All American (aircraft) plane together or for an in-flight rescue of crew members from the isolated tail section. The Harold Adamson and Jimmy McHugh 1943 song “Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer” was not written about "All American" as sometimes reported, but was about another 97th Bomb Group B-17, "Thunderbird." Navigator Harry C. Nuessle listed the "All American's" crew on its February 1, 1943 flight: All American (aircraft) The All American (full name All American III) was a World War II Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress bomber aircraft that was able to return safely to its base after having its rear fuselage
B-17 Flying Fortress units of the United States Army Air Forces Liberators Was primary operator of B-17 Flying Fortresses in overseas combat theaters during World War II. The B-17 may have first seen combat in American markings in the Philippines, but it would earn its enduring fame with the Eighth Air Force, based in England and fighting over Occupied Europe. The story of the B-17 would become the story of the VIII Bomber Command (later Eighth Air Force) strategic heavy bombardment campaign of the European Theater of Operations (ETO) during World War II Initially equipped with B-17Es in 1942, the Eighth Air Force received B-17Fs in Jan 1943 and B-17Gs in