The Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” was a heavy bomber aircraft used by the Unites States Army Air Corps during World War II. Equipped with four engines, numerous gun emplacements and a superior “flight ceiling”, the B-17 was the favourite bomber of the US Air Corps, despite its inferior range and bomb capacity to the B-24 Liberator, primarily because of its ability to sustain heavy damage and still brings its crew back home alive.
Initially used in risky daylight raids against targets in Germany, the B-17 sustained crippling casualties from the Luffwaffe fighters. As the war progressed and the Allies designed fighters capable of escorting the bombers into enemy territory, the B-17’s raids became more successful, doing crippling damage to German industry and cities.
Over 12,000 B-17s were constructed during World War II and approximately a third of them were lost in combat.
