The B-17 was the first truly modern heavy bomber and one
of the most recognized airplanes ever built. It was the
first four-engine bomber put into production for the Army
Air Corps but gained its greatest fame for daylight
strategic bombings over Europe. On August 20, 1935, the
prototype was flown to Wright Field for its official tests,
flying 2,100 miles nonstop in nine hours, but the prototype
crashed on October 30, when a gust lock was inadvertently
left on the elevators and the airplane went out of control
on takeoff. The first airplanes were delivered to the 2d
Bomb Group at Langley Field, Va., in 1937. In December 1941,
Maj. Truman H. Landon led a flight of unarmed B-17s to
reinforce Hawaii. The planes were nearly out of gas as they
landed at Wheeler Field in the middle of the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor. Subsequently, B-17 production ramped up
quickly, and the aircraft was used in great numbers in every
theater of the war. On January 27, 1943, Eighth Air Force
B-17 crews made the first American air raid on Germany. The
B-17G, the most produced version, featured additional guns
in an attempt to prevent some of the heavy losses that had
been inflicted on the earlier models. One of the more
unusual modifications was the conversion of at least 25
war-weary B-17s into BQ-7 Aphrodite radio-controlled
missiles, which were loaded with 12,000 lbs of high
explosives and used against the German U-boat pens. B-17s
were used by the Navy and the Army Air Forces for sea-air
rescue. While the B-17 was essential to winning the war, the
type was obsolete by 1945 and disappeared almost overnight,
although a few remained in service for several years.
| Contractors: |
Boeing Aircraft Co. |
| Douglas Aircraft Co. |
| Vega Aircraft Corp. |
| Locations Built: |
Seattle, Wash. |
| Long Beach, Calif. |
| Burbank, Calif. |
| Number Built: (USAF) |
12,731 (12,487) |
| First Flight: |
July 28, 1935 |
| First Flight Model: |
Company Model 299 |
| First Flight Location: |
Seattle, Wash. |
| First Flight Pilot: |
Leslie Tower and crew |
| Models/Variants: |
Y1B-17, B-17B, C, D, E, F, G, H. TB-17H (later redesignated SB-17G). QB-17L, N. DB-17G, P. YB-40. BQ-7. F-9A, B, C |
| Powerplant: |
Four Wright R-1820-97 Cyclone
nine-cylinder radials of 1,200 hp each with
exhaust-driven supercharger. |
| Wingspan: |
103 ft 9 in. |
| Length: |
74 ft 4 in. |
| Height: |
19 ft 1 in. |
| Weight: |
65,500 lb gross |
| Armament: |
13 .50-cal. machine guns (two each in chin, dorsal, ball, and tail turrets, two in nose, two waist positions, and one in radio
operator's position) and 6,000 lb of bombs internally. |
| Accommodation: |
Crew of 10 (pilot, copilot, bombardier, navigator, radio operator, and five gunners) |
| Cost: |
$238,329 |
| Max. Speed: |
287 mph |
| Range: |
2,000 mi. |
| Ceiling: |
35,600 ft. |
|
