Martin Ciadin - The B-17 : the flying forts

M y own association with the Boeing B-17 was of the briefest nature. The time was very close to V-J Day and I was in East St. Louis on my way back to North Camp Hood, Texas. It occurred to me that I might hitchhike successfully out of the local air field on my way back to my station. And yes, there was a plane, a B-17 bound for Victoria, Kansas. There was a slight delay while we waited for our navigator, delivered by a W.A.C.-driven jeep whose crew carefully loaded him up through the open bomb bay. He was able to retain the unconsciousness exhibited at the inception of the flight all the way to its end.

This was not a problem as our pilot was able to fly an iron compass route by simply following the railway tracks on the ground below that showed up on his hand-held map. This B-17 had seen better days and oil leaked from a couple of its engines, but not in a sufficient volume so as to alarm the pilot. He even let me fly his tired old lady for a while. Needless to say we safely reached Victoria or I would not be writing this.

On August 20, 1935, Boeing had only a single B-17, the prototype Model 299. It was a new type of heavy bomber brought into existence as a speculative venture. The stakes were high for the young airplane manufacturer; top management was literally risking the future of the company on their new bomber. As flight tests of Model 299 progressed, it was discovered that this aircraft was like something from a science-fiction novel. Unlike the bomber prototypes from competing companies that were founded on proven experience or a part of the then-limping present of military bomber design, Boeings Model 299 was an aircraft that was many years ahead of its time.

Then, it was almost as if the gods of war had been angered by Boeings dramatic test-flight successes. After another flawless demonstration, Army Air Force Major Pete Hill took Model 299 on a final test flight. The result was a crash that killed everyone on the plane. A board of inquiry subsequently determined that Hill had neglected to perform the most rudimentary preflight test. He had failed to check the control console. If he had, he would have discovered that the elevators and rudder had been locked.

The fortunes of Boeing crashed with Model 299 as well. Proponents of other, lesser, aircraft came quickly forward, questioning the need and practicality of a strategic bomber of such an advanced design. Fortunately, Model 299 had impressed key far-seeing men in the Army Air Force. They managed to get funding for the B-17. Despite the severe setback, Boeing was back in business. Modifications improved performance further, and soon production models were flying off to war. In the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the B-17 helped provide America with one of its first heroes, Captain Colin Kelly whose B-17, on December 11, was credited with sinking a Japanese battleship off the Philippine coast. Kelly did not survive the attack. Much later it was discovered that Kelly had not attacked a battleship and in fact did not sink anything. But by that time Americaand the B-17was well into the war.

The combat history of the B-17 showed that the initial belief in the ability of the bomber to protect itself against a determined enemy was optimistic. The most tragic example was the second raid on Schweinfurt, Germany in 1943 Black Thursdaywhere B-17 formations without any fighter escorts fought their way through the full wrath of the Luftwaffe. The result was a massacre. Yet despite the incredibly brutal punishment many of the B-17s suffered, planes that by all rights should have crashed, managed to bring their fearsomely wounded crews home. After Schweinfurt, some questioned if the strategic bomber offensive was a failure. It was not. But clearly, in order to perform its mission of striking deep into enemy territory, the B-17 would need help.

That help came in the form of the Little Friendsthe fighters. P-38s, P-47s, and the bestest Little Friend of them all, the P-51 equipped with long-range auxiliary fuel tanks. The skies over Germany and occupied Europe were filled with the warplanes of the U.S. 8th Air Force. Domination of the sky above Normandy during D-Day was so complete that General Eisenhower said to his troops, If you see fighting aircraft over you, they will be ours."

The B-17s attacks on Germanys industry continued and by the end of February 1945, that nations major cities were in smoldering ruins from border to border. In writing THE B-17: THE FLYING FORTS, Martin Caidin wrote a stirring tribute to a great warplane and the gallant men who flew it.

David Ballantine
New York
July 2001