<S> guys
was flipping through the pages of a cool WW2 art book that a friend got for me, and this was one of the images that striked me:
this is Stan Stoke's "Birth of a Legend", and it recalls an encounter with Japanese ace Saburo Sukai and Capt. Collin Kelly on Dec. 10th, 1941
now, if you look closely, the B-17 in this painting is a D model. I'm a sucker for these birds, especially with that BEAUTIFUL bare-aluminium skin with the stripped tail, so i did some research on the D, and i found some pretty interesting stuff. specs:
Engine: Four Wright Cyclone R-1820-65
Horsepower: 1,200hp each
Span: 103ft 9in
Length: 67ft 11in
Empty Weight: 30,600lb
Maximum Loaded: 49,650lb
Max Speed: 323mph at 25,000 ft.
Cruising Speed: 227mph
Ceiling: 37,000ft
Range: 3,400 miles
Armament: One .30 cal and 6 .50 cal machine guns in nose, dorsal and ventral positions
Bomb load: 4,800lb
number produced: 42
i know some of you will be asking "why should we get a plane that only had 42 in service?". well, for one, the Ta-152 only had 43 produced, and the B-17D was, in fact, the first American bomber to see combat (in the air) in WW2. 35 were issued to the 19th BG in the Philipines, and durring the dark times of Dec. 1941 and early 1942, they played a minor role bombing Japanese shipping and ground emplacements in the defense of the Philipines.
12 more were stationed at Hickam Field in Hawaii, and 5 were destroyed durring the attacks on Pearl Harbor. And, B-17Ds even played a minor role durring the battle of Midway, bombing Japanese invasion ships
most were phased out by mid-1942 but she and more importantly the crews that flew her did everything they could when the situation in the Pacific looked bleak early on. this would, IMO, create a lot of opportunities for FSO and scenarios, and would fill somewhat of a gap in current EW FSOs, not having to use G-models anymore.
truly a beautiful bird, gotta love that paint scheme
