I Wanted Wings B-17Bs- something I hadn't noticed

[Chris Brame]

I was watching this movie for the umpteenth time and picked up on something unusual: Two of the 19th Bomb Group B-17Bs, number 14 and 32, have no side blisters:





Had to tile the last image together from several frames to get the actors out of the shot.
I'm guessing these were in the process of getting the C/D style conversions done.
Has anyone ever tied in these tail codes to serials?

[aerovin2]

I think you have found another of those obscure but quite interesting little mysteries. Hard to see why the early style blisters would have been removed and skinned over only to be replaced with the B-17C flat panels later. That there are two like this is even more intriguing.

[terveurn]

These early B-17's are an interesting study.

It is not well known, but the entire waist gunners blisters was mounted on a rectangular panel which could just be dropped in during assembly (the fuselage had a rectangular cut-out)

Making the switch over from blister to flat a simple matter of removing the panel and interchanging with the later mount.

What is also not well known is the entire B-17 fuselage on the early ships was one piece and did not have the break at the radio shack.

The is also someplace, a B-17B a photo with complete B-17G armament (chin turret, late sperry upper and ball turret). I can easily find the B-17B photo with just the early upper and sperry belly, but the later experimental version is even more radical.

[menards2]

What is also not well known is the entire B-17 fuselage on the early ships was one piece and did not have the break at the radio shack.

Interesting learning fact of the day. Did the production-break aft if the radio room speed up assembly lines?

[terveurn]

Y1B-17 production

Y1B-17 production small.jpg

[Chris Brame]

What is also not well known is the entire B-17 fuselage on the early ships was one piece and did not have the break at the radio shack.

Interesting to know, and it raises another question. Where would the tail of The Swoose have been separated to have the tail from 40-3091 installed? This must have been a bigger job than I thought.

[terveurn]

What is also not well known is the entire B-17 fuselage on the early ships was one piece and did not have the break at the radio shack.

Interesting to know, and it raises another question. Where would the tail of The Swoose have been separated to have the tail from 40-3091 installed? This must have been a bigger job than I thought.

From what I read, the structure that was replaced was the empennage and not the rear fuselage.

But I often wondered about the stories about Ole' Betsy and how much of them were true. For instance, she was less then 8-months old when this tail replacement was accomplished due to corrosion. Same with the story of the inboard wings being swapped out with B-17B wings due to corrosion

The best urban story regarding Ole' Betsy was that when they flew her from Mine Field (today's LAX) to Washington DC, the co-pilot thought she looked too good and took an ax to simulate combat damage....

What is not in dispute is that she flew between 15 & 25 combat missions

[terveurn]

and now these appear on the interweb

B-17B production photos

note: the empanage break just fwd of the vert stab is visible.

B-17B production line small.jpg

B-17B production line 2 small.jpg