1. 1. B-17 World War II PhotosGetting a Sense of What it Was Like
2. 2. Viewing the B-17 As part of my preparation for participating inthe June 2013 event honoring the B-17 inNoirmoutier, France, I sought some originalphotos or good copies from original negativesto shape a portfolio of images to understandwhat the plane and the experience was like What follows are some of those originals orcopies made from the original negatives
3. 3. Flying Close to the Deck
4. 4. Flak Attack
5. 5. Flak and Bomb Drop Over Germany
6. 6. 96th Bomb Group Bombing Bremen
7. 7. Bombing of Avions Potez Aircraft Factory at Meaulte,France
8. 8. Bombing Through the Formation
9. 9. Original AP Photo of Bombing StrikingBridge Ahead of Train in France
10. 10. B-17 Ice Cold Katy during RAID onRocket Center in Peenemnde.
11. 11. Abbeville/Drucat Airfield Bombing
12. 12. Original AP Photo of AbbevilleBombing August 19, 1942
13. 13. B-17 on the Ground
14. 14. 10 B-17s Lined Up for Take-Off91st Bomb Group
15. 15. Bombardier Station on Nine ONine
16. 16. Nine O Nine At UK Base
17. 17. Making a Point
18. 18. Looking Out From theCockpit
19. 19. Front Gunner Position
20. 20. Returning from Mission
21. 21. A B-17 Factory
22. 22. Variants and Factories With Boeing, Vega, and Douglas all building B-17s in different locations(Boeing was in Seattle, WA while Douglas and Vega were both in SouthernCalifornia) it was impossible not to have differences in aircraft built ondifferent production lines at different times and in different locations. It was thus decided to come up with a system to determine what model ofB-17 the aircraft was along with when it was built and where it was built.Block numbers would begin with the model of the aircraft such as B-17F.Next would be the Block number itself and would be started with thenumber one. For example: B-17F-1 would be the first block of B-17Fs. These numbers would be increased by five per block so that the secondblock of B-17Fs would be numbered B-17F-5. The reason for this is so thatif changes were made at the field modification centers that the planeswere shipped too following production that these modifications could betracked as well using the block number.
23. 23. Variants and Factories (2) Lastly, the plant ID was incorporated into the block numberas well. BO was Boeing in Seattle, DL was the Douglas plantin Long Beach, CA, and VE was the Vega plant inBurbank, CA. With the B-17F, there were 27 line blocksfrom Boeing, 17 from Douglas, and 11 from Vega. So, B-17F-80-BO was the 12th block from Boeing, B-17F-25-DL was the 6th block from Douglas and B-17F-30-DL wasthe 7th block from Vega. Other improvements to the B-17F were made to thelanding gear, brakes, oxygen system, bomb racks, ballturret, bombsight/autopilot link, astro-compos, and a nosebubble in the upper nose section.
24. 24. B-17 Transfer to UK 1944
25. 25. B-17 in flight with Missing Part of Wing onBombing Raid
26. 26. Damaged But Landed
27. 27. Damaged But Landed (2)
28. 28. Damaged But Landed (3)
29. 29. Damaged But Landed (4)
30. 30. B-17s in Formation
31. 31. In Formation (2)
32. 32. In Formation (3)
33. 33. In Formation (4)
34. 34. In Formation (5)
35. 35. Taking Off
36. 36. In Route
37. 37. In Route (2)
38. 38. In Route (3)