The B-17 Flying Fortress

by Robert Jackson

This photohistory gives a complete account of the legendary bomber, from the Army Air Corps 1934 request and specifications to the aircrafts retirement after World War II. Three appendices provide specifications for all variants and comparisons to their contemporaries. Archival photography, line drawings, and special colour profiles are throughout.

96 pages, Hardcover

First published December 6, 2001

About the author

Robert Jackson was born in 1941 in the North Yorkshire village of Melsonby. A former pilot and navigation instructor, his active involvement with aviation lasted many years. Following his retirement from the RAFVR in 1977 as a squadron leader, he became a full-time aviation writer and aerospace correspondent and lectured extensively on strategic issues. He speaks five languages, including Russian, and has written more than forty nonfiction works on military affairs. He is also the author of the popular Yeoman and SAS fiction series.

Reviews

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good history of the B-17. I really like this plane at air-shows. 12,731 planes made! At peak production, Boeing could make 16 in one day! Concise, lean 8.5x11-big book with good pictures. Good to read about its action in the Pacific Theater in early WWII, before being relegated to the ETO in 1943 and later. They suffered terrible losses until the P-51 could accompany them round-trip. During 1 week, between 8 and 14 Oct, 1943, when the Americans attacked Bremen, Marienburg, Danzig, Munster and Schweinfurt, they lost 148 bombers and nearly 1500 aircrew! Mustangs arrived in '44 and losses fell dramatically. Even after P-51's came, the Me-262 could take down the Mustangs, but it was too late in the war - the Allies were in control of the air.

[Julieanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall if you are a fan of the B-17 aircraft this is an very good book full of the history of the plane and how it came to be. It may be a bit disorienting for American readers at first if you are unfamiliar with European measurement systems. Dates are all written in Day-Month-Year format.

I do not recommend this for younger children because it is a fairly difficult read despite being less that 100 pages long. If they just want a book of photos of the planes then by all means give this one a try!

[Teddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Got this book from my grandmother a couple years ago, and it is really good! I would have never known the first air force to use the B-17 in combat was the Royal air force Coastal command. I would highly recommend it to readers who are new to World War 2 in general.