Steve Birdsall - Pride of Seattle: The Story of the First 300 B-17Fs - Aircraft Specials series
Squadron/Signal Publications | 1998 | ISBN: 0897473892 | English | 66 pages | PDF | 22.38 MB
Squadron/Signal Publications 6074
Boeing delivered their first B-17F on 30 May 1942, just two days after the last of 512 B-17Es had rolled off the production line.
Although laying claim to some 400 improvements, the most distinct visual difference in the B-I7F was the one-piece, frameless molded plastic nose cone. The Wright Cyclone engine had been developed to the point where further dramatic improvements in its performance were unlikely, but the B-17F was fitted with wide Hamilton-Standard paddle-bladed propellers giving more "bite" at higher altitudes. These new propellers improved performance, raising the service ceiling of the B-17F to 37,500 feet and increasing top speed to 325 miles per hour at 25.000 feet. Each B-17F cost the taxpayers $314,109.00. and Boeing delivered 300 between 30 May and 31 August 1942. They carried the serial numbers 41-24340 through 41-24639. Although a grand total of 3.405 B-l7Fs would be built by the Boeing-Vega-Douglas pool, these first 300 aircraft epitomize the Boeing B-I7 — the Flying Fortress.
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