Hell's Angels | |
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Hell's Angels with her flight and ground crew after completing her thirty-first mission. | |
Type | Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress |
Manufacturer | Boeing Aircraft Company |
Construction number | 3262 [1] |
Serial | 41-24577 |
Fate | Scrapped August 7 1945 |
Hell's Angels was Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress used during the Second World War. It was the first heavy bomber in the 8th Air Force to complete 25 combat missions in the European Theater. Ultimately, Hell's Angels would go on to complete 48 missions without any crewman injured or being forced to turn back. [2] [3]
The Boeing B-17 'Flying Fortress' is an American four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, 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. It was also employed as a transport, antisubmarine aircraft, drone controller, and search-and-rescue aircraft.
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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.
Dauntless Dotty is the nickname of a Boeing B-29-40-BW Superfortress during the Second World War that led the first B-29 raid on Tokyo on 24 November 1944, the first bombing attack of the Japanese capital since the Doolittle Raid on 18 April 1942.