Boeing Flying Fortress

Heavy bomber · Boeing · United States

Boeing Flying Fortress
ⓘ licence & creditAirwolfhound / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:B17_-_Chino_Airshow_2014_(framed).jpg
Typical crew10
Engines4 × Wright Cyclone
First flight1935
Number built12,731

Photographs

Midland CAF Airsho 1997 Photographed analog with a Canon AE-1 Program on Kodak Gold film and digitized on Kodak Photo CD in the 90s. I posted the pictures from the CAF Airsho in Midland, Texas 1997 already some years ago. But the conversion from Kodak Photo CD to JPEG was not good. So here they are again in much better quality.
ⓘ licence & creditThomas Vogt from Paderborn, Deutschland / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:B-17_Flying_Fortress_-_Flickr_-_Triple-green.jpgView source & full licence →
A B-17 air tanker dropping retardant on a fire c. 1960
ⓘ licence & creditU.S. Forest Service / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:B-17_fire_retardant_drop.JPGView source & full licence →
There are no known copyright restrictions on this image. All future uses of this photo should include the courtesy line, "Photo courtesy Orange County Archives." Comments are welcome after reading our Comment Policy. Acc#2003.7
ⓘ licence & creditOrange County Archives from Orange County, California, United States of America / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:B-17_bomber,_biplanes,_and_other_aircraft_at_Orange_County_Airport,_circa_1950s_-_Flickr_-_Orange_County_Archives.jpgView source & full licence →
Automatic Radio Direction Finder R-5/ARN7 radio control box on a B-17G, operating 100-1750 kc
ⓘ licence & creditPi3.124 / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Automatic_Radio_Direction_Finder_R-5_ARN7_radio_control_box.jpgView source & full licence →
Working on the Trans Arabian Pipeline
ⓘ licence & creditJohn Makkinje, Brett Langevat, Daifallah Annah and Dalfaallah Annah / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aerial_Survey_aircraft_at_Qaisumah_1956_by_John_Makkinje_Brett_Langevat_Daifallah_Annah_Dalfaallah_Annah_5791067689.jpgView source & full licence →
.....
ⓘ licence & creditCC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_B-17_tail.jpgView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Army Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:43d_bomb_group_b-17s_New_Guinea_1942.jpgView source & full licence →
North American P-51 Mustang Under The Tail Of A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Brest, France. (U.S. Air Force Number 61317AC)
ⓘ licence & creditAnonymousUnknown author / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:342-FH_000856.jpgView source & full licence →
19th Bombardment Group B-17 parked in a camouflaged blister hangar probably at Batchelor Field in the Northern Territory, Australia, in early 1942. At the time, Japanese bombers were attacking the Darwin Area and the camouflage was necessary to prevent the bombers from being sighted by Japanese reconnaissance planes.
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Army Air Corps / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:19th_Bomb_Group_B-17_Australia_1942.jpgView source & full licence →
Crewman filling chemical tanks in a B-17 prior to take-off for spruce budworm operation. Bitterroot National Forest, Montana. Photo by: W.E. Steuerwald Date: July 1955 Credit: National Archives and Records Administration RG# 95-GP Records of the Forest Service General Subject Files USDA Forest Service Negative Number: 481700 NARA image: 95-GP-5040-Box0854_022_001_AC For related historic forest entomology photos, stories, and resources see the Western Forest Insect Work Conference site: wfiwc.org/content/history-and-resources Image provided by USDA Forest Service, R6, State and Private Forestry, Forest Health Protection: www.fs.usda.gov/main/r6/forest-grasslandhealth/ .
ⓘ licence & creditR6, State & Private Forestry, Forest Health Protection / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1955._Crewman_fills_chemical_tank_on_B-17._Spruce_budworm_control_project._Bitterroot_National_Forest,_Montana._(33175065670).jpgView source & full licence →
First 97th BG B-17’s to arrive at their assigned RAF base in England on July 6, 1942.
ⓘ licence & creditRFlackAttack / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1942-07-06_First_97th_BG_B-17s_to_Arrive_at_their_Assigned_RAF_Base_in_England_LS_View.jpgView source & full licence →
The only 105mm M3A1 howitzer used in the Battle for Buna-Gona is unloaded through the bomb bay doors of the Boeing B17 Flying Fortress used to transport it New Guinea from Australia. The aircraft also brought spare parts, a tractor and ammunition and the gun crew.
ⓘ licence & creditClifford Bottomley / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:105mm_howitzer_unloaded_near_Buna-Gona_front.jpgView source & full licence →
Map of military operators of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
ⓘ licence & creditJoshbaumgartner / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:World_operators_of_the_B-17.pngView source & full licence →
Civilian operators of the B-17
ⓘ licence & creditJoshbaumgartner / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Civil_operators_of_the_B-17.pngView source & full licence →
{{en|1=Marks and letters on the tails of bombers Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress in Europe in 1943-1945. Letters may be black on white background or white on black background {{cite book
ⓘ licence & creditTangopaso / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marks_and_letters_on_the_tails_of_B-17_during_WWII_in_Europe.jpgView source & full licence →

About

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is best known as the mainstay of the United States Army Air Forces’ daylight bombing of Germany, but it also served in RAF colours. Britain received early B-17C models in 1941 as the Fortress I and tried them on high-altitude daylight raids over Europe; the experiment went badly, exposing the type’s defensive weaknesses in that role before the later, better-armed marks the Americans flew.

The RAF’s lasting use of the Fortress was at sea. Transferred to Coastal Command, the Fortress II and IIA flew long-range anti-submarine patrols over the Atlantic, and in October 1942 a Fortress of No. 206 Squadron sank U-627 — the first of eleven U-boat kills credited to RAF Fortresses. As Consolidated Liberators took over the patrol role, the Fortress moved to meteorological reconnaissance, flying weather sorties from Iceland, Scotland and England.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress in RAF service — historyofwar.org and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress — Wikipedia. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.