Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress: First Flight, 80 Years Ago Today

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

The first flight of the Model 299 was on 28 July 1935 with Boeing chief test-pilot Leslie Tower at the controls. Richard Williams, a reporter for the Seattle Times, coined the name "Flying Fortress" when the Model 299 was rolled out bristling with multiple machine gun installations. The most unusual gun emplacement was the nose installation (see note for description and drawing), which allowed the single machine gun to be fired toward almost any frontal angle that an approaching enemy fighter could take to attack the B-17.

Boeing was quick to see the value of the name and had it trademarked for use. Boeing also claimed in some of the early press releases that Model 299 was the first combat aircraft that could continue its mission if one of its four engines failed. On 20 August 1935, the prototype flew from Seattle to Wright Field in nine hours and three minutes at an average cruising speed of 252 miles per hour (406 km/h), much faster than the competition.

Go to 3:30 to see the rollout:

Boeing Aircraft Plant Seattle Washington in WW II



Boeing women workers at Seattle in WWII



FDR touring Seattle B-17 plant on September 22, 1942



B-17 Fortresses lined up outside Boeing Seattle plant

[Sherman A1]

1. My favorite

and happily I have been able to tour several of the ones that still make the circuit over the last few years.

This year in September I am hoping to catch FiFi the last flying B-29 when it visits an airport near where I live.

Thanks for posting!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. Tiny inside, aren't they?

Me: one owned by the Collings Foundation, when it stopped in Billings, Montana, in July 1993.

Fifi flew over the National Mall in May. I'll put up some pix tomorrow.

[Sherman A1]

6. indeed

Saw the Collings Foundation tour last year with the B-24, B-17 and the TP-51 together. Haven't been able to justify the money for a flight, but did manage to go up in the EAA Ford Trimotor about 10 years ago with a couple of buddies, it was a blast.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. My favorite Trimotor picture:

The picture was taken in spring 1969. The locomotive was the Nickel Plate 759, headed west on the Golden Spike Centennial, in Ohio. A photographer named Mike Eagleson hired the Trimotor to pace the train, and he was in an adjacent aircraft. At the time Trimotors were still in use, island-hopping in Lake Erie.

[Lurks Often]

18. Here is a clip of a Ford Trimotor doing aerobatics

It's a sign of how fast aviation technology was advancing that we went from the For Trimotor in 1927 to the DC-3 8 years later in 1935

[The Second Stone]

7. I flew on the plane (Nine O Nine) a couple months ago

a B-17. I think Collings were the people behind it. Expensive, but I'm glad I did it. I can't imagine 12 hour flights daring death to come and get you in one of these.

[A HERETIC I AM]

12. There is a second (soon to be) airworthy example. "Doc"

http://www.b-29doc.com/index.php

[eppur_se_muova]

25. Uh, B-29 "Superfortress" there. nt

[A HERETIC I AM]

27. If you'll take note, I was responding to Sherman A1 who said:

"This year in September I am hoping to catch FiFi the last flying B-29 when it visits an airport near where I live.

I KNOW the difference between a B-17 and a B-29, thanks.

[MineralMan]

2. My father, who will be 91 in October, was

a B-17 pilot in Italy and North Africa near the end of the war. He was just 20 at the time.

[cherokeeprogressive]

28. That's incredible. Tell him thanks from me.

You should have made him write memoirs, so his experiences will live on forever.

[MineralMan]

30. I will tell him you said that.

A Library of Congress oral history team visited him last year and recorded several hours of information from him. They'll let us know when it's available. I've heard it all over the years. He was a first officer and pilot while still 19. One of the youngest in WWII.

After the war in Europe ended, he ferried people from place to place, before flying his B-17 back to the US with passengers. They flew from Algeria to Brazil and then to Panama, before flying the last leg to Florida.

Quite a story.

[Number9Dream]

33. My father was a co-pilot with the 379th Bomb Group, Kimbolton, England.

Glad your father is still with us.

My dad was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He passed away in 2009. A few years earlier, the two of us went through a restored B-17 at a local airport. Excellent!

http://379thbga.org/taps.htm

[MannyGoldstein]

3. For process nerds...

The B-17 was the first plane to have a checklist. Before that, multiengine planes crashed often.

[pokerfan]

9. I'm a big believer in checklists

Human beings just aren't wired to handle more than two or three things at a time,

According to historian and writer Atul Gawande, the concept of a pre-flight checklist was first introduced by management and engineers at Boeing Corporation following the 1935 crash of a prototype B-17 at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, killing both pilots. Investigation found that the pilots had forgotten to disengage a critical wing adjustment mechanism prior to take-off. Life magazine published the resulting lengthy and detailed B-17 checklist in its 24 August 1942 issue.

[MannyGoldstein]

14. A good friend of mine, now deceased, was at NASA from

before the first astronauts were selected through the end of Apollo. One day I asked him how the @#$& they could go from a tiny suborbital flight to landing on the Moon in just 8 years.

"Checklists and simulations" was his immediate answer.

[A HERETIC I AM]

10. Actually, a crash of a model 299 is what prompted the use of a checklist

In other words, the crash of a B-17 precursor is the reason they came about. The crash killed Boeing Chief Test Pilot, Leslie Tower as well as Army test pilot Major Ployer Peter Hill.

http://www.atchistory.org/History/checklst.htm

Another article backing up the story

http://fly.historicwings.com/2012/10/from-the-ashes-of-the-model-299/



Edit to say I must have been putting my post together when Pokerfan was doing the same.

Hat tip to Pokerfan

[LanternWaste]

4. The engineering on the multi-engine aircraft of WW2 simply amazes me.

The engineering on the multi-engine aircraft of WW2 simply amazes me. Below is a photo of a B-17 of the 355th Tactical Bomber Group that took dramatic flak damage to its central fuselage over Germany in 1943 and *still* managed to fly back to England and land.

[A HERETIC I AM]

11. Search Google images for "Damaged B-17's "

You're right, the amount of damage some of them took and still managed to make it home is amazing.

Here's one missing most of it's vertical stabilizer and a good portion of it's port horizontal stabilizer;

[oneshooter]

13. I would imagine that the tail gunner had a pants load when he got home.

B-17 check list.

http://www.303rdbg.com/checklist-cockpit.html

[A HERETIC I AM]

17. I imagine he did!

And thanks for the link to the checklist.

Cool!

[MannyGoldstein]

16. This F-15 made it home

But the F-15 has tremendous thrust to play with, WWII planes didn't.

[Lurks Often]

19. Thrust, the fuselage acting as a lifting body

along with a very good pilot.

More: http://theaviationist.com/2014/09/15/f-15-lands-with-one-wing/

While not mentioned I am inclined to think that the fly by wire and computers helped the pilot keep the plane airborne

[MannyGoldstein]

20. Was the F-15 fly by wire?

Seems a little old for that.

[Lurks Often]

21. No it did not. And congrats, it's rare for anyone to catch me making a mistake like that.

Apparently the early F-15's had a "have a mechanical and an analog electronic flight control system" https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-022-DFRC.html

and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly-by-wire#Analog_systems

I get the sense it wasn't true fly by wire, but it wasn't quite the hydraulic systems of it's predecessors either.

[MannyGoldstein]

24. I assumed digital fly by wire

I know a little about digital signal processing, and figured flightable computers of that era couldn't have enough horsepower. Hadn't thought about analog, but even analog circuits circa 1970s wouldn't be fast enough to handle rapid changes as in a dogfight. At least that's my wild guess.

[Lurks Often]

26. Dug a little deeper and found this

"The lightly loaded airframe is combined with an equally impressive flight control system. A hydraulically actuated, mechanically controlled flight control system is augmented by an electronic system known as the Control Augmentation System (CAS). This system takes the stick inputs from the pilot and deflects the flight controls in the proper direction at the proper rate for optimal aircraft handling. This system allows the pilot to fly the aircraft to the limits of its capabilities without losing control of the aircraft. The CAS can also actuate the flight controls via pilot input if the hydro-mechanical system is damaged."

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/f-15-design.htm

The fact that certain designs remain a viable combat aircraft 35-40 years later is definitely a tribute to their designers

[oneshooter]

15. My Grandmother, Moms mom, worked at Boeing in California in WW2.

Mainly installing wiring and radio panels.

Granddad worked as a sheet metal specialist at Lockheed, designed and built the jigs for the wings and fuselage

[Octafish]

22. That's a row of B-17Gs lined up outside the Boeing Seattle plant.

Chin Turrets.



Y1B-17...

[Octafish]

23. Someone's gotta let Omaha Steve know...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026991786

[Omaha Steve]

31. I just got home

Thanks for letting me know about this.

[Octafish]

34. If you are in Ohio...

...Dayton is home to the National Museum of the USAF. Located on Wright-Patterson AFB, they cover the Army days, too.

Unbelievable history (and fun) for those who love flight and those who love the people whose sacrifices have kept our country free.

[rickford66]

29. I got inside "The Memphis Belle"

It is the one used in the movie and airshows, not the actual one on display on Mud Island. It was a couple days before 911. Me and two other engineers were finishing up some simulator work at the National Guard installation in Memphis. We saw the B17 outside and asked if we could take a closer look. We were surprised when we were told we could get inside for a look. We talked to the pilot (one of several volunteers who fly it). He said hop in but our gear is in the tunnel so you can't get to the tail and the ball turret is off limits. As he went off to lunch he said just don't turn on the fuel pumps. We have a few leaks. We noticed everything was stock, except for the up-to-date radios. My Dad flew in B24's in WWII so this gave me a little indication of what his service time was like. A couple days later it was 911 and things changed very quickly. We watched both towers come down on the TV in their operations room. We had to be escorted on and off the base whereas before we just mentioned someone's name who would vouch for us. I never did get to see the real Memphis Belle. The park was always closed around the times I was there.

[bcool]

32. My uncle William Borman flew in B-17s...

...but unfortunately was killed when his plane, Casey Jones, was shot down on a raid to Munster.

https://books.google.com/books?id=RJNRAnAcsX4C&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=b-17+casey+jones&source=bl&ots=6W-rdgvZjD&sig=WsJg1m1NpnplXW51abexuosKhYw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDIQ6AEwBWoVChMIm6PO36D_xgIVA4sNCh2t0AhK#v=onepage&q=b-17%20casey%20jones&f=false