The FReeper Foxhole Enjoys a Lazy Sunday -A B-17 Flying Fortress Walkabout

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[alfa6]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


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A B-17 Walk In and About




The Boeing Model 299 first took flight July 28, 1935 from Boeing Field in Seattle with Boeing test pilot Les Towers at the controls. The 299 was designed in response to an Army Air Corps request for a new multi-engine bomber.

The name “Flying Fortress” was coined by a Seattle Times reporter Richard Williams. who was impressed with the machine gun layout at the rollout of the Model 299. Boeing recognized the PR value of the term and had it copyrighted in respect to the B-17.

The prototype crashed during the Army Air Corp evaluation testing when Army pilot Ployer Hill attempted to take off with the tail control surfaces locked. The crash killed all on board including Les Tower.



The Army was impressed enough with the Flying Fortress that they took advantage of a loophole that allowed them to buy a small number of the second place aircraft for further testing. 13 YB-17s were ordered.



The B-17 went through eight major revisions in it’s carrer ending in the B-17G which is considered the definitive version. Over 12,700 B-17s were produced by a consortium of manufacturers including Boeing, Douglas and Vega. Besides it’s use as a bomber the B-17 also filled the role as maritime patrol aircraft, electronic countermeasures aircraft and search and rescue patrol craft.



What follows will be a short walk around and in tour of a B-17. Most of these pictures are of the Collings Foundation B-17 “Nine o’ Nine” A big lift of the alfa6 lid to the fine folks who posted these pictures in the alt.binaries,aviation newsgroup over the last few years.

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[Iris7]

Over the years there has been a torrent of Leftist muling and puking over the bombing campaign against Germany and Japan. They say that it was not militarily effective, necessary, useful, or nice and imply therefore that the bombing campaign "was a crime against humanity because it targeted civilians".

Josef Goebbels, usually considered the most intelligent top Nazi, said in his diary on or about March 1945 that "We could have coped with the Russians or the bombing, but not both."

Not both, eh. War would have been lost without the bombers and their lost crew, Goebbels is saying.

And that is the way it is. Really. Lefties lie.

[Grzegorz 246]

MiG-17 in my neighborhood :)

[snippy_about_it]

A month or so ago Sam and I got to see this B-17 take off and land. Cool.
























Guess who at the 50 cal waist gun?

[Young Werther]

My Dad worked at the Woodbridge NJ plant from 1934 till 1980 with only 2 years off for WWII. He was a master machinist and milled the steel cylinder sleeves that went into that beauty. He was going to enlist after that fateful Sunday Dec 7th radio broadcast. The next day he reported to work and the shop steward counseled the workers to stay at their post since their skills would be needed to deliver the 10,000 planes a year that FDR had promised.

Dad would receive his draft notice in early 1944. He enlisted in the Navy. He served in the armed guard on Liberty ships. He made 7 crossings through Torpedo Alley. On a resupply trip to Corsica shortly after the invasion of Southern France in Aug of 1944 he had shore leave while the ship was unloaded. He made his way to an Air Force field and ended up in the machine shop giving advice on how field maintenance could be performed since that engine was also in the Mitchell bomber. They were so happy for his suggestions that they asked him if he would go on a combat mission. He would have but his ship wa due to sail so...

Dad had lots of fun war stories regarding Wubya Wubya Teu!

[Iris7]

Do you see "Sorrows" as having an underlying laughter? I mean, was it not like the absurd Heathcliff? Or more unself consciously so, like "Jude the Obscure"?

Sort of Candide - Wuthering Heights - Werther - Jude sequence of taking self seriously? Or maybe the more an author smirks at his characters the more the author is taking himself seriously?

Actually, really, I don't know, so don't ask me!!!

Anyway, nice pick on your screen name.

Those cylinders your Dad worked on went for $750 each last time I checked - about 25 years ago. Who knows, $2,000 plus these days.

The lathing and milling was sure pretty on those cylinders. Where the pushrods went by the fins the millwork is very pretty. Bottom mounting flanges. All those fins, whew. Try to imagine the jigs and fixtures, double whew.

[Young Werther]

I was assinged to the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot NoDak! The 5th Bomb Wing was comprised of the 23rd Bomb Squadron, (B-52Hs) and the 907th Air Refueling Squadron, (KC-135s).

The 23rd Bomb Squadron Patch commemorates the pecasetome use of their bombs to divert the flow of lava when Mauna Loa erupted and threatened Hilo!

23rd Bomb Squadron

The 23rd flew B-17Es during the first two years of WWII then converted to B-24s.

[Soaring Feather]

Howdy everyone.

[Valin]

Minot NoDak

I knew some cops that were stationed there. This was back in the late 60s.

[snippy_about_it]

Hi feather.

[snippy_about_it]

hi ct. We've cooled down a bit here in Oregon too. Nice change.

[snippy_about_it]

I can't understand a word he said!


Is tomorrow your big day or Tuesday?

[snippy_about_it]

Yup, that's it.

Woo hoo, I did it!

[snippy_about_it]

They say that it was not militarily effective, necessary, useful, or nice...

Well la ti da! LOL. When will the left learn that war isn't fought well when it's fought "nice".

[snippy_about_it]

Thank you for your service and dropping in at the Foxhole.

[Valin]

And a fine job it was too.

[Iris7]

Alpha, look at the rudder of the aircraft with the rear gunner's station blown off. I think that it is fabric! I think I see folded over cloth and what looks like a wooden structure in the lower left. Look at the slot where the ribs are attached. That is wood. Sure looks like it to me, anyway.

[Iris7]

I understand that without Brahe's accurate and copious data Newton would not have needed calculus to figure out orbits, figuring out mechanics, gravity, etc.

Don't know, but reality is a strange place, indeed.

[Iris7]

I knew one of those late 60's air police at Mind Rot (as he put it). Younger brother.

[endthematrix]

German World War II gun camera footage shows a B-17 taking a tremendous beating

http://alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/B-17inBattle.wmv

[alfa6]

It was not uncommon for control surfaces on WW-II aircraft to have fabric coverings. I am pretty sure that the B-17's, at least the later models from the "E" onwards had aluminum skin but am not 100% positive.

If you look at the ribs closely you can see the ovals in the aluminum that are there to save weight with out sacrificing strength.

I will have to dig around and see if I can find out for sure

Regards

alfa6 ;>}