B-17 "All American" - Remarkable Story

[AshVX220]

I've just been lead to read this and it's absolutely amazing!!

What Courage and airmanship.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_American_(aircra...

[AshVX220]

eldar said:

aeropilot said:

That's obviously why the loss per sortie ratio of the B-24 was lower than the B-17 then....

Its a myth that the 17 was more durable than the 24, the facts don't bear it out.

Yes, the Fort could take more punishment, as it was lighter than the 24, and had more expanse of unused space within the structure, than the Lib......but, it just as well it did, as it was so much slower, that it was much more of a target. The B-24 was the better bomber in just about every respect, and could do everything the B-17 could do, plus a hell of a lot more besides, due to speed, range, payload advantage. Plus its production and the infrastructure created by the USA to build it in the numbers it did, at the rate it did, is probably one of the astounding feats of the industrial age.

Logistics wins wars.

The huge facility that was used to build B-24's is now used to build F-35's. I went there a couple of years ago and the production line is absolutely huge!!