Historians and fans of the technology may say there were better bombers in WWII, but for me, this one has all others beat on aesthetic grounds.
It’s just a purty piece of airplane.
..over 12,000 produced, only 39 survive today...
http://www.planesofthepast.com/b17-flying-fortress-surviving-aircraft.htm
It also had a reputation for bringing its crews home, despite taking terrible damage.
It’s just a purty piece of airplane.
The B24 was supposed to be better, it had a bigger pay load but a lower ceiling IIRC and it was very hard to fly, wore pilots out flying it. The B17 came home after sustaining tremendous damage, it was famous for that trait. To me WWII bombers mean the B17.