From a book about the Aleutian campaign; "To the airmen, the Fortress was a craft that would bring them home--they accorded it an anthropomorphic will to survive that they found in no other airplane."
NFO ... I'm sure you've seen the picture of Edwin "Lucky" Wright standing next to his Jug with a 20mm hole through the prop root ... http://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/242383
Yeah the B-17 could take a beating, she couldn't carry the load the B-24 could, but she in my mind could handle the battle damage a lot better, the Germans respected the plane. I even have a book on my shelf that shows some B-17's from JW-200 which was a Luftwaffe squadron with captured Allied planes and it looked strange to see a couple of B-17's in German colors that the Germans captured and used against the Allies.
From a book about the Aleutian campaign; "To the airmen, the Fortress was a craft that would bring them home--they accorded it an anthropomorphic will to survive that they found in no other airplane."
ReplyDeleteYep, one tough bird. The other one that comes to mind is the P-47.
ReplyDeleteNFO ... I'm sure you've seen the picture of Edwin "Lucky" Wright standing next to his Jug with a 20mm hole through the prop root ...
Deletehttp://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/242383
Hey Borepatch;
ReplyDeleteYeah the B-17 could take a beating, she couldn't carry the load the B-24 could, but she in my mind could handle the battle damage a lot better, the Germans respected the plane. I even have a book on my shelf that shows some B-17's from JW-200 which was a Luftwaffe squadron with captured Allied planes and it looked strange to see a couple of B-17's in German colors that the Germans captured and used against the Allies.