Boeing B-17: The Fifteen Ton Flying Fortress

by Graham M. Simons, Harry D. Friedman

“Fascinating insight into the early development of the B-17 Flying Fortress . . . undoubtedly outshines other books on this significant WWII aircraft.” —Air Mail   The Boeing B-17 was the first American heavy bomber to see action in World War II when it was supplied to the RAF. The design originated in 1934 when the US Air Corps was looking for a heavy bomber to reinforce air forces in Hawaii, Panama and Alaska. For its time, the design included many advanced features, and Boeing continued to develop the aircraft as experience of the demands of long-distance flying at high altitude was gained.   When the United States entered WWII, production of the aircraft was rapidly increased and it became the backbone of the USAAF in all theaters of war. This book describes how it was built and utilizes many hitherto unpublished photographs from the design studio and production lines. It illustrates and explains the many different roles that the aircraft took as the war progressed. Heavy bomber, reconnaissance, antisubmarine, and air-sea rescue operations; there were few roles that this solid design could not adopt.

557 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 25, 2011

Reviews

[Lonny Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for stories about the B-17, but this is almost a technical manual. It thoroughly, sometimes too thoroughly, covers the design, building, and development of the aircraft. He details exhaustively, every modification, experiment and use the plane had from the first prototype to the last retiree. It is interesting and informative, but a bit dry. There is very little human interest here. If you are seeking tales of missions, crews, life in a bomber squadron, this is not your book.

[JJ Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid technical look at the B-17

With books about individual aircraft they are usually either a collection of "I was there stories" or a technical look at the aircraft, its development and its service history. I prefer the latter and was pleasantly surprised to find that this book is a technical overview. The authors do a good job of looking at all the modifications and sub-variants of the B-17 and found some photos that I had never seen in my extensive reading on the subject.

[Gil Hahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book about the progressive development of a significant weapons system before and during wartime. If you want stories about combat, look elsewhere. If you want to know how technology evolves under the pressures of war, this if for you.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detailed History of the B-17

After watching “Masters of the Air” I wanted to read about the B-17 and this book exceeded my expectations. Detailed descriptions, analysis and photos of B-17 models. Highly recommend

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

great insights into the B-17

Very thorough about all aspects of the history of the aircraft including the challenges of incorporating the various improvements made to the basic aircraft

[Ronald Golden · Rating 3 out of 5]

If your really into the nuts and bolts story of the evolution of the B-17 this book is for you. This book takes you from the first conceptional model in the 1930's through all the modifications in great detail. Every bolt, every new electronics, fuel, engine and airframe mod is covered. At times I found the book a bit tedious. It reads more like a maintenance manual/log then anything else. Still, I found some very interesting items. For instance, apparently Boeing developed the first high altitude test chamber in order to test the effects of high altitude and extremely low temperatures on the B-17. This included the behavior of metals, fluids and other aspects of high altitude flight. It seams that Boeing and the B-17 pioneered high altitude flight. Much of what we know today and the development of present day aircraft we owe to the B-17.
I did enjoy some aspects of the book. As a former aircraft maintenance technician in the Marine Corps, I found some of the descriptions of the various maintenance procedures interesting. I wonder what it must have been like to work on one of those birds.
As I said in the beginning, I would only recommend this book to someone who really is into the weeds on the B-17.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading the book. I went in expecting a book that was heavy on the design and more technical details of the B-17 and knew I would not receive an operation history of the plane. I was fine with that.

However my one major criticism is I wish there woudl have been much less coverage on all the sub variatns of the bomber and more coverage on the initial development. I felt like there was as much if not more coverage about all the variants of the bomber than the initial design.