The Flying Fortress

The Boeing B-17 was first introduced in 1941 after the army requested for a large multy engined bomber. It was a low-wing monoplane armed with bombs and five .30-caliber machine guns. The B-17 was the first Boeing military aircraft with a flight deck instead of an open cockpit. With every improver model of the B-17, like the B-17E and the B-17G, they grew more and more deadly. The B-17E had nine machine guns and carried a 4000 pound bomb load. The B-17G was the best of the three models. It had an improved tail that was bigger, allowing for a smoother more satble flight at high altitudes. It also had 11 to 13 machine guns and carried a 9600 pound bomb pay-load. Over 1200 B-17's were made nation-wide.

The B-17 was known as the Flying Fortress because of its legendary reputation of being able to take a beating but still make it home. In June 1942 when US carrier aircraft (with assistance from US submarines) inflicted a crushing defeat on the Japanese Navy in the Battle of Midway by B-17s. Headlines in the US read "Army Fliers Blasted Two Fleets off Midway." This was greatly resented in the Navy because they did not even hit one ship, but this mythical account of the Midway battle persisted until the end of the war.

I think that the B-17 was a remarkable aircraft for its time. It was the most powerful and packed more heat than any other bomber in its time; and on top of all that it was the toughest as well. It became known as the Flying Fortress because it could take a lick'n but keep on kick'n.