The Mighty Flying Fortress Trivia Quiz

Answer: Boeing

The original name for the B-17 was the Boeing Model 299. Boeing took a major gamble on the design of the B-17. There were no four-engined bombers in service in the United States at the time. Also, the idea of having the bombadier in the nose of the aircraft was a new concept for bomber aircraft.

Answer: 10

The B-17 crew members were as follows, bombadier, navigator, pilot, copilot, engineer, radio operator, left waist gunner, right waist gunner, lower ball turret gunner, tail gunner.

Answer: Number of Engines, Top speed

The original requirement was a twin engined bomber with a 2,000 pound payload and a speed of 200 miles per hour. The one and only prototype that flew, designated Model 299,had four engines, a 4,800 pound payload and a speed of 250 miles per hour.

Answer: First American aircraft shot down in World War II

A B-17 en route to Pearl Harbor was the first American Aircraft shot down in World War II. This was one of the original models with flush waist positions and no defensive turrets.

Answer: Small payload

The B-17's had a payload of 17,600 pounds. However in actual combat, the aircraft could carry much less, usually only 1600-6000 pound bombs. The B-29 had 20,000 pounds and the B-24 had 8,880. Both could carry this amount.

Answer: Bombardier

During the actual bombing raid the bombadier no longer controlled the weapon, all of his attention had to be focused on the actual run.

Answer: Pilot, copilot, radio operator

In early model, the radio operator fired one machine gun out the roof (upper fuselage) of the aircraft. In the G model this was omitted, partially because the gun was ineffective in defence and the radio operator needed all his attention on the radios to stay in communication with other aircraft, home base, and the crew.

Answer: M-2 machine gun

The M-2 machine gun had a firing rate of 800 rounds per minute. On early models of the B-17 the waist guns where positioned to fire out of the open waist windows of the aircraft. Later the windows were sealed with Pexiglass, but this did little to counter the extremely cold temperatures.

Answer: Stinger

The tail gun position was known as the Stinger position. It housed two 50 caliber machine guns.

Answer: "15-ton flying fortress"

Richard L. Williams was one of the reports that witnessed the unvailing of the B-17. Its design, offensive payload, and defensive weaponry prompted him to name it the "15-ton flying fortress".

Answer: Bombardier

The bombing run of the aircraft was the most dangerous part of the mission. During this time the bombardier controlled the aircraft with the M-15 bombsight. He could not make evasive maneuvres because the bombs needed to be released accurately. Because of this the aircraft's direction, speed and altitude where constant.

Answer: Wright R-1820 Cyclone

The R-1820 Cyclone generated 1,000 horsepower at 25,000 feet. The engine also was used on the SBD Dauntless, early Poliparkov I-16s, and even the M6 Heavy Tank under the name G-200.

Answer: 59

Black Thursday was an extremely costly raid on the Schweinfurt ball bearings plant. The bombers, flying at extremely high altitude produced tell-tale contrails in the sky. This provided the anti-aircraft gunners and fighter pilots the opportunity to sight the vernable bombers. 18 aircraft where also forced to either ditch over the English Channel, crash landed, or where scrapped because of battle damage.

This day almost halted all daylight bombing raids.

Answer: YB-40

The YB-40 concept proved to be a faliure. It could not keep up with standard B-17Fs. The aircraft still flew 14 combat missions and scored 5 kills and 2 probables. One of the kills was Italian ace Guido Rossi, who used a captured P-38 to attack returning B-17s. When he came under fire the P-38 was torn to pieces by all of the YB-40's weaponry.

Answer: Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia never used the B-17. The Soviets briefly tested them, and Nazi Germany used a few captured aircraft in evaluation.