take two pressurised underwing.
drop tanks which would permit it to fly nearly 1,500
miles 2414km) with a speed loss of only about 3Smph
(56.3km/h) had been seen to exist by September 1943,
but it was not until after the second Schweinfurt disaster
that sufficiently drastic action was taken to realise it
‘The Mustangs came into operational service with the
8th AF in December 1943 (see Aerodata International
No 3) and by March 1944 they had worked up sufficient
range 10 give the bombers cover during their daylight
raids on Berlin which were made in conjunction with
RAF Bomber Command's night attacks on the “Big
City”. American bomber losses were still heavy at times,
—although never prohibitive—but now the German
fighters were forced to strike wherever and whenever
they could instead of being able to wait until the
bombers were beyond the limit of their fighter cover
range. Furthermore, all the other American and British
escort fighters, the Lightnings, Thunderbolts and even the
Spitfires, began to get opportunities of engaging the enemy.
Fig, 14 Slety.flve pound (28.48kx) napalm bombs x0 aboard the 730th BS, 452nd BG's F-ratieator(42-39930), then a veteran of 125 missions, at
Deopham Green, Norfolk, in April 1945, the month in which these jllied petrol weapons were first employed by the 8th AF.
153 PLATES UNIT MARKINGS SCALE 1/144
@) BOEING-BUILT B.17G OF 35314 BS
30Ist BG
Vath AF
oo =
ANOTHER BOEING-BUILT 8-176 OF THE 12th AF
THIS AIRCRAFT BELONGED TO 463d 8G. THE ORIGINAL
TAIL TURRET WAS REPLACED BY “CHEYENNE” TURRET,
THE NEW SKINNING BEING LEFT UNPAINTED. g
a bai.
DOUGLAS. BUILT B-17G OF 524th BS ba
379th BG
¥ Bth AF
UPPER SURFACE
STARBOARD WING|
®@
VEGA-BUILT 8-17G OF 600th BS
398th BG
8th AF
THIS AIRCRAFT WAS A PATHFINDER &
WAS FITTED WITH A RADOME IN PLACE
OF THE BALL TURRET
JUPPER SURFACE ™
ISTARBOARD WING =f .
© ania en aay
er
@ LOCATION OF SQUADRON
UPPER SURFACE
CODES ON PORT SIDE UpesRSTRRACE
\ j — 0
~ a "
@ , ,
BOEING BUILT 8.176 OF Sx2nd BS
3Bist BG RESEARCH: A. GRANGER ©”
8th AF ARTWORK: ROY MILLS
154 Fig. 1S Good shor of the B-17G's
frameless Plexiglass nosepiece and the
‘vin «80 calibre Bendis. chin turret
Hiso visible are the 10 «SO calibre
cheek guns
Fig. 16 Clase up of cockpit canopy,
‘observation dome and Bendix upper
By September 1944 the 8th AF’s operational Fortress
element had reached its peak wartime strength with a
total of 26 groups, all flying B-17Gs. By then, too, the
despatch of over 1,000 Forts on a single day's oper
tions had become a common event, and on Christmas
Eve 1944 an all-time record for the type was reached
when exactly 1,400 were sent to attack airfields and
communication centres in western Germany. Flak was
now the Forts’ chief antagonist, rather than fighters, the
Germans having developed higher-firing weapons ‘and
gun-laying radar to ensure more accurate shooting,
and it was this which, on the B-17s" final bombing
operations with the 8th AF on 25 April 1945, claimed
each of the six bombers lost; the Forts" target_was
the Skoda armament factory and a nearby airfield in
Czechoslovakia.
B-17Gs also flew bombing missions with six groups of
the 15th Air Force based in southern Italy and operating
against targets in southern France, Germany and the
Balkans, Crew of the B-17G usually numbered ten men
—same as for the E and F—although one of the waist
gunners was dispensed with in Europe in late 1944 when
enemy air activity declined. The Fort’s main failing.
and this applied to all models—was that it was designed
as a medium bomber and although later in the war it
was capable of carrying as much as 20,800Ib (9,435kg)
of bombs by making use of external racks, it could only
do so at the expense of range. Normal bomb load on
long-range missions was 4,000Ib (1815kg)—the same
as that of the RAF’s Mosquitos which regularly made a
nightly nuisance of themselves over Berlin and else-
where—while in practice maximum loads on short
158 Fig. 17 Some top-surface details,
Note particularly the dark-green anti
slare panels on the engine nacelles and
‘note, black sripes on wings indicating
walkways, and black rubber desicer
boots applied 10 leading edges of outer
wings (hese were also present on tail
unio.
Figs. 18 & 19 Sperry ball turret,
Grled inside lke am embryo, the
gunner (who was, of necessity, not a
large man) controled movement of
‘nuns by hand and foot pedals.
156 Fig. 20 Factory shot of port side
waist gun postion of a Vega-bult
Fortress. Several distinct sgles of
vwaist-gun postions/mountings were
seen on B17Ge
range missions were in the region of 6,000Ib (2722ks),
with which the plane’s all-up weight was about 65,0016
(29713kg). Another problem with the Fortress was that
it tended to catch fire all too easily when hit by enemy
gunfire; more Forts probably fell victims of raging wing
fires than through any other cause.
The fire hazard apart, the Fort had a capacity for
absorbing seemingly fatal amounts of battle damage
and still stay in the air to limp safely home. For
example, on 7 April 1945 a Messerschmitt 109 collided
in mid-air with an 8th AF B-17G of the 100th BG—the
famous “Bloody Hundredth"—whereupon the Fort
lost most of its port horizontal stabiliser and the tip of
its fin and rudder as well as receiving several slashes
from the fighter’s propeller. ‘The Fort continued on to
bomb its target in Germany and returned to base at
‘Thorpe Abbotts in Norfolk—with the tail gunner com
pletely unaware of the collision until it landed! To cite
another example of the Fort’s ruggedness, the 398th
BG's B-17G serial number 43-38172 had a flak shell
penetrate its chin turret and explode in the nose over
Cologne on 15 October 1944; yet although much of the
nose was blown off, cockpit instruments and oxygen
system rendered useless and the plane's interior sub:
jected to a sub-zero gale, the pilot, Ist Lt Lawrence
De Dancey, brought it back home’ to Nuthampstead
in Hertfordshire.
Many B-17s of the 8th AF completed more than 100
bombing missions, among these stalwarts being
42-31662 Fancy Nancy IV of the 612nd BS/401st BG
with 134 missions; 42-97210 Jamaica Ginger of the
S63rd BS/388th BG with 137; 43-3756 Milk Wagon
of the 708th BS/447th BG with 129; 42-31501 Ole Miss
Desiry of the 366th BS/30Sth BG with 138; and 42-0003
1’ Gappy of the 542nd BS/379th BG whose tally of 157
missions is believed to be a record unequalled by any
other 8th AF bomber. Incidentally, all five of the Forts
just listed survived the war. Four B-17Gs in the 91st BG
—the ‘*Ragged Irregulars’—based at Bassingbourn in
Cambridgeshire completed the impressive total of 536
missions between them. These veterans were Hi Ho
Silver (serial and squadron unknown) with 130 missions;
Fig. 22. Cheyenne-type tall “stinger Fig. 23 Detail of port mainwheei ear. Fig. 24 View looking
{forward from clase behind the retractable tallwheel
42-31909 Nine-o-Nine of the 323rd BS with 140;
42-31636 Outhouse Mouse of the 323rd BS with 139:
and 42-3233 Wee Willie of the 32nd BS with 127. The
first three survived the war but Wee Willie fell to flak
on its 128th mission, Outhouse Mouse, by the way, had
the doubtful distinction of being the first B-I7 to be
attacked by a Messerschmitt 163 rocket fighter, on
16 August 1944.
A number of B-17Gs were supplied to the RAF in
World War 2 and mainly served with 214 and 223
‘Squadrons of 100 (Bomber Support) Group, based in
East Anglia, whose job was to protect the Lancasters
and Halifaxes of Bomber Command’s main force by
waging, with various electronic countermeasure devices,
a strange war in the ether—jamming or interfering with
the German radar and radio signals and with the ground
controllers’ radio-telephone instructions to the night
fighters. USAAF counterparts of these ECM aircraft,
which were known as Fortress BIIIs, were operated by
the 8th AF in its day bombing offensive.
Some USAAF B-17Gs were converted for use as
transports, whilst others became specialised air-sea
rescue planes with parachute lifeboats slung under the
bomb bays and, sometimes, search radar under the
nose; such types were used not only in Europe but also
—following the B-17's withdrawal from combat in that
theatre—the Pacific.
At least one B-17G was operated by the Luftwaffe’s
notorious Ist’ Staffel of Kampfgeschwader 200 (1/KG200) after falling into German hands in flyable
condition early in 1944. Using an assortment of aircraft,
1/KG200 was engaged primarily in ferrying and supply
ing agents in enemy territories, and the B-I7G, in
keeping with the plane’s clandestine role, was given the
cover name Dornier 200 like the other B-17s of the
unit,
With the end of WW2, the majority of surviving
USAAF B-17Gs were flown home to the USA, and
after languishing for varying periods in vast suplus
aircraft parks, notably Kingman (Arizona) and Walnut
Ridge (Arkansas) they invariably went to the melting
pot. However, some aircraft did find postwar employ-
‘ment with the USAAF/USAF, US Navy and US Coast
Guard; and also with various foreign air forces such as
those of Israel (which took some into action in 1948
during that country’s War of Independence), Brazil,
France, Portugal and Denmark, Several G models were
converted for civil transport use in various parts of the
world, others being adapted for such differing roles as
aerial’ survey and mapping, chemical bomber for
fighting forest fires, and flying test beds for new aero
engines.
SPECIFICATION
Powerplant: Four Wright R-1820-97 Cyclone air-cooled
radial engines rated at @ maximum 1,200hp each for
take off.
Dimensions: Span 103ft 9Y/in (31632mm); length, early
a/e Taft Sin 22784mm), a/c with Cheyenne tail turret
Taft din (22657mm); wing area 1,426sq ft (132.48
sq metres)
Weight: (Empty) approx 36,13Slb (16390kg). (general
combat) approx 65,500Ib | (29713kg). with 6,000Ib
(2722kg) of bombs
Performance: Max speed approx 287mph (462km/h) at
25,000ft (7620m); operational cruising speed 165-
185mph (266-298km/h); time to 20,000ft (6096m) at
65,5001b (29713ke) take-off weight under ideal con
ditions 37min; service ceiling 35,600ft (1085 1m),
Armament: Thirteen 0.50in (12.7mm) calibre guns—
two each in chin, upper, ball and tail turrets, one each
in nose cheek positions and waist windows, Also a single
gun in radio compartment, deleted during late 1944 by
combat units and later from production a/c. Bomb load
details are given in main text.
pitt
Reeeeedes
PeSeCgy
peeec ces
+
ene te
ao
Fi
pe nae geettitt
ae
st
pe
+
a
i
+
+
4
.
te
eae e:
Fig. 28 Part ofa stockpile of B-17Gs ata USAAF replacement depot
near Munich in the American-occupled zone of Germany, 19 July
1945,
Fig. 26 A black-painted Fortress BIIT of No 100 Group, RAF Bomber Command, equipped with radio and radar-jamming devices for use
Insupport of the heavy bombers of the main force. BOEING B-47G FLYING FORTRESS—DEUTCH
Eines der wirklich Klassischen Kampfflugzeuge in der
Geschichte des Luftkriegs, die Boeing B-17 “'Fliegende
Festung"” flog zum ersten Mal im Juli 1935 und die erste
Luftwaffe, die sie in Dienst stellte, war die Royal Air
Force GroBbritanniens, als sie im Jahre 1941 ~ und ent-
gegen amerikanischem Rat — versuchte, einige B-17C
Maschinen fur Hohenluftangriffe bei Tag aber
Nordeuropa einzusetzen; das Experiment erwies sich als
teurer Fehlschlag. Als die USAAF 8. Luftflotte auf dem
europaischen Kriegschauplatz in Erscheinung getreten
war, benutzte sie die verbesserten Modelle der
Festungen””, um regelmaBig in den deutschen Luf-
traum vorzudringen. Trotzdem waren die Verluste
wierderum so hoch, da es Selbstmord schien, die
Operationen fortusetzen, Jedoch wurde das endgiiltige
Modell der “Festung” B-17G mit einem zusditzlichen
°*Kinn’’-Geschitzturm mit Zwillings-MG jetzt in Dienst
gestellt, und dank der zu diesem Zeitpunkt verfugbaren
Langstrecken—Begleitjiger, insbesondere des North
American P-51 Mustangs (siche Acrodata International
Nr. 3) waren die Bomber jetzt in der Lage, sich bis zu
ihren Zielen durchzukimpfen, und allmablich errangen
sie die Uberlegenheit. Schon im September 1944 zahlten
nicht weniger als 26 B-17G Bombergruppen zu den
‘Schwerbombereinheiten fur Fronteinsatze der 8 Luft-
flotte, und an cinem Tag flogen mehr als 1000
“Festungen”” zu ihren Zielen. B-I7Gs fhrten auch
‘Abb. 1 Eine der berithmtesten “Fliegenden Festungen iberhaupt.
‘Neun-Nul-Neun des 323. Bombergeschwaders, 91. Bombergruppe, it
‘Bassingdon, Cambridgeshire stationiert. Nach den letsten drei iffern
iver Seriennummer 4231909 benannt, fuhrie diese B-17G insgesamt
140 Kampfeinsatce bei der 8. Kufiflowe durch und sibersiand den
Krieg.
Abb. 2&3 Diese von Boeing gebaute B-I7E, 42-30631, diente als
Provoiyp der B-17G. Sie war ein normales Produktionsmodel, das
‘teindert wurde, um den Einbau des Bendis “Kinn"-Geschitcturms,
Yerbesserter Seiten: MG-Luken und sonstiger Modifiierungen, meist
{echnischer Art, :u ermoglichen. Weihe Viereche wurden zusatlich 2
den US-Hoheltstern-Markierungen im Juli 143 angebracht. Die rote
Umrandung war nur bis September in Gebrauch und wurde danach
durch Blau eset.
‘Abb. 4 Eine Kondestreifende B-17G mit offenen Bombenklappen.
Der grofite Mangel der “Festungen">-und dies galt fur alle Modelle
bestand darin, dass sie als Mittlsrecken-Bomber Konzipiert worden
nar, und obgleich sie in der letzien Phase des Kriges in der Lage war,
bis tu 9.435ks. Bomben durch den Einsateduplerer Bombenau/hange-
worrichtungen zu tragen, geschah das allerdings auf Kosten der
Reichweite. Die normale Bombenladung bei Langsirechen-einstzen
war mur 1.BISks.
‘Abb. $. Die B.17G erreichte von allen Modellen der “Flicgenden
Festung” die hichsien Produktions-
