B-17 Turbo Prop

[tf34mech]

I read a article in a Military Aviation magazine about a B-17 that was converted after the war to Turbo Prop engines. The guy had two he was going to convert but the first one crash if I remember right and the second was never done. I think the use was for firefighting. Does anyone having any pictures or information on this plane? Thanks
Sean

 

[Micdrow]

These two pictures came from the book B-17 by warbird tech.

 

[ccheese]

Good find, Paul..... thanks...

Charles

 

[ToughOmbre]

Here's another pic.

TO

 

[Micdrow]

Good find, Paul..... thanks...

Charles

Thanks Charles,

Cool picture ToughOmbre, hadnt seen that one before. Thanks

 

[Graeme]

Very interesting photographs guys. Thanks.

 

[tf34mech]

Thank you for finding these pictures. This is a very interesting aircraft. I found the magazine that the article was in. It was July 2006 issue of Fly Past. I assume that posting a scan of the article or photos would be a no no?
Sean

 

[Micdrow]

Thank you for finding these pictures. This is a very interesting aircraft. I found the magazine that the article was in. It was July 2006 issue of Fly Past. I assume that posting a scan of the article or photos would be a no no?
Sean

Posting pictures and quoting the source of the photo is fine. There are instances where you can not find the source. Usually they are posted as unknown and if a source found is usally corrected by another member.

 

[tf34mech]

Here are some pics of the July issue of Fly Past.

 

[ghilt]

The converted B-17F used Rolls-Royce Dart turbines same as what were on the Vickers Viscount....They had named her "The Batmobile" prior to her crash.

 

[10tweaker]

One of the Forts used for the tests is now "restored" as "Liberty Belle" and was done by Tom Riley at his former base in Kissimmee, FL. I saw the plane back in 03 when I was there and have a few pictures--I'll try to find those and post them. If I'm not mistaken, Air Classics magazine had a nice write-up not too long ago about the plane as well as the history of the 5-engine project.


Jim

 

[SoD Stitch]

Wow! Yeah, I guess the B-17 would have been a little "overpowered" with four turboprops; as a guess, I would say the turboprops put out about twice the SHP as the "standard" Wright Cyclones.

 

[Elvis]

Well, at 8 lbs. / gal., Water is one of the heaviest naturally occurring "chemicals" (for lack of a better word) around.
I imagine that plane held a LOT of water, so I bet there was some internal reinforcement of the structure, when it was re-designated as a fire bomber.
At that point, it may have been found that the original powerplants were a bit...er, lacking in power, trying to take off with a full load.

...and 38 years later, Wenatchee STILL looks like that!


Elvis

 

[mkloby]

Wow! Yeah, I guess the B-17 would have been a little "overpowered" with four turboprops; as a guess, I would say the turboprops put out about twice the SHP as the "standard" Wright Cyclones.

OVERPOWERED - there's no such thing! I guess it depends on which specific model of the turboprops went in for how much shp they generated.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

OVERPOWERED - there's no such thing!

Unless the engines start tearing apart the airframe!

 

[mkloby]

Unless the engines start tearing apart the airframe!

See - that still doesn't mean it's overpowered. It means that the airframe is structurally weak!

 

[FLYBOYJ]

See - that still doesn't mean it's overpowered. It means that the airframe is structurally weak!

Ya got a point!

 

[Trebor]

wow, that ain't somethin' you see every day. more B-17s might have been spared if they were all turboprops. then again that wasn't even invented! LOL