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The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry (prototype Model 299/XB-17) outperformed both competitors and exceeded the air corps' performance specifications.
The tail gunner is located below the fin. All B-17s have a retractable tail-wheel landing gear. The B-17G weights 32,720 pounds (14,840 kg) empty. Fully armed and loaded, a B-17 can weigh 65,600 pounds (29,800 kg) Payloads ran between 4,000–5,000 pounds (1,800–2,300 kg), but they could carry up to 17,600 pounds (8,000 kg) for shorter missions.
Metal in the airframe near the right tailplane was the only thing keeping the tail section, housing the rear gunner, attached to the aircraft. [3] [7] The fighter broke apart, leaving some pieces in the bomber's fuselage. [7]
Lincoln Broyhill (1925–2008), tail-gunner on a B-17 in the 483rd Bombardment Group. He received a Distinguished Unit Citation and set two individual records in a single day: (1) most German jets destroyed by a single gunner in one mission (two), and (2) most German jets destroyed by a single gunner during the entirety of World War II.
The fuselage of Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, 3 February 2024, placed next to the museum's F/A-18C Hornet and EA-6B Prowler.. Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby, originally Shoo Shoo Baby, is a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress in World War II, preserved and currently awaiting reassembly at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.
The most obvious change was the larger, completely new vertical stabilizer, originally developed for the Boeing 307 Stratoliner, and the addition of a tail gunner. Experience had shown the Flying Fortress was vulnerable to attack from behind. The redesign added a tail gunner's position and a powered, dorsal turret located just behind the cockpit.
Alan Eugene Magee (January 13, 1919 – December 20, 2003) was a United States airman during World War II who survived a 22,000-foot (6,700 m) fall from his damaged B-17 Flying Fortress. [1] He was featured in the 1981 Smithsonian Magazine as one of the 10 most amazing survival stories of World War II.
Nine-O-Nine was a Boeing B-17G-30-BO Flying Fortress heavy bomber, of the 323d Bombardment Squadron, 91st Bombardment Group, that completed 140 combat missions during World War II, believed to be the Eighth Air Force record for most missions without loss to the crews that flew her.