[92], The U.S. did not offer B-17s to the Soviet Union as part of its war materiel assistance program, but at least 73 aircraft were acquired by the Soviet Air Force. The U.S. produced an amazing 276,000 aircraft during World War II, with 16 new B-17s per day rolling out of the factories per day by April 1944. [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]. The Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) in the European Theater was one of Americas bloodiest campaigns. Most of the escorts turned back or missed the rendezvous, and as a result, 60 B-17s were destroyed. It was code-named "Tachikawa 105" after the mystery aircraft's wingspan was measured (104-ft.) but never identified. How many helicopters were shot down in Vietnam? Frisbee, John L. "Valor: 'I Am the Captain of My Soul'". How many German fighters did the B17 and B24 shoot down during - Quora [122][124] Actual Japanese fighter losses for the day were seven destroyed and three damaged. Japanese activity forced them to divert from Hickam Field to Bellows Field. 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. ", "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 B-17 was a fourengine heavy bomber aircraft used by the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. These aircraft had landed with mechanical trouble during the shuttle bombing raids over Germany or had been damaged by a Luftwaffe raid in Poltava. Who manufactured the Norden bombsight? - TimesMojo [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. ", "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). [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. [91], The USAAF began building up its air forces in Europe using B-17Es soon after entering the war. But he wasn't a fighter pilot. [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. [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. [160][170], B-17s were used by the CIA front companies Civil Air Transport, Air America and Intermountain Aviation for special missions. 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. Four B-17s were shot down in these operations.[171]. 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.
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