ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

Fantastic photos.

Wanderer2 Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains

A wonderful photodocumentary, if that's the correct term.

As already noted, the losses of the men flying bombers from England into Germany was appalling. I recall reading somewhere that they sustained the highest mortality rate of any units anywhere in WWII, ground or air.

There is a movie I can highly recommend to anyone interested in this subject. It's named "Memphis Belle" and tells the true story of one of these B 17 crews struggling to complete their 25th and last mission. There is one very moving scene that I will never forget. All 10 of the crew are in one jeep on their way to the flight line for that last mission and they are singing "Amazing Grace." I'm not a religious person but I had tears streaming down my face when watching that scene.

Thanks very much to the photographer and to the OP for making this available for us to see.

Mike

Cape Codder Loc: Cape Cod

My dad was a radioman and waist gunner on a B17. He flew 19 missions by the end of the war. We were lucky to have him back as the rate of losses was 20-30%. He flew out of the same base as the Memphis Belle and knew those guys. Dad just died at 92. I was glad to see the B17 photo.

Fifteen years ago I went with him to revisit his old base in England and we also went to the Air Museum in Duxford nearby. There was a B17 in one of the hangars. It was a wonder that any of them came back! It looked so fragile.

JaiGieEse Loc: Foxworth, MS

Not completely correct. It is a well documented fact that a flight of unarmed B-17's - the earlier model - flew into Pearl Harbor in the midst of the Japanese attack. These planes were dispersed all over the Hawaiian Islands because of the attacks underway on their planned landing fields. Some of these same aircraft went right to the Pacific theatre, some actually transiting Wake Island just prior to the Japanese capture of that atoll. They might not have actually dropped ordnance before that French raid, but they were certainly flying under combat conditions.

vulture

Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor took place on December 7th 1941, so I'll stand by my earlier observation.

JaiGieEse Loc: Foxworth, MS

Well, yeah, you're right, technically. But then, the B-17 was largely still under development prior to 1941. As in, they were not ready for combat. BEFORE Dec. 7, the decision was made to begin deployment of the early models, hence their flying into Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack. The version of the B-17 featured in this slide show is the later version, the one that earned the moniker "Flying Fortress."

The B-17 was not in action in the 1939-1941 years, but it was most assuredly there from the very beginning of America's involvement in that war. But then, no one here has claimed otherwise.....

vulture

Didn't want to make this a big thing, it's just that we were bombed-out of our house, and the row of houses behind ours totally destroyed, before the US even recognised that there was a war.