Wild B-17C Ride

[straffo]

Originally posted by davidpt40
Story is from History channel show called "Broken Wings".

As for the war starting- If you guys were capable of following the context of the story, then it would have made sense to you.  The U.S. was the first country to use the B-17 in combat.  The B-17 first saw combat on December 7th, 1941 which *gasp* is when the U.S. entered the war.

I though the first combat sortie was done by the brit but I can be wrong ...

Look like I was right  for once :

The RAF planned to use the Fortress I on unescorted daylight bombing
raids against targets in Europe, relying on the vaunted defensive
firepower of the Fortress to fend off fighter attacks.  The first
sortie with Fortress Is was flown from Polebrook on July 8, 1941
against Wilhelmshaven.  Three planes took part.  Engine trouble forced
one of the planes to divert to a second target, but the other two went
on to attack the naval barracks at Wilhelmshaven from an altitude of
30,000 feet.  Unfortunately, the planes were not able to hit anything
from such extreme altitudes.  In addition, their crews found that the
temperatures at this altitude were so cold that their defensive
machine guns froze up when they tried to fire them.  However, all
planes returned safely to base.

[davidpt40]

Wow you are right straffo.  I knew about the British using the Fortress 1s, but I assumed it was in early 1942.

I know the Brits also had a disastrous raid with Fort 1s in which they abandoned the aircraft completely.  Not sure if this was late 41 or 42 now.

But just to be safe, Dec 7 was the first time the U.S. engaged the B17 in combat.  I believe it was also the first time B17s were shot down in combat (unless the disastrous British raid occured before Dec7).

[straffo]

I'm sorry David I forgot to paste the link of the page where I found this : http://www.fscwv.edu/users/rheffner/b17/index.shtml

Lotsa information here.

[Curval]

Originally posted by davidpt40
You sir, are insane.  Please quit disgracing the board with your juvenile attacks.

No..you Sir started the attacks calling Oct juvenile and your initial thread stated that "the largest war in history broke out."

You were wrong...admit it and move on.

[Octavius]

Originally posted by Slash27
um, and who are you?  Is this your message board?

Perhaps I should clarify:  "Um, and who are you [to enter an exchange between two people]"  In otherwords, it doesn't concern him.

[firbal]

Some of the lessons learned from the Brits use of the Forterss was incoperated into other models. They were the first to use the B-17 in combat. Not many, but a few. I think that if it weren't for the Brits use of them early, the mods made wouldn't of been added when we needed them. Lessons learned late.

[mos]

You're both idiots.  One, for erroneously thinking that it was chance that the war broke out only one month later, since it was highly likely the US was going to join in soon, anyway, and two, for taking offense at what should be standard fare by now: one of us americans thinking that the world revolves around us.

[Octavius]

Originally posted by mos
You're both idiots.  One, for erroneously thinking that it was chance that the war broke out only one month later, since it was highly likely the US was going to join in soon, anyway, and two, for taking offense at what should be standard fare by now: one of us americans thinking that the world revolves around us.

You're an idiot too  You go beyond the initial conversation.  If you dont stick to the initial post and ONLY what is written (no insinuations, prior knowledge of actual events, etc...), then nothing posted after that will make sense either.  

it's a small insignificant issue that i chose to debate... send me to the firing squad.

and anyone and everyone who posts beyond this is an idiot too

I'm done.