Boeing YB-40 Flying Fortress Boeing YB-40 Flying Fortress The Boeing YB-40 Flying Fortress was a modification for operational testing purposes of the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber aircraft, converted to act as a heavily armed gunship for other bombers during World War II. At the time of its development, long-range fighter aircraft such as the North American P-51 Mustang were just entering quantity production, and thus were not yet available to accompany bombers all the way from England to Germany and back. Work on the prototype, Project V-139, began in September 1942 by converting the second production B-17F-1-BO (serial number 41-24341) built. Conversion work was
The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship The Flying Ship (Russian title "Летучий корабль"), or The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship, is a Russian fairy tale. Andrew Lang included it in "The Yellow Fairy Book" and Arthur Ransome in "Old Peter's Russian Tales". Uri Shulevitz illustrated a version of Ransome's tale, "The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship", for which he won the Caldecott Medal in 1969. Also, a made-for-television stop motion-animated film with the same name was released in the United Kingdom in 1990. It aired as part of WGBH's children's series,