Crowood Aviation Series - Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.pdf - Crowood Aviation Series - KILLSNAPZ420

Boeing

B-17 Flying Fortress

Boeing B-11

FlYING FORTRESS

Martin W. Bowman

IJ~CI

The Crowood Press

Contents

Acknowledgements

First published in 199

The rowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wilt hire

2HR

rthur Lange; William T. Larkins; Geoff

Lile ; J rry Linderman; Lockheed-Califor-

nia; Ron Ma kay; Ped G. Magness; Ed Mal-

oney; rmand Miale; Arvin 'Mac'

Mc auley; Bri n . McGuire; Ian McLach-

lan; Gu M 11. ow; Ri hard C Muchl r;

Mu ee de I' ir; harles M. ekvasil; Mike

O'Leary; Roy W. wen AF retd; Murray

Peden Q , R AF retd; Milo Peltzer; Tony

Plowright; Lt 01 John A Plummer USAF

retd; u Reilly; Connie and Gordon

Richards; Elly allingboe, B-17 Pre erva-

tion Ltd; Jerry . cutts; Bill omers; Derek

Smith; Hans Heiri tapfer; George teb-

bings; Phil weeney; Frank Thomas; R.

Thomas; Thorpe Abbotts Memorial Mu c-

um; Paul Tibbets; Walt r A Truax; Geoff

Ward; Brig Gen Robert W. Waltz; Gordon

W. Weir; Angela Westphal; Truett L.

Woodall Jr.; Richard Wynn; Larry D. Yan-

notti; am Young.

umerous r ferenc books on B-l7s have

been published, and space doe not permit

listing them all, but I would like to pay

homage in particular to the leading refer-

ence works on B-17s by the 'B-17 Grandad-

dy' of them all, Peter ~. Bowers. Last, but by

no mean lea t, I would like to thank the

dedicated staff of th 2nd Air Division

Memorial Library in Norwich: Derek

Hills, Trust Librarian; Linda J. Berub,

American Fulbright librarian; Lesley Fleet-

wood, and hristine Snowden; all of whom

were most helpful and who provided much

willing a si tance with re earch.

I would particularly like to thank the fol-

lowing people for all their help and exper-

tise in helping make this book possible:

teve Adams; R.V. 'Bob' Bailey, 4 3rd

Bomb Group (H) Assoc.; Mike Bailey; B-17

combat crewmen and wingmen; Richard E.

Bagg; Bernice 'Bernie' . Barr, 99th Bomb

Group (H) Assoc.; Gp apt Antony J. Bar-

wood OBE, RAF retd; Joseph F. Baugher;

AD. Beaty; DK Black; Gp apt Roy Boast

CBE, DFC, RAF retd; Boeing Aircraft Ltd;

Theo Boiten; Les Bostock; Patrick Bunce;

City of Norwich Aviation/100 Group

Museum; William M. Cleveland; Alfred B.

Cohen; Collings Foundation; Mrs Diane L.

Cook; Howard K. Corns; qn Ldr Bob

Davies AFC, RAF retd; Colin Deverell;

Graham Dinsdale; Bill Donald; Jack P.

DOlfman; Dougla Aircraft Ltd; andy Ellis;

Erwin H. Eckert, 301 t Bomb Group

Assoc.; Kenneth W. Fields; John Wallace

Field; Reuben 'Rub' Fier; Thomas J. Fit-

ton; Norman L.R. Frank; CE. 'Ben'

Franklin; Jim French; Harry Friedman MD;

Robert M. Foo e; Capt Al D. Garcia,

AF; J.J-v. Glazebrook; Lt Col Harry D.

Gobrecht; Larry Goldstein; Andrew

Height; Gerhard Heilig; J.A. Hey; Jules

Horowitz, USAF retd; Col E.C 'Ned'

Humphreys; Col Raymond F. Hunter; Air

dr Tom Imrie; Philip Jarrett; Mick Jen-

nings; Mike John; Fred A Johnsen;

Richard R. 'Dick' Johnson; Antonio Claret

Jordao,

BRAVE NEW WORLD

Design and Development of the Model 299

lanin W. Bowman 199

SWIITLY THEY STRIKE

The Pioneers of 90 Squadron RAF

be reproduced or transmined in any form or by any

means, electronic or mechanical, including

photocopy, recording, or any information storage

and rcuicval system, without permission in writing

from the publishers.

ON WINGS WE CONQUER

War in the South~West Pacific, 1942-1943

THE CACTUS AIR FORCE

War in th

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from

the Britisb Library.

South Pacific, 1942-1943

THE BIG LEAGUE

European Theatre of Operations 1942-0ctober 1943

1 86126 170 5

Ph()[ogmph prevIous page: B-17E 41-2633 Sally, its

bomb-bay doors open, and three other Es of the 19th

Bomh Group, prepare to bomb the Japanese airfield

at Lle, cw umea. The B-17E below Sail's rail is

41-2461, piloted by Lt Bernice 'Bernie' Barr, who

had taken over the crew from Major Conrad F.

ecrason when the laner had been ordered to India

for funher dury. 41-2633 is fined with the perry

ball turret whose gunner controlled the movement of

the two machine guns by hand and foot pedals while

sighting with hi eye. The gunner could enter the

turret from inside the aircraft by having the ball tur-

ret rotated until the door opening faced the interior

of the plane, but ,ince this requircd thc turrct to bc

positioned so that the guns were pointed downwards,

this meant that he could nor enter it from inside

while the B-17 was on the ground.

MEDITERRANEAN MISSIONS

15th Air Force Operations, Italy, October 1943-May 1945

'HIGHER, STRONGER, FA TER'

Round~the~Clock Bombing, ETO, October 1943-Summer 1944

107

AN 'ABUNDANCE OF STRENGTH'

8th Air Force Operations, August 1944-May 1945

127

TO OBSERVE UNSEEN

RAF Coastal Command and 100 Group (Bomb r Support)

147

155

POST~WAR POSTSCRIPT

Museu

Aerospacial;

Michael

USA F

Kellner;

Joe

Kenney;

Jack

Krause;

179

Appendix I

Equipment Diagrams

183

Appendix II

USAAF B~ 17 Medal of Honor Recipients 1942-44

184

Appendix III

Surviving B~ 17 Flying Fortresses Around the World

186

Appendix IV B~ 17 Serials

Glos ary

Typefaces used: Goudy (texr),

Cheltenham (headings)

190

Index

Typescr and designed by

D & N Publishing

Membury Busincs Park, Lambourn Woodlands

Hungerford, Berkshire.

Printed and bound by Butler & Tanner, Frome.

CHAPTER ONE

Brave New World

Design and Development of the Model 299

During the isolationist period between the

two world wars America had relied on a

small, peacetime organization that would

be capable of rapid expan ion in war. For

several year the striking force based in the

USA therefore con isted of just three

groups: the 1st Pur uit, the 2nd Bombard-

ment and the 3rd Attack. There was also

one observation group, and there was one

ob ervation squadron for each of the Army

corps, with three composite groups over-

seas - the 4th in the Philippine, the 5th

in Hawaii and the 6th in Panama.

The Air Corps had been created by the

A i I' Corps Act of 2 Jul y 1926, and the com-

position, organization and command of the

combat elements of the Air Corps through-

out the 1920s and early 1930s were mainly

restricted to observation duties. Bombard-

ment aviation had but a minor role, with

the mission of destroying military objec-

tives in the combat theatre and in the

enemy's :one of interior. In addition, it

placed aviation under the command of

ground officers at division, corps, army and

GHQ levels. Within the air arm there was

conflict between air and ground officer

over

In 192] the Army, led by Mitchell, set

out to prove the Navy admiral wrong

when they said that a bomber could not

sink a battleship. Mitchell had wanted to

bomb one of Germany' large t World War

] battleship, the Osrfriesland, at anchor off

the ape of Virginia after the surrender. It

had widely been proclaimed as unsinkable,

but on 21 July 1921 Mitchell's eight Mar-

tin MB-2 Bombers dropped seven bombs

and capsi:ed and sank her, and two other

warships. It was a milestone in U Army

aviation history. The feat was repeated in

1923 when two obsolete US ba ttlesh ips

suffered the same fate.

Following the loss of the Navy dirigible

Shenandoah in 1925, Mitchell publicly

accu ed the high command of the Army

and the Navy of being guilty of 'incompe-

tency, criminal negligence and almost

treasonable administration of the national

defense.' In Decem bel' 1925 M itcheII was

court-martialled, found guilty, and sus-

pended from the Air ervice for five years.

He resigned his commission in 1926. (Ten

years after his death from a heart attack in

1936, Mitchell was posthumously awarded

the Medal of Honor.)

During 1927-1932 only eight new avia-

tion groups - five of them pursuit, one

ob ervation, and two bombardment (the

7th and the 19th) - were activated, bring-

ing the number of bombardment

squadrons to twelve. Even 0, by the end of

1932 thirt n of the forty-five quadron

in service were observation. The standard

bombers from 1928 to 1932 were the Key-

stone series and the Curtiss B-2 ondor;

however, the Keystone could only manage

speeds of just over 100mph (l60kmjh),

and the Condor's performance was less.

n 1 March 1935 the War Department

established General Headquarter Air

Force (GHQAF) to serve as an air defence

and striking force, and significantly, all of

the attack and pursuit, and five bombard-

ment units in the US became part of the

new combat force, organized into three

wings. In 1935 the change in designation

of th 9th Group from observation to bom-

bardment, and the inactivation of the

12th Ob ervation Group in 1937, finally

ignalled the decline in observation and

the growth of bombardment aviation.

In the 1930s it was accepted that a for-

mation of unescorted bombers could get

through to their target if they were properly

arranged and adequately armed. During air

manoeuvres in 1933, pursuits repeatedly

failed to intercept the bombers and there

was even talk of eliminating pursuits alto-

gether. From 1931 onwards a largely strate-

gic bombing doctrin was adopted at the

Army Air Corps Tactical chool at laxwell

Field, Alabama, mainly through th in tiga-

tion of its chief, aptain (later Major)

Harold L. George, and a small, influ ntial

group of officers, including Major Donald

Wilson, 1st Lt Kenneth L. Walker, and 2nd

Lt Haywood . 'Possum' Hansell J r. They

believed that air power - that i , long-range

bombers, properly equipp d, with defen ive

fire-power, and organiz d into ma sed for-

mation - could directly affect the outcome

of future wars by penetrating an enemy'

defen e and de troying his industrial infra-

structure, and th refore hi will to exist.

These beliefs, which were taught to stu-

dents, became the unofficial doctrin fair

power, and as the 1940s beckoned, th y

would be put into practice in World War II.

the

compo ition,

organi:ation

and

command of military aviation.

General Bi lIy Mitchell and other Ai I' Ser-

vi e officers wanted aviation units organized

as an air force under the command of air-

men. However, it was not until I March

1935 when the War Department established

General Headquarters Air Force (GHQAF)

to serve a 8n 8ir defence 8nd striking force,

th8t an air officer was at last appointed to

command: Brig Gen Frank M. Andrews was

given this post, while Brig Gen 0 car West-

over became chi f of the Air Corps on 24

December that same year. They also knew

that observation aviation was no longer as

important as more pursuit units. Above all,

they wanted to increase the number ofbom-

bardment groups: bombardment they felt

was now the major instrument of walfare,

and deserved priority above all else.

The Emergence of Boeing

Where would the new bomb I' come

from. Funds for new aircraft were v ry lim-

ited and mostly it was manufacturer who

funded new development which in turn

might attract orders from the Army. The

early fame of the Boeing Airplane Compa-

nyof eattle, Washington, wa earned as a

result of its position as the leading Ameri-

can supplier of single-seat fighter aircraft

Magnificent study of a 96th BG, 8th AF, B-17G.

Crowood Aviation Series - Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.pdf

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