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 some air gunners were commissioned officers of which a small number were considerably older than most aircrew and even veterans of World War I. An Air Gunner wore a single-winged aircrew brevet with a wreath containing the letters AG on his tunic, above his left breast pocket denoting his trade specialization and very early in the war might also have the brass "winged bullet" qualification badge of a pre-war air gunner on his sleeve. Typically when flying operationally the following aircraft were crewed as below: Fairey Battle single-engined light bomber – most often used in daylight operations in a ground