Aero Vintage Books

I just added this post to the aerovintage website. For readers here, this is not new information. But on Facebook and other sites, and in some books too, you see these things repeated over and over. I thought it worth throwing eight (actually nine) of them together with explanations.

https://www.aerovintage.com/2024/03/24/ ... -the-b-17/

Bonus Myth #10: A B-17 That Has A Chin Turret Can’t Be a B-17F

Mostly true, but there's at least one exception: 42-6030.

Myth #10 all the late B-17F's had chin turrets....

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Let's add to the B-17 history:

1) The B-17 was designed as a long range medium bomber.

2) If WWII had started 1-year earlier or 1-year later, the B-17 would have been retired as obsolete as the F4F or TBD-1; Boeing was in talks with Consolidated to license the B-24 (in 1941) but because the B-17 was available and in production in January 1942 the USAAC kept her in production as a necessary stop gap.

3) The B-24 continued in combat roles (1954 as the PB4Y-1 and Indian AF until 1968) long after the B-17 was retired in 1946.

Bonus Myth #10: A B-17 That Has A Chin Turret Can’t Be a B-17F

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42-6050 was fitted with a chin turret as annotated on the IARC. It was then assigned to the School of Applied Tactics, Orlando FL, and later to Yuma.