the B-17 was a fourengine heavy bomber aircraft used by the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. It was also employed as a transport, antisubmarine aircraft, drone controller, and search-and-rescue aircraft. The command pilot was Major Ployer Peter Hill, Wright Field Material Division Chief of the Flying Branch, his first flight in the Model 299. The B-17 was reported as shot down by observers, but it survived and brought its crew home without injury. [18] His opinions were shared by the air corps procurement officers, and even before the competition had finished, they suggested buying 65 B-17s. Tora! [103] However, due to the slow 715mph velocity and characteristic ballistic drop of the fired rocket (despite the usual mounting of the launcher at about 15 upward orientation), and the small number of fighters fitted with the weapons, the Wfr. Three squadrons undertook Met profiles from airfields in Iceland, Scotland and England, gathering data for vital weather forecasting purposes. World War II: Schweinfurt-Regensburg Raid Summary - ThoughtCo An overwhelming majority of them were women and children. The adoption of the 21 cm Nebelwerfer-derived Werfer-Granate 21 (Wfr. Posted on . 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 British had been bombing from the air, but heavy losses forced them to switch to nighttime area bombing, greatly reducing its effectiveness. Its main use was in Europe, where its shorter range and smaller bombload relative to other aircraft did not hamper it as much as in the Pacific Theater. These losses were a result of concentrated attacks by over 300 German fighters. [7] Of the roughly 1.5 million tons of bombs dropped on Nazi Germany and its occupied territories by U.S. aircraft, over 640 000 tons (42.6%) were dropped from B-17s.[8]. Crashed Model 299. Wiki User. In 1964, the latter film was made into a television show of the same name and ran for three years on ABC TV. M/SGT Michael Arooth shot down 17 enemy aircraft to reach triple "Ace" status. On 28 May 1962, N809Z, piloted by Connie Seigrist and Douglas Price, flew Major James Smith, USAF and Lieutenant Leonard A. LeSchack, USNR to the abandoned Soviet arctic ice station NP 8, as Operation Coldfeet. All were Allison powered. Lieutenant General James Doolittle, commander of the 8th, had ordered the second Schweinfurt mission to be cancelled as the weather deteriorated, but the lead units had already entered hostile air space and continued with the mission. [76] The British heavy bombers, the Avro Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax, dropped 608,612 long tons (681,645 short tons) and 224,207 long tons (251,112 short tons)[77] respectively. This production rate was, however, surpassed by that of the, This is a commonly misreported error. Frisbee, John L. "Valor: Battle Over Bougainville". During World War II approximately 40 B-17s were captured and refurbished by Germany after crash-landing or being forced down, with about a dozen put back into the air. In January 1938, group commander Colonel Robert Olds flew a Y1B-17 from the U.S. east coast to the west coast, setting a transcontinental record of 13 hours 27 minutes. Eighty years ago, the Red Army managed to stop, contain, and ultimately defeat the largest German army on the Eastern Front. Of the 12,731 B-17s built, about 4,735 were lost during the war. [138][139][140] Wally Hoffman, a B-17 pilot with the Eighth Air Force during World WarII, said, "The plane can be cut and slashed almost to pieces by enemy fire and bring its crew home. Its famous nickname came from the fact it carried 13 .50 caliber M2 Browning machine guns for protection, and had a legendary toughness for carrying its crew home on one engine or even with the tail shot away. 7375, 15859. Bomber wrecks were fewer but more expensive. Although initially deemed repairable, 40-2049 (11th BG / 38th RS) received more than 200 bullet holes and never flew again. The Coast Guard PB-1Gs served throughout the 1950s, the last example not being withdrawn from service until 14 October 1959. Frisbee, John L. "Valor: 'Valor at its Highest'". It also developed a reputation for toughness based upon stories and photos of badly damaged B-17s safely returning to base. [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. One of these Taiwan-based B-17s was flown to Clark Air Base in the Philippines in mid-September, assigned for covert missions into Tibet. In years following World War I, the United States was heavily influenced by Italian air-power theorist Giulio Douhet who called for heavy investment in a force of bombers to fly over the front-lines, destroy an enemys infrastructure, and break their will to fight. [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 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. Assembly Ships", "Polka Dot Warriors > Vintage Wings of Canada", "Excerpts from B-17 Pilot Training Manual (The Story of the B-17). Post accident interviews with Tower and Putt determined the control surface gust lock had not been released. The B-17 saw early action in the Pacific War, where it conducted raids against Japanese shipping and airfields. coast. [97], The two different strategies of the American and British bomber commands were organized at the Casablanca Conference in January 1943. [87], The air corps renamed United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) on 20 June 1941 used the B-17 and other bombers to bomb from high altitudes with the aid of the then-secret Norden bombsight, known as the "Blue Ox",[88][89] which was an optical electromechanical gyrostabilized analog computer. how many b17s were shot down during ww2. The aircraft went through several alterations in each of its design stages and variants. Noted Japanese ace Sabur Sakai is credited with this kill, and in the process, came to respect the ability of the Fortress to absorb punishment.[119]. As many as half a million civilians remained in Stalingrad when the Germans approached in the late summer of 1942. The aircraft was powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet radial engines, each producing 750 hp (600 kW) at 7,000 ft (2,100 m). ", Frisbee, John L. "Valor: One Turning and One Burning. ", "Langley B-17s paved way for independent Air Force", "World War II General Electric Turbosupercharges", "Flying Fortress (B-17G): A Survey of the Hard-hitting American Heavy Weight. The 8th Air Force then targeted the ball-bearing factories in Schweinfurt, hoping to cripple the war effort there. [30] One suggestion adopted was the use of a preflight checklist to avoid accidents such as that which befell the Model 299. When bombers crashed in Switzerland. [165] The last operational mission flown by a USAF Fortress was conducted on 6 August 1959, when a DB-17P, serial 44-83684 , directed a QB-17G, out of Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, as a target for an AIM-4 Falcon air-to-air missile fired from a McDonnell F-101 Voodoo. Initially, it could carry a payload of 2200 kg along with 5x .30-inch machine guns. [38] The aircraft was delivered to the army on 31 January 1939. Losses to flak continued to take a high toll of heavy bombers through 1944, but the war in Europe was being won by the Allies. [17], At the fly-off, the four-engined Boeing's performance was superior to those of the twin-engined DB-1 and Model 146. One of the most significant weapons of World War II would be ready, but only by a hair. [123] The allied fighter pilots claimed 15 Zeros destroyed, while the B-17 crews claimed five more. 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. [33] The mission was successful and widely publicized. The experience showed both the RAF and USAAF that the B-17C was not ready for combat, and that improved defenses, larger bomb loads and more accurate bombing methods were required. Flight crews ferried the bombers back across the Atlantic to the United States where the majority were sold for scrap and melted down, although significant numbers remained in use in second-line roles such as VIP transports, air-sea rescue and photo-reconnaissance. [ Via] B17f-42-30336 landed in a field at Norholm Estate near Varde Denmark on 9.10.1943 after developing engine trouble, the crew baled out and the pilot landed the plane . the B-17 Flying Fortress were equipped with lots of machine guns for self-defense against single-seat fighter aircraft. The B-17 evolved through numerous design advances[4][5] but from its inception, the USAAC (later, the USAAF) promoted the aircraft as a strategic weapon. What was the life expectancy of a B-17 crewman flying over - Quora Designating the aircraft Fortress Mk I, the aircraft performed poorly during high-altitude raids in the summer of 1941. A retirement ceremony was held several days later at Holloman AFB, after which 44-83684 was retired. [163] They were used primarily in the "Dumbo" air-sea rescue role, but were also used for iceberg patrol duties and for photo mapping. [164] One hundred and seven B-17s were converted to drones. [98], Operation Pointblank opened with attacks on targets in Western Europe. Fewer than 10 are airworthy . [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. ", "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). [176] In a well-publicized mission on 12 May of the same year, three Y1B-17s "intercepted" and took photographs of the Italian ocean liner SS Rex 610 miles (980km) off the Atlantic coast. [160][161], The USAF Air Rescue Service of the Military Air Transport Service (MATS) operated B-17s as so-called "Dumbo" air-sea rescue aircraft. The pilots flying the ME-109s and FW-190s were professionalsthe best in the world. Hess, William N. and Jim Winchester. In 1957 the surviving B-17s had been stripped of all weapons and painted black. Gr. They also desired, but did not require, a range of 2,000mi (3,200km) and a speed of 250mph (400km/h). "Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress: Queen of the Skies". [14] The most distinct mount was in the nose, which allowed the single machine gun to be fired toward nearly all frontal angles. Memphis Belle (aircraft) - Wikipedia Of the 291 attacking Fortresses, 60 were shot down over Germany, five crashed on approach to Britain, . [78] While the Short Stirling and Handley Page Halifax became its primary bombers by 1941, in early 1940, the RAF entered into an agreement with the U.S. Army Air Corps to acquire 20 B-17Cs, which were given the service name Fortress I. B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 398th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force, taking fire from flak over Germany, 1944-45. They were also used to provide search and rescue support for B-29 raids against Japan. The iconic bomber of the European theater, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, carried the fight to the Germans in the skies over Europe. 1, 17 August 1942", "How Allied Air Attacks Evolved During World War II", "Combat Chronology of the U.S. Army Air Forces: April 1945.". "Smithsonian Panel Backs Transfer of Famed B-17 Bomber.". The Unknown Aces of the Eighth - National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Life and Death Aboard a B-17, 1944. Many B-17s survive today in museums, and there are some that still fly. Gift of Peggy Wallace, 2010.308.044, Group of B-17 bombers over Europe with vapor trail flowing behind them, 1944-45. [103] The Luftwaffe also fitted heavy-caliber Bordkanone-series 37, 50 and even 75mm (2.95in) cannon as anti-bomber weapons on twin-engine aircraft such as the special Ju 88P fighters, as well as one model of the Me 410 Hornisse but these measures did not have much effect on the American strategic bomber offensive. 12962; History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons: Volume 2: The History of VP, VPB, VP(HL) and VP(AM) Squadrons, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Boeing_B-17_Flying_Fortress&oldid=1141348576. 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. [128], At their peak, 168 B-17 bombers were in the Pacific theater in September 1942, but already in mid-1942 Gen. Arnold had decided that the B-17 was unsuitable for the kind of operations required in the Pacific and made plans to replace all of the B-17s in the theater with B-24s (and later, B-29s) as soon as they became available. [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. [37] Scheduled to fly in 1937, it encountered problems with the turbochargers, and its first flight was delayed until 29 April 1938. ", "890th Bryanskiy Bomber Aviation Regiment", "The Surprising Story of Japan's B-17 Fleet", "Warbird Registry Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress", "US Coast Guard Aviation History: Boeing PB-1G 'Flying Fortress'. Smith and LeSchack parachuted from the B-17 and searched the station for several days. [115] When the FEAF received word of the attack on Pearl Harbor, General Lewis H. Brereton sent his bombers and fighters on various patrol missions to prevent them from being caught on the ground. Next worst were the P-39 at 245, the P-40 at 188, and the P-38 at 139. [70] Initially designated SB-17G, a number of B-17Gs were also converted for search-and-rescue duties, later to be redesignated B-17H. [177][note 5], Many pilots who flew both the B-17 and the B-24 preferred the B-17 for its greater stability and ease in formation flying. [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. [44][note 3] The aircraft went on to serve in every World WarII combat zone, and by the time production ended in May 1945, 12,731 aircraft had been built by Boeing, Douglas, and Vega (a subsidiary of Lockheed).[45][46][47][48]. Frisbee, John L. "Valor: Rabaul on a Wing and a Prayer". Who manufactured the Norden bombsight? - TimesMojo How many b17 bombers were lost in ww2? - Answers This. Wikipedia says: Defensive armament increased from four 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns and one 0.30 in (7.62 mm) nose machine gun in the B-17C, to thirteen 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns in the B-17G. How many B-17s were shot down during World War 2? This type replaced the vulnerable twin-engine Zerstrer heavy fighters which could not survive interception by P-51 Mustangs flying well ahead of the combat boxes in an air supremacy role starting very early in 1944 to clear any Luftwaffe defensive fighters from the skies. The Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) in the European Theater was one of Americas bloodiest campaigns. No traces of the 3 captured Flying Fortresses were ever found in Japan by Allied occupation forces. John Keema of the 390th Bomb Group said, "No matter the target they were defending, they were balls to the wall. This made a formation of bombers a dangerous target to engage by enemy fighters. Wagner, Ray, "American Combat Planes of the 20th Century", Reno, Nevada, 2004, Jack Bacon & Company, This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 16:26. Peak USAAF inventory (in August 1944) was 4,574 worldwide.[76]. 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. [57] The B-17's turbocharged Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 engines were upgraded to increasingly more powerful versions of the same powerplants throughout its production, and similarly, the number of machine gun emplacement locations was increased.[61]. [15], Boeing was quick to see the value of the name and had it trademarked for use. Did any American B-17 crewman ever shoot down a German fighter plane while flying over Germany during World War II? The German fighters found that when attacking from the front, where fewer defensive guns were mounted (and where the pilot was exposed and not protected by armor as he was from the rear), it took only four or five hits to bring a bomber down. [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. How many B-17 Crews died? ", "Why Use Colourful Camouflage in World War 2? The XB-38 was an engine testbed for Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled engines, should the Wright engines normally used on the B-17 become unavailable. Bigger WWII bombers like e.g. [105] The 8th Air Force alone lost 176 bombers in October 1943,[106] and was to suffer similar casualties on 11 January 1944 on missions to Oschersleben, Halberstadt, and Brunswick. With its usual nose-mounted armament of four MK 108 cannons, and with some examples later equipped with the R4M rocket, launched from underwing racks, it could fire from outside the range of the bombers' .50in (12.7mm) defensive guns and bring an aircraft down with one hit,[147] as both the MK 108's shells and the R4M's warheads were filled with the "shattering" force of the strongly brisant Hexogen military explosive. [222], The Flying Fortress has also been featured in artistic works expressing the physical and psychological stress of the combat conditions and the high casualty rates that crews suffered. 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. Mayday! One of the two "E" Flying Fortresses was photographed late in the war by U. S. aerial recon. How many b-17 bombers were shot down during World War 2? (06/2. Meantime 60 B-17's were lost to all causes (including flak). Lieutenant General Jimmy Doolittle wrote about his preference for equipping the Eighth with B-17s, citing the logistical advantage in keeping field forces down to a minimum number of aircraft types with their individual servicing and spares. [91], The USAAF began building up its air forces in Europe using B-17Es soon after entering the war. Major General Frank Maxwell Andrews of the GHQ Air Force believed that the capabilities of large four-engined aircraft exceeded those of shorter-ranged, twin-engined aircraft, and that the B-17 was better suited to new, emerging USAAC doctrine. info@nationalww2museum.org On 2 March 1943, six B-17s of the 64th Squadron flying at 10,000ft (3,000m) attacked a major Japanese troop convoy off New Guinea, using skip bombing to sink Kyokusei Maru, which carried 1,200 army troops, and damage two other transports, Teiyo Maru and Nojima. The B-17F also carried light gray flash letters "RD" and "I" on either side of the fuselage's Swiss national insignia. Other factors such as combat effectiveness and political issues also contributed to the B-17's success. Ramsey, Winston G. "The V-Weapons". Unlike the fighter pilots, individual bomber gunners did not receive official credit for any of their shootdowns. They could also pose as ground controllers themselves with the intention of steering nightfighters away from the bomber streams. Photo-recon analysts never made the connection to it being a captured B-17 until after the war. Although the conversion was not complete until mid-1943, B-17 combat operations in the Pacific theater came to an end after a little over a year. Sakai, Saburo with Martin Caidin and Fred Saito. [122][124] Actual Japanese fighter losses for the day were seven destroyed and three damaged. ", Frisbee, John L. "Valor: A Tale of Two Texans.". "Books of The Times; How Both Sides' Artists Saw World War II" (review). Forty-five planes survive in complete form, 38 in the United States. AFA Statement on Loss of Historic B-17: Painful Reminder of the The first combat use of the B-17 came not with the USAAC (U.S. Army Air Forces after 1941), but with the Royal Air Force. Blast damage was caused over a radius of 5 miles (8.0km). American bomber numbers continued to build in Europe and attacks (and losses) began to build up. But because the bombers could not maneuver when attacked by fighters and needed to be flown straight and level during their final bomb run, individual aircraft struggled to fend off a direct attack. 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. [71], Late in World WarII, at least 25 B-17s were fitted with radio controls and television cameras, loaded with 20,000lb (9,100kg) of high explosives and dubbed BQ-7 "Aphrodite missiles" for Operation Aphrodite. [221] Both films were made with the full cooperation of the United States Army Air Forces and used USAAF aircraft and (for Twelve O'Clock High) combat footage. ", "German wonder weapons: degraded production and effectiveness. These included B-17G 44-85531, registered as N809Z. [160][163] Coast Guard PB-1Gs were stationed at a number of bases in the U.S. and Newfoundland, with five at Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, two at CGAS San Francisco, two at NAS Argentia, Newfoundland, one at CGAS Kodiak, Alaska, and one in Washington state. [134] To address this problem, the United States developed the bomb-group formation, which evolved into the staggered combat box formation in which all the B-17s could safely cover any others in their formation with their machine guns. And of those 276,000 planes, 68,000 were lost. B-17 pilot flew unexpectedly into the middle of Japanese attack on [129] Surviving aircraft were reassigned to the 54th Troop Carrier Wing's special airdrop section and were used to drop supplies to ground forces operating in close contact with the enemy. Gr. ", "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. The prototype B-17 Bomber was built at the company's own expense and was a fusion of the features of Boeing XB-15 and Boeing 247 Transport Aircraft. AFA Statement on Loss of Historic B-17: Painful Reminder of the Sacrifices of WWII Airmen The tragic crash of a historic B-17 Oct. 2 cost the nation an enduring symbol of the sacrifices and heroism displayed by American Airmen in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II. ", "Durable B-17s hard for pilots to forget: Love for plane outweighs bitter memories of war", "World War II War Production Why Were the B-17 and B-24 Produced in Parallel? British authorities were anxious that no similar accidents should again occur, and the Aphrodite project was scrapped in early 1945. Copy. The Eighth Air Force vs. The Luftwaffe - The National WWII Museum One of the worst days of the war for the B-17 and its crewmen was the second raid on German ball bearing production in Schweinfurt, Germany on October 14, 1943. The loss was not total but Boeing's hopes for a substantial bomber contract were dashed. Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress - Wikipedia Ten of the 12 Fortresses survived the attack. [156] The three bombers, which still contained their top secret Norden bombsights, were ferried to Japan where they underwent extensive technical evaluation by the Giken, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force's Air Technical Research Institute (Koku Gijutsu Kenkyujo) at Tachikawa's air field. 2012-03-07 01:27:07. [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. [20] The YB-17 incorporated a number of significant changes from the Model 299, including more powerful Wright R-1820-39 Cyclone engines. [7] Attacks began in April 1943 on heavily fortified key industrial plants in Bremen and Recklinghausen. Additional armament included an additional dorsal turret in the radio room, a remotely operated and fired Bendix-built "chin turret" directly below the bombardier's accommodation, and twin .50in (12.7mm) guns in each of the waist positions. The electrical systems were less vulnerable to damage than the B-24's hydraulics, and the B-17 was easier to fly than a B-24 when missing an engine. 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. Though many were shot down, many more severely damaged aircraft were able to return their crews safely to base. the Germans broke off to refuel having shot down 15 B-17s. [40] The Y1B-17A had a maximum speed of 311 miles per hour (501km/h), at its best operational altitude, compared to 239 miles per hour (385km/h) for the Y1B-17. The campaign in North Africa began with a daring Anglo-American commando raid code-named Operation RESERVIST. Before the advent of long-range fighter escorts, B-17s had only their .50 caliber M2 Browning machine guns to rely on for defense during the bombing runs over Europe. In July 1940, an order for 512 B-17s was issued,[43] but at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, fewer than 200 were in service with the army. [84], As use by Bomber Command had been curtailed, the RAF transferred its remaining FortressI aircraft to Coastal Command for use as a long-range maritime patrol aircraft.

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