the B-17 Flying Fortress were equipped with lots of machine guns for self-defense against single-seat fighter aircraft. The iconic bomber of the European theater, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, carried the fight to the Germans in the skies over Europe. 60 Of the 291 attacking Fortresses, 60 were shot down over Germany, five crashed on approach to Britain, and 12 more were scrapped due to damage - a loss of 77 B-17s. Only 33 bombers landed without damage. Gift of Peggy Wallace, 2010.308.082. [19][20], On 30 October 1935, a test flight determining the rate of climb and service ceiling was planned. Mayday! Posted on . [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. The. B-17 Is Shot Down (1943) - YouTube [70] Initially designated SB-17G, a number of B-17Gs were also converted for search-and-rescue duties, later to be redesignated B-17H. However, the use of this rigid formation meant that individual aircraft could not engage in evasive maneuvers: they had to fly constantly in a straight line, which made them vulnerable to German flak. [107][108], A third raid on Schweinfurt on 24 February 1944 highlighted what came to be known as "Big Week",[109] during which the bombing missions were directed against German aircraft production. 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. The campaign in North Africa began with a daring Anglo-American commando raid code-named Operation RESERVIST. Gr. The first Schweinfurt-Regensburg Raid occurred during >World War II (1939-1945). Britain in WW2 . For many, the B-17 is the iconic bomber of the war, and the Flying Fortress"remains a symbol of American might. The Combined Bomber Offensive was effectively complete. [123] The allied fighter pilots claimed 15 Zeros destroyed, while the B-17 crews claimed five more. [140] Making it back to base on numerous occasions, despite extensive battle damage, the B-17's durability became legendary;[138][139] stories and photos of B-17s surviving battle damage were widely circulated during the war. Some of the German pilots had been flying in combat since 1936. General Ira C. Eaker and the Eighth Air Force placed highest priority on attacks on the German aircraft industry, especially fighter assembly plants, engine factories, and ball-bearing manufacturers. It also developed a reputation for toughness based upon stories and photos of badly damaged B-17s safely returning to base. The only prototype XB-38 to fly crashed on its ninth flight, and the type was abandoned. Gift of Peggy Wallace, 2010.308.041, B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 398th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force, in-flight above cloud level in Europe, 1944-45. [10] The B-17's armament consisted of five .30 caliber (7.62mm) machine guns, with a payload up to 4,800lb (2,200kg) of bombs on two racks in the bomb bay behind the cockpit. M/SGT Michael Arooth shot down 17 enemy aircraft to reach triple "Ace" status. The 8th Air Force then targeted the ball-bearing factories in Schweinfurt, hoping to cripple the war effort there. Of the 291 B-17s in the attack force, 60 were lost, 17 were heavily damaged and most of the others incurred some damage, but were repairable. 2012-03-07 01:27:07. Tragically, the plane stalled and spun into the ground soon after takeoff, bursting into flames. Kelly's B-17C AAF S/N 40-2045 (19th BG / 30th BS) crashed about 6mi (10km) from Clark Field after he held the burning Fortress steady long enough for the surviving crew to bail out. "Smithsonian Panel Backs Transfer of Famed B-17 Bomber.". 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. Gift of Peggy Wallace, 2010.308.022, B-17 Flying Fortresses in formation over Europe, 1944-45. These turbo-superchargers were incorporated into the B-17B. [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. Three squadrons undertook Met profiles from airfields in Iceland, Scotland and England, gathering data for vital weather forecasting purposes. Leonard "Smitty" Smith Humiston, co-pilot on First Lieutenant Robert H. Richards' B-17C, AAF S/N 40-2049, reported that he thought the U.S. Navy was giving the flight a 21-gun salute to celebrate the arrival of the bombers, after which he realized that Pearl Harbor was under attack. The pilots flying the ME-109s and FW-190s were professionalsthe best in the world. All were Allison powered. ", "Chapter 18: Rouen-Sotteville, No. Meantime 60 B-17's were lost to all causes (including flak). [38] The aircraft was delivered to the army on 31 January 1939. [36], A 14th Y1B-17 (37-369), originally constructed for ground testing of the airframe's strength, was upgraded by Boeing with exhaust-driven General Electric turbo-superchargers, and designated Y1B-17A. They also desired, but did not require, a range of 2,000mi (3,200km) and a speed of 250mph (400km/h). 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. How many B-17s were shot down during the Second World War? It carried Swiss national white cross insignia in red squares on both sides of its rudder, fuselage sides, and on the topside and underside wings. The FEAF lost half its aircraft during the first strike,[117] and was all but destroyed over the next few days. The small force of B-17s operated against the Japanese invasion force until they were withdrawn to Darwin, in Australia's Northern Territory. The SB-17 served through the Korean War, remaining in service with USAF until the mid-1950s. [180], Many B-17 crew members received military honors and 17 received the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration awarded by the United States:[197], Data from The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft[38], Hollywood featured the B-17 in its period films, such as director Howard Hawks' Air Force starring John Garfield and Twelve O'Clock High starring Gregory Peck. ", "German wonder weapons: degraded production and effectiveness. Also on board were Wright Field test observer John Cutting, and mechanic Mark Koegler. These aircraft had landed with mechanical trouble during the shuttle bombing raids over Germany or had been damaged by a Luftwaffe raid in Poltava. [167], During the last year of World War II and shortly thereafter, the United States Navy (USN) acquired 48 ex-USAAF B-17s for patrol and air-sea rescue work. [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. John Keema of the 390th Bomb Group said, "No matter the target they were defending, they were balls to the wall. Nonetheless, this deed made him a celebrated war hero. B-17 pilot flew unexpectedly into the middle of Japanese attack on As the production line developed, Boeing engineers continued to improve upon the basic design. Other factors such as combat effectiveness and political issues also contributed to the B-17's success. [91], The USAAF began building up its air forces in Europe using B-17Es soon after entering the war. While the US Fifteenth Air Force also had B-17s, the most famous group to fly them during the war was the US Eighth Air Force based out of England. [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. Blast damage was caused over a radius of 5 miles (8.0km). The authors of a photo book about the planes and . 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. [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. In a USAAC competition, Boeing's prototype Model 299/XB-17 outperformed two other entries but crashed, losing the initial 200-bomber contract to the Douglas B-18 Bolo. At the same time, the German nightfighting ability noticeably improved to counter the nighttime strikes, challenging the conventional faith in the cover of darkness. These aircraft were painted dark blue, the standard Navy paint scheme which had been adopted in late 1944. The operation did not work as expected, with 90 Squadron's Fortresses being unopposed. Tora! 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. Mayday! When bombers crashed in Switzerland - SWI swissinfo.ch [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. How many b-17 bombers were shot down during World War 2? This was operated by German-speaking radio operators who were to identify and jam German ground controllers' broadcasts to their nightfighters. Trescott, Jacqueline. in 1970, and in Memphis Belle with Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, Billy Zane, and Harry Connick Jr. in 1990. Forty-five planes survive in complete form, 38 in the United States. Date: American aircraft struck targets in Schweinfurt and Regensburg on August 17, 1943. . O'Bannon was the US Navy's most decorated destroyer during World War II, earning 17 battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation. [7] The USAAF bombers attacked by day, with British operations chiefly against industrial cities by night. 223 Squadron, as part of 100 Group, operated a number of Fortresses equipped with an electronic warfare system known as "Airborne Cigar" (ABC). ", "Question How many bomber flight crews completed their 25 missions to go home?". Instead of building models based on experimental engineering, Boeing had been hard at work developing their bomber and now had versions ready for production far better than would have been possible otherwise. The Name How many B-17s were shot down? - Wise-Answer One B-17 broke up in the air, and its crew was forced to take to their parachutes. [30] One suggestion adopted was the use of a preflight checklist to avoid accidents such as that which befell the Model 299. info@nationalww2museum.org [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. This. 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. [50] The B-17C changed from three bulged, oval-shaped gun blisters to two flush, oval-shaped gun window openings, and on the lower fuselage, a single "bathtub" gun gondola housing,[51] which resembled the similarly configured and located Bodenlafette/"Bola" ventral defensive emplacement on the German Heinkel He 111P-series medium bomber. coast. Bomber wrecks were fewer but more expensive. The B-17F variants were the primary versions flying for the Eighth Air Force to face the Germans in 1943 and had standardized the manned Sperry ball turret for ventral defense, also replacing the earlier, 10-panel framed bombardier's nose glazing from the B subtype with an enlarged, nearly frameless Plexiglas bombardier's nose enclosure for improved forward vision. ", "Why Use Colourful Camouflage in World War 2? Losses were so heavy on the mission it became known as Black Thursday." The bombers were assumed either lost by various means or scrapped late in the war for their vital war materials. Four are airworthy. On landing, the aircraft overran the runway and ran into a ditch, where it was then strafed. Still, the Air Corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation, then introduced it into service in 1938. In October 1943 the Swiss interned Boeing B-17F-25-VE, tail number 25841, and its U.S. flight crew after the Flying Fortress developed engine trouble after a raid over Germany and was forced to land. [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. [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. [15], Boeing was quick to see the value of the name and had it trademarked for use. 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. How many B-17 were shot down over Germany? Browne, Robert W. "The Rugged Fortress: Life-Saving B-17 Remembered.". Many had dozens of aerial victories; some had over 100. The four-engine plane typically carried a crew of 10, several of whom. B-17 Flying Fortresses The B-17 Flying Fortress became a symbol of the power of the United States and its air force. The Americans believed the B-17, with the Norden bomb sight, could be that bomber. Launching Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortresses" and Consolidated B-24 "Liberators" from bases in England's eastern countryside, the Americans bombed their targets . This made a formation of bombers a dangerous target to engage by enemy fighters. [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. Study now. [citation needed], 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. This production rate was, however, surpassed by that of the, This is a commonly misreported error. [34][35] The 13th Y1B-17 was delivered to the Material Division at Wright Field, Ohio, to be used for flight testing. The two "E"s were used to develop B-17 air combat counter-tactics and also used as enemy aircraft in pilot and crew training films. Bigger WWII bombers like e.g. [20] The YB-17 incorporated a number of significant changes from the Model 299, including more powerful Wright R-1820-39 Cyclone engines. [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. On 3 March 1943, 13 B-17s flying at 7,000ft (2,000m) bombed the convoy, forcing the convoy to disperse and reducing the concentration of their anti-aircraft defenses. Given German Balkenkreuz national markings on their wings and fuselage sides, and "Hakenkreuz" swastika tail fin-flashes, the captured B-17s were used to determine the B-17's vulnerabilities and to train German interceptor pilots in attack tactics. [172] N809Z was used to perform a Skyhook pick up in the James Bond movie Thunderball in 1965. [92] 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. In 1957 the surviving B-17s had been stripped of all weapons and painted black. The plane was pulled out of front-line service and used as a transport plane and even drones. Gift of Peggy Wallace, 2010.308.034, B-17 Flying Fortress bomber dropping bombs on targets in Europe, 1944-45. In 1964, the latter film was made into a television show of the same name and ran for three years on ABC TV. Swiss aircraft attempted to intercept and force individual aircraft to land, interning their crews; one Swiss pilot was killed, shot down by a U.S. bomber crew in September 1944. [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. Losses were relatively low - below the 5% threshold that was the. As many as half a million civilians remained in Stalingrad when the Germans approached in the late summer of 1942. Tora! ", "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'. Operational History. [116] A series of disputed discussions and decisions, followed by several confusing and false reports of air attacks, delayed the authorization of the sortie. [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. [9] Requirements were for it to carry a "useful bombload" at an altitude of 10,000ft (3,000m) for 10 hours with a top speed of at least 200mph (320km/h).[10]. Frisbee, John L. "Valor: 'Valor at its Highest'". In contrast, of the nearly 1,100 Cobras delivered to the Army, 300 were lost. The Eighth Air Force vs. The Luftwaffe - The National WWII Museum 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. 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. Frisbee, John L. "Valor: First of the Few". AFA Statement on Loss of Historic B-17: Painful Reminder of the The Germans shot down 36 aircraft with the loss of 200 men, and coupled with a raid earlier in the day against Regensburg, a total of 60 B-17s were lost that day. The YB-40s with their numerous heavy modifications had trouble keeping up with the lighter bombers once they had dropped their bombs, so the project was abandoned and finally phased out in July 1943. Even though it was the Japanese who attacked the Americans at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the official policy of the United States and its allies was to defeat Germany first. At the Arcadia Conference, held in Washington, DC, from December 24, 1941 to January 14, 1942, the Western Allies agreed to a Germany First policy to govern global strategy, but the question where to engage Germany, and when, remained unsettled. [160][168] PB-1Ws continued in USN service until 1955, gradually being phased out in favor of the Lockheed WV-2 (known in the USAF as the EC-121, a designation adopted by the USN in 1962), a military version of the Lockheed 1049 Constellation commercial airliner. [173], The B-17, a versatile aircraft, served in dozens of USAAF units in theaters of combat throughout World WarII, and in other roles for the RAF. Those who survived the initial onslaught and did not manage to flee, had to eke out a living on a battleground ravaged by incessant bombardment and street fighting. 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. 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. 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. B-17 Flying Fortress - Top Facts About the WWII American Bomber And of those 276,000 planes, 68,000 were lost. It was code-named "Tachikawa 105" after the mystery aircraft's wingspan was measured (104-ft.) but never identified. The Americans, on the other hand, were proponents of daylight, precision bombing using their state-of-the-art and top-secret Norden bomb-sight.
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