Did the gunners aboard B-17 bombers in WWII manage to shoot down enemy [168], Thirty-two B-17Gs[169] were used by the Navy under the designation PB-1W, the suffix -W indicating an airborne early warning role. Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater of Operations and dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during World War II. These aircraft were painted dark blue, the standard Navy paint scheme which had been adopted in late 1944. Launching Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortresses" and Consolidated B-24 "Liberators" from bases in England's eastern countryside, the Americans bombed their targets . Quote: "At the peak of production, Boeing was rolling out as many as 363 B-17s a month, averaging between 14 and 16 Forts a day, the most incredible production rate for large aircraft in aviation history." Forty-five planes survive in complete form, 38 in the United States. [1][13] The day before, Richard Williams, a reporter for The Seattle Times, coined the name "Flying Fortress" when observing the large number of machine guns sticking out from the new airplane he described it as a "15-ton flying fortress" in a picture caption. Army Air Forces. They were chosen specifically for these missions as being more suitable for this role than other available German aircraft; they never attempted to deceive the Allies and always wore full Luftwaffe markings. AFA Statement on Loss of Historic B-17: Painful Reminder of the Frisbee, John L. "Valor: Gauntlet of Fire". ", "Why Use Colourful Camouflage in World War 2? Best Answer. However, B-17s were operating at heights too great for most A6M Zero fighters to reach. National Archives and Records Administration - ARC Identifier 2870 / Local Identifier 18-C-406-2 - AIR WAR IN EUROPE - War Department. [127] On the morning of 4 March 1943, a B-17 sank the destroyer Asashio with a 500lb (230kg) bomb while she was picking up survivors from Arashio. It was a relatively fast, high-flying, long-range bomber with heavy defensive armament at the expense of bombload. [69] Many B-17Gs were converted for other missions such as cargo hauling, engine testing, and reconnaissance. . How many B-17s were shot down during the Second World War? Serial number 44-85784 is the last airworthy B-17 in the United Kingdom and is based at the Imperial War Museum Duxford. Those who survived the initial onslaught and did not manage to flee, had to eke out a living on a battleground ravaged by incessant bombardment and street fighting. Frisbee, John L. "Valor: The Right Touch". The plane was pulled out of front-line service and used as a transport plane and even drones. The B-17G was the final version of the Flying Fortress, incorporating all changes made to its predecessor, the B-17F,[57] and in total, 8,680 were built,[68] the last (by Lockheed) on 28 July 1945. Losses were relatively low - below the 5% threshold that was the. Dozens more are in storage or on static display. Date: American aircraft struck targets in Schweinfurt and Regensburg on August 17, 1943. . [143] This durability, together with the large operational numbers in the Eighth Air Force and the fame achieved by the Memphis Belle, made the B-17 a key bomber aircraft of the war. Their first operation, against Wilhelmshaven on 8 July 1941 was unsuccessful. 945 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70130 How many b17 are still flying? [154], During the Allied bomber offensive, U.S. and British bombers sometimes flew into Swiss airspace, either because they were damaged or, on rare occasions, accidentally bombing Swiss cities. Wikipedia says: Defensive armament increased from four 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns and one 0.30 in (7.62 mm) nose machine gun in the B-17C, to thirteen 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns in the B-17G. On 2 March 1943, six B-17s of the 64th Squadron flying at 10,000ft (3,000m) attacked a major Japanese troop convoy off New Guinea, using skip bombing to sink Kyokusei Maru, which carried 1,200 army troops, and damage two other transports, Teiyo Maru and Nojima. [100], A second attempt on Schweinfurt on 14 October 1943 later came to be known as "Black Thursday". Water spouts just offshore . The authors of a photo book about the planes and . Over 5,000 B-17 bombers were lost in combat missions in world war II. The pilots flying the ME-109s and FW-190s were professionalsthe best in the world. Bigger WWII bombers like e.g. (U.S. Air Force photo) The Boeing B-17 was one of the primary heavy bombers built by the United States during World War II. Four B-17s were shot down in these operations.[171]. Footage from Twelve O' Clock High was also used, along with three restored B-17s, in the 1962 film The War Lover. A sobering statistic: Out of 1,419 Loaches built, 842 were destroyed in Vietnam, most shot down and many others succumbing to crashes resulting from low-level flying. [92] It has been alleged that some B-17s kept their Allied markings and were used by the Luftwaffe in attempts to infiltrate B-17 bombing formations and report on their positions and altitudes. [125][126] The remaining seven transports and three of the eight destroyers were then sunk by a combination of low level strafing runs by Royal Australian Air Force Beaufighters, and skip bombing by USAAF North American B-25 Mitchells at 100ft (30m), while B-17s claimed five hits from higher altitudes. Ramsey, Winston G. "The V-Weapons". how many b17s were shot down during ww2 - bagtical.com The Allied victory against the Axis was a long journeyone that actually took much longer than the war itself. This was operated by German-speaking radio operators who were to identify and jam German ground controllers' broadcasts to their nightfighters. [16] On 20 August 1935, the prototype flew from Seattle to Wright Field in nine hours and three minutes with an average cruising speed of 252 miles per hour (406km/h), much faster than the competition. 504-528-1944, Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy, Black Volunteer Infantry Platoons in World War II, Kasserine Pass: German Offensive, American Victory, Gallantry against Great Odds: LTC George Marshall and Operation RESERVIST, Prelude to Liberation: Genesis of American Amphibious Assault in the ETO, Black Thursday October 14, 1943: The Second Schweinfurt Bombing Raid, An Exercise in Depravity: The Establishment of the Warsaw Ghetto, Unsung Witnesses of the Battle of Stalingrad, Stalingrad: Experimentation, Adaptation, Implementation. How many b-17 bombers were shot down during World War 2? In 1942, when Eighth Air Force heavy bombers based in Britain first went operational in Europe, they mostly flew what were termed "milk runs" over France, accompanied by fighter escorts. While the US Fifteenth Air Force also had B-17s, the most famous group to fly them during the war was the US Eighth Air Force based out of England. All were Allison powered. in 1970, and in Memphis Belle with Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, Billy Zane, and Harry Connick Jr. in 1990. Depends on when they flew. B-17 pilot flew unexpectedly into the middle of Japanese attack on Copy. [136][137] Luftwaffe fighter pilots likened attacking a B-17 combat box formation to encountering a fliegendes Stachelschwein, "flying porcupine", with dozens of machine guns in a combat box aimed at them from almost every direction. As sufficient Consolidated Liberators finally became available, Coastal Command withdrew the Fortress from the Azores, transferring the type to the meteorological reconnaissance role. These turbo-superchargers were incorporated into the B-17B. [160][163] Coast Guard PB-1Gs were stationed at a number of bases in the U.S. and Newfoundland, with five at Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, two at CGAS San Francisco, two at NAS Argentia, Newfoundland, one at CGAS Kodiak, Alaska, and one in Washington state. How many Cobras were shot down in Vietnam? - 2023 Other factors such as combat effectiveness and political issues also contributed to the B-17's success. They also believed they had an aircraft which could fight its way in and out of the target area, unescorted, and return home safely. Craven, Wesley Frank, James Lea Cate and Richard L. Watson, eds. [14] The most distinct mount was in the nose, which allowed the single machine gun to be fired toward nearly all frontal angles. [163] They were used primarily in the "Dumbo" air-sea rescue role, but were also used for iceberg patrol duties and for photo mapping. On landing, the aircraft overran the runway and ran into a ditch, where it was then strafed. A retirement ceremony was held several days later at Holloman AFB, after which 44-83684 was retired. Photo-recon analysts never made the connection to it being a captured B-17 until after the war. Trescott, Jacqueline. [140] Making it back to base on numerous occasions, despite extensive battle damage, the B-17's durability became legendary;[138][139] stories and photos of B-17s surviving battle damage were widely circulated during the war. Air Corps doctrine dictated bombing runs from high altitude, but they soon found only 1% of their bombs hit targets. The B-17 Flying Fortress became symbolic of the United States of America's air power. ", Frisbee, John L. "Valor: One Turning and One Burning. In the infamous "Black Thursday" raid of 14 October 1943, B-17 gunners claimed 288 German fighter aircraft kills whereas in actuality about 40 were shot down. With its usual nose-mounted armament of four MK 108 cannons, and with some examples later equipped with the R4M rocket, launched from underwing racks, it could fire from outside the range of the bombers' .50in (12.7mm) defensive guns and bring an aircraft down with one hit,[147] as both the MK 108's shells and the R4M's warheads were filled with the "shattering" force of the strongly brisant Hexogen military explosive. As the Americans flew further into Europe and Germany, the missions became deadlier. The first Schweinfurt-Regensburg Raid occurred during >World War II (1939-1945). They also desired, but did not require, a range of 2,000mi (3,200km) and a speed of 250mph (400km/h). ", "Giant Bomber Flies Four Miles Per Minute. The oldest of these is a D-series flown in combat in the Pacific on the first day of the United States' involvement in World War II. 21 never had a major effect on the combat box formations of Fortresses. Bomber wrecks were fewer but more expensive. Of the 291 attacking Fortresses, 60 were shot down over Germany, five crashed on approach to Britain, . The B-17's greatest success in the Pacific was in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, in which aircraft of this type were responsible for damaging and sinking several Japanese transport ships. ", Frisbee, John L. "Valor: A Point of Honor. [79][80] On 24 July three B-17s of 90 Squadron took part in a raid on the German capital ship Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen anchored in Brest from 30,000ft (9,100 m), with the objective of drawing German fighters away from 18 Handley Page Hampdens attacking at lower altitudes, and in time for 79 Vickers Wellingtons to attack later with the German fighters refuelling. [93][94] The operation, carried out in good visibility, was a success, with only minor damage to one aircraft, unrelated to enemy action, and half the bombs landing in the target area. These losses were a result of concentrated attacks by over 300 German fighters. An early model YB-17 also appeared in the 1938 film Test Pilot with Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, and later with Clark Gable in Command Decision in 1948, in Tora! Kelly's B-17C AAF S/N 40-2045 (19th BG / 30th BS) crashed about 6mi (10km) from Clark Field after he held the burning Fortress steady long enough for the surviving crew to bail out. 2. Smith and LeSchack parachuted from the B-17 and searched the station for several days. Three squadrons undertook Met profiles from airfields in Iceland, Scotland and England, gathering data for vital weather forecasting purposes. These losses amounted to 25 percent of the attacking force. Also on board were Wright Field test observer John Cutting, and mechanic Mark Koegler. [72], The first four drones were sent to Mimoyecques, the Siracourt V-1 bunker, Watten, and Wizernes on 4 August, causing little damage. B-17 Is Shot Down (1943) - YouTube However, the use of this rigid formation meant that individual aircraft could not engage in evasive maneuvers: they had to fly constantly in a straight line, which made them vulnerable to German flak. The prototype B-17 Bomber was built at the company's own expense and was a fusion of the features of Boeing XB-15 and Boeing 247 Transport Aircraft.