The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater of Operations and dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during World War II.

The following is an extensive catalogue of the variants and specific unique elements of each variant and/or design stage of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, a heavy bomber used by the United States Army Air Forces and other Allied air forces during World War II.

The B-17 Flying Fortress first saw combat with the RAF, in the summer of 1941. Its initial performance as a day bomber was disappointing, but it remained in use with Coastal Command and with No.100 Group until the end of the war.

The B17 was nicknamed the Flying Fortress” because it was heavily armed and could survive and inflict heavy damage. This aircraft was the primary bomber of the U.S. Eighth Air Force in the last years of World War Two. Formations of over 850 US bombers flew over Europe in the daytime while RAF Bomber Command carried on the night offensive.

2019年4月3日 · The promise of the well defended Boeing B-17 led initially to a small order for the -C model for the RAF; the first to reach the Boscombe Establishment, AN53 I. was delivered on 15 April 1941.

The B-17 was stable and easy to fly, and many heavily damaged aircraft returned to England. German experiments revealed that 450g of high explosive were needed to ensure destruction of a B-17, and they commissioned development of a 55mm gun to carry such a …

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and the Consolidated B-24 were the United States' two standard heavy bombers until the arrival of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress in 1944. The B-17 served in almost every theater of World War II, but it was used mostly by the US Eighth Air Force, based in the UK, to bombard German targets.

2024年4月8日 · The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was a four-engined heavy bomber plane used by the air forces of the United States and Britain during the Second World War (1939-45). The B-17 had unusually heavy defensive armament, 13 machine guns in total in some models.

2023年2月12日 · Flying Fortress RAF Service. The B-17 first saw its first frontline service with the Royal Air Force in 1941. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the RAF bomber fleet had mostly consisted of twin-engine, medium-range bomber aircraft.

This list of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress operators is a list of users who flew and operated the Boeing B-17. The B-17 was among the first mass-produced four-engined heavy bombers. A total of more than 12,000 were made, making its use as …