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Hello Friends and Family, |
Link to this year's index by clicking here. |
Pima Air and Space Museum, Part 9 |
Having viewed all the aircraft parked outside (and photographed most of them), we entered one of the adjacent hangers to discover a B-17 Flying Fortress. This was one of the most produced bombers in WWII, with 12,731 built — but certainly was the most famous. By the way, looking around one has to wonder how they got this bomber into the building — there are no large hanger doors anywhere. I was told that they poured the concrete pad first then once it cured, they moved the aircraft here and built the walls and roof around it. Another tidbit, although we arrived after the guided tour began (and thus did not join the group), I later learned that the tour guide was formerly a pilot of a B-17 and provided great "behind the scene" stories. Sorry I missed it. |
The B-17 was thus formally eliminated from the competition. However, the USAAC was so impressed by the aircraft prior to the crash that they found a loophole in the regulations and ordered 13 prototypes for evaluation. |
Oh, and that pilot error that nearly prevented the B-17 from ever seeing a government check — someone came up with the idea of using a checklist to make sure the crew never missed an important setting or check again — a practice that is mandatory in all aircraft today. |
I did not see a sign but this machine gun dome appears to be a module for the position just behind the cockpit (see previous photo). This makes a lot of sense because the ground crew could load ammunition into the spares then swap out the returning module for the spare and turn the bomber around rapidly for its next mission. |
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Note that during the war, a much improved bombsight (the Norden) became available which used observed ground speed to achieve better accuracy from high altitude. Unfortunately, that accuracy could not be duplicated in combat but the USAAC found that if the lead bomber in the box formation used the Norden and the other bombers dropped their bombs upon visually noting the drop by the lead plane, overall accuracy was acceptable. |
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Last for today is the machine guns protecting the rear of the B-17. Something tells me that this was not a particularly safe place to be when the squadron was under attack. It took many brave airmen to fight for a free world — and we thank them for their service and mourn those who didn't make it home. |
To be continued... |
Life is good. |
Aloha, B. David |
P. S., All photos and text © B. David Cathell Photography, Inc. — www.bdavidcathell.com |