In this briefing, we take a look at the B-17 before and during World War II. The briefing has been prepared for a ceremony in the Summer of 2013 for a bomber crew shot down over France on July 4, 1943

1. Honoring a B-17 Crew Operating
Over France
Noirmoutier, France
July 4, 1943
Robbin F. Laird
Revised May 11, 2013

2. B-17s Flying Over France
Photo Credit: US National Archives

3. The Event
• During a raid on Nazi installations in France on July
4, 1943, a crew of a B-17 in route to an attack on NAZI
submarine pens, crash landed on Noirmoutier
Island, France.
• All 10 crew members survived to become prisoners of the
Third Reich
• The purpose of this briefing is to provide context to
understand the role of the B-17 and what became known
as the Mighty 8th or 8th Air Force
• And to Do So By Recovering a Sense of of What the World
Was Like for a US Bomber Crew in 1943
• And along the way there are a few lessons learned then
that we are learning all over again

4. The Crew: From 92nd BG – 407th
Bomber Squadron
• JJ CAMPBELL Pilot
• HV STEPHENSON Co-pilot
• BA KILGROW Jr. Bombardier
• BP HEREFORD Jr. Navigator
• RK RASDALL Ball Gunner
• RH HETRICK Top Gunner
• CD CHENOWETH Radio Operator
• LM ARLINGTON Left gunner
• JM GUYMON Right gunner
• HL BURTON Tail gunner

5. 92d BOMBARDMENT GROUP
• Constituted as 92d Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 28 Jan 1942.
Activated on I Mar 1942. Trained with B-17’s and performed
antisubmarine duty.
• Moved to England, Jul-Aug 1942, and assigned to Eighth AF. Flew a
few combat missions in Sep and Oct 1942, then trained
replacement crews.
• Began bombardment of strategic objectives in May 1943 and
engaged primarily in such operations throughout the war.
• Targets from May 1943 to Feb 1944 included shipyards at Kiel, ball-
bearing plants at Schweinfurt, submarine installations at
Wilhelmshaven, a tire plant at Hannover, airfields near Paris, an
aircraft factory at Nantes, and a magnesium mine and reducing
plant in Norway.
• Source: Air Force Combat Units of World War II, Office of Air Force
History, 1983.

6. B-17 bomber on the Way to the
UK, 1941

7. Hermann Goering
• Above all, I shall see to it that the enemy will not be able to
drop any bombs.
• — Hermann Goering, German Air Force Minister. German
original: "Vor allem werde ich dafur sorgen, dass der Feind
keint Bomben werfen Kann."
• No enemy bomber can reach the Ruhr. If one reaches the
Ruhr, my name is not Goering. You may call me Meyer.
• — Hermann Goering, German Air Force
Minister, addressing the German Air force, September 1939.
• My Luftwaffe is invincible. . . . And so now we turn to
England. How long will this one last — two, three weeks?
• — Hermann Goering, German Air Force Minister, June 1940.

8. The Other Goering
• “What the hell was Hermann Göring’s nephew doing piloting an American heavy bomber over
Germany?” was a question military and civilian intelligence struggled with and prepared for, with
extreme prejudice, if, and when the need arose.
• Werner Goering couldn’t shake reminders of his famous uncle, Hermann W. Göring, head of the
Luftwaffe and Adolf Hitler’s legal successor.
• In the skies over the European theater, he did his best to reclaim the family name.
• U.S. Army records confirm that Werner, a 21 year old “Mighty Eighth” Army Air Force captain in
early 1945, commanded 49 “Flying Fortress” combat missions over Nazi-occupied Europe—well
beyond the 30 sorties that then constituted a squadron lead-pilot’s tour of duty.
• He could have gone home by Christmas of 1944, as most of his original crewmates did, but at the
peak of the bloody air war, Werner signed on for a second tour with the British based 303rd
Bombardment Group, “The Hell’s Angels,” one of America’s most storied warrior fraternities and
the single most active bomber group in the Army Air Force. He fought until the bitter end—to the
May 8, 1945, Nazi surrender.
• Among a fistful of other medals, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross, one of the nations’
highest military decorations, while quietly carrying the burden of his blood-soaked surname
throughout the war and beyond. He battled the Nazi war machine in the war’s longest and
deadliest battle for Americans, was nearly assassinated by a suspicious U.S. government, and faced
the distrust of other officers.
• http://www.commandposts.com/2012/03/why-was-herman-goering%E2%80%99s-nephew-
piloting-an-american-heavy-bomber-over-germany/

9. The Critics are Always With Us
• Upon observing an initial bombing run in August
1942, the air correspondent for the Sunday
Times, Peter Masefield, wrote that “American heavy
bombers are fine flying machines, but they are not
suited for bombing in Europe. Their bombs and bomb
loads are too small, their armor and armament are
low.”
• Not content with this, he went on to advise the
American leaders that their planes were better suited
for ASW duty.
• Martin Bowman, B-17 Flying Fortress Units of the 8th
Air Force (Osprey Publishing, 2000).

10. The Feel of 1943
• America was engaged in a two front war, with the clear
public priority for the war in the Pacific
• But Roosevelt agreed with Churchill that the priority
was the war against the Nazi empire
• This was made possible by the improbable defeat of
Japan at the Battle of Midway, 4-7 June 1942
• The other great event shaping a hope for rollback of
the Axis powers was the capture of the 6th German
Army at Stalingrad at the beginning of 1943
• And the surrender of the Afrika Corps in May 1943

11. The State of Play: 1943
• 1943 was a tough year for the Flying Fortress. Formations
of bombers operated deep in Nazi territory without fighter
escorts.
• Until the P-51 “Mustang” showed up later in the war, brave
bomber crews operating in daylight worked in formations
to fight off the Luftwaffe on the way to bombing runs and
on the way back.
• The bombing of Nazi forces and the support structures
throughout Europe was intensified throughout Europe.
• The Flying Fortress were frequent visitors to France and
part of the effort to destroy forward deployed Nazi forces
arrayed against the allies operating at sea and from
England.

12. July 1943 Proved a Decisive Month
• The largest tank battle in history was fought and won
by the Russians against the Germans in early July 1943
• The allied invasion of Sicily begun on July 10, 1943
• Mussolini was overthrown by the Italians on July
25, 1943
• And the largest firestorm bombing in history until the
dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan occurred with
a joint US-British massive bombing assault on Hamburg
which began on July 24, 1943 and the fires would
continue in Hamburg until October 1943

13. July 4, 1943
• Independence day 1943 marked the first
anniversary of the Eight Air Force bomber
operations from the UK.
• The occasion was marked by a three-pronged
assault in force with 192 1st Wing Forts visiting
aircraft works at Le Mans and Nantes while 83
from 4th Wing went down to La Pallice.
• Roger A. Freedman, The Mighty Eighth
(London: Cassell and Co, 1970).

14. Action on July 4, 1943
• The report that day on the bombing activities of the 8th
Air Force:
– 8th Bomber Command Mission 71: 192 B-17s are
dispatched against aircraft factories at Le Mans and
Nanes, France; 166 make a very effective attack; US claims
52-14-22 Luftwaffe aircraft; US loses 7 with 1 damaged
beyond repair and 53 others damaged; casualties are 1
KIA, 9 WIA and 70 MIA.
– 83 other B-17s are dispatched against submarine yards at
La Pallice, France; 71 hit the target between 1201 and
1204 local; US claims 0-1-0 Luftwaffe aircraft; US loses 1
and 1 is damaged; casualties are 10 MIA. Bombing is
extremely accurate.

15. The Ruthie in the Raid
• One of the Fortresses raiding the S.N.C.A aircraft
factory at Nantes was Ruthie of the 326th Bomber Sqdn
which was a unit recently re-established in the 92nd
group after acting as the bomber CCRC nucleus .
• Just after bombing, this fortress was hit by cannon fire
puncturing two fuel tanks and wrecking the hydraulic
system and flaps.
• A 20-mm cannon shell, piercing the floor between the
two waist gunners, exploded in the radio room
wrecking equipment.
• Another shell hit the ball turret seriously wounding Sgt
Richard O Gettys in the groin, chest and face.

16. The Ruthie in the Raid (2)
• The turret was still partially serviceable and though failing in
strength, Gettys continued firing his guns until he collapsed. The tail
gunner was also wounded 1/ LT Robert L Campbell flew Ruthie (named
after his wife) home to Alconbury.
• An SOS was flashed by lamp to the formation leader asking him to notify
base of Ruthie’s difficulties.
• Campbell said afterwards , “When I started to land I discovered we had a
flat tire. I held her on the runway as long as I could and then whirled her
around in front of the control tower, but she stayed up.”
• Ruthie was only fit for salvage.
• They gave ball gunner Gettys the DSC and Campbell another Fort on which
he bestowed the name Ruthie II . This Fortress was destined to become
the vehicle of one of the most heroic actions in the annals of the Eighth
Air Force.

17. July 14, 1943
• July 14th Bastille Day was marked by three
Flying Fortresses attacks in France. A factory
at Villacoublay was hit by 101, while the
Luftwaffe base at Amiens received the wrath
of fifty-three B-17s, and another fifty-two
bombed Le Bourget Luftwaffe base outside
Paris.”
• Bill Yenne, B-17 at War (Zenith Press, 2006).

18. What It Felt Like (July 1943)
• The Major hesitated before answering and
studied a large chart on the wall crowded with
names. “See that chart? That’s the combat roster.
We’ve been here sixty days, and so far we’ve lost
a hundred and one percent of our combat
personnel.”
• Comer, John (2012-01-05). Combat Crew: The
Story of 25 Combat Missions Over Europe From
the Daily Journal of a B-17 Gunner (p. 2). John
Comer. Kindle Edition.

19. “Consider Yourself Already Dead”
• As one Fortress gunner described the bombing
run against Le Bourget on August 16, 1943:
• “Soon after daylight the formation was crossing
the gray-green water of the English Channel. My
anxiety and tension mounted, as I knew we
would face the fierce German fighters, for on this
clear day we would invade the lair of Goering’s
best. The veterans had made certain we knew
what usually happened to new crews on their
first meeting with Jerry. They were not expected
to come back — it was as simple as that.”

20. Preparing for Action
• It was July 1943, and it was all coming to a head for us quite soon now.
What would it be like? Could we handle it?
• After only ten days of orientation in England, I knew we needed more
gunnery practice. The truck slowed down and I saw we were approaching
our destination.
• All day I had been dreading that moment. Most likely the base would be
one of those hard-luck outfits who regularly lost high percentages of their
aircraft.
• The worst of all was the 100th Group. Please! Not that unlucky snake-bit
command!
• But logic indicated that the depleted groups would need more
replacement crews like us, who had been hurriedly trained and rushed to
the 8th Air Force to cover the heavy losses
• Comer, John (2012-01-05). Combat Crew: The Story of 25 Combat Missions
Over Europe From the Daily Journal of a B-17 Gunner (p. 1). John Comer.
Kindle Edition.

21. First Mission
• There was no time for a briefing on the target before takeoff. As soon as we were
settled down in the formation Gleichauf came on intercom: “Pilot to crew, Pilot to
crew — we’re heading for Kiel in northern Germany.
• There are several hundred fighters in the area and you can expect a hot reception.
• Be ready for attacks halfway across the North Sea. This is your first mission — now
don’t get excited an’ let ’em come in on us!”
• The formation was far better than I expected. Hour after hour we droned on. It
would not be long now: if only we could be lucky enough to get by this one!
• The way Gleichauf was holding tight formation, I hoped the fighters would not pick
us out to be a new crew. Of course I was keyed up to a high pitch and I wondered if
I would forget what little I knew about aerial gunnery in the excitement of the first
fighter attacks.
• Comer, John (2012-01-05). Combat Crew: The Story of 25 Combat Missions Over
Europe From the Daily Journal of a B-17 Gunner (pp. 14-15). John Comer. Kindle
Edition.

22. On the Way Back
• Then, on the way home, some Focke-Wulfs showed up, armed with
rockets, and I saw three B-I7s in the different groups around us
suddenly blow up and drop through the sky. Just simply blow up
and drop through the sky.
• Nowadays, if you come across something awful happening, you
always think, 'My God, it's just like a movie,' and that's what I
thought. I had a feeling that the planes weren't really falling and
burning, the men inside them weren't really dying, and everything
would turn out happily in the end. Then, very quietly through the
interphone, our tail gunner said, 'I'm sorry, sir, I've been hit.’
• I crawled back to him and found that he'd been wounded in the
side of the head - not deeply but enough so he was bleeding pretty
bad. Also, he'd got a lot of the plexiglas dust from his shattered
turret in his eyes, so he was, at least for the time being, blind.

23. On the Way Back (2)
• Though he was blind, he was still able to use his hands, and I
ordered him to fire his guns whenever he heard from me.
• I figured that a few bursts every so often from his fifties would keep
the Germans off our tail, and I also figured that it would give the kid
something to think about besides the fact that he'd been hit.
• When I got back to the nose, the pilot told me that our No. 4 engine
had been shot out. Gradually we lost our place in the formation and
flew nearly alone over France.
• That's about the most dangerous thing that can happen to a lame
Fort, but the German fighters had luckily given up and we skimmed
over the top of the flak all the way to the Channel."
• http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/b17.htm

24. 1942 and the Battle of The Atlantic
• By the time the B-17s reached the UK in 1942, an absolute priority was
attacking the U-Boats disrupting the maritime lifeline to the island nation.
• 500 allied ships were sunk in the first half of 1942; and only 21 U-Boats
• The Admiralty had tasked a small civilian company working with the RAF
to develop radar to track U-Boats
• And after they had done so these civilians became the first ever to support
the military on operations research and to develop new concepts of
operations to attack the U-boats
• The first success was by a Wellington bomber attacking U-boats on July
13, 1942
• The impact was to drive the U-boats to a new “air gap” zone South of
Greenland
• The main bomber used were the B-24s with the B-17s largely used to
attack the support infrastructure for the U-boats

25. The Air Strikes in Support of the Battle
of the Atlantic
• Until the advent of the Very-Long-Range [VLR] aircraft [B-24 “Liberator”+, German
submarines operated with relative impunity in the “Gap”! Either as individual
boats or as part of a “wolf-pack”, could attack allied convoys and wreak
tremendous damage, unafraid of attack from the air. This problem was most acute
at night, all advantage in this case being to the U-boat.
The B-24, equipped with centimeter radar, able to drop bombs and depth
charges, had a devastating effect upon the German U-boat service, both night and
day, clear weather and inclement. The period known to the German mariner as
“Black May” *1943+ was due - - in large measure - - to the VLR aircraft.
"The B-24 made a massive contribution to Allied victory in the Battle of the
Atlantic against German U-boats . . . The Very Long Range (VLR) Liberators 'almost
doubled the reach of Britain's maritime reconnaissance force. This added range
enabled Coastal Command patrols to cover the Mid-Atlantic gap, where U-boats
had operated with near impunity."
• http://militarythoughts.blogspot.com/2008/06/this-is-coolbert-gap-it-was-known-
by_18.html

26. Bay of Biscay “Campaign”

27. Bay of Biscay (2)
• During the summer of 1943 Coastal Command undertook a campaign to
destroy U-boats transiting the Bay of Biscay on their way to or from the
Atlantic.
• The submarines were additionally forced to remain submerged at night as
well as by day, which was bad for morale, and reduced operation time by 5
days.
• On 30 July, in one of the most dramatic encounters of the Biscay
Campaign, the outbound submarines U 461, U 462, and U 504 were
sighted and sunk. U 461 by Sunderland "U" of 461 Squadron RAAF, U 462
by Halifax "S" of 502 Squadron RAF, and U 504 by the sloops of Captain
Walker's legendary 2nd Escort Group.
• Not only had three U-boats been sunk in one action, but U 461 and U 462
were both "Milchkuh", "milk cow", submarine tankers, badly needed to
maintain the long-distance operations the U-boat Arm now wished to
expand.
• http://www.war-
experience.org/history/keyaspects/atlantic/pagethree.asp

28. Air Strikes Against the U-Boat Transit
• FOR THE GREATER PART of the war, the main operational
bases for the German U-boats were situated in the French
Atlantic ports where, sheltered beneath many feet of
concrete, they were immune from bombing attacks. But to
reach the Allied shipping lanes from these bases they had
to cross the Bay of Biscay. By the middle of August 1943
they were managing this only by remaining submerged
throughout almost the whole passage and by creeping in
and out close to the north-west corner of Spain, thus
keeping as far as possible from the air patrols flown from
the south-west of England.
• http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-2Epi-c4-
WH2-2Epi-a.html

29. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-RN-
II/UK-RN-II-14.html

30. La Rochelle / La Pallice, France
• From September 1940 La Pallice was the alternative
base for the Italian Betasom submarines (the main
base of operations being Bordeaux). The 3rd Flotilla
took over the base on October 27, 1941.
• In April 1941 the German Command decided to build
also a bunker in La Pallice. The first two pens were
finished in October 1941.
• The U-boat bunker was 195 m wide, 165 m long and
19m high. The first U-boat in the bunker was U-82 on
November 19, 1941. Then followed U-332 (16th
December) and U-432 (24th December).

32. From August 16, 1943 Raid Against Le
Bourget
• “As we taxied out to become part of a long
procession of B-17s waddling along the taxi
strip, I stood up on an ammo box to let my head
get above the radio room roof. I saw a
long, ambling line of Forts proceeding like
huge, drab prehistoric birds that made screeching
cries as the brakes were constantly applied to
keep them on the taxi strip. It was an
otherwordly scene in the dim light just at
sunrise.”
• Brian D. O’Neill, Half a Wing, Three Engines and a
Prayer (New York: McGraw Hill, 1999).

33. A December 1943 Raid
• Joseph Hallock was a twenty-two-year-old first lieutenant serving as the
bombardier aboard "Ginger" a B-17 flying out of its base north of London.
• My first raid was on December thirty-first, over Ludwigshaven. Naturally, not
knowing what it was going to be like, I didn't feel scared.
• A little sick, maybe, but not scared. That comes later, when you begin to
understand what your chances of survival are.
• Once we'd crossed into Germany, we spotted some flak, but it was a good long
distance below us and looked pretty and not dangerous: different-colored puffs
making a soft, cushiony-looking pattern under our plane.
• A bombardier sits right in the plexiglas nose of a Fort, so he sees everything neatly
laid out in front of him, like a living-room rug. It seemed to me at first that I'd
simply moved in on a wonderful show.' I got over feeling sick, there was so much
to watch.
• We made our run over the target, got our bombs away, and apparently did a good
job. Maybe it was the auto-pilot and bomb sight that saw to that, but I'm sure I
was cool enough on that first raid to do my job without thinking too much about it.

35. The Role of the B-17
• The B-17 was the American response to the U-
Boat assault on the Atlantic bridge. While the U-
boats attacked the American resupply of the
allies in the United Kingdom, the Flying Fortress
took the fight deep into Nazi Germany.
• And it was the American way of taking the war to
Germany and to German forces in Europe. What
became the Mighty 8th was the second front prior
to North Africa or Normandy.

36. The B-17 as a Fleet
• The aircraft was rugged, well fortified and able to
land in some cases with three engines or less.
• Battle damage photos are truly amazing of planes
coming back with major parts of the aircraft
missing.
• But it was designed to operate as a fleet and in
formation flying to provide for the ability to
protect and defend the planes engaged in the
mission.

37. Fleet Operations: Challenges
• De-confliction of airspace was a basic problem which was difficult to
manage
– There were mid-air collisions
– There was fratricide by fire when B-17 gunners were attacking enemy fighters
• This was severely aggravated by low visibility conditions or night
operations
– Pilots detested the severe risks of collisions or mishaps because B-17
formations were not really suitable for night flights.( Comer, John (2012-01-
05). Combat Crew: The Story of 25 Combat Missions Over Europe From the
Daily Journal of a B-17 Gunner (p. 216). John Comer. Kindle Edition.)
• Enemy fighters aimed to create havoc in the fleet formations
• The high-low stacks within the formation meant that the high stack
especially suffered from dealing with very low temperatures, but coping
with cold was a core problem facing crews throughout missions

38. Over Schweinfurt, 8/17/43

39. The B-17 "All American" (414th Squadron, 97BG) flown by Lieutenant Kendrick R.
Bragg, its tail section almost severed by a collision with an enemy fighter, flew 90
minutes back to its home base, landed safely and broke in two after landing

40. Attacking Big B: February 3, 1945
• “Over one thousand Fortresses would take part. The American
bombers would be escorted by more than 900 P-51 Mustangs and
P-47 Thunderbolts. The target was the center of Berlin – more
specifically Gestapo headquarters, the Reich Chancellery, the
German Air Ministry….”
• “The massive American air rad was the worst yet for Germany; the
bombers dropped almost twenty-three hundred tons of bombs on
the city of Berlin. For nearly two solid hours, the German capital
was pounded by wave after wave of American bombers.”
• When the first American bomber hit Berlin, the last bomber in the
formation was just over Holland.
• Travis L. Ayres, The Bomber Boys (New York: NAL Caliber, 2005).

41. Moving Underground
http://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/american&military_history/Doolittle-
Black%20Monday-Need%20for%20Innovation-1944.pdf

42. Diversity of Concepts of Operations
• Daylight Strategic Precision Bombing from the UK
• Bombing Deep Within Germany for Strategic
Effect
• Tactical Bombing Support for Preparation for D-
Day
• When Italian Bases were Established Targeted
Fuel Facilities Supporting the German War
Machine
• Shuttle bombing missions to support Soviet
tactical operations, on the way back, and
strategic targets on the way to Russia

43. Operation Frantic

44. Operation Frantic (2)
• U.S. 15 Air Force bombers and fighters based in Italy would bomb
targets in the East, land in Russia, refuel & rearm, and then hit
another target on the way back.
• 8th Air Force bombers based in the UK did the same.
• The Soviets provided three bases in the Ukraine; heavy bombers at
Poltava and Mirgorod and the fighters at Piryatin.
• The Fifteenth Air Force flew its first mission on 2 June 1944 when
130 B-17 Flying Fortresses, escorted by 70 P-51 Mustangs, bombed
the rail yards at Debreczen, Hungary.
• The Eighth Air Force flew its first mission on 21 June when 123 B-
17s bombed the Schwartzhelde synthetic oil plant at Ruhland, south
of Berlin and 21 attacked the Elsterwerda industrial area.

45. Operation Frantic (3)
• But, unknown to the Americans, a Luftwaffe He-177
followed the B-17s to the Russian base at Poltava and after
midnight Luftwaffe aircraft attacked and destroyed 43 B-
17s and damage 26.
• Frantic flights continued into September with success, but
the June 21st attack by the Luftwaffe on Poltava had
revealed the Achilles heal of the operation.
• The Soviets lacked radar working with an organized air
defense with night fighters to defend the bases, and they
would not turn that role over to the Americans. That made
the operation too risky and it was discontinued.
• But, despite some prickly spots, it marked the high point of
East-West direct co-operation during World War II

46. B-17 Variants
• The B-17 evolved over time to correct
deficiencies and to add capabilities as the
Luftwaffe changed tactics to attack the heavy
bomber formations.
• The normal path for combat airpower is to
evolve over time, to overcome problems or to
work more effectively in concepts of
operations, and war is an interactive deadly
game which requires technical adaptation.

48. The Coming of the B-17
• The United States in the 1930s was much like
now. Even more so than now, the US was a
reluctant investor in new military technologies.
• Past is Prologue For Many Decision-Makers and
Funders of Military Equipment; But the Future is
Always Coming and Requiring Change.
• When the Army Air Corps held a competition for
a bomber, the B-17 lost among many other things
because it was in the words of a senior
Department of War official “too much of a plane
for one man to handle.”

50. The Coming of the B-17 (2)
• The B-17 won the initial fly off
• And the Army Air Corps ordered 65 even before
the competition was over
• But on the second flight the plane crashed and
the B-17 was formally excluded from competition
because it had crashed (due to pilot error)
• Douglas B-18 Bolo was the eventual winner, and
the Army ordered 133 of these less capable
planes.

51. B-17 Crash
October 30, 1935; B-17 crashes on take-off from Wright Field, Ohio, due to
locked control surfaces, killing early military aviator and test pilot Maj. Ployer
Peter Hill.

52. The Coming of the B-17 (3)
• Although opinion in the AAF placed special stress
on strategic bombardment as the prime mission
of an air force, the dominant view in the War
Department General Staff was officially stated as
late as October 1938 in these terms: "the Infantry
Division continues to be the basic combat
element by which battles are won, the necessary
enemy field forces destroyed, and captured
territory held."
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/VI/AAF-VI-
6.html).

53. The Coming of the B-17 (4)
• There were significant doctrinal differences beyond a ground-
centric focus
• There were bomber versus fighter advocates
– E.g. Chennault on the priority of pursuit over bombardment
– In 1938, “The War Department decided that the funds earmarked for
the purchase of the first 67 B-17s could buy as many as 300 attack
aircraft….Consequently, the purchase of B-17Cs, already on order, was
postponed beyond June 1940.”(Bernard C. Nalty, The US Army Air
Forces in World War II (Honolulu, Hawaii, University Press of the
Pacific, 2005).
– Which led in part to downplaying how the two capabilities might be
effective combined elements for operations
• The USN saw bombers as useful for coastal defense but not for
maritime operations
– CNO Admiral King argued that the Navy was responsible for all air
operations out of sight of land

54. But the Bomber Remained in Play
• Maj. Gen. Benjamin D. Foulois, then chief of the Air Corps endorsed
the recommendation of one of his field commanders to procure at
least a few of the B-17s for an operating squadron to conduct
advanced aeronautical tests.
• The War Department approved an Air Corps contract with Boeing in
January 1936 for thirteen of the aircraft fitted with superchargers
and other equipment for high-altitude flight.
• In spite of losing the competition and crashing, Brigadier General
Augustine Warner Robins, chief of the Air Material Command
believed in the plane.
• He persuaded the War Department to buy 13 of the planes under
the experimental provisions of Section K of the National Defense
Act (1926).

55. Remaining in Play (2)
• At the same time, General Frank M.
Andrews, commander of the General
Headquarters (Army) Air Force weighed in with
his support.
• 13 test models of the Flying Fortress received
funding.
• At the same time, Hitler decided against the
Luftwaffe developing or buying a medium heavy
bomber.
• By a thread, history was being made by two
different decisions in Berlin and Washington.

56. How It Was Bought
• The Statute that shaped the way for the procurement of aircraft
was the Air Corps Act of 1926. The Act provided for competition
among designs and encouraged aircraft development.
• It also permitted the Secretary of War to buy experimental aircraft
at his discretion and without competition and to award to the
lowest responsible bidder in a competition.
• The Act also established policy for different types of
contracts, including making cost-plus percentage of cost contracts
illegal. It encouraged the use of cost-plus incentive type contracts in
order to accommodated design changes
• Major Nannette Benitez, World War II Production: Why Were the B-
17 and B-24 Produced in Parallel? Air Command and Staff
College, March 1997.

57. Context for Acquisition in the 1930s
• As early as 1937, the 2nd Bombardment Group was equipped with
B-17s, using them to perfect techniques of high-altitude, long-
distance bombing.
• Since the only foreseeable use of such a capability was the defense
of the nation's shores from enemy fleets, the U.S. Navy fiercely
opposed the Army's development of the four-engine bomber. By
way of a compromise the Army ordered 39 more B-17B's.
• The Air Corps' air doctrine envisioned large formations of fast, high-
flying B-17 bombers, defending themselves against enemy fighters
with their own massed machine-gun fire.
• Fighter escort was considered impractical, and even undesirable by
the bomber advocates. In a way, any admission that fighter escort
was necessary would imply that enemy fighters posed a real threat
and that the Flying Fortresses were not invulnerable.
• http://acepilots.com/planes/b17.html

58. The Importance of Leadership
• The Boeing Company was Central to the Gamble to
Build the B-17
• The Boeing leadership literally bet the future of the
company on what would become the B-17 as did
several of its test pilots with their lives
• And airpower advocates in the Army Air Corps
cultivated leaders who would become central to the
War Effort
– E.g. Col. Frank Andrews, core advocate of strategic
bombing brought General George Marshall to the Boeing
plant in 1938 and Marshall learned first hand why the B-17
was the priority not the B-18

59. The Roosevelt Administration and The
Coming of the B-17
• At the urging of the War Department, Congress in June
1936 authorized the Air Corps to increase its strength to
the 2,320 aircraft that the Drum and Baker Boards had
recommended, but the administration refused to budget
enough money in fiscal 1937 to begin the process
• Purchase of B-17 Cs was put on the back burner in 1938 in
favor of “restricted to that class of aviation designed for the
close support of ground troops and the protection of that
type of aircraft”-in effect attack aircraft, fighters, and twin-
engine bombers.
• Enter Munich and Roosevelt recommends in November
1938 an Air Corps of 20,000 planes and an
• industry capable of producing 24,000 planes a year.

60. Plus Cą Change
• Air Corps officials did not wish to risk irritating congressmen, who seemed
inclined to judge air defense in terms of numbers of aircraft on hand rather
than in terms of quality, performance, or tactical suitability.
• An episode in April 1937 will illustrate this tendency. The chairman of the
Appropriations Subcommittee that handled War Department estimates
admitted to the House that he had no great familiarity with military
matters.
• Nevertheless, he recorded his protest against the "unwise" tendency in the
air arm to build larger and more expensive bombers such as the Boeing B-
17.120 Less than two months later the effect of this type of criticism
became evident. The estimates for fiscal year 1938 called for 177 B-18
twin-engine bombers and 13 B-17 four-engine bombers.
• After operational tests by tactical units, the GHQ Air Force "strongly
recommended" that only the B-17 be procured. To buy the more expensive
bomber, however, would be to buy fewer bombers.

61. Plus Cą Change (2)
• In the face of congressional criticism, Air Corps officers
felt it was "impractical" to do so unless the Secretary of
War was personally willing to "accept the responsibility
to Congress" for decreasing the total number of aircraft
in the 1938 budget.
• Estimates for the four-engine bombers were thus
deferred until fiscal year 1939. As a consequence the B-
17 units, considered vital to the nation's defense, were
not procured until the crisis had already arrived.
• Irving Brinton Helley, Jr. Buying Aircraft: Materiel
Procurement for the Army Air Forces (Washington DC:
Center for Military History, 1989).

62. B-18s Versus B-17s
• The War Department Insisted on B-18s Versus
B-17s
• B-18s were underpowered and inadequately
armed and were replaced as the fortunes of
war determined the outcome – B-17s and B-
24s were the wartime bombers
• “The B-18 was, as a practical matter, obsolete
when it left the assembly line.”
• But it was cheaper!

63. And the B-18 at War
• After Pearl Harbor, the B-18 was pressed into service as
a major asset in Hawaii
• “We were told that there were three B-18s flyable and
we would take off and find the Jap fleet. I was scared.
I thought of my slim chances of coming out of this
flight alive should we run into some Jap fighters. Hell!
They’d blow us right out of the sky in the these very
vulnerable B-18s.”
• Comment from then Private Schaeffer as quoted in
Gene Eric Salecker, Fortress Against the Sun (Combined
Publishing, 2001), p. 54.

65. Why No Upsurge in B-17 Buys?
• The evidence available indicates that the failure
of the air arm to present its best case to Congress
arose in part from the position of the Air Corps
within the War Department.
• “…It was repeatedly asserted that advances in air
strength were desirable but not advisable if such
gains could only be made at the expense of other
arms and services.
• Irving Brinton Helley, Jr. Buying Aircraft: Materiel
Procurement for the Army Air Forces (Washington
DC: Center for Military History, 1989).

66. The B-17 Started as Pacific Asset
• The B-17 was part of the Pearl Harbor and Philippine kick-
offs to World War II
• It was the B-17 anticipated landings in Pearl Harbor on
December 7th that confused American airmen about the air
traffic identified early on December 7th
• And the largest contingent of B-17s was on the Philippines
for the defense of the island against the Japanese
threatened invasion
• There were 107 P-40 Tomahawk fighters and 35 B-17
bombers were in place in the Philippines at the time of the
Japanese attack
• The first Japanese Zero shot down by a US aircraft was by a
B-17

67. The B-17 in Defense of the Philippines
• The B-17 was sent to the Philippines by Arnold and Marshall for the
long-range defense of the US forces in the Philippines
• To bolster the air arm in the Philippines, in July, Major General
Henry ‘Hap' H. Arnold, Chief of the Army Air Forces, proposed
reinforcing the Philippine Army Air Corps by sending four heavy
bombardment groups and 2 pursuit squadrons to the Philippines.
General George C. Marshall, United States Army Chief of
Staff, echoed this concern when on 1 December he stated, "We must
get every B-17 to the Philippines as soon as possible." However, by
the time hostilities broke out 6 days later, only 107 P-40 Tomahawk
fighters and 35 B-17 bombers were in place in the Philippines.
• http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/macarthursfail
ures.aspx

68. A Reality Check
• November 1941: General Marshall as confident that the B-
17s in the Philippines could easily fend of any Japanese
attack and set “the paper cities of Japan” ablaze
• Small problem: the B-17s had NEVER trained for such a
mission
• Meanwhile, Major General Brereton, the newly designated
Air Commander of the Philippine Air Forces had a different
view
– With only one airfield he believed the B-17s were extremely
vulnerable to elimination by attack from the air
– Which of course turned out to be the case
– Amazingly, in spite of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the B-17s were
caught on the ground a day later and in a 45 minute attack Clark
Field was ruble

69. Preparation
• General Brereton flew to Clark field on December
6th to plan a potential bombing mission ataings
Formosa should war break out
• Because of lack of military intelligence the plan
was to attack Takao Harbor based on assumption
of presence of Japanese transports and warships.
• Exercise was planned for December 8th for the
entire 19th Bomber Group
• Unfortunately, the Japanese had real war plans
and real military intelligence

70. A Defining Moment
• In response to the attack on the Philippines, a single B-17 attacked a
Japanese capital ship and severly damaged it
• On the way back a pack of zero fighters pursued it and assumed
from the amount of gunfire and its speed that the single plane was
many more
• As a Japanese pilot involved in the destruction of that B-17
commented: “This was our first experience with the B-17 and the
airplane’s unusual size caused us to midjudge our firing distance. In
addition, the bomber’s extraordinary speed, for which we had
made no allowance, threw our range finders off.”
• “We had never heard of unescorted bombers in battle.”
• Gene Eric Salecker, Fortress Against the Sun (Combined
Publishing, 2001), p. 71 and 66.

71. But the B-17 Was Not Used Correctly
• MacArthur as Army Chief of Staff Clearly Considered the Army Air Corps as
an extension of the ground forces and as a fairly limited coastal defense
force
• He was at the forefront of resisting the formation of an independent air
arm and forcefully underscored that aviation could not independently
influence the outcome of war
• And when his chance came to use the B-17s to strike Japanese airpower
on Formosa, in spite of several hours of fog which kept the Japanese on
the ground, did not send the B-17s to do the one mission which they could
have done, namely to bomb the Japanese aircraft on the ground in
Formosa
• Would MacArthur have changed his views if there were enough B-17s in
the fleet to demonstrate the “theory” of strategic bombing or of having an
“independent effect”?
• The aircraft was procured as an experiment and was considered by many
to be just that and not an essential element of the American warfighting
capabilities

72. MacArthur Left the Philippines on a B-
17
• MacArthur and his family and his staff left the
Philippines for Australia aboard a B-17

73. The Aircraft

74. http://www.b17.org/history/history.asp

81. The Nose Section
• This is a B-17E model. It does not show the gun on the
other side. The navigator fired both guns depending on
the direction of the attack. The bombardier’s gun fired
forward. In the later G model both side guns were
removed and two guns mounted in a chin turret under
the bombardier’s position. The platform where the
Norden Sight was carried in combat can be plainly seen
directly in front of the bombardier’s seat.
• Comer, John (2012-01-05). Combat Crew: The Story of
25 Combat Missions Over Europe From the Daily
Journal of a B-17 Gunner (p. 17). John Comer. Kindle
Edition.

82. The Cockpit
• The two seats for the pilots can be seen clearly. Behind
them the flight engineer stood in the top turret. The
two turret guns were fired by a Sperry Computing
Sight, which automatically compensated for lead and
all other aiming factors if it was tracked smoothly and if
the wing length of the fighter was properly set into the
sight. The door seen at the rear opened into the bomb
bay. Access to the nose section was a constricted space
under the pilots’
• Comer, John (2012-01-05). Combat Crew: The Story of
25 Combat Missions Over Europe From the Daily
Journal of a B-17 Gunner (p. 17). John Comer. Kindle
Edition.

83. The Radio Room
• You can see the radio operator’s work table at right front (right side
of the picture). The door at that point opened into the bomb bay.
The door to the rear (left side of the picture) opened into the rear
of the aircraft, called the waist.
• Since this is an early drawing the radio gun is not shown. It was
mounted in an open hatch about five feet long and two feet wide.
This created an enormous draft super-frigid air gushing through like
a storm.
• Imagine working a radio wireless key with the air temperature 50
below zero. The later G model enclosed the hatch space with clear
plastic with the gun mounted into it. That saved many R.O.s from
freezing injuries
• Comer, John (2012-01-05). Combat Crew: The Story of 25 Combat
Missions Over Europe From the Daily Journal of a B-17 Gunner (p.
23). John Comer. Kindle Edition.

84. The Bomb Bay
• Note the narrow catwalk down the middle of the bay. The
two vertical supporting beams in the center of the walk
created a narrow space that caused the crew men all kinds
of trouble trying to squeeze through it due to their bulky
high-altitude clothing and the combat gear they all wore.
There was not enough space to get through it wearing a
chute, so when bombs malfunctioned we had to work on
that walk without a chute knowing that if we lost our
oxygen supply we could tumble out into the air. The bomb-
bay doors down below would open at a weight under 75
pounds.
• Comer, John (2012-01-05). Combat Crew: The Story of 25
Combat Missions Over Europe From the Daily Journal of a
B-17 Gunner (pp. 17-23). John Comer. Kindle Edition.

85. The Waist and Tail
• The door at the front of the waist opened into the radio room. Just behind
this door the ball turret was hung with about two-thirds of the turret
suspended below the aircraft where the worst of the flak burst.
• The gun that can be seen is mounted in an open window. With two such
openings the wind storm was terrific, causing countless freezing
casualties.
• The later G model closed the two windows with clear plastic and mounted
the guns through the thick plastic.
• This cut back on frostbite, but the waist guns were no longer as effective
as the earlier open window mountings.
• The tail position was, as you can see, quite crowded. It was so deadly to
fighters that they did not attack us very often from the rear.
• Comer, John (2012-01-05). Combat Crew: The Story of 25 Combat Missions
Over Europe From the Daily Journal of a B-17 Gunner (p. 23). John Comer.
Kindle Edition.

86. The Luftwaffe’s B-17

87. The Luftwaffe (2)
• The Germans captured at least one B-17 Flying Fortress. Operated by the KG 200 special Luftwaffe
unit, it was perhaps intended to be used for long range reconnaissance. Instead, it was flown by its
Luftwaffe crew to Spain in 1944 where it (and they) were interned by the Spanish government.
• This B-17F-27-BO (41-24585; PU-B) was crash-landed near Melun, France by a crew from the 303d
Bombardment Group on December 12, 1942 and repaired by Luftwaffe ground staff.
• The Germans also captured a B-24 Liberator bomber, which was for some reason flown to join an
Allied B-24 raid in February 1945:
• On a February 1945 741st BS mission against Vienna, "Before reaching the target, a 'phantom' B-24
joined our formation.…The P-51s [of the Tuskegee Airmen] came in and over the radio…the German
phantom pilot said he was from the 55th Wing and got lost. But the 55th Wing wasn't flying that
day and the plane had no tail markings. The fighter pilot squadron leader gave him some bursts
from his guns and warned the phantom to turn back. He added, 'You will be escorted.' The German
pilot replied that he could make it alone. The P-51 pilot said: 'You are going to be escorted whether
you want it or not. You're going to have two men on your tail all the way back and don't try to land
in Yugoslavia.'…The phantom left with his escort and we heard nothing further from the event.”
• http://borepatch.blogspot.com/2011/03/luftwaffes-b-17.html

88. BQ-17 and Its Relatives
• The B-17 was converted to a drone and used to monitor atomic
weapons explosions and their effects;
• Aphrodite and Anvil were the World War II code names of United
States Army Air Forces and United States Navy operations to use B-
17 and PB4Y bombers as precision-guided munitions against
bunkers such as those of Operation Crossbow.
• The plan called for B-17 aircraft which had been taken out of
operational service – various nicknames existed such as
"robot", "baby", "drone" or "weary Willy”– to be loaded to capacity
with explosives, and flown by radio control into bomb-resistant
fortifications such as German U-boat pens and V-weapon sites
• The 3205th Drone Group operated obsolete aircraft during the
1950s as radio-controlled drones as aerial targets for various tests.
It was the primary post-World War II operator of surplus B-17G
Flying Fortress aircraft.

89. Drones (2)
• Many surplus B-17s ended their lives as remotely-controlled drones. During the war, a few war-weary B-17s
(mainly Fs) were used as remotely-controlled bombs for attacks against heavily-defended German targets. The
designation BQ-7 was applied to these conversions.
• The first peacetime use of drone Fortresses was as unmanned aircraft that would fly near or even through
mushroom clouds during atomic tests. In May of 1946, sixteen B-17s were withdrawn from stores for conversion
into drones with the addition of radio, radar, television, and other equipment. Six other Fortresses were converted
as drone controllers. Most of the work was performed by the San Antonio Air Depot at Kelly Field in Texas. The
first of these nuclear tests took place in the South Pacific under the code name *Operation Crossroads*. When the
USAF was established in 1947, the director aircraft became DB-17Gs, while the drones became QB-17Gs. Further
nuclear tests occurred through 1952. The drones were operated primarily by the 3205th Drone Group out of Eglin
AFB, Florida.
• The designation QB-17L was assigned to surplus B-17Gs that were modified during the postwar years for use as
radio-controlled drones for various tests, usually as targets for missiles. They were sometimes equipped with
television cameras to provide a target's view of the approaching missile. They were usually painted in red-orange
Day-Glo paint with black diagonal stripes for increased visibility. Their serial numbers were prefixed by an
O, indicative of their obsolete status. Sources for QB-17 conversions were new B-17s that had went directly to
storage upon delivery from the factory, B-17s that had been retired from other duties, and DB-17 drone directors
that were now surplus to requirements.
• Most of the QB-17Ls met their end as flying targets for the early Nike Ajax surface-to-air missile or for the Hughes
Falcon air-to-air missile. Often, the QB-17L would be the subject of intentional near misses to preserve the drone
for as many missions as possible. Other QB-17Ls were used for various unmanned but destructive tests such as
the ditching tests carried out by NACA in San Francisco Bay. The last DB-17/QB-17 mission was flown on August
6, 1959, with 44-83727 being blown out of the sky by a Falcon missile fired by a F-101 Voodoo. The last QB-17L
was destroyed by an IM-99 Bomarc missile in 1960.
• http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b17_24.html

90. Boeing B-17 drone at Eniwetok 1948