Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress NAN10-50.jpg|thumb|B-17 modified for testing of the [[Pratt & Whitney T34|XT-34 turboprop]]. When testing concluded, the aircraft was restored to stock configuration as the "[[Liberty Belle (B-17)|Liberty Belle]]", but was lost in a post-forced-landing fire near [[Oswego, Illinois]] on 13 June 2011.]] [[Category:Boeing aircraft|B-17 Flying Fortress]] [[Category:United States bomber aircraft 1930–1939]] [[Category:Four-engined tractor aircraft]] [[Category:Low-wing aircraft]] [[Category:World War II bombers of the United States]] [[Category:Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress| ]] [[Category:Aircraft first flown in 1935]] 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
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress extent in the War in the Pacific, early in World War II, where it conducted raids against Japanese shipping and airfields. From its prewar inception, the USAAC (by June 1941, the USAAF) promoted the aircraft as a strategic weapon; it was a relatively fast, high-flying, long-range bomber with heavy defensive armament at the expense of bombload. It developed a reputation for toughness based upon stories and photos of badly damaged B-17s safely returning to base. The B-17 developed a reputation as an effective bomber, dropping more bombs than any other U.S. aircraft in World War II. Of the of bombs