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Category: B-17 Flying Fortress  -- See latest WWII news here.

The oldest surviving "D" model B-17 Flying Fortress restored at Air Force Museum
The oldest surviving and only existing "D" model B-17 Flying Fortress, The Swoose, is being moved to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. "It's just better for both institutions for the aircraft to go back to the National Historic Collection. Our restoration crews can use their knowledge and expertise from restoring the Memphis Belle to restoring The Swoose," said Sarah Parke. Restoration is expected to last a couple years. Visitors can see the renovation process every Friday by signing up for a behind the scenes tour at www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/visit/tours/index.asp.     [ daytondailynews.com :: 2008-07-16 :: B-17 Flying Fortress ]

B17 bomber lands on English soil for the first time since World War II [pics]
They were known as the Flying Fortresses and they had an essential role in the defeat of the Third Reich. B-17 bombers delivered a third of all the 1.5m tons of bombs dropped on Nazi Germany by United States. Recently one of the iconic aircraft became the first to complete the 8,000-mile flight from U.S. soil since the end of World War II. The Liberty Belle landed at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, flown by Don Brooks, son of a tail gunner who flew 34 WWII missions. The Liberty Belle, one of a handful of B-17s still flying, completed a route that was used by the bombers during wartime.     [ mailonsunday.co.uk :: 2008-07-06 :: B-17 Flying Fortress ]

85-year-old William Lyon piloting a B-17 from John Wayne to D.C.
It has no radar. No bathroom. No heat. Just 33,000 pounds of flying metal - perfect for a man known as "The General." At 8 a.m. William Lyon will fire up one of the few working B-17s left in the world and point it toward D.C. for a 2-day flight. Any danger in that? "Well, it has 4 engines, so if one shuts down, it's not a big problem. And I'm taking my chief mechanic and a lot of spare parts," says Maj. Gen. William Lyon. He regularly flies several vintage planes: a B-17, a B-25 bomber, a B-26 bomber and two C-47 transport planes - the stable of his future aviation museum at Martin Aviation.     [ ocregister :: 2008-04-06 :: B-17 Flying Fortress ]

A Flying Fortress B-17 Pilot's World War II Diary - excerpts
July 17, 1943, Target: Hanover. About 45 enemy fighters ... started the old cat and mouse game. Me being the mouse. For a few seconds, I was fascinated watching them come plunging at us from all directions... When we were down to about 12,000 feet the ground batteries filled the air with flak. I mean it was so thick that you could get out and walk on it. Well a burst hit under the left wing and blew the whole gas tank right out through the top. Another hit my #2 engine ... and shattered the glass window near my head. Things were so serious that it was really funny. I looked over at my co-pilot and winked at him and he grinned right back.     [ tbo :: 2007-12-19 ]

US team finds World War II B-17 bombers, P-47 fighter off Corsica
Article no longer available from the original source.
A US military team searching for the remains of American WW2 soldiers has discovered the wreckage of two B-17 bombers and a P-47 fighter plane off the coast of Corsica. The 13-man team led by Captain George Mitroka conducted 7 days of marine searches equipped with sonars, radars, cameras and video equipment. A B-17 bomber that crashed off the coast of Calvi in Feb 1944 after a missed landing was found at a site known to local divers. A second one was discovered near Ajaccio airport at a depth of 12 metres. The P-47 fighter plane was discovered off the coast of Bastia after a diver provided the US team with the exact GPS coordinates of the wreckage.     [ ttc :: 2007-09-27 :: B-17 Flying Fortress ]

Collings Foundation acquires vintage World War II aircraft B-17G
The Collings Foundation's B-17G was built in Long Beach, by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was too late for combat, but did serve as part of the Air/Sea 1st Rescue Squadron and later for the Military Air Transport Service. In April 1952, the plane was subjected to the effects of 3 nuclear explosions. It was sold to the Collings Foundation in 1986, and named the "Nine-O-Nine," in honor of a 91st Bomb Group, 323rd Squadron plane, which completed 140 missions without an abort or loss of a crewman. The original Nine-O-Nine made 18 trips to Berlin, dropped 562,000 pounds of bombs and was flown 1,129 hours.     [ dailyastorian :: 2007-06-13 :: Warbirds: Vintage aircrafts ]

'Mythbusters' re-create a bizarre World War II tale of survival
Plans bombed out for a large explosion south of Angels Camp that would re-create a bizarre World War II tale of survival. The effort was launched by Mythbusters. The myth that was to be tested is the story of a World War II American airman who survived a 20,000-foot fall from his B-17 bomber plane. The airman's plane was shot down and he jumped out without a parachute. As the man plummeted toward a glass railroad station, a bomb inside the station exploded. The blast from that counteracted the airman's fall and allowed him to survive by sending him to a much softer landing in a nearby field.     [ uniondemocrat :: 2006-07-26 :: Bomber Pilots of WWII: B-17, B-24 ]

Bombardier journal from B-17 Flying Fortress
Shrapnel from Nazi bombs and bullets riddled Sgt. Charles Campbell's B-17 over Linz. Campbell just dropped bombs, but "flying fortress" wasn't fast enough to escape the revenge. The plane burst into flames. Unable to make it to a hatch he dove out a hole torn in the aircraft. The last thing he saw was radio operator's parachute in shreds. He hit the ground and was surrounded. He knew by their uniforms that they were Storm Troopers, Hitler's elite army. "I sneaked a look and saw the SS Troopers, burp machine guns at the ready." Then some Luftwaffe officers came. They felt camaraderie among fliers, and when they could they spared the lives of airmen.     [ arlingtoncemetery :: 2006-05-28 :: B-17 Flying Fortress ]

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress: An icon of a generation
Once there were many, now there are few: Of the nearly 13,000 B-17 Flying Fortresses built perhaps 100 survive today and less than two dozen fly. In 1944 and 1945 the B-17s filled the skies of Northern Europe in bomber streams thousands of planes strong. Visionaries of air warfare had determined that heavy bombers could fight their way to distant strategic targets, drop tons of high explosives from high altitude and return safely to their base. From 1942 to 1945 the task fell to the Boeing B-17 bomber crews to prove the theorists. The base was England and the target was Hitler's German Reich. Russia's Stalin was demanding a "second front" to relieve pressure on his Red Army.     [ sierrasun :: 2006-05-06 :: B-17 Flying Fortress ]

Hit the silk: Tail gunner's harrowing story of B-17 combat
Nelson B. Brode Jr. was a tail gunner on a B-17 bomber in his 26th mission. The crew was to bomb the Japanese base of Gasmata and take some photos. As the plane closed in on its target: "The ack-ack and pom-poms were filling the sky around us." The plane jerked violently and turned up on one wing. A side gunner reported a large hole in the wing. The plane dived and the electrical system stopped working, but then the Flying Fortress leveled out. 10 minutes later, Brode saw 12 Japanese fighters. The Zeros formed into 3 groups of four planes, and they attacked the B-17 in waves, riddling it with bullets...     [ azcentral :: 2006-04-08 :: B-17 Flying Fortress ]

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