The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was a four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC), introduced in the 1930s. Although the original order was for 13 B-17s. the B-17 Flying Fortress went on to eventually evolve through numerous design advancements totalling 12,731 machines.
The B-17 was primarily employed by the USAAF in the daylight precision strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial, civilian, and military targets. The Eighth Air Force based in England, complemented the RAF Bomber Command's nighttime area bombing to help secure air superiority over Germany. The B-17 also participated, to a lesser extent, in the War in the Pacific, where it conducted raids against Japanese shipping and airfields.
With a service ceiling greater than any of its Allied contemporaries, the B-17 established itself as a superb weapons system, dropping more bombs than any other U.S. aircraft in World War II. Of the 1.5 million tonnes of bombs dropped on Germany by U.S. aircraft, 640,000 were dropped from B-17s.
Source:
Info: Wikipedia
Profile: American Aircraft of World War II
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