Issue 8 - Boeing B-17: Editors Introduction
By: Web Editor
Rolling Thunder - Welcome to my first issue of Aviation Classics as editor. Firstly, I would like to record my thanks to Jarrod Cotter for his work in creating and editing this superb magazine, he is a remarkable man and a great aviation historian. He is also a good friend. Jarrod has moved on to take over the reins at Aeroplane and everyone on Aviation Classics wishes him the very best of luck with his new endeavour. Cheers, buddy.
That’ll be me, then. While running the RAF and other websites for 12 years, the option to fly regularly was a delight of the job. - Tim Callaway, Editor
For my first topic, the story of the B-17 Flying Fortress is revealed here in detail. It is an amazing tale of genius, tragedy, determination and courage. The story proves that this is no longer merely an aeroplane, it has transcended to become an icon. During World War Two in the occupied countries of Europe, the massed formations of B-17s passing overhead on their way to strike targets became a symbol that they were not alone, that one day the oppression they were suffering would end.
To the crews of those bombers, the B-17 was the aircraft that would get them home when all seemed lost, its ability to absorb damage became legendary. Wally Hoffman, an 8th Air Force B-17 pilot is recorded as saying, “The plane can be cut and slashed almost to pieces by enemy fire and bring its crew home.” To many, the cartoon on this page, created by Lt. Col. C. Ross Greening while a prisoner-of-war in Stalag Luft I at Barth in Germany between 1944 and 1945, captures the essence of the Flying Fortress; heavily armed with defensive weapons, built to absorb enemy fire, and able to deliver its deadly load with impunity.
The truth behind the cartoon is recorded on these pages. It took a great deal of operational experience and many lives to establish the B-17’s wartime reputation. At one time, the aircraft and the daylight bombing policy it was designed to implement were both considered doomed to failure. Why the B-17 and the policy did not fail is largely due to the inventiveness and determination of the people who designed, built, planned for and operated this aircraft. It is to those people that this issue is respectfully dedicated.
The flying characteristics are another factor that endeared it to the crews, flying for many hours in close formation would have been incredibly fatiguing in a less well-mannered machine. The best quote I have heard on the subject was from Colonel Robert K Morgan, the pilot of the ‘Memphis Belle’ who simply said, “She was a Stradivarius of an airplane...” I can do naught but agree.
In putting together this issue, I have tried to follow Jarrod’s excellent lead of mixing history with incident, the well known with the unusual. I hope that you will feel that I have succeeded in this, and that there are a few surprises held in these pages even if you know the aircraft well. I certainly learned a great deal that is new to me, and thank all the historians and contributors for their sterling efforts. To sum up this aircraft, and this issue, I will leave the last word to General Carl Spaatz, the Commander of the US Strategic Air Forces in Europe in 1944:
“Without the B-17, we might have lost the war.”
Tim Callaway
Editor
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Current Issue: The Hawker Hurricane
Two UK fighters have gone from being mere machines to become icons. The first is the Supermarine Spitfire, the second is the subject of the next issue of Aviation Classics... the Hawker Hurricane.
Designed by Sydney Camm, it represented the bridge between biplane and monoplane technology and was originally known as the ’Monoplane Fury’, after the Fury biplane fighter of 1931. The type formed the backbone of RAF Fighter Command, with 18 squadrons in service when the Second World War began in September 1939. Hurricanes saw action over France and the Low Countries before the Battle of Britain began in June 1940, during which they were to shoot down more enemy aircraft than all the other air and ground defences put together. Later, it went on the offensive in Europe – as a night intruder and fighter bomber. Large numbers fought over Malta, the Western Desert, Burma, India and the Far East, excelling as fighters and ground attack aircraft. All over the world the Hurricane earned a reputation for reliability and toughness. This issue tells the story of the Hurricane and its crews from inception to war career.
PLUS:
• Next issue on sale: 25th May 2012
