MacArthur's Airmen B-17 “Flying Fortress”
| Manufacturer: |
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Boeing |
| Purpose: |
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Heavy Bomber |
| Number produced: |
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12,731 |
General characteristics
- Crew: 10: Pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier/nose gunner, flight engineer-top turret gunner, radio operator, waist gunners (2), ball turret gunner, tail gunner
- Length: 74 ft 4 in
- Wingspan: 103 ft 9 in
- Height: 19 ft 1 in
- Wing area: 1,420 ft²
- Empty weight: 36,135 lb
- Loaded weight: 54,000 lb
- Max takeoff weight: 65,500 lb
- Powerplant: 4× Wright R-1820-97 "Cyclone" turbosupercharged radial engines, 1,200 hp ea.
Performance
- Maximum speed: 287 mph
- Cruise speed: 182 mph
- Range: 1,738 nmi with 6,000 lb bomb load
- Service ceiling: 35,600 ft
- Rate of climb: 900 ft/min
- Wing loading: 38.0 lb/ft²
Armament
- Guns: 13× M2 Browning .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns in twin turrets, plus single dorsal, fore and aft beam positions (with optional extra nose armament fitted in glazed nose).
- Bombs: Although it theoretically could carry 17,417 lb of bombs in F version blocks with wing racks or 12,800 lb in the G model with just the fuselage bomb bay, the B-17 rarely flew combat missions with more than 5,071 lb.
- Short range missions (<400 mi): 8,000 lb
- Long range missions (˜800 mi): 4,500 lb
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