Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry (prototype Model 299/XB-17) outperformed both competitors and exceeded the air corps' performance specifications. Although Boeing lost the contract (to the Douglas B-18 Bolo) because the prototype crashed, the air corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation. From its introduction in 1938, the B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advances, becoming the third-most produced bomber of all time,
RAF Bomber Command aircrew of World War II and listed 2,198 airmen. A number of evading aircrew were captured due to the duplicity of French collaborators who betrayed them to the Gestapo. Air Commodore Ronald Ivelaw-Chapman a staff officer at No. 1 Group RAF was the highest-ranking officer of RAF Bomber Command to be taken prisoner in World War II while flying operationally, he was flying as second pilot aboard an Avro Lancaster of No. 576 Squadron RAF on the night 6–7 May 1944. The German Luftwaffe had responsibility for Allied aircrew taken prisoner in North West Europe and it is on record in numerous biographies that the