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#Post#: 8676--------------------------------------------------
Plane of the Week: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
By: vonofterdingen Date: December 23, 2019, 3:57 pm
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I don’t know that it is appropriate to choose a war plane
that would be associated with Christmas, yet I felt that I
should do something like that today. Given the task, Whether you
believe in miracles or not, this is the time of year when we
tend to give miracles a little extra respect. So I tired to
think of an aircraft that we associate with miracles. The plane
that came to my mind was the B-17.
I can think of no plane that had a better reputation for
getting its crews home. Yes, there were losses…sometimes
horrific losses, yet time and time again we here stories and see
pictures of B-17s that made it home with excessive amounts of
battle damage.
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From Wikipedia:
The B-17 began operations in World War II with the Royal Air
Force (RAF) in 1941, and in the Southwest Pacific with the U.S.
Army. 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. Half of the group's B-17s were wiped out on 8 December
1941 when they were caught on the ground during refueling and
rearming for a planned attack on Japanese airfields on Formosa.
The small force of B-17s operated against the Japanese invasion
force until they were withdrawn to Darwin, in Australia's
Northern Territory. In early 1942, the 7th Bombardment Group
began arriving in Java with a mixed force of B-17s and
LB-30/B-24s. A squadron of B-17s from this force detached to the
Middle East to join the First Provisional Bombardment Group,
thus becoming the first American B-17 squadron to go to war
against the Germans. 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. In July 1942, the first USAAF B-17s were sent to
England to join the Eighth Air Force. Later that year, two
groups moved to Algeria to join Twelfth Air Force for operations
in North Africa. The B-17s were primarily involved in the
daylight precision strategic bombing campaign against German
targets ranging from U-boat pens, docks, warehouses, and
airfields to industrial targets such as aircraft factories. In
the campaign against German aircraft forces in preparation for
the invasion of France, B-17 and B-24 raids were directed
against German aircraft production while their presence drew the
Luftwaffe fighters into battle with Allied fighters.
During World War II, the B-17 equipped 32 overseas combat
groups, inventory peaking in August 1944 at 4,574 USAAF aircraft
worldwide. 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) respectively.
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", which was an optical electromechanical
gyrostabilized analog computer. 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.
The bombardier essentially took over flight control of the
aircraft during the bomb run, maintaining a level altitude
during the final moments before release.
The USAAF began building up its air forces in Europe using
B-17Es soon after entering the war. The first Eighth Air Force
units arrived in High Wycombe, England, on 12 May 1942, to form
the 97th Bomb Group. On 17 August 1942, 12 B-17Es of the 97th,
with the lead aircraft piloted by Major Paul Tibbets and
carrying Brigadier General Ira Eaker as an observer, were close
escorted by four squadrons of RAF Spitfire IXs (and a further
five squadrons of Spitfire Vs to cover the withdrawal) on the
first USAAF heavy bomber raid over Europe, against the large
railroad marshalling yards at Rouen-Sotteville in France, while
a further six aircraft flew a diversionary raid along the French
coast. The operation, carried out in good visibility, was a
success, with only minor damage to one aircraft, unrelated to
enemy action, and half the bombs landing in the target area. The
raid helped allay British doubts about the capabilities of
American heavy bombers in operations over Europe.
Two additional groups arrived in Britain at the same time,
bringing with them the first B-17Fs, which served as the primary
AAF heavy bomber fighting the Germans until September 1943. As
the raids of the American bombing campaign grew in numbers and
frequency, German interception efforts grew in strength (such as
during the attempted bombing of Kiel on 13 June 1943, such that
unescorted bombing missions came to be discouraged.
B-17s were used in early battles of the Pacific with little
success, notably the Battle of Coral Sea and Battle of Midway.
While there, the Fifth Air Force B-17s were tasked with
disrupting the Japanese sea lanes. Air Corps doctrine dictated
bombing runs from high altitude, but they soon found only 1% of
their bombs hit targets. However, B-17s were operating at
heights too great for most A6M Zero fighters to reach.
The B-17's greatest success in the Pacific was in the Battle of
the Bismarck Sea, in which aircraft of this type were
responsible for damaging and sinking several Japanese transport
ships. On 2 March 1943, six B-17s of the 64th Squadron flying at
10,000 ft (3,000 m) 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. On 3 March 1943, 13 B-17s flying at 7,000
ft (2,000 m) bombed the convoy, forcing the convoy to disperse
and reducing the concentration of their anti-aircraft defenses.
The B-17s attracted a number of Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters,
which were in turn attacked by the P-38 Lightning escorts. One
B-17 broke up in the air, and its crew was forced to take to
their parachutes. Japanese fighter pilots machine-gunned some of
the B-17 crew members as they descended and attacked others in
the water after they landed. Five of the Japanese fighters
strafing the B-17 aircrew were promptly engaged and shot down by
three Lightnings, though these were also then lost. The allied
fighter pilots claimed 15 Zeros destroyed, while the B-17 crews
claimed five more. Actual Japanese fighter losses for the day
were seven destroyed and three damaged. 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 100 ft (30 m), while B-17s claimed five hits
from higher altitudes. On the morning of 4 March 1943, a B-17
sank the destroyer Asashio with a 500 lb (230 kg) bomb while she
was picking up survivors from Arashio.
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. 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. 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. Special airdrop B-17s
supported Australian commandos operating near the Japanese
stronghold at Rabaul, which had been the primary B-17 target in
1942 and early 1943.
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In Game...
In general I do not fly bombers much, but I dearly love escort
missions. I would say that no bomber is more fun to escort in
our game than the B-17. Someday I am going to figure out how to
set up the Battle Box formation in the FMB. When I do, that will
be one exciting set missions.
#Post#: 8677--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
By: JG51_Ruski Date: December 23, 2019, 4:07 pm
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Thank you Von one of my favorite planers from WW II..I have B-17
II The Mighty 8th installed and just mess with it from time to
time..And another good write up
#Post#: 8679--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
By: Beowolff Date: December 23, 2019, 4:10 pm
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One of my fave WW2 planes too! And I love flying her in game
(though I can't hit chite with her bombs...lol!)
Great POTW bird!
Thanks, Von! 8)
Beo
#Post#: 8681--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
By: JG51_Ruski Date: December 23, 2019, 4:55 pm
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I'm not accurate either Beo took me months to get used to
working the Norden sight no smart bombs back then,But B-17 II is
a lot more fun than the old Avalon hill board game and rolling
dice
I've got an old book on th4e history of the B-17 I can't
believe seeing the damage it could take ..
#Post#: 8685--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
By: Beowolff Date: December 23, 2019, 5:58 pm
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Truly this plane (as Von says) is a miracle bird... and as you
put it Russ, could take a POUNDING and still come home. I've
also got a ton of air books and man some of those planes were
smashed to bits... one flew home after a 109 crashed into it and
tore it practically half in two! Amazing! It killed the rear
gunners...but the other lads made it in alive.
:o :o :o
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