All Wood Wings: B-17F Flying Fortress Model

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B-17F Flying Fortress, USAF

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Scale 1:66 Length 13.6" Wingspan 18.9"

Close-up showing mission markings and 8 Luftwaffe kills

The Flying Fortress is one of the most famous airplanes ever built. The first prototype flew on July 28, 1935. Few B-17s were in service on December 7, 1941 but production quickly accelerated. The aircraft served in every WW II combat theatre but is best known for daylight strategic bombing of German industrial targets. Production ended in May 1945 and totaled 12,726.

The B-17F was essentially a "during production" change of the B-17E after all the improvements and modifications were incorporated into the design. The defensive armament was increased to eleven .50-cal. machine guns including increased frontal protection in the form of cheek guns. More powerful engines and improved propellers allowed the B-17F a 33% increase in bomb load compared to the B-17E for a total bomb load of 8,000 pounds - which was almost double the bomb load of any other previous version. However, due to a large increase in aircraft gross weight, the normal cruise speed dropped by almost 70 mph. There were 3,405 B-17F models built by three manufacturers: Boeing (2300), Douglas (605) and Lockheed-Vega (500).

Like the B-17E, combat experience pointed out problems with the B-17F design which were rapidly fixed during the production run. Major improvements done during the production of the B-17F included the addition of external bomb racks, cheek guns (initially a mod center improvement), and the Bendix chin turret which became a standard on the B-17G.

The Memphis Belle was a B-17F that distinguished itself by being one of the first B-17s to complete 25 combat missions (May 17th, 1943) during World War II. Because of that it was selected to participate in a tour of the US to help sell war bonds. The Memphis Belle was assigned to the 91st Bomb Group, 324th Bomb Squadron and based at Bassingbourn, England. The famous aircraft is one of the few B-17s remaining today and is on display in Memphis, Tennessee.

Crew:       Eight
Length:      75 ft
Wingspan: 104 ft
Weight:      56,500 lbs. loaded
Speed:        325 mph max, cruise 160 mph at 25,000 ft
Ceiling:       37,500 ft
Range:       1,850 miles (2,800 miles ferry range)
Armament: Eleven .50-cal. machine guns with
normal bomb load of 6,000 lbs
Engines:      4 Wright R-1820-97 turbo-supercharged
radials of 1200 hp each