The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater of Operations and dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during World War II. It is the third-most produced bomber of all time, behind the American four-engined Consolidated B-24 Liberator and the German multirole, twin-engined Junkers Ju 88. The B-17 was also employed in transport, anti-submarine warfare, and search and rescue roles.
Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry and longest range of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the largest and most powerful military aircraft at any point in time. In the second half of the 20th century, heavy bombers were largely superseded by strategic bombers, which were often even larger in size, had much longer ranges and were capable of delivering nuclear bombs.
A Yank in the R.A.F. is a 1941 American war drama film directed by Henry King and starring Tyrone Power, Betty Grable and John Sutton. Released three months before the attack on Pearl Harbor plunged the United States into World War II, it is considered a typical early-World War II production. Originally titled The Eagle Squadron, it is based on a story by "Melville Crossman", the pen name for 20th Century Fox studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck. It follows an American pilot who joins the Royal Air Force (RAF), during a period when the United States was still neutral.
Fifinella was a female gremlin designed by Walt Disney for a proposed film from Roald Dahl's book The Gremlins. During World War II, the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) asked permission to use the image as their official mascot, and the Disney Company granted them the rights.
Royal Air Force Polebrook or more simply RAF Polebrook is a former Royal Air Force station located 3.5 miles (5.6 km) east-south-east of Oundle, at Polebrook, Northamptonshire, England. The airfield was built on Rothschild estate land starting in August 1940.
Liberty Belle was a popular name for United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) aircraft during World War II; over two dozen known individual Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Consolidated B-24 Liberators used the name.
The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress is a 1944 documentary film which provides an account of the final mission of the crew of the Memphis Belle, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. In May 1943 it became the third U.S. Army Air Forces heavy bomber to complete 25 missions over Europe, but the first to return to the United States.
Air Force is a 1943 American World War II aviation film directed by Howard Hawks and starring John Garfield, John Ridgely, Gig Young, Arthur Kennedy, and Harry Carey. The film was distributed by Warner Bros. and produced by Hal B. Wallis and Jack L. Warner. It contains incidents of supposed fifth-column activities by Japanese Americans that never happened. Conceived by then - Lieutenant General “Hap” Arnold in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack, it was originally scheduled for release on December 7, 1942, on the first anniversary. It became impossible to meet that deadline, and it premiered in New York City on February 3, 1943 and was released on March 20. The film's storyline revolves around an actual event that occurred on December 7, 1941. An aircrew ferries an unarmed 1940 series Boeing B-17D Flying Fortress heavy bomber, named the Mary-Ann, across the Pacific to the United States Army Air Forces base at Hickam Field. They fly right into the middle of the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor and the beginning of America's major involvement in the Second World War. An uncredited William Faulkner wrote the emotional deathbed scene for Ridgely, who played the commander and pilot of the Mary-Ann.
Passage to Marseille, also known as Message to Marseille, is a 1944 American war film made by Warner Brothers, directed by Michael Curtiz. The screenplay was by Casey Robinson and Jack Moffitt from the novel Sans Patrie by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. The music score was by Max Steiner and the cinematography was by James Wong Howe.
Royal Air Force East Wretham or more simply RAF East Wretham is a former Royal Air Force station located 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Thetford, Norfolk, England.
Target for Tonight is a 1941 British World War II documentary film billed as filmed and acted by the Royal Air Force, all during wartime operations. It was directed by Harry Watt for the Crown Film Unit. The film is about the crew of a Wellington bomber taking part in a bombing mission over Nazi Germany. The film won an honorary Academy Award in 1942 as Best Documentary by the National Board of Review. Despite purporting to be a documentary there are multiple indicators that it is not quite as such: film shots include studio shots taken from the exterior of the aircraft looking into the cockpit whilst "in flight"; several stilted sections of dialogue are clearly scripted; on the ground shots of bombing are done using model trains; and several actors appear, including Gordon Jackson as the young rear gunner. The film does give a unique insight into the confined nature of the Wellington's interior and some of the nuances of day to day operation such as ground crew holding a blanket over the engine while it starts to regulate oxygen intake.
Desperate Journey is a 1942 American World War II action and aviation film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan. The supporting cast includes Raymond Massey, Alan Hale Sr., and Arthur Kennedy. The melodramatic film featured a group of downed Allied airmen making their way out of the Third Reich, often with their fists.
The 20th Bomb Squadron is a unit of the 2d Operations Group of the United States Air Force located at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The 20th is equipped with the Boeing B-52H Stratofortress.
Beyond the Line of Duty is a 1942 American short propaganda film, directed by Lewis Seiler. The documentary film reenacted the life and career of United States Army Air Corps Captain Hewitt T. "Shorty" Wheless.
The 32nd Air Refueling Squadron is part of the 305th Air Mobility Wing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. It operates the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus aircraft conducting air refueling missions. The squadron is one of the oldest in the United States Air Force, its origins dating to 19 May 1917, being organized at Camp Kelly, Texas. The squadron deployed to England as part of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I. During World War II, the squadron saw combat service as a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress unit, assigned to the Fifteenth Air Force in Italy. During the early years of the Cold War, it was a Boeing RB-47 Stratojet strategic reconnaissance squadron as part of Strategic Air Command.
The 359th Bombardment Squadron was a United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 303d Bombardment Wing, stationed at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. It was inactivated on 15 June 1964.
This is a partial list of accidents and incidents involving the Boeing-designed B-17 Flying Fortress. Combat losses are not included except for a very few cases denoted by singular circumstances. A few documented drone attrition cases are also included.
International Squadron is a 1941 American war film directed by Lewis Seiler and Lothar Mendes that starred Ronald Reagan, Olympe Bradna and in his final film, James Stephenson. The film is based on the Eagle Squadrons, American pilots who volunteered to fly for the Royal Air Force during World War II. International Squadron featured noted Hollywood pilot Paul Mantz who acted as the film's aerial coordinator and flew during the production.
Bombing the Nazis is a 10-minute 1943 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the World War II newsreels shown at theatres in Canada and abroad. The film describes the Allied air war over Europe during the Second World War, concentrating on attacks in 1942 and 1943 on an automobile factory in Vichy France.
