The Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" is the most famous aircraft of the World War Two. Everyone knows her name, although this bombers surpass any other U.S. aircraft in number of units built and missions flown yet. That may have something to do with its - "Flying Fortress" - which gives the aircraft an aura of invincibility. B-17 was truly a fortress, but of course by no means invincible.
An attack on a Flying Fortress was a big risk for any fighter pilot. Unlike other types of bombers in the B-17 gradually all the blind spot had been eliminated with machine guns for the defense. Depending on the variant, the B-17 was armed with ten to thirteen 12.7 mm machine guns - any attacker expected a deadly hail of bullets. The Flying Fortress was also able to carry up to 5800 kg bombs. She was extremely popular with her crews because of their durability, quiet attitude, despite their size, great maneuverability and, not the least, because they could still remain in the air with the very severe damage like no other aircraft. In total, nearly 13,000 B-17 of all variants were built.
Boeing B-17F[]
| Boeing B-17F "Flying Fortress" | |
|---|---|
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| General Historical Information | |
| Place of origin | USA |
| Speed | 462 km/h |
| Category | Heavy Bomber |
| General Ingame Information | |
| Debut | Debut in Forgotten Hope mod |
| Used by | USA |
| Bombs | 8x 500kg (4.000 kg!) /42x 45kg |
| Seat 2 | 1x 12.7 mm Twin .50 M2HB Browning 2000 rounds |
| Seat 3 | 1x 12.7 mm Twin .50 M2HB Browning 2000 rounds |
| Seat 4 | 1x 12.7 mm .50 M2HB Browning 600 rounds |
| Seat 5 | 1x 12.7 mm .50 M2HB Browning 600 rounds |
| Seat 6 | 1x 12.7 mm .50 M2HB Browning 600 rounds |
| Historical Picture | |
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A single B-17 can give the ground troops of her team valuable support with carpet bombing of enemy bases and fighting enemy soldiers with her down-firing aircraft weapons. The pilot can drop only 12 bombs once before he has to return to the airfield. However, the destructive power still remains the largest among all available bombers. The pilots of attacking aircraft should beware of additional arnament at the rear, added in Forgotten Hope, which makes B-17 not an easy target for enemy fighters. Nevertheless, the gunners of B-17 should always keep an eye on the sky all around.
Boeing B-17G[]
| Boeing B-17G "Flying Fortress" | |
|---|---|
| File:B-17 G.jpg | |
| General Historical Information | |
| Place of origin | USA |
| Speed | 462 km/h |
| Category | Heavy Bomber |
| General Ingame Information | |
| Debut | Debut in Forgotten Hope mod |
| Used by | USA |
| Bombs | 8x 500kg (4.000 kg!) |
| Seat 2 | 1x 12.7 mm Twin .50 M2HB Browning 2000 rounds |
| Seat 3 | 1x 12.7 mm Twin .50 M2HB Browning 2000 rounds |
| Seat 4 | 1x 12.7 mm .50 M2HB Browning 600 rounds |
| Seat 5 | 1x 12.7 mm .50 M2HB Browning 600 rounds |
| Seat 6 | 1x 12.7 mm .50 M2HB Browning 600 rounds |
| Historical Picture | |
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Generally considered the definitive B-17 design, all changes made in the B-17F production run were incorporated into the final version. These included a Bendix remotely operated chin turret, an innovation derived from the unsuccessful YB-40 escort version, bringing defensive armament to 13 .50 caliber (half-inch or 12.7 mm) machine guns, and for late production blocks, a revised tail gun position (referred to as the "Cheyenne" configuration after the modification center where it was introduced)[4] in which the guns were mounted in a remotely operated turret. Some 8,680 were built, and dozens were converted for several different uses.
Derived vehicles in FHSW[]
- Boeing YB-40 "Flying Fortress": special escort version - armament was enhanced to the 36 .50 M2HB Browning MG's, but bombload was hevily reduced to only 4 500 lbs boms.
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