B-17 Bombers, The “Flying Fortress”
October 8, 2008
The B-17 Bombers, it was called the “Flying Fortress”. The B-17 was designed by Boeing for The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC), throughout the American participation in the Second World War, and it quickly becomes a formidable adversary in the Allied war against Germany.
In respond to the USAAC for a better bomber and more affective, Boeing has come up with the design of the B-17. The USAAC was so impress with the way Boeing’s design, they granted the company it contract, and Boeing begin to work on the model in 1934. Within a short time, they have got the completion of the very first model of B-17; the prototype was born in Mid. of 1935. Boeing built a few preproduction of B-17 during those following years later, the B-17 gotten better improvement year after year, and was labeled from A-G to show the advantage of them.
To be exact, the very first model of B-17 didn’t completed until January of 1939, and was redesignated as B-17A to signify the first operational variant. The US was not involved in the fighting of World War 2 in Europe in 1939, so at the time it did not seem to be a matter of urgency. However, as it became clearer that US involvement was inevitable in later time, the USAAC orders for B-17s were increased. In September of 1941, the B-17E appeared with an extensively modified empennage, the B-17E was a retrograde step, but more importantly, it would turn a relative failure in the past, into an outstanding military success.
The B-17E enveloped a deadly stinger of twin .50-cal. machine guns, and a remote controlled belly turret held two more .50s. One hundred-twelve B-17Es were built, followed by four hundred more, with a manned Sperry ball turret replacing the remote system. The B-17E was lengthened to 73 feet 10 inches (22.5 m) to accommodate the new defensive tail position. Top speed was 317 mph (510 km/h), cruising at over 200 mph (321 km/h) with 4,000 lb (1814 kg) of bombs. The crew...