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Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
26 Sep 2010 21:11 #12
by Chris Lowe
English Civil War Re-enactor with the Sealed Knot.
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!
Replied by Chris Lowe on topic Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
Thats certainly an unusual bomb load can Peter explain how they fuzed them:lol: 
English Civil War Re-enactor with the Sealed Knot.
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!
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12 Feb 2011 02:22 #13
by TommyUSA
.
Follow my World War II daily tweets at twitter.com/Sept1939
Replied by TommyUSA on topic Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
It's Friday night and I've nothing to do but bore you all to tears with the results of my basic research on the early development of the B-17 bomber...
On the 8th of August 1934 the US Army Air Corps issued a circular proposal that called for a bomber with a maximum speed of 250 mph (402 km/h), it must operate at 10,000 feet (3,048 m) and have a range of 2,000 miles (3,218 km). Designs would be company-funded and submitted for testing within the year. The winner would get a production run of 220 aircraft. On the brink of bankruptcy, the Boeing Aircraft Company took the challenge. In a bold move, Boeing under the visionary leadership of Edward C. Wells committed most of its capital and manpower to the project they called model 299.
Later that month Boeing began building a radical all metal four engined aircraft. The plane would be fitted with an array of machine guns and an internal weapons bay. It was a bold design that far exceeded the requirements of the proposal.
On the 28th of July 1935, just eleven months after the competition had started, Boeing's model 299 rolled out of the company's factory in Seattle, thus becoming the US military's first all metal four engined bomber. Richard Williams, a reporter for the Seattle Times coined the name "Flying Fortress" when the Model 299 was rolled out, bristling with multiple machine gun installations.
www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/shared/media/p...0706-F-1234S-003.jpg
Boeing's legendary aircraft was born, but the all important contract was still to be won. Alongside Boeing's offering the Army Air Corps also evaluated two rival twin-engined designs, Martins B-12 and Douglas's DB-1.
The ship was flown from Seattle, Washington to Dayton, Ohio and set endurance and speed records along the way. On the morning of the 30th of October during evaluation at Wright Field, Ohio (now site of the National Museum of the Air Force) the Boeing prototype bomber took off on its second test flight with an Army test pilot and a Boeing employee onboard. It entered a steep climb, nosed over and crashed, killing the crew.
www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/shared/media/p...0710-F-1234S-001.jpg
In the distance in the following photograph are the houses and buildings along Springfield Street in Dayton, Ohio, now directly across the street from the USAF Museum:
www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/shared/media/p...0710-F-1234S-002.jpg
Although the cause of the Model 299 crash was determined to be pilot error (the pilot took off with the elevator gust lock still engaged), the Army cancelled its order for 65 YB-17s and instead ordered 133 of the Douglas twin-engine B-18 "Bolo".
www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/shared/media/p...1128-F-1234S-021.jpg
Through some fancy paperwork and government funding, in 1936 the Army ordered 13 Y1B-17s - the next variant. At the testing site of Langley Field in Virginia, it was suggested that the use of a pre-flight checklist be used to avoid such situations that downed the earlier model.
Having found the B-18 to be deficient in nearly every facet needed for long-range bombing (range, speed, bomb load, defensive armor and armament), the Army soon phased it out. Only 350 were built and the phase-out was materially assisted when numerous B-18s were destroyed by the Japanese on the ground at Pearl Harbor and in the Phillippines at the outset (for the US) of World War II. The Army soon began ordering huge numbers of what it called the B-17 Heavy Bomber.
==========
I'd like to add that large chunks of the above text were lifted wholesale from various websites... Plagiarism is ok when you admit it up front, right?
Tommy
On the 8th of August 1934 the US Army Air Corps issued a circular proposal that called for a bomber with a maximum speed of 250 mph (402 km/h), it must operate at 10,000 feet (3,048 m) and have a range of 2,000 miles (3,218 km). Designs would be company-funded and submitted for testing within the year. The winner would get a production run of 220 aircraft. On the brink of bankruptcy, the Boeing Aircraft Company took the challenge. In a bold move, Boeing under the visionary leadership of Edward C. Wells committed most of its capital and manpower to the project they called model 299.
Later that month Boeing began building a radical all metal four engined aircraft. The plane would be fitted with an array of machine guns and an internal weapons bay. It was a bold design that far exceeded the requirements of the proposal.
On the 28th of July 1935, just eleven months after the competition had started, Boeing's model 299 rolled out of the company's factory in Seattle, thus becoming the US military's first all metal four engined bomber. Richard Williams, a reporter for the Seattle Times coined the name "Flying Fortress" when the Model 299 was rolled out, bristling with multiple machine gun installations.
www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/shared/media/p...0706-F-1234S-003.jpg
Boeing's legendary aircraft was born, but the all important contract was still to be won. Alongside Boeing's offering the Army Air Corps also evaluated two rival twin-engined designs, Martins B-12 and Douglas's DB-1.
The ship was flown from Seattle, Washington to Dayton, Ohio and set endurance and speed records along the way. On the morning of the 30th of October during evaluation at Wright Field, Ohio (now site of the National Museum of the Air Force) the Boeing prototype bomber took off on its second test flight with an Army test pilot and a Boeing employee onboard. It entered a steep climb, nosed over and crashed, killing the crew.
www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/shared/media/p...0710-F-1234S-001.jpg
In the distance in the following photograph are the houses and buildings along Springfield Street in Dayton, Ohio, now directly across the street from the USAF Museum:
www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/shared/media/p...0710-F-1234S-002.jpg
Although the cause of the Model 299 crash was determined to be pilot error (the pilot took off with the elevator gust lock still engaged), the Army cancelled its order for 65 YB-17s and instead ordered 133 of the Douglas twin-engine B-18 "Bolo".
www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/shared/media/p...1128-F-1234S-021.jpg
Through some fancy paperwork and government funding, in 1936 the Army ordered 13 Y1B-17s - the next variant. At the testing site of Langley Field in Virginia, it was suggested that the use of a pre-flight checklist be used to avoid such situations that downed the earlier model.
Having found the B-18 to be deficient in nearly every facet needed for long-range bombing (range, speed, bomb load, defensive armor and armament), the Army soon phased it out. Only 350 were built and the phase-out was materially assisted when numerous B-18s were destroyed by the Japanese on the ground at Pearl Harbor and in the Phillippines at the outset (for the US) of World War II. The Army soon began ordering huge numbers of what it called the B-17 Heavy Bomber.
==========
I'd like to add that large chunks of the above text were lifted wholesale from various websites... Plagiarism is ok when you admit it up front, right?
Tommy
.
Follow my World War II daily tweets at twitter.com/Sept1939
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12 Feb 2011 11:28 #16
by airfields man
The Dead got memorials, The living got time.
Replied by airfields man on topic Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
Very interesting Tommy, never knew there was a B 18 ? Glad that it never got off the ground, so to speak 
doesn't sound right, B 17 sounds far better. Of the two American bombers [Heavy] the B 17 is my favorite, though i'm sure it was really intended to be a Medium Bomber??
doesn't sound right, B 17 sounds far better. Of the two American bombers [Heavy] the B 17 is my favorite, though i'm sure it was really intended to be a Medium Bomber?? The Dead got memorials, The living got time.
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