And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thursday, December 5, 2024
A B-17C in flight, probably 1941. This aircraft would be lost in an accident in October 1942
This was after they figured out that painting them added over 300 lbs to the aircraft, better to leave them unpainted and carry 300 lbs more bombs and ammo.
Agreed. The ship above also only has anti-glare paint in front of the cockpit windows, none on the engine nacelles. The olive drab paint was originally thought to provide some camouflage against the ground from above. Setting aside radar, those contrails at 25,000 feet pretty much told everyone where you were, who you were, and where you were headed. Fun fact: the paint actually tended to slightly streamline each rivet head, making the painted ships 2-3 mph faster than the unpainted ones.
Designed in the early thirties and first test flights in 1935, the B-17 was the heavy bomber to conduct the early daylight raids on Germany and Japanese held positions. The first prototype, YB-17, was flown through a hurricane and deemed sturdy enough to withstand Army Aircorp use. The design was at the advent of scientific research into wing and airfoil shapes. Much of this work was done at Akerman Hall at the University of Minnesota in a small subsonic wind tunnel. I used it in my fluids class lab back when the earth cooled. They never really updated the plane wing plan form to account for the increased HP from the 18 cylinder radials. This would have increased cursing speed and made the plane harder to shoot down, carry a greater load of bombs and get better flight range. Note the wing shapes on the B-24 and B-25's These were twin engine bombers that actually carried more tonnage than the B-17's.
This was after they figured out that painting them added over 300 lbs to the aircraft, better to leave them unpainted and carry 300 lbs more bombs and ammo.
ReplyDeleteAnd putting two roundels on the wings just gave Heinz a better aiming point. Those colors on the rudder didn't help an either.
DeleteDo I see some sort of device, just below the nose of the aircraft?
ReplyDeleteRDF - radio direction finder?
DeleteThat is a very early B17. Likely from before Dec 7th 1941.
ReplyDeleteLong before the olive drab paint. And those markings are also pre-war.
Agreed. The ship above also only has anti-glare paint in front of the cockpit windows, none on the engine nacelles. The olive drab paint was originally thought to provide some camouflage against the ground from above. Setting aside radar, those contrails at 25,000 feet pretty much told everyone where you were, who you were, and where you were headed. Fun fact: the paint actually tended to slightly streamline each rivet head, making the painted ships 2-3 mph faster than the unpainted ones.
DeleteThere are two. The teardrop shape in shadow is indeed the radio compass loop. The silver "stick" just above is the pitot tube for airspeed.
ReplyDeleteOops. Wrong spot. My above is in reply to Anonymous above that.
DeleteDesigned in the early thirties and first test flights in 1935, the B-17 was the heavy bomber to conduct the early daylight raids on Germany and Japanese held positions. The first prototype, YB-17, was flown through a hurricane and deemed sturdy enough to withstand Army Aircorp use. The design was at the advent of scientific research into wing and airfoil shapes. Much of this work was done at Akerman Hall at the University of Minnesota in a small subsonic wind tunnel. I used it in my fluids class lab back when the earth cooled. They never really updated the plane wing plan form to account for the increased HP from the 18 cylinder radials. This would have increased cursing speed and made the plane harder to shoot down, carry a greater load of bombs and get better flight range. Note the wing shapes on the B-24 and B-25's These were twin engine bombers that actually carried more tonnage than the B-17's.
ReplyDeleteSpin
The single-engine A-1 Skyraider carried a heavier load than the Fort… prototypes were ordered in 1944.
Delete