The True Power Of The B-17 Bomber | Classic U.S. Combat: B-17 Flying Fortress | Spark

foreign [Music] Fortress for its massive defensive gun turrets and heavy bomb load Boeing's B-17 Remains the most famous U.S strategic bomber of World War II and served right through this conflict [Music] production totaled 12 731 airplanes of which about one-third were lost in combat the B-17 dropped some 716 850 tons of bombs in the European theater its most important area of operations the U.S Army Air corps progression toward the B-17 was with the Martin B10 which entered service in mid-1934. and all metal monoplane with retractable main landing gear units the V10 was powered by two 775 horsepower radial engines the bomber featured internal stowage for 2260 pounds of bombs and closed crew accommodation and for the first time in a U.S bomber an enclosed nose turret armed with a single 30 caliber machine gun complementing three other defensive guns of the same caliber some 103 b10b production machines were supplemented by 25 b12a airplanes with greater fuel capacity for a competition in 1934 and 1935 to find a longer range successor to the V10 and B12 in the coastal defense flying artillery roll Martin offered its model 146. this was little more than an upgraded B10 immediately recognized as technically and operationally obsolescent the model 146 was not ordered into production the competition's offering from Douglas to meet the same requirement was the DB1 this was developed from The dc2 Airliner with a deeper fuselage a wing of Greater span and Armament comprising 4 400 pounds of bombs and single 30 caliber machine guns in nose dorsal and ventral position production reached 315 airplanes of the v18 series but by 1940 the type was recognized as obsolescent as a bomber and 122 were adapted for the anti-submarine task the Army Air corps 1934 requirement for a coast defense bomber with the range to reach Alaska Hawaii and Panama from the mainland USA had called for a multi-engined airplane Martin and Douglas had responded with twin-engined machines the more far-sighted Boeing Company offered a somewhat larger four-engined airplane this was of course more expensive to produce and operate but offered far greater capability and development potential the company built its model 299 as a private Venture and this prototype first flew on July 28 1935. a local reporter nicknamed the new airplane as the Flying Fortress and Boeing soon trademarked the name the model 299 was far superior to its twin-engined rivals the Prototype was lost in an accident on October 30th 1935 after taking off with its controls locked despite this orders were placed for development and early production airplanes these early airplanes were 13 yb-17s one y1b 17A 39 b-17vs 38 b-17cs and 42 b-17d machines the first of these to enter service was the b-17b in the second half of 1939 the b-17bs C's and D's were in fact flown mainly for development work the B-17 replaced the Martin B10 in service with the U.S Army Air corps which became the U.S Army Air Forces in 1941. while the v10b had a maximum speed of 213 miles per hour typical radius of 650 miles and maximum bomb load of 2260 pounds the speed of the yb17a was 256 miles per hour its range typically 1 337 miles and its maximum bomb load was 10 500 pounds the b-17b introduced a larger Rudder and flaps in the v17c the original blister turrets were replaced by oval hatches armor protection was added and the primary gun Armament became 650 caliber guns paired in the nose dorsal and ventral positions the v17d was an improved b-17c mid-wing monoplanes of all metal construction the early B-17 models had a single 30 caliber machine gun in a manually operated turret above the glazed nose or two cheek mounted nose guns other single guns of the same caliber were located in blister positions in the waist and ventral positions the guns were later changed to 50 caliber weapons and the waste blisters were replaced by plane openings the v17d was similar to the b-17c but had self-sealing fuel tanks crew armor and provision for a 10 rather than nine-man crew reflecting all the lessons of operational experience were the initial models the first definitive model emerged in September 1941 as the b-17e of which 512 were produced powered by four 1200 horsepower right R 1820 radial engines the b-17e pioneered a longer fuselage with a much enlarged tail unit for greater flight stability other changes included a one-piece nose transparency the defensive Armament of 130 caliber and 850 caliber guns and a bomb load of 17 600 pounds the revised defensive Armament included three power-operated turrets each carrying two 50 caliber guns in the tail dorsal and ventral positions there was a single weapon of the same caliber in the two waste positions ventral defense was the task of the cramped and claustrophobic ball turret below the fuselage this turret was entered from within the fuselage and was capable of high-speed Traverse through 360 degrees in the main production variants of the B-17 then those was extensively glazed this glazing included an optically flat panel through which the Bombardier controlled the bomb run with his Norton bomb site the site was notably Advanced and designed for pinpoint bombing accuracy from high altitude up to the last month of 1941 the only real Combat the B-17 had seen was with the British who received 20 b-17c aircraft earlier in the year this changed on December 7 1941 as the Japanese air formations attacked the U.S forces in Hawaii and the Philippines the USA immediately declared war on Japan and Germany soon declared war on the USA north of Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands the Japanese task force launched a first wave of 183 aircraft from their six Fleet carriers these were Nakajima B5 and Kate torpedo and level bombers iichi d3a valve dive bombers as well as Mitsubishi a6m zero Fighters as the airplanes approached Oahu they were detected by the U.S army scr 720 radar of a training unit near Opana point at this time there were fewer than 200 b-17s in service with the U.S Army Air Force and the radar warning was at first believed to be a formation of b-17s arriving from the Continental USA 130 miles we're expecting thank you sir so actually detected but incorrectly identified the Japanese bombers continued their approach from the north over Oahu upon reaching their targets they delivered their devastating attack on the U.S Navy's warships in Pearl Harbor with Torpedoes and bombs the air and other installations on Ford Island and Wheeler Field were hit with bombs and aerial gunfire caught entirely by both strategic and tactical surprise early on a Sunday morning the U.S forces could not defend themselves effectively and suffered extremely heavy losses a second wave of 171 Japanese aircraft targeted the same objectives as the first wave maneuvering overhead the Japanese Fighters initially provided protection for the attack aircraft when virtually no U.S Fighters Rose to oppose them they streaked down to low level to bomb and strafe aircraft on the ground at Ford Island Hickam field Wheeler Field Barbers points and Kaneohe the Japanese Onslaught lasted 90 minutes the U.S lost 2 386 Personnel including 55 civilians killed as well as 1139 wounded the material losses were still worse for 18 ships including five battleships had been sunk or run aground of the 401 U.S aircraft in Hawaii 188 had been destroyed and another 159 damaged the Japanese losses were only 29 aircraft destroyed by the time the USA entered World War II the conflict in Europe was already 27 months old and the United Kingdom had been involved from the beginning after the disasters of the Norwegian and French campaigns between April and June 1940 culminating in the evacuation of the British forces from Dunkirk the only way that Britain could take the war to Germany was in the air a slow and hesitant start was made in the form of daylight operations by twin-engined light and medium bombers but these suffered heavy losses to German Flack and Fighters I think that's an interesting thing this one piece will make 52 layers watch on mobile devices or the big screen all for free a subscription of Fire the British therefore switched to night bombing using airplanes such as the twin engine Vickers Wellington pending the arrival of more capable four-engined bombers Precision attacks were impossible for a number of reasons so the British adopted the practice of area bombing and early Allied strategic decision after America's entry to World War II was the so-called Germany first policy and this led to the basing of 8th Army air force bomber and fighter squadrons in the UK from June 1942. the first flying fortress variant used by the U.S bomber squadrons was the b-17e and after extensive preparation and training the 97th bombardment group was ready for the first true mission of the eighth aaf's campaign on August 17 1942. Pilots have all checked their Crews everybody president accounted for for a long time we've all been working very hard the work has been crawling to produce results and our standard of performance is very high gentlemen this is the real thing this is the first operational mission we're going on The Raid targeted Ruan sorterville marshalling yards in northeastern France the lead airplane was flown by group Commander Colonel Frank a Armstrong and squadron commander major Paul W Tibbetts who was to later reach greater Fame in the Pacific Theater flight time to the Target was relatively short compared to later B-17 missions visibility over the target was good and the b-17s dropped their bombs from 23 000 feet most of the bombs landed in the designated area several repair and maintenance workshops were badly damaged which put the railroad at Ruan temporarily out of action short-range missions of this type became the stable of the eighth aaf's life up to the Autumn of 1942 when many units were diverted to North Africa tactical philosophy of the time was based on the belief that the B-17 was so well armed that it needed little or no fighter escort over German territory the bomber Crews were trained to fly in three-dimensional box formations in which each bomber was covered by the 50 caliber guns of several other bombers this it was believed would make it impossible for German fighters to break into the boxes and Achieve decisive results thus tight formations of bombers could theoretically penetrate to their targets and Destroy these with Precision attack but radar-aided German Flack on the way to and over the targets proved more effective than had been anticipated and the German Air Force's the luftwaffa's fighter arm showed itself to be a formidable foe their Fighter's 20 millimeter cannon considerably outrange the defensive machine guns of the b-17s and also fired explosive projectiles by this time the latest Fortress variant being prepared for service was the b-17f of which 3405 were delivered by Douglas and lockheed's Vegas subsidiary in addition to Boeing itself the b-17f was an improved b-17e and was a response to Lessons Learned in the Pacific Theater the changes included a one-piece Plexiglas nose mounding and beefed up landing gear despite these improvements the b-17fs were still vulnerable to German air attack later in the production run European experience necessitated the need for further changes this included better armor protection engines now rated at 1350 rather than 1200 horsepower greater fuel capacity and underwing racks to allow a bomb load of up to 20 800 pounds on short-range missions the b-17f flew the first U.S Mission Against a Target in Germany on January 27 1943 when aircraft of the U.S 8th Army Air Force attacked wilhelmshaven the answer to the increasing bomber losses was to provide fighter escorts but the U.S fighters of the time lacked the range to accompany the bombers all the way to and from the targets especially as the radius emissions increased therefore the fighters operated in relays with three or four formations flying the shortest possible routes to link up with the bombers at specific points the bombers flew dog leg courses which were designed to minimize radar detection and the overflight of flak hotspots as each escorting Fighter Group approached the point of having only sufficient fuel to make it back home the next group arrived to assume the escort task the longest ranged of the U.S Fighters was the Lockheed P-38 Lightning with twin engines in a twin boom layout but this large machine lacked the agility to cope well with the nimbler single-engined German Fighters the American Crews had to cope not only with the German defenses but also with conditions of cold and reduced atmospheric pressure as they cruised at altitudes of twenty thousand feet or higher and as more distant targets came to be tackled exhaustion both mental and physical became a major factor the former degraded the concentration required to locate and fight the German Fighters and the latter the ability to cope with flight and combat conditions the Germans also learned quickly that the b-17's weakest point was the nose where there was the least volume of defensive fire and where there was also the vulnerable Plexiglas nose enclosure so the Germans made increasing use of head-on attacks which minimized the area of their own airplanes and at the same time targeted the bombers most vulnerable aspect at the 8th aaf's bases in East Anglia staff and ground Crews waited for the return of the bombers with great anxiety counting the aircraft as they returned to get an early assessment of possible losses damaged aircraft sometimes flew past the control tower so that an assessment of the damage could be made near the runway fire trucks and Recovery teams waited to rush to any bomber that was on fire or pancaked heavily and came to rest on the runway this was vital because the damaged aircraft would make it impossible for other airplanes to land until the obstruction had been cleared thank you after they had landed the crews were immediately debriefed before Vital Information was forgotten by 1943 the British were fully committed to and becoming increasingly effective in the night bombing campaign they had also by now brought four-engined heavy bombers such as the Avro Lancaster into large-scale service as usual each mission was preceded by a comprehensive Target briefing expected to be over 1100 this group is providing 150 this day should be 22 are here and five crews are playing away now the object of tonight's operation is to blot out the town of Bremen in addition there are two especially special targets there's a death marked submarine building yard which is a tremendously important submarine building establishment and also and even more important the photo wolf Works which are situated to the south of Bremen itself the night campaign reduced the risk of attacks by single-engine Fighters but the Germans were well on their way to creating a complex yet effective force of radar-controlled twin-engined night Fighters carrying short interception radar equipment the major problem with night bombing was the effective impossibility of attacking Point targets instead the British devoted the steadily growing weight of their raids to the destruction of German industrial centers and the urban areas in which they were cited and their workers lived calming accuracy was initially very poor but was steadily improved by training the introduction of advanced navigation AIDS and the use of a specialized Pathfinder Force to Mark the targets there were losses sometimes very heavy as the capability of the German night fighter arm grew but the devastation wrought by the Avro Lancaster and Hadley Paige Halifax four-engined bombers of bomber command grew at a faster rate during this same period the eighth Army Air Force emerged as a steadily more effective element of Allied air power and Targets in the northern part of occupied Europe as well as the closer regions of Germany were being visited with increasing destruction here the U.S philosophy of concentrating attacks on the decisive elements of the German war machine was fully evident special attention was paid to targets such as U-Boat construction facilities and bases transport choke points such as marshalling yards Bridges and tunnels also Factory complexes such as those making warplanes armored vehicles artillery and the infrastructure on which all of these were dependent were struck the attack against Schweinfurt and Regensburg on August 17 1943 was the greatest task yet undertaken by the 8th Army Air Force the paired raids were schemed as a means of crippling the German aircraft industry by destroying ball bearing production and the main Messerschmitt Factory the operation was flown on the anniversary of the first daylight raid by the 8th aaf and involved 376 bombers of 16 bombardment groups the Regensburg task force comprised seven B-17 groups totaling 146 aircraft with two fighter groups of Republic P-47 Thunderbolts providing limited escort about 15 minutes after it crossed the coast the force encountered the first German fighter interception which continued with growing intensity nearly all the way to the Target area after 90 minutes the German Fighters broke away short of fuel and ammunition by then at least 15 bombers had been shot down or fatally damaged Flack was light over Regensburg and the visibility good and of the remaining 131 bombers 126 dropped just under 300 tons of bombs on the fighter factories with a high degree of accuracy the force then turned South to cross the Alps and fly to North Africa some 24 bombers were lost and more than 60 of the 122 surviving airplanes landing in Tunisia had sustained battle damage the schweinfer task force comprised nine B-17 groups totaling 230 B-17 bombers divided into two groups of two Wings each and was more than 20 miles long the Schweinfurt Force followed the same route as the Regensburg Force the first German attacks began almost immediately and more than 300 Fighters were committed employing tactics different from those used against the morning mission 15 miles from schweinfeldt and after shooting down 22 bombers the German Fighters left to refuel and re-arm so that they were ready to tackle the bombers once again this time on their Homeward Journey faced by an intense flak barrage 183 bombers dropped just under 425 tons of bombs including 125 tons of incendiaries three b-17s were shot down by Flack over schweinfoot and the survivors turned back to face more German fighter attacks before being met over Belgium by U.S and British Fighters eight more bombers were lost before the force reached the North Sea where three more crash-landed the Schweinfurt Force lost a total of 36 bombers the 60 airplanes lost on a single Mission more than doubled the highest previous loss at that time another 87 airplanes were damaged Beyond economical repair so in a mission the eighth had lost 147 fortresses with another 95 damaged the invasion of Italy was primarily a British idea and began in September 1943 after the conquest of Sicily had been completed the U.S and British land forces operated largely on the Western and Eastern sides of the country respectively the British conquest of Southeastern Italy had the advantage so far as the Americans were concerned of providing flat areas on which major bomber bases could be established here the 15th Army Air Force settled in and its bombers now took the air War to Austria Southern Germany and German occupied southern Europe This complemented the efforts of the eighth Army Air Force against more Northern targets the U.S 15th aaf's attack on floydast on April 5th 1944 was the first of three closely spaced raids on this Romanian oil producing area that was strategically vital to the axis War making effort the new bases in Southeastern Italy provided the 15th aaf with the basis for the campaign against poyesht more importantly the usaaf now had an escort fighter with the range to support the bombers all the way to and from the target this was the P-51D variant of the North American Mustang after it had dropped its two underway tanks the fighter also had great performance and Agility [Music] the rate of April 5th involved 235 B-17 and B-24 bombers and badly damaged the transport system around ployasht reconnaissance revealed that this could be repaired swiftly and ployest was therefore attacked twice more by the 15th Army Air Force on April 15th and April 24th these later attacks concentrated on the refineries of the area there was considerable damage but this was largely superficial and only a few weeks if production were lost D-Day was June 6 1944 and began the Allied invasion of german-occupied France a key element of the Allied plan was the severing of the transport links on which the Germans were Reliant for the redeployment and reinforcement of their forces in Normandy which was the designated Invasion area and the other areas which the Germans had been led to believe were possible Invasion targets here the Flying Fortress and Liberator found use in what was in effect a tactical rather than strategic role at the end of 1943 a new variant of the B-17 had appeared in service this was the b-17g which reflected the lessons of earlier combat in having a chin turret with two 50 caliber guns to tackle head-on attacks the b-17g was the definitive and final production model of the Fortress and production totaled 8680 aircraft up to May 1945. the most important German fighter in the West Was now the [ __ ] wolf 190 a superb warplane with high performance good agility and heavy Firepower this last included 20 and 30 millimeter cannon which outranged the 50 caliber guns of the B-17 and also fired an explosive shell despite the fact that it was now attended by larger numbers of escort Fighters the B-17 still suffered considerable losses when German Fighters managed to break into their formations the B-17 was strongly built and also carried considerable armor and defensive Armament the latter now totaling 13 50 caliber guns but the sustained fire of 20 and 30 millimeter Cannons all too often proved more than any airplane could survive even so many very badly damaged aircraft managed to return to England one of the most celebrated of all fortresses was the b-17f known as Memphis Belle which inspired a documentary at the time and later a Hollywood movie the Memphis Bell was delivered to the 91st bombardment group in September 1942 for deployment to the United Kingdom late in the same month in May 1943 this airplane completed 25 combat missions all but four of them commanded by Captain Robert Morgan and with the same crew and was then flown back to the USA as part of the drive to sell war bonds the aircraft flew its first and last missions on November 7 1942 and May 19 1943 respectively the Bell Departed the United Kingdom after a visit by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on June 8 1943. the replacement of the b-17f by the b-17g at all three production centers took place without any significant blip in construction rates the new b-17g variants now carried a twin gun chin turret the final Arrangement and design of the various defensive gun positions also became standard in the G variants these including a modified tail turret and longitudinally staggered waste positions so that the two Gunners could work more freely throughout 1943 and 1944 the Flying Fortress Consolidated its position as the U.S Air Force's most important heavy bomber of the European theater and bore the brunt of the American strategic bombing effort in this Arena Flying Fortress bombers were now pouring off the production lines of Douglas and Lockheed Vega as well as Boeing in very large numbers this allowed more heavy bomber units to be created and trained in the USA and then transferred to England so the Eighth Air Force became progressively more effective in its task of striking Germany's war production industries and its Transportation Networks later in the production run improved turbo charges were installed for the r-1820 97 engines raising the service ceiling to 35 600 feet despite an increase in the maximum takeoff weight to 72 000 pounds nothing spoke more highly of the B-17 strength and endurance than the many airplanes that survived battle damage and crash Landings such as here in January 1944 bullet holes riddled many parts of the aircraft including the propellers and the engine the cells the Plexiglas nose and the main fuselage had been hit repeatedly both of the Wings had been badly damaged even part of the tail plane had been shot away a number of the crew had been wounded and yet this sturdy b-17g had still limped home to be repaired and to fight another day the idea of shuttle bombing of Targets in Eastern Europe using aircraft flying from bases in the UK and Italy and landing in the USSR before attacking other Targets on the return flights was thought to offer useful operational advantages the availability of Soviet bases in the Kiev area of the Ukraine opened the possibility of raids by the b-17s of the 15th Army Air Force from bases to the south of foggia in Southeastern Italy the same bases were also within the range of b-17s of the eighth aaf from bases in the east anglian region of Great Britain a particular advantage of the concept was that bombers damaged over the target area had a shorter and less heavily opposed flight to a Soviet base than if they had returned to Italy or the UK such raids could Target parts of Yugoslavia Hungary Romania and Bulgaria on both the outbound and inbound flights the shuttle bombing agreement was negotiated with the Soviets by W Averill Harriman he was the U.S ambassador to the USSR between 1943 and 1946. there was a major shortage of War material within the Soviet Union and American and Russian Munitions and Equipment were rarely interoperable to support shuttlebombing therefore required the shipment of a substantial amount of supplies from the USA to the USSR the majority of the men and Equipment were delivered by sea to ports in Allied occupied Iran some particularly sensitive or fragile material was flown direct from here to the USSR the bulk of the supplies and Personnel were moved from Southern Iran North Oberland by Road and rail to the border of the Soviet Union gasoline and lubricants were a particularly important requirement also included were administrative Personnel ground Crews food Munitions and spare parts as well as a whole mass of different support and maintenance equipment from the Soviet border the men and Equipment continued on to three specially created bases in Ukraine at one time it was envisaged that three bomber groups would be permanently based in the Soviet Union but in the event operation frantic totaled only seven raids on June 2nd 1944 Crews of the 15th Army Air Force were briefed for the first frantic Mission which was otherwise known as Titanic one I do not have to impress you with the importance of this mission to the Russian Basin I'm sure you are fully aware of this important defense I would like to mention one thing about which you must be very particular that is your conduct while at these Russian bases be soldierly and need at all times the Russian Divine soldiers who appreciates results and one who does not understand Big Talk wish you the best of luck goodbye Psalm 170 B-17 GE bombers of General Nathan F twining's U.S 15th Army Air Force were scheduled for departure from bases in Italy escorted by 70 P-51D escort Fighters the outward mission was the bombing of the Deborah Chen marshalling yards in Hungary starting at 0600 the bombers began to lift off at 30 second intervals the P-38 Lightning twin-engined fighters of the first stage of the fighter relay began to take off at 0-630 and one hour later the bombers and Fighters met over the Adriatic Sea off the east coast of Italy the combined forces then headed Northeast the Lightnings were later replaced by longer-ranged Mustangs these ladder had flown directly to the later Rendezvous point to save their fuel for the later stages of the mission the first frantic Mission crossed much of the parts of southern Europe still held by the Germans and their allies before entering soviet-dominated airspace the U.S warplanes then flew on to the southwestern part of the USSR where the bombers landed at poltava and mirgarod and the fighters at periatin the operation had been designed to support the Soviet summer offensive itself time to coincide with the overlord invasion of Normandy the U.S Crews had seen the devastation of war in Italy but after landing in Ukraine they saw the altogether greater level of Destruction resulting from a more bitterly fought Total War in 1941 the Germans had first Advanced deep into the USSR through the Ukraine and then been compelled to Retreat through it they destroyed nearly everything they could not take with them and so it was to this area of utter Devastation that the American Air Crews were welcomed by the Soviet Commander we get through that I welcome you as fighting allies together we'll fight to Victory I wish you the best of luck in combat and a safe return home as the ground crew started to service and repair the airplanes the flight Crews were hastened to the debriefing area did you meet any fighter opposition all right how many fighters did you see I said about 15 about 15 yeah German Fighters subsequently made a successful attack on the bombers parked on the Soviet airfields after a reconnaissance airplane had located them the concerns that were raised by this German attack contributed to the termination of plans for the permanent basing of a large force of U.S bombers in the USSR in the building allocated to the U.S task force as its local headquarters American and Soviet planners completed the plan for the mission's next stage the target selected was a German defensive complex right on the axis of the next Soviet advance Fighters could be diverted from elsewhere but could scarcely reach the bombers before they had bombed and flown on to their destination flak defenses even when mounted on railroad trains could never reach an interception point in time to be of use German planning was also Complicated by the fact that knowledge of U.S bombers coming from the East could be flying to the UK or to Italy with the first half of this initial shuttle mission complete work began on the preparation of the mission's second half as the bombers returned to Italy mechanics set to work on the r1820 engines and their propellers other Personnel checked the airframe for damage and undertook minor repairs to items such as fabric covered control surfaces armorers service the defensive guns replace damaged weapons and made sure that all the power operated turrets and manually operated mountings were working perfectly fresh supplies of ammunition and bombs were readied for loading at the appropriate moment the wing tanks of each bomber were topped up with fuel flown on June 21 1944 from bases in the UK Titanic 2 was the second American shuttle mission to and from the USSR This Time by the 8th Army Air Force despite their logistical problems the shuttle bombing Mission started to reveal what the bombers could achieve in attacking and destroying Targets in Eastern Germany and occupied Poland here the German defenses not expecting attack were only limited such was the threat of the American daylight bombing from high altitude that the Germans always willing to innovate created a novel interceptor this was the Messerschmitt me-163 a small swept wing and tailless airplane powered by a liquid propellant rocket engine launched with the aid of a two-wheel dolly which was dropped after takeoff the me-163 had a phenomenal climb rate and presented a highly elusive Target but the rocket engine also had a prodigious thirst for fuel so endurance was very short the me-163's Armament was potent comprising two 30 millimeter cannon and when they got into the bomber formations they were very effective there was little that the escorting Fighters could do after they had burned all their fuel the me-163s glided back down to the ground during much of its career the B-17 had flown almost all of its combat Missions at least partially over water damaged aircraft were often forced to ditch in the sea where their crews embarked in inflatable life rafts in an effort to save these men a Lifeboat was developed for carriage and parachute delivery by the B-17 the conversion from b-17g standard was at first designated as the b-17h but later became the sb-17g orders were placed for some 150 conversions but only about 12 were completed the Lifeboat which was much more seaworthy than the life raft was powered and stocked with Survival equipment as well as food and water the possibility of having such a Lifeboat dropped by Parachute close to their ditched position was a great morale booster for B-17 Crews like the Germans the Americans were not unwilling to test novel weapons and if they proved successful use them operationally one such weapon was the so-called Disney swish designed by the British this was a 4500 pound concrete penetrating bomb created to pierce the reinforced concrete roofs of U-Boat pens before detonating and creating a blast wave that could pulverize hardened targets carrying its Warhead in a toughened steel nose specially shaped to ease penetration of the ground or concrete the Disney swish bomb was designed for high altitude release this gave the bomb time for great acceleration under the force of gravity before the ignition of a group of 11 Rocket Motors boosted the speed to just less than 1 000 miles per hour the Disney swish bombs were carried in pairs and in operational trials early in 1945 proved the weapon effective if bombing accuracy could be insured the bomb's impact was marked only by a neat circular crater but the subsequent detonation caused Great damage below by early in March 1945 the Allied armies advancing from the West had reached the line of the river Rhine here they prepared for the attacks which would carry them over this great natural barrier and Into the Heart of Germany the assaults combined major direct Crossings the British and U.S operation in the north was supported by a large Airborne operation and Powerful bomber attacks on March 23rd in the north British and American divisions preceded by two Airborne divisions crossed the Rhine near vessel and headed east past and into the northern part of the rural industrial region the heart of Germany's War making heavy Industries one day earlier the U.S third Army had punched over the river near nierstein and advanced fast and far to the east in the area between Frankfurt and Heidelberg the Germans were on their last legs militarily and industrially but fought with dogged determination against insurmountable odds by the first week of May 1945 the Western allies had driven deep into Germany and in several places met Soviet forces advancing from the East even with the end of the war with Germany imminent the scale of Allied operations dropped only marginally one of the last of the major U.S Army Air Forces attacks was directed at Dresden in a joint assault that is still very controversial the British launched a massive raid on the city during the night of February 13th and 14th and were followed by the Americans during the day of the 14th the first bombardment division of the eighth Army Air Force's eighth bomber command dispatched 431 bombers against Dresden supported by large numbers of P-51D Mustang Fighters some 316 fortresses dropped 771 tons of bombs on Dresden the British and American raids caused firestorms huge destruction and casualties variously estimated at between 25 000 to 60 thousand the city was filled with refugees fleeing the Soviet advance and most modern historians believe that between 25 000 and 35 000 persons were killed on the ground over and Beyond the Western Allied armies the bombers continued to pound the areas behind the front line as they retreated and with shortened interior lines of communication the Germans had a theoretical advantage on the ground but the B-17 and other Allied bombers continued to pound every means of surface transport that the German armies might use with the German air force now a shadow of its former self in terms of its strength and the quality of its Pilots the bombers and their escorting Fighters could attack from the altitudes that best suited them and the conditions the most dangerous threat now facing the U.S Crews was the German flat guns which were still numerous and well supplied with ammunition experience had made the eighth bomber command and eighth fighter command very proficient in escort admissions of all types the fighters had a roving commission and while their primary task was the protection of the bombers the decline of the German air force meant that the fighters could often be let off the leash to drop down to low altitude in search of targets of opportunity meanwhile the bombers continued to pound their designated targets which were now as often of a tactical as a strategic nature raids over shorter ranges allowed the uplift of smaller fuel loads which in turn allowed the carriage of heavier War loads victory was by now inevitable for more than five Relentless years these Allied bombers have been pouring destruction upon the vital centers of the Nazi war machine now at long last the Strategic bombing is over the greats of the Dead is this oil refinery at home and is the notorious Tyson steelworks at brockhausen its furnaces blasted its chimneys are crumpled Rowan [Music] dead does the Steph Rider hotline works at hamborn once among the greatest synthetic oil plants of the Reich here was the vital M's Visa Canal where it joined the Dortmund Waterway near grafenhorst [Music] here once lay the Wall Works of Essen busy prosperous Essen thriving on what was once in the whole world the highest concentration of industry for death famous for crops with its power plant stocks machinery yes the work of the Allied bombers has finished here strategic bombing has ended all over Germany death has come back where it started [Music] with a fighting in Europe now over one of the major U.S priorities was the return of its soldiers to the USA ships were the most important means of Transport Westward across the Atlantic but the shattered nature of European Communications meant that many b-17s were pressed into Service as transports to carry men to embarkation points military equipment was stripped from the bombers the gun turrets were carefully removed and the openings thus left were covered with extemporized Plexiglas or metal panels all the removed items were trucked away for examination and Storage the interior of the fuselages stripped of all unnecessary equipment was now clear for ground Crews to build Rough and Ready seating from wood and plywood these seats were then fitted into the stripped out fuselages wherever there was space for them for war weary Soldiers the speed of their return to the USA was a far greater importance than the comfort of their air travel to the embarkation ports the aircraft were now ready for their human cargos smaller numbers of men especially those of the Fifth Army which had been fighting in Italy made the entire passage of the Atlantic by air after delivery to Casablanca in northwest Africa in b-17s they crossed the Atlantic in the dedicated transport airplanes of the Air transport command but first there was the inevitable briefing in a couple minutes you're going to be taking off on the first leg of your air trip sit on relax first leg of your air trip back to the good old United States the Flying Fortress of the 43rd are going to take you this morning down to Casablanca and from there the ships of the Air transport command are going to take you across Atlantic it's only going to be a little while oh we're really glad to have a chance to do this for you men of the Fifth Army who've been doing such a wonderful job up on the front another expression of the American willingness to experiment with novel weapons could be found in the Aphrodite program of 1944 and 45. War weary bombers otherwise destined for the scrap yard were adapted as bq7 remotely piloted flying bombs for use against the Germans reinforced concrete U-Boat pens other targets were enemy production facilities and launch sites for V1 flying bombs and V2 ballistic missiles the bombers were stripped of all normal combat Armament and all other non-essential gears such as armor guns bomb racks radio and other equipment seats Etc lightening each airplane by some 12 000 pounds the stripped aircraft were then equipped with a radio operated remote control system and loaded with up to eighteen thousand pounds of high explosive which was more than twice the B-17 standard bomb load the aircraft were designated bq7s they were controlled by an accompanying cq-17 mother plane carrying the control system allowing the bq7 to be flown remotely the concept proved feasible but only limited trials were undertaken the B-17 had proved itself a war-winning weapon of major importance but by 1945 was on the verge of technical obsolescence newer and more effective weapons were being readied for service when the Strategic Air Command was established in 1946 as the U.S Air Force's arm for the delivery of nuclear weapons it inherited only a few hundred flying fortresses almost all of the other surviving examples of this Great War Eagle had been scrapped [Music]

Channel: Spark

Views: 12,871

Keywords: Air superiority, Airbase, Aircraft production, Aircrew, Airplane, American, B- crew, Battle zones, Battlefield tactics, Bomb-carrying capacity, Bombardier, Bombing campaign, Documentary, Historical aviation, Historical footage, Military documentary, Precision bombing raids, Spark, Tech, Warplanes in action, World War II

Id: PeN6d3xGfgM

Length: 61min 44sec (3704 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 22 2023