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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0915.PDF
MAY 4TH, 1944 An impressive line of Fortresses newly arrived from the States and awaiting their turn for modification at a U.S. Air Service Command base. Flying Fortress (B-17G) A Survey of the Hard-hitting American Heavy* weight : Eighth of the Fortress Line and Fifth to See War Action THE founder of the Fortress family was born in 1935 and was known by the number 299; it was a pretty large machine for those years and, more over, one which made a record-breaking maiden voyage by flying non-stop the 2,100 miles between Seattle and Dayton, Ohio. This aircraft was followed, some little time later, by 13 others, the first to bear the designation B-17, ^d these were delivered to the U.S.A.A.C. between January and July, 1937- Next came the B-17A, an experimental model which, by the employment of turbo-supercharged engines, laid the foundations for high-altitude bombing. The turbo blowers, of which more later, enable the engines to give high power output when oper ating in conditions of reduced atmospheric density. After the " A " came a total of 39 B-17BS, which were delivered by March, 1940, and these were followed by the " C" model on which the armament was greatly improved. These 17CS were, incidentally, the first of the breed to see genuine war action, the Royal Air Force using them for the first time in rg4i, but even with their improved arma ment, they were not up to matching the punishment handed out to them by the enemy, and they suffered rather heavily. The successor to the "C" was the B-17D, a total of 42 of which were delivered by September, 1941. The "Ds" were the first Fortresses to be equipped with leakproof fuel tanks. It should be pointed out that the Flying Fortress *as originally conceived as a offensive aircraft, and the complete range of models "A" to "D" inclusive were, literally, peacetime military types designed for long range, or euphuistically "hemisphere" defence. Despite the fact that the historic debacle of Pearl Harbour came as a complete surprise to the mass of the Americas, the Boeing Company was completely retooled for production of the first real war model Fortress, the B-17E, a year prior to the Pearl Harbour incident, although it must be mentioned that a great deal of the air fighting in the first few weeks of the Pacific battles was done by the "D " models. Fortresses of the "A to D" group were known collec tively in this country under the heading of Fortress I, and the introduction of the " E " caused this model to be known here as the Fortress II. Many modifications were incorpor ated in the "E" ; the fuselage was lengthened by over five feet', tail guns and powei turrets, including the spherical ventral turret, were intro duced; the now familiar spine fillet to the fin appeared, and the area of the tailplane was enlarged by increasing its span. In addition, the equip ment of the machine was generally modernised through out. The Fortress I scaled 40,000 lb., and the Fortress II 50,000 lb., the added weight making an increase in fin and tailplane area necessary. Fol lowing the "E" model came the B-17F, which was in pro duction for a period of 15 months; these "F" Forts have done some really grand work, and their ranks are now steadily being swelled by the latest of the Fortress line, the B-17G, which, by introducing
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