The WW2 B-17 'Flying Fortress'

During the Second World War, the skies were a battlefield that was just as deadly as any foxhole. One of the key components of the American strategy was a strategic bombing campaign, which was designed to cripple the Axis’ industrial capacity. The backbone of this effort was the venerable B-17 Flying Fortress #mastersoftheair

Copyright: DO NOT translate and re-upload our content on Youtube or other social media.

SIMPLE HISTORY MERCHANDISE

Get the Simple History books on Amazon:

T-Shirts

Simple history gives you the facts, simple!

See the book collection here:

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

Credit:
Show Created by Daniel Turner (B.A. (Hons) in History, University College London)

Intro: (00:00)
B-17 Ball Turret Gunner: (00:05)
B-17 Bomber Crewman: (04:52)
American VS British Bombing Tactics: (08:15)
B-17 Cross Section: (17:38)
Outro: (26:43)

[jokodihaynes]

"Bravery is fear holding on a minute longer"-George s Patton

[Newdivide]

There was one B-17 called the Ye Old Pub. After a bombing run over Bremen, Charlie Brown, the pilot, struggled to maintain formation but the plane was too severely damaged to keep up. Many of the crew were injured & incapacitated by enemy Luftwaffe fighters.

Charlie fell unconscious & almost crashed to the ground. He didn't realise he had flown over an enemy airfield & was noticed by a Luftwaffe pilot, Franz Stigler. He had 27 aerial victories on his name before the incident & was ordered by Gustav Rodel, his CO, never to shoot any crew members of the plane parachuting. The crippled plane reminded him of the order. He flew closed the bomber & Charlie noticed Franz. He motioned Charlie to land as the bomber was too crippled but he refused. So instead, he escorted the Ye Olde Pub to prevent flak from shooting it down. When they reached the North Sea, Franz motioned him to head to neutral Sweden instead of a 2-hour flight back to England. Unfortunately, Charlie didn't understand his intention. Assuming the bomber would crash into the sea & out of German airspace, he saluted the pilot & left

The bomber made it to England & Charlie told his officers about the encounter & was asked to keep it quiet. Many years later, Charlie finally broke his silence & told at a reunion event about the encounter. He soon searched for the pilot who soared him but after four years of fruitless search came up empty until he made an appeal in a combat pilot newsletter & finally, Franz who heard the story came forward & said he was the pilot he met years ago. Franz left Germany after the war & became a successful businessman in Canada. Coincidentally, they both lived near each other, Charlie in Seattle, Franz in Vancouver

Both became friends & died in the same year in 2008, months apart

[AustinHerrig]

“Death of a Ball Turret Gunner”
Randall Jarrell 1945

“From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.”

[BurtSampson]

I've got an interview with my grandpa on my channel. He was a bombardier/navigator in one. He flew over 30 missions before finally getting shot down over Misburg Germany after a successful bombing mission (i've seen the actual BDA photos taken from a reconnaissance aircraft after the mission, it looked like the surface of hte moon, it was an oil refinery is what the target was. He spent the rest of the war in StalagLuft 1 as a POW, then stayed in and did cool stuff in Korea. Check it out, I love people hearing his story.

[cosmicsloth]

My great grandfather flew one of those. They called it “The Five Grand” because it was the fifth thousandth one built and had all the factory workers names written on it. To this day I’m amazed he survived the flak storms.

[Eskeletor_]

Rip to the ball turret gunners when it got jammed

[PabloHernandez-glij]

Rest in peace to all the flyboys whose Noble sacrifices won us the war.😢🙏

[ChrisCrossFilms.]

I always get this one and the B-24 mixed up when you play in it in Call of Duty 2: Big Red One Liberators

[EnrichoNastyAnubianSoldier]

The ball turrets actually had the best survival rate of all the gunners if I recall correctly.

[BurlingamePanther]

the B17 Flying Fortress's ball turret *DID NOT* retract into the bomber as there wasn't enough space, it could be jettisoned from the plane, the B24 Liberator on the other hand could retract the Ball turret into the plane

[MilkTruck]

Bro on his way to get 10 team kills with that 12 thousand pound bomb

[gregjaro-mkzs]

THAT FLYING FORTRESS WARPLANE IS A REAL LIFE MILLENNIUM FALCON & IT'S AN ABSOLUTE MONSTER! 🛩️🛩️🛩️

[corymorimacori]

JRR Tolkien: Kings, queens, dragons, dwarves, horses, fortresses, magic and swords!

Theodore Roosevelt: Oh shoot, World War too soon? Well Teddy’s dropping bombs so you best go hide in your tube! You should be ashamed of your military honor!

[RTRJN]

Don't worry with animating the ball turret, I feel your pain animating and drawing perspective

[Rares-uxyt]

This is better than going to sleep lol

[MrPobski]

The b17 did not have a retractable ball turret, yet the b29 liberator did

[andrewmontgomery]

My personal favourite American aircraft.

[shink]

Fact check time....the ball turret was NOT retractable on the B-17...only on the B-24.

[lthbxfrosty]

Grandfather was mainly a ball turret gunner. Flew 33 missions in WW2 and 1 in Korea

[manricobianchini]

I cannot stand Temu! Their adds are everywhere and annoying!!!