The 19th Bombardment Group had deployed to Clark Field in the Philippines a few weeks before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as the first of a planned heavy bomber buildup in the Pacific. The FEAF lost half its aircraft during the first strike,[117] and was all but destroyed over the next few days. From then on, red and white neutrality bands were added to the wings of Swiss aircraft to stop accidental attacks by Allied aircraft. [104], Such high losses of aircrews could not be sustained, and the USAAF, recognizing the vulnerability of heavy bombers to interceptors when operating alone, suspended daylight bomber raids deep into Germany until the development of an escort fighter that could protect the bombers all the way from the United Kingdom to Germany and back. 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. [110] The escort fighters reduced the loss rate to below 7%, with a total of 247 B-17s lost in 3,500 sorties while taking part in the Big Week raids. Nonetheless, this deed made him a celebrated war hero. [121] While there, the Fifth Air Force B-17s were tasked with disrupting the Japanese sea lanes. Of the 13 YB-17s ordered for service testing, 12 were used by the 2nd Bomb Group of Langley Field, Virginia, to develop heavy bombing techniques, and the 13th was used for flight testing at the Material Division at Wright Field, Ohio. This made a formation of bombers a dangerous target to engage by enemy fighters. This led to more widespread conversion of B-17s as drones and drone control aircraft, both for further use in atomic testing and as targets for testing surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles. [citation needed], Another early World War II Pacific engagement, on 10 December 1941, involved Colin Kelly, who reportedly crashed his B-17 into the Japanese battleship Haruna, which was later acknowledged as a near bomb miss on the heavy cruiser Ashigara. 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 iconic bomber of the European theater, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, carried the fight to the Germans in the skies over Europe. [57] The B-17E was an extensive revision of the Model 299 design: The fuselage was extended by 10ft (3.0m); a much larger rear fuselage, vertical tailfin, rudder, and horizontal stabilizer were added; a gunner's position was added in the new tail;[note 4] the nose (especially the bombardier's framed, 10-panel nose glazing) remained relatively the same as the earlier B through D versions had; a Sperry electrically powered manned dorsal gun turret just behind the cockpit was added; a similarly powered (also built by Sperry) manned ventral ball turret just aft of the bomb bay replaced the relatively hard-to-use, Sperry model 645705-D[60] remotely operated ventral turret on the earliest examples of the E variant.
How many B-17s were shot down? - Wise-Answer 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. 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]. They could also pose as ground controllers themselves with the intention of steering nightfighters away from the bomber streams. [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.
How many b-17s were shot down during World war II? [143] This durability, together with the large operational numbers in the Eighth Air Force and the fame achieved by the Memphis Belle, made the B-17 a key bomber aircraft of the war. 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. 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. 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. [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. Army Air Forces. [118]
B-17 Is Shot Down (1943) - YouTube On landing, the aircraft overran the runway and ran into a ditch, where it was then strafed. [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. Four B-17s were shot down in these operations.[171]. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC).
The Combined Bomber Offensive was effectively complete. 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. 21) rocket mortar by the Luftwaffe in mid-August 1943 promised the introduction of a major "stand-off" style of offensive weapon one strut-mounted tubular launcher was fixed under each wing panel on the Luftwaffe's single-engine fighters, and two under each wing panel of a few twin-engine Bf 110 daylight Zerstrer aircraft. [225][226], "B-17" redirects here. [150][151] One B-17 of KG200, bearing the Luftwaffe's KG 200 Geschwaderkennung (combat wing code) markings A3+FB, was interned by Spain when it landed at Valencia airfield, 27 June 1944, remaining there for the rest of the war. They also desired, but did not require, a range of 2,000mi (3,200km) and a speed of 250mph (400km/h). [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. As the war intensified, Boeing used feedback from aircrews to improve each new variant with increased armament and armor. [42] Improved with larger flaps and rudder and a well-framed, 10-panel plexiglas nose, the B-17Bs were delivered in five small batches between July 1939 and March 1940. [122][124] Actual Japanese fighter losses for the day were seven destroyed and three damaged. As the Americans flew further into Europe and Germany, the missions became deadlier.
B-17 | Crew, Range, & Bomb Load | Britannica The Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) in the European Theater was one of Americas bloodiest campaigns. B-17s flown by the Eighth saw some of the fiercest combat of the war. During World War II, the B-17 equipped 32 overseas combat groups, inventory peaking in August 1944 at 4,574 USAAF aircraft worldwide. As each of these wounded airplanes returned, the legend of the B-17 grew. They were chosen specifically for these missions as being more suitable for this role than other available German aircraft; they never attempted to deceive the Allies and always wore full Luftwaffe markings. As he maneuvered his unarmed B-17 bomber over the island of Oahu, U.S. Army Lt. Robert Thacker was puzzled.
How many b-17 bombers were shot down during World War 2? National Archives and Records Administration - ARC Identifier 2870 / Local Identifier 18-C-406-2 - AIR WAR IN EUROPE - War Department. Browne, Robert W. "The Rugged Fortress: Life-Saving B-17 Remembered.". The B-17 was designed by the Boeing Aircraft Company in response to a 1934 Army Air Corps specification that called for a four-engined bomber at a time when two engines were the norm. The adoption of the 21 cm Nebelwerfer-derived Werfer-Granate 21 (Wfr. [135] In order to more quickly form these formations, assembly ships, planes with distinctive paint schemes, were utilized to guide bombers into formation, saving assembly time. 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. [16] On 20 August 1935, the prototype flew from Seattle to Wright Field in nine hours and three minutes with an average cruising speed of 252 miles per hour (406km/h), much faster than the competition. [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. The aircraft was powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet radial engines, each producing 750hp (600kW) at 7,000ft (2,100m). [103] Early versions of the Fw 190, one of the best German interceptor fighters, were equipped with two 20mm (0.79in) MG FF cannons, which carried only 500 rounds when belt-fed (normally using 60-round drum magazines in earlier installations), and later with the better Mauser MG 151/20 cannons, which had a longer effective range than the MG FF weapon. Frisbee, John L. "Valor: Battle Over Bougainville". ", Frisbee, John L. "Valor: A Tale of Two Texans.". These losses were a result of concentrated attacks by over 300 German fighters. 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. [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. The Allied victory against the Axis was a long journeyone that actually took much longer than the war itself. [154], During the Allied bomber offensive, U.S. and British bombers sometimes flew into Swiss airspace, either because they were damaged or, on rare occasions, accidentally bombing Swiss cities. ", "Why Use Colourful Camouflage in World War 2? ", "German wonder weapons: degraded production and effectiveness. Craven, Wesley Frank, James Lea Cate and Richard L. Watson, eds. Copy. Also on board were Wright Field test observer John Cutting, and mechanic Mark Koegler. 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". "Boeing's Battle Wagon: The B-17 Flying Fortress An Outline History". The B-17F also carried light gray flash letters "RD" and "I" on either side of the fuselage's Swiss national insignia.
Who manufactured the Norden bombsight? - TimesMojo The B-17 was a sturdily built aircraft. [6] But it was primarily employed by the USAAF in the daylight strategic bombing campaign over Europe, complementing RAF Bomber Command's night-time area bombing of German industrial, military and civilian targets. These aircraft were painted dark blue, the standard Navy paint scheme which had been adopted in late 1944. How many B-17s were shot down during the Second World War? Smith and LeSchack parachuted from the B-17 and searched the station for several days. It was a four engine, heavy bomber which first flew on July 28, 1935. This. 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. 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. The bomber's topside surfaces were repainted a dark olive drab, but retained its light gray under wing and lower fuselage surfaces.