Air Enthusiast 1998-11
K.Wixey - Boeing's Battle Wagon
Another posed crew-ready-and-willing shot. The backdrop is B-17G-70-BO 43-37704 of the 381st BG, 535th BS, Ridgewell. Issued to Ridgewell in June 1994, it was abandoned near Caen, France, on August 8 that year.
Top.Wonderfully atmospheric shot, but at the wrong time of the day for most B-17 operations. B-17G ‘Sally B’ escorts the soon-to-be RAF Museum B-17G-95-DL 44-83868 (N5237V) on its last flight prior to dismantling and removing by road to Hendon, October 1983.
B-17G-110-VE 44-85829 (N3193G) Yankee Lady of the Yankee Air Force. One of the last B-17s built, caught on a recent sortie by Duncan Cubitt.
B-17G-110-VE 44-85829 (N3193G) ‘Yankee Lady’ of the Yankee Air Force. One of the last B-17s built, she was issued to the US Coast Guard in December 1946, becoming a PB-1G.
Самолеты B-17G 381-й бомбардировочной группы. Камуфляжная окраска постепенно исчезла с "Крепостей" 8-й Воздушной армии, начиная с января 1944 года.
B-17Gs form up over English countryside, ready for another raid deep into the Reich - archetypal Flying Fortress imagery. ‘Triangle L’ designates the 381st BG which was based at Ridgewell. Nearest the camera is B-17G-35-DL 42-106994 ‘VE-K’ of the 532nd BS.
Master Sergeant Penrose Bingham under the nose of B-17F ‘Idiot’s Delight’. There are 50 mission tallies and at least 14 fighter ‘kills’ marked up.
A familiar US airshow performer, vividly exhibiting a rewarding use for that abundant nose Plexiglas! ‘Texas Raiders’, B-17G-95-DL 44-83872 (N7227C) of the Confederate Air Force.
Many B-17s ended their days as air tankers. ‘Tanker Bravo-10’ TB-17G N66573 with Black Hills Aviation at Spearfish, South Dakota, in the early 1960s. Built as B-17G-55-BO 44-102715 and demobbed in 1952, the Fortress was used first for air survey work and then as an air tanker. ‘Tanker Bravo-10’ came to grief while fighting a forest fire in Montana, July 1979.
‘Texas Raiders’ in her ‘pure’ civilian days as an air survey platform with Aero Service Corporation, based at Philadelphia. The aircraft operated with a variety of aerials and probes, but in this view is very ‘clean’.
Bomb doors open, B-17G-105-VE 44-85718 (N900RW) ‘Thunderbird’ taxying at Oshkosh. This late-built machine joined the French civilian geophysical survey organisation IGN in mid-1948 and was retired in the late 1970s, going into the ‘warbird’ world in 1984.
Posed news release photograph of the crew of B-17F-27-BO 41-24619 'Hi Doc!' (with Bugs Bunny cartoon) at Molesworth, dated November 6, 1942.
Interesting view of two B-17Gs prior to, or during delivery. The rear aircraft is a Fortress III for the RAF with the serial HB779 conveniently on view between the main gear of the USAAF example in the foreground! HB779 served with the Royal Aircraft Establishment and then went on to 214 Squadron at Oulton.
Staff transport version of the B-17G, VB-17G 44-83798 of USAF HQ, FEALF, at USAF Itazuke AFB, Japan, 1952-53.
Fortress IIA FK185 in February 1944 with a remotely-controlled Bristol B.16 nose turret and ‘chin’ installation. The gun is a 40mm Vickers ‘S’ for anti-submarine duties.
The ill-fated XB-38 prototype 41-2401, a B-17E re-engined with four Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled engines.
BOEING XC-108 (41-2953) photographed 29th November 1943. On nose is "Bataan". Note rear windows. One only V.I.P. (B-17E) rework.
B-17E 41-2593 was modified to become the personal transport of General Douglas MacArthur, becoming the XC-108.
The revised B-17E (Model 2990) introduced the well-known dorsal fin and wider span tailplane. B-17E 41-2393 on test from Seattle.
US Navy PB-1W BuNo 77237 ‘XD-I’, originally USAAF B-17G 44-83874 was one of 40 transferred to the Navy. Note ventral radome containing APS-20 search radar.
The cockpit of the UK’s airworthy Flying Fortress, B-17G-105-VE 44-85784 (G-BEDF) ‘Sally B’.
Boeing B-17E with (lower side view) B-17F.
Boeing Y1B-17, 2nd BG, 20th BS, Langley Field, Virginia, 1938. Squadron commander’s aircraft, with white-painted engine intakes and black rear fuselage striping.
Fortress I AN530 ‘WP-F’ of 90 Squadron, Polebrook, summer 1941
One of two B-17Bs detached to Ladd Field, Alaska, in 1941 for cold weather trials with high visibility orange areas on tail, wingtips and engine nacelles.
Fortress I AN537 ‘NR-L’ of 220 Squadron, Nutt’s Corner, Northern Ireland.
B-17C of the 2nd BG, late 1941.
Formation of six 2nd BG Y1B-17s over New York.
Первым серийным вариантом стал B-17B - головную машину передали USAAC уже 29 июля 1939 года. По результатам эксплуатационных испытаний в конструкцию самолета были внесены многочисленные изменения, включая переделку носовой части фюзеляжа, перенос рабочего места бомбардира, изменение остекления и пр.
Early production B-17B taking off from Seattle in 1939 with revised glazing to nose and other important modifications.
The updated B-17C with revised defensive armament and gun positions, protective armour and R-1820-65s. Note the flush gun positions and wing leading edge de-icing boots.
Boeing Model 299, the so-called ‘XB-17’, X-13372 on a test flight from Seattle, summer 1935.
Forward and upper views, B-17C. Side views, top to bottom: B-17B, B-17C, B-17D.
Fortress I AN530 ‘WP-F’ of 90 Squadron, Polebrook, summer 1941
Boeing Model 299 and (lower side view) Y1B-17.
B-17C of the 2nd BG, late 1941.