The most famous bomber of the United States dating from the Second World War
Where the British Lancaster’s bombed Germany by night, the Americans invaded German airspace during the day on there bomb raids to Berlin and other targets.
Here are the facts of this amazing bomber of the 1940’s
All pictures courtesy of Zijde Aviation Photo and Publishing, Marcel van Leeuwen and Rob Vogelaar.
| Developing Nation: | United States of America |
| Manufacturer/designer: | Boeing |
| Task: | Heavy Bomber |
| First Flight: | July 28th 1935 (Model 299) |
| First Delivery: | March 1941 |
| First Mission: | April 1941, RAF B-17’s. At this time the first B-17’s were outclassed by British and German bombers. Modifications were made (B-17E, B-17F) and eventually the B-17G was the most built version. |
| Crew: | 10.1x pilot, 1x copilot, 1x Bombardier, 1x Navigator, 1x flight Engineer, 1x Radio operator, 1x Ball Turret gunner, 2x Waist gunner, 1x Tail gunner. |
| Wing Span: | 31,62 M1 |
| Wing Area: | 131,92 M2 |
| Length: | 22,78 M1 |
| Height: | 5,82 M1 |
| Engine (s): | 4x Wright Cyclone R-1820-97 radial piston engines (1200 bHp) |
| Weight empty: | 13488 Kg. |
| Max. Take off weight: | 29737 Kg. |
| Max. Speed: | 462 Kph. |
| Cruise Speed: | 245 Kph. |
| Max. Range: | 3220 Km. |
| Service ceiling: | 10920 M. |
| Rate of climb: | 427 Meters/minute |
| Weapons: | 13x Browning .50 caliber machine gun (12,7 mm) |
| Extra: |
| B-17 Short Fact’s | |
| Totally built: | Boeing:? 4035Douglas: 2395Lockheed Vega: 2250 |
| Total operational sorties: | 294875 |
| Total bombs dropped: | 650000 tons |
| B-17’s lost in action: | 4483 (861 accidents) |
| Surviving: | 1 out of every 5 B-17 aircrew survived without injury. |
| B-17’s in present time: | There are about 44 airframes worldwide, 12/13 of them are air worthy. (may 2007) |
| B-17’s served for these nations in the military: | Brazil Canada Colombia Denmark Dominican Republic France Nazi Germany Israel Japan Nicaragua Peru Portugal Soviet Union United Kingdom United States |
| B-17’s served for these nations in civilian aviation: | Argentina Bolivia Canada Colombia Denmark France Iran Mexico Nicaragua Peru South Africa Sweden United Kingdom United States |
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