B17 'Flying Fortress'

Much more appealing to the public eye than the B24 Liberator, the 'Fort' was nevertheless a very rugged plane. Sometimes absorbing enormous amounts of damage and still getting home. Although called a "Flying Fortress' the bomber was still vulnerable to enemy fighters, even after adopting the 'box' formations, which grouped several B17s together so that their guns could cover each other, American bomber losses were very heavy until the introduction of long range fighters like the P51 Mustang (called 'Little Friends' by the grateful bomber crews) The British believed in night time 'carpet' bombing (plastering a huge area on and around the target) whereas the Americans favored a more pinpoint daylight campaign made possible by the accurate Norden Bombsight. The planes seen here are early D or E models with the 'Meatball' insignia on the fuselage and wings (this was later changed to the star & stripes insignia as it was easily confused with the Japanese rising sun roundel) The penultimate B17 was the G model, equipped with a 'chin turret' for forward defensive fire and left unpainted in its factory delivered, bright aluminum skin, as by this time camouflage was not considered necessary because the allied airforces had achieved complete control of the air in all theaters.