how many b17s were shot down during ww2

Craven, Wesley Frank, James Lea Cate and Richard L. Watson, eds. [95] The raid helped allay British doubts about the capabilities of American heavy bombers in operations over Europe. [30] One suggestion adopted was the use of a preflight checklist to avoid accidents such as that which befell the Model 299. Top Image:Close-up of a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber in flight, 1944-45. A retirement ceremony was held several days later at Holloman AFB, after which 44-83684 was retired. [116] A series of disputed discussions and decisions, followed by several confusing and false reports of air attacks, delayed the authorization of the sortie. The campaign in North Africa began with a daring Anglo-American commando raid code-named Operation RESERVIST. [7] Attacks began in April 1943 on heavily fortified key industrial plants in Bremen and Recklinghausen. General Ira C. Eaker and the Eighth Air Force placed highest priority on attacks on the German aircraft industry, especially fighter assembly plants, engine factories, and ball-bearing manufacturers. [40] The Y1B-17A had a maximum speed of 311 miles per hour (501km/h), at its best operational altitude, compared to 239 miles per hour (385km/h) for the Y1B-17. Though many were shot down, many more severely damaged aircraft were able to return their crews safely to base. ", Frisbee, John L. "Valor: A Tale of Two Texans.". Even though it was the Japanese who attacked the Americans at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the official policy of the United States and its allies was to defeat Germany first. In 1942, when Eighth Air Force heavy bombers based in Britain first went operational in Europe, they mostly flew what were termed "milk runs" over France, accompanied by fighter escorts. They were also used to provide search and rescue support for B-29 raids against Japan. [85] These were augmented starting in July 1942 by 45 Fortress Mk IIA (B-17E) followed by 19 Fortress Mk II (B-17F) and three Fortress Mk III (B-17G). The project came to a sudden end with the unexplained midair explosion over the Blyth estuary of a B-24, part of the United States Navy's contribution as "Project Anvil", en route for Heligoland piloted by Lieutenant Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., future U.S. president John F. Kennedy's elder brother. For the video game, see. Tora! Later versions carried four or even six MG 151/20 cannon and twin 13mm machine guns. The Americans believed the B-17, with the Norden bomb sight, could be that bomber. Operational History. On 28 May 1962, N809Z, piloted by Connie Seigrist and Douglas Price, flew Major James Smith, USAF and Lieutenant Leonard A. LeSchack, USNR to the abandoned Soviet arctic ice station NP 8, as Operation Coldfeet. ", Frisbee, John L. "Valor: The Quiet Hero.". in 1970, and in Memphis Belle with Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, Billy Zane, and Harry Connick Jr. in 1990. The operation, which involved remotely flying Aphrodite drones onto their targets by accompanying CQ-17 "mothership" control aircraft, was approved on 26 June 1944, and assigned to the 388th Bombardment Group stationed at RAF Fersfield, a satellite of RAF Knettishall. Though initially surviving the impact, Hill died within a few hours, and Tower on 19 November. the B-17 was a fourengine heavy bomber aircraft used by the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. Brereton planned B-17 raids on Japanese airfields in Formosa, in accordance with Rainbow 5 war plan directives, but this was overruled by General Douglas MacArthur. The operation did not work as expected, with 90 Squadron's Fortresses being unopposed. And by 27 April 1945, 2 days after the last heavy bombing mission in Europe, the rate of aircraft loss was so low that replacement aircraft were no longer arriving and the number of bombers per bomb group was reduced. (06/2. Other factors such as combat effectiveness and political issues also contributed to the B-17's success. (U.S. Air Force photo) The Boeing B-17 was one of the primary heavy bombers built by the United States during World War II. coast. Gift of Peggy Wallace, 2010.308.082. [citation needed] After the defeat in Java, the 19th withdrew to Australia, where it continued in combat until it was sent home by General George C. Kenney when he arrived in Australia in mid-1942. [156] The three bombers, which still contained their top secret Norden bombsights, were ferried to Japan where they underwent extensive technical evaluation by the Giken, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force's Air Technical Research Institute (Koku Gijutsu Kenkyujo) at Tachikawa's air field. [37] Scheduled to fly in 1937, it encountered problems with the turbochargers, and its first flight was delayed until 29 April 1938. Crashed Model 299. [122] Five of the Japanese fighters strafing the B-17 aircrew were promptly engaged and shot down by three Lightnings, though these were also then lost. [157], Following the end of World War II, the B-17 was quickly phased out of use as a bomber and the Army Air Forces retired most of its fleet. [11] It combined features of the company's experimental XB-15 bomber and 247 transport. 21) rocket mortar by the Luftwaffe in mid-August 1943 promised the introduction of a major "stand-off" style of offensive weapon one strut-mounted tubular launcher was fixed under each wing panel on the Luftwaffe's single-engine fighters, and two under each wing panel of a few twin-engine Bf 110 daylight Zerstrer aircraft. Wiki User. [178] During the war, the largest offensive bombing force, the Eighth Air Force, had an open preference for the B-17. A large radome for an S-band AN/APS-20 search radar was fitted underneath the fuselage and additional internal fuel tanks were added for longer range, with the provision for additional underwing fuel tanks. The RAF entered World War II with no heavy bomber of its own in service; the biggest available were long-range medium bombers such as the Vickers Wellington, which could carry up to 4,500 pounds (2,000kg) of bombs. However, the use of this rigid formation meant that individual aircraft could not engage in evasive maneuvers: they had to fly constantly in a straight line, which made them vulnerable to German flak. The first bomber to hit Japan after Pearl Harbor, the B-25 Mitchell was found in every theater of the war and was a rugged, multipurpose bomber beloved by her aircrew for its survivability and ease to fly. Air Corps doctrine dictated bombing runs from high altitude, but they soon found only 1% of their bombs hit targets. While the US had less than 200 at the start of the war, more than 12,000 B-17s were produced by the end and served in every theater. [citation needed], Another early World War II Pacific engagement, on 10 December 1941, involved Colin Kelly, who reportedly crashed his B-17 into the Japanese battleship Haruna, which was later acknowledged as a near bomb miss on the heavy cruiser Ashigara. Of the 12,731 B-17s built, about 4,735 were lost during the war. Smith and LeSchack parachuted from the B-17 and searched the station for several days. The 4x Hornet Radial Engines could produce 750 HP at 2100 meters. How many B-17s were shot down during World War 2? As the production line developed, Boeing engineers continued to improve upon the basic design. The Name These losses amounted to 25 percent of the attacking force. Although the prototype was company-owned and never received a military serial (the B-17 designation itself did not appear officially until January 1936, nearly three months after the prototype crashed),[29] the term "XB-17" was retroactively applied to the NX13372's airframe and has entered the lexicon to describe the first Flying Fortress. The adoption of the 21 cm Nebelwerfer-derived Werfer-Granate 21 (Wfr. The four-engine plane typically carried a crew of 10, several of whom. That aircraft was the Boeing B-17, better known as the Flying Fortress. ", "Durable B-17s hard for pilots to forget: Love for plane outweighs bitter memories of war", "World War II War Production Why Were the B-17 and B-24 Produced in Parallel? Copy. [74] In July 1942, the first USAAF B-17s were sent to England to join the Eighth Air Force. Browne, Robert W. "The Rugged Fortress: Life-Saving B-17 Remembered.". [20] The YB-17 incorporated a number of significant changes from the Model 299, including more powerful Wright R-1820-39 Cyclone engines. Sakai, Saburo with Martin Caidin and Fred Saito. [67], By the time the definitive B-17G appeared, the number of guns had been increased from seven to 13, the designs of the gun stations were finalized, and other adjustments were completed. They also desired, but did not require, a range of 2,000mi (3,200km) and a speed of 250mph (400km/h). In October 1943 the Swiss interned Boeing B-17F-25-VE, tail number 25841, and its U.S. flight crew after the Flying Fortress developed engine trouble after a raid over Germany and was forced to land. John Keema of the 390th Bomb Group said, "No matter the target they were defending, they were balls to the wall. It was not until the advent of long-range fighter escorts (particularly the North American P-51 Mustang) and the resulting degradation of the Luftwaffe as an effective interceptor force between February and June 1944, that the B-17 became strategically potent. Blast damage was caused over a radius of 5 miles (8.0km). [160][168] PB-1Ws continued in USN service until 1955, gradually being phased out in favor of the Lockheed WV-2 (known in the USAF as the EC-121, a designation adopted by the USN in 1962), a military version of the Lockheed 1049 Constellation commercial airliner. But help soon arrived when the North American P-51 Mustang began to reach the beleaguered Eighth Air Force in large enough numbers to make a difference. The U.S. produced an amazing 276,000 aircraft during World War II, with 16 new B-17s per day rolling out of the factories per day by April 1944. Peak USAAF inventory (in August 1944) was 4,574 worldwide.[76]. [118] [160] At first, these aircraft operated under their original USAAF designations, but on 31 July 1945 they were assigned the naval aircraft designation PB-1, a designation which had originally been used in 1925 for the Boeing Model 50 experimental flying boat. Serial number 44-85784 is the last airworthy B-17 in the United Kingdom and is based at the Imperial War Museum Duxford. Hess, William N. and Jim Winchester. [14] The most distinct mount was in the nose, which allowed the single machine gun to be fired toward nearly all frontal angles. Yenne, Bill, "B-17 at War": p. 16; Zenith Press; 2006: B-17 Erection and Maintenance Manual 01-20EE-2. Major General Frank Maxwell Andrews of the GHQ Air Force believed that the capabilities of large four-engined aircraft exceeded those of shorter-ranged, twin-engined aircraft, and that the B-17 was better suited to new, emerging USAAC doctrine. [115] When the FEAF received word of the attack on Pearl Harbor, General Lewis H. Brereton sent his bombers and fighters on various patrol missions to prevent them from being caught on the ground. [34][35] The 13th Y1B-17 was delivered to the Material Division at Wright Field, Ohio, to be used for flight testing. With its usual nose-mounted armament of four MK 108 cannons, and with some examples later equipped with the R4M rocket, launched from underwing racks, it could fire from outside the range of the bombers' .50in (12.7mm) defensive guns and bring an aircraft down with one hit,[147] as both the MK 108's shells and the R4M's warheads were filled with the "shattering" force of the strongly brisant Hexogen military explosive. [101] While the attack was successful at disrupting the entire works, severely curtailing work there for the remainder of the war, it was at an extreme cost. Instead of building models based on experimental engineering, Boeing had been hard at work developing their bomber and now had versions ready for production far better than would have been possible otherwise. One of the two "E" Flying Fortresses was photographed late in the war by U. S. aerial recon. World War 2 . During a bombing mission on July 5, 1943, Warner shot down 7 German fighters, for which he was given the Distinguished Service Cross. The Me 262, however, had moderate success against the B-17 late in the war. Army Air Forces. The prototype B-17, with the Boeing factory designation of Model 299, was designed by a team of engineers led by E. Gifford Emery and Edward Curtis Wells, and was built at Boeing's own expense. This made a formation of bombers a dangerous target to engage by enemy fighters. "Anniversary talks: Battle of the Bismarck Sea, "B-17 Pilot Training Manual (Formation). [102] Of the 291 attacking Fortresses, 60 were shot down over Germany, five crashed on approach to Britain, and 12 more were scrapped due to damage a loss of 77 B-17s. There were 12,731 B-17s built between 1936 and 1945. They could also pose as ground controllers themselves with the intention of steering nightfighters away from the bomber streams. ", "Chapter 18: Rouen-Sotteville, No. In 1964, the latter film was made into a television show of the same name and ran for three years on ABC TV. The aircraft went through several alterations in each of its design stages and variants. [92] On 17 August 1942, 12 B-17Es of the 97th, with the lead aircraft piloted by Major Paul Tibbets and carrying Brigadier General Ira Eaker as an observer, were close escorted by four squadrons of RAF Spitfire IXs (and a further five squadrons of Spitfire Vs to cover the withdrawal) on the first USAAF heavy bomber raid over Europe, against the large railroad marshalling yards at Rouen-Sotteville in France, while a further six aircraft flew a diversionary raid along the French coast. Losses to flak continued to take a high toll of heavy bombers through 1944, but the war in Europe was being won by the Allies. 7071, 83, 92, 256, 26869. He finished the war with 9 enemy planes destroyed. [128], At their peak, 168 B-17 bombers were in the Pacific theater in September 1942, but already in mid-1942 Gen. Arnold had decided that the B-17 was unsuitable for the kind of operations required in the Pacific and made plans to replace all of the B-17s in the theater with B-24s (and later, B-29s) as soon as they became available. Categories Video World War II Related Topics World War II These aircraft were painted dark blue, the standard Navy paint scheme which had been adopted in late 1944. [12], The first flight of the Model 299 was on 28 July 1935 with Boeing chief test-pilot Leslie Tower at the controls. This was operated by German-speaking radio operators who were to identify and jam German ground controllers' broadcasts to their nightfighters. [166] Perhaps the most famous B-17, the Memphis Belle, has been restored with the B-17D The Swoose under way to her World War II wartime appearance by the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Wiki User. Regardless, the USAAC had been impressed by the prototype's performance, and on 17 January 1936, through a legal loophole,[27][28] the Air Corps ordered 13 YB-17s (designated Y1B-17 after November 1936 to denote its special F-1 funding) for service testing. While the US Fifteenth Air Force also had B-17s, the most famous group to fly them during the war was the US Eighth Air Force based out of England. However, the USAAF continued using the B-17 as a day bomber, despite misgivings by the RAF that attempts at daylight bombing would be ineffective. The small force of B-17s operated against the Japanese invasion force until they were withdrawn to Darwin, in Australia's Northern Territory. In contrast, of the nearly 1,100 Cobras delivered to the Army, 300 were lost. Gift of Peggy Wallace, 2010.308.044, Group of B-17 bombers over Europe with vapor trail flowing behind them, 1944-45. In 1957 the surviving B-17s had been stripped of all weapons and painted black. Frisbee, John L. "Valor: 'Valor at its Highest'". [44][note 3] The aircraft went on to serve in every World WarII combat zone, and by the time production ended in May 1945, 12,731 aircraft had been built by Boeing, Douglas, and Vega (a subsidiary of Lockheed).[45][46][47][48]. As many as half a million civilians remained in Stalingrad when the Germans approached in the late summer of 1942. However, B-17s were operating at heights too great for most A6M Zero fighters to reach. Thomas, Geoffrey J., and Ketley, Barry, "KG 200 The Luftwaffe's Most Secret Unit", Hikoku Publications Ltd., Crowborough, East Sussex, UK, 2003, Correll, John T. " Rendezvous With the 'Rex'. [144], After examining wrecked B-17s and B-24s, Luftwaffe officers discovered that on average it took about 20 hits with 20 mm shells fired from the rear to bring them down. "Smithsonian Panel Backs Transfer of Famed B-17 Bomber.". The Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) in the European Theater was one of Americas bloodiest campaigns. The Soviets restored 23 to flying condition and concentrated them in the 890th bomber regiment of the 45th Bomber Aviation Division,[153] but they never saw combat. As the Americans flew further into Europe and Germany, the missions became deadlier. His views were supported by Eighth Air Force statisticians, whose mission studies showed that the Flying Fortress's utility and survivability was much greater than those of the B-24 Liberator. As the war intensified, Boeing used feedback from aircrews to improve each new variant with increased armament and armor. 504-528-1944, Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy, Black Volunteer Infantry Platoons in World War II, Kasserine Pass: German Offensive, American Victory, Gallantry against Great Odds: LTC George Marshall and Operation RESERVIST, Prelude to Liberation: Genesis of American Amphibious Assault in the ETO, Black Thursday October 14, 1943: The Second Schweinfurt Bombing Raid, An Exercise in Depravity: The Establishment of the Warsaw Ghetto, Unsung Witnesses of the Battle of Stalingrad, Stalingrad: Experimentation, Adaptation, Implementation. An overwhelming majority of them were women and children. Wagner, Ray, "American Combat Planes of the 20th Century", Reno, Nevada, 2004, Jack Bacon & Company, This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 16:26. [81][82][83], By September, the RAF had lost eight B-17Cs in combat and had experienced numerous mechanical problems, and Bomber Command abandoned daylight bombing raids using the Fortress I because of the aircraft's poor performance. [143] This durability, together with the large operational numbers in the Eighth Air Force and the fame achieved by the Memphis Belle, made the B-17 a key bomber aircraft of the war. The B-17F also carried light gray flash letters "RD" and "I" on either side of the fuselage's Swiss national insignia. The B-17 was reported as shot down by observers, but it survived and brought its crew home without injury. Frisbee, John L. "Valor: Courage and Conviction". Japanese activity forced them to divert from Hickam Field to Bellows Field. Although initially deemed repairable, 40-2049 (11th BG / 38th RS) received more than 200 bullet holes and never flew again. [176] In a well-publicized mission on 12 May of the same year, three Y1B-17s "intercepted" and took photographs of the Italian ocean liner SS Rex 610 miles (980km) off the Atlantic coast. [138][139][140] Wally Hoffman, a B-17 pilot with the Eighth Air Force during World WarII, said, "The plane can be cut and slashed almost to pieces by enemy fire and bring its crew home. "Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress: Queen of the Skies". Gift of Peggy Wallace, 2010.308.022, B-17 Flying Fortresses in formation over Europe, 1944-45. Of the 13 YB-17s ordered for service testing, 12 were used by the 2nd Bomb Group of Langley Field, Virginia, to develop heavy bombing techniques, and the 13th was used for flight testing at the Material Division at Wright Field, Ohio. The B-17, for all its armor and firepower, was simply unable to continue to fly unescorted against swarms of German fighter aircraft and their sophisticated air defense system. On 1 June, Seigrist and Price returned and picked up Smith and LeSchack using a Fulton Skyhook system installed on the B-17. At the Arcadia Conference, held in Washington, DC, from December 24, 1941 to January 14, 1942, the Western Allies agreed to a Germany First policy to govern global strategy, but the question where to engage Germany, and when, remained unsettled. National Archives and Records Administration - ARC Identifier 2870 / Local Identifier 18-C-406-2 - AIR WAR IN EUROPE - War Department. 2012-04-07 03:53:31. German ground-based antiaircraft artillery and 300 fighters shot down 60 of the aircraft, with 600 crewmen killed or taken prisoner, the largest Army Air Force loss of the war to date. The Fortress came under fire from Japanese fighter aircraft, though the crew was unharmed with the exception of one member who suffered an abrasion on his hand. Bigger WWII bombers like e.g. The FEAF lost half its aircraft during the first strike,[117] and was all but destroyed over the next few days. This. Of the 291 attacking Fortresses, 60 were shot down over Germany, five crashed on approach to Britain, . [172] N809Z was used to perform a Skyhook pick up in the James Bond movie Thunderball in 1965. In 1946 (or 1947, according to Holm) the regiment was assigned to the Kazan factory (moving from Baranovichi) to aid in the Soviet effort to reproduce the more advanced Boeing B-29 as the Tupolev Tu-4. The Coast Guard PB-1Gs served throughout the 1950s, the last example not being withdrawn from service until 14 October 1959. [20] While the air corps was still enthusiastic about the aircraft's potential, army officials were daunted by its cost;[24] Douglas quoted a unit price of $58,200 (equivalent to $916,000 in 2021) based on a production order of 220 aircraft, compared with $99,620 (equivalent to $1,568,000 in 2021 ) from Boeing. 206 Squadron RAF sank U-627 on 27 October 1942, the first of 11 U-boat kills credited to RAF Fortress bombers during the war.[86]. The "D" model, later deemed an obsolescent design, was used in Japanese training and propaganda films. [160][170], B-17s were used by the CIA front companies Civil Air Transport, Air America and Intermountain Aviation for special missions. The first combat use of the B-17 came not with the USAAC (U.S. Army Air Forces after 1941), but with the Royal Air Force. By the end of the war, the B-17 was an obsolete aircraft which had been surpassed by another Boeing bomber, the B-29 Superfortress. Frisbee, John L. "Valor: First of the Few". Footage from Twelve O' Clock High was also used, along with three restored B-17s, in the 1962 film The War Lover. Lieutenant General James Doolittle, commander of the 8th, had ordered the second Schweinfurt mission to be cancelled as the weather deteriorated, but the lead units had already entered hostile air space and continued with the mission. [17], At the fly-off, the four-engined Boeing's performance was superior to those of the twin-engined DB-1 and Model 146.

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