Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary

Boeing Fortress

Prior to achieving great success with the United States Army Eighth Air Force later in World War II, the Fortress had had an undistinguished baptism with the RAF.

The first Fortress had flown in late July 1935 and after commencing deliveries to US Army squadrons, twenty B-17Cs were set aside for delivery to the RAF in May 1941. A single squadron as nominated to operate the aircraft - No 90 - which was to re-form at Polebrook in Northamptonshire.

After a short period working up, three Fortresses made their debut in a raid on Wilhelmshaven on 8 July 1941. Further missions saw the aircraft operated in daylight at altitudes up to 30,000ft to evade enemy fighters, but often flew alone. Consequently, success was very limited and many sorties had to be aborted as equipment (especially the guns) often froze at the higher altitudes.

Within two months, the Fortresses had been taking off operations and transferred to the Middle East and Coastal Command.

Two and a half years later, in February 1944, Fortresses again returned to the Bomber Command order of battle when No 214 Squadron began operations with B-17Gs (known as the Fortress III in the RAF) from Sculthorpe. The defensive firepower of the aircraft was a great improvement on the earlier Fortress Is with powered gun turrets in place of the manually operated positions of the earlier aircraft. No 214 Squadron, along with a second Fortress squadron, No 223 based at Oulthorpe, formed part of No 100 (Bomber Support) Group and their aircraft were fitted with a large number of electronic countermeasures to jam enemy radar sites.

Both squadrons were disbanded in July 1945, but a few Fortress IIIs remained with the RAF and were used as meteorological recce aircraft.

Specifications
Details for Fortress III
Length:	74ft 9in (22.78m)
Wingspan:	103ft 9in (31.61m)
Height:	19ft 1in (4.90m)
Maximum Speed:	302mph (487kmh)
Cruising Speed:	160mph (258kmh)
Ceiling:	35,600ft (10,847m)
Range:	3,400 miles (5,483km)
Powerplant:	Four Wright Cyclone R1820-7s of 1,200hp each
Payload:	7,600lbs (3,450kg)
Defensive Armament:	2 x.50in Browning machine guns in each of chin, mid-upper, mid-lower and tail turrets, plus single .50in guns in side positions fore and aft.
Recognition:	Long, slim, fuselage tapering to a very narrow rear. Outsize single tail unit is faired on to the top of the rear fuselage, with rear gunner position at the base of the trailing edge. Under-belly ball turret just aft of the bomb bay doors. Wings mounted well forward on the fuselage and the mainwheels retract into the cowlings of the inner engines. Single-pice glazed nose with chin turret mounted below the bomb-aimer's position.
Fortress III 3-angle view with Fortress I side-view (top) (Click to enlarge)

[ Aircraft | Background | Commanders | Diary | Anatomy | Groups ]
[ Famous Raids | Gallery | Squadrons | Stations ]

[ Home ]
[ Return to the RAF Site ]

© Crown Copyright 2004 and © Deltaweb International Ltd 2004