The B-17 was used in every theater of operations but the B-24 was the best in the Pacific Theater due to its longer range. It had the best engine in the R-1830 but the R-1820 on the Boeing was probably one of the best out of the Wright Corp. Both could take a lot of abuse. I was amazed on my first B-24 flight to see how " rubbery" the airplane was compared to the rigid ride of the B-17. Everything moved and flexed on a B-24...vertical tails bouncing around and the wing bending up in flight, fuselage skin wrinkling. It was quite a change. Nothing wiggled much on a B-17.
WW II American Bombers in general wide use, official name, unofficial epithet(s) B-18 Bolo B-24 Liberator B-25 Mitchell B-17 Flying Fortress B-29 Superfortress B-26 Maurauder, @#$%^&* [One a Day in Tampa Bay] SB2U Vindicator, "Windicator" TBD Devastator TBF, TBM Avenger, Turkey SBD Dauntless, Slow but Deadly, The Clunk, The Barge, Speedy 3 SB2C Helldiver, Big Tailed Beast, The Beast, Son-of-a-***** Second Class
Russ, you bring back memories again. C-47...Gooney Bird B-24...Whistling Sh*&@$%....House B-26...Baltimore Whore or Flying Prostitute....(No Visible means of support) During the war before I went in I could see an airshow every day where I lived on the beach of Siesta Key. We were surrounded by airbases in every direction. Sarasota ended up with P-51's after having P-39's and P-40's. MacDill had B-17's, and Drew had B-26's ( One a Day in Tampa Bay). Then south of us there was Sebring with a B-17 modification base, Ft.Meyers and Punta Gorda with B-24's and P-47's and the Navy had SB2C's and SBD's in Jacksonville. There wasn't a day that went by with a formation of bombers or fighters flying over and not always at altitude. One morning while I was out on the beach just after sunrise I detected something dark to the south just over the shoreline. It didn't take long to see that it was a B-26 at no more than 50 feet alt. roaring alongat me. That is one mean looking airplane when it's coming right at you and I thought of moving out of the way but it went over with a clattering roar and headed north. This happened a lot with the fighters too. Great stuff to watch but never a week went by without several crashes close by. When I was flying after the war one could pass over the bay at the end of Drew Fld. and occasionally see wreckage on the bottom.
I think that I made a mistake on air fields. Drew Field had B-17's and MacDill had B-26's and later, B-29's Also, the SB2C was possibly the worst airplane of the war along with the Consolidated B-32. My brother-in-law flew B-26's in the Pacific Theater and he said that he would prefer it over any other to take into action.
Oh yeah. I'm a youngster, but I'm still impressed by that machine. I consider myself lucky that I've had a chance to see the last flying one on tour, courtesy of the Collings Foundation. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
And to put this thread back on target Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The B-24 is PERFECT ...FINALLY. Man what a clunk, " The Box That The B-17 Came in." I remember hearing that a few times.
I'm going to be off line for four days. Heading over the North Cascades to our little bitty cabin to shut it down for the winter and get it ready to sell. Gonna do war with the mice and rats if I haven't eliminated them from the last trip over with some tasty bait things.
Nice Fort pics! I worked in Memphis, TN in the late 70's and volunteered to help with the initial phase of restoring the Memphis Belle. We stripped all the paint off of her and removed the engines. I moved to Alaska (job related) in 1980 and I don't know what happened to her after that. Maybe I'll so some internet searching... This added a few minutes later - I did some research...Sad what happened to her after the initial attempt but she's in a good place now at the USAF museum in OH and is finally being restored as she should have been back then.
It appears some of the b17s are bare aluminum and others are painted. What is the reason for this? They are all aluminum correct? I loved the polished planes. Must be a chore to get them to shine like that!
Really cool pages on the B-17, including vintage production photos: http://www.taphilo.com/history/WWII/USAAF/Boeing/index.shtml
Most (all?) of the flying ones have been restored, they may not be running period paint schemes at all.
Very few refurbished B-17's display either the correct color or finish. They mostly have the wrong color on the upper (olive drab not greenish grey or brown), on the lower medium grey not pale grey,or incorrect demarkation (sharply taped instead of over-sprayed), gloss finish instead of dull, and in the case of most B-17's, the wrong pattern on the nacelles and fuselage. The only correct bomber that I have seen is the Collings B-24. None of the airplanes in which I flew had zinc chromate on the interior except in the nose ( bomb aimer's position) and cockpit to cut light scatter and visibility from above. The dark green in those areas was the normal zinc chromate green with black added. Squadron codes were grey, serial numbers chrome yellow. If the so-called experts would refer to photos of WW2 bombers and do a bit of digging in the archives , they could come up with a correct display of a WW2 airplane. I have factory drawings on the finish of B-17 E,F,G, and British B-17's. Also a bunch of Navy stuff. The Air Force went to natural metal on bombers not only to save weight and money but the camouflage paint did nothing to hide the airplane on the ground or in the air. Ask the Germans.
Some more photos from Duxford 2008. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
And some others. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I hate to be a Pollyana on this stuff but looking at the photos I have noticed the following: the Memphis Belle was an F model and didn't have a chin turret, " Dog Sugar" has the correct color and font , correct o.d. and grey, BUT the nacelle demarcation is incorrect as it is on the nose. The color separation on the wing leading edge should be 4.3 inches below the apex, then the line on the nacelle should drop down to a point about 60 inches from the vertical CL of the nacelle and then go forward to approx. 4 inches aft of the leading edge of the cowling and drop down and trace a line parallel to the lip all the way around to the other side and back to the wing in the same pattern as the opposite side. The nose is too low since it was controlled by the 60 inch rule from the fuselage CL. The demarcation did not go below the pitot mast. It is amazing to me that the most accurate application of colors and markings are found in the plastic modeler's hobby where they do a marvelous job of research that those who have the real thing fail to do.
Looking at the nose shot in the first photo. The demarcation of the o.d. and grey should be at the top of the base of the pito-static mast and the fuselage skin. The line originates at the intersection of the wing leading edge and the fuselage and then course forward to the nose dome along a stringer that I can't remember the number of but it ends at the top of the bulge in the lower contour of the nose frame where the glass starts.
Here's a great site with streaming vintage B-17 training films http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/B17.html
