Newsgroups: sci.military
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!att!cbnews!cbnews!military
From: welty@lewis.crd.ge.com (richard welty)
Subject: Memphis Belle
Organization: New York State Institute for Sebastian Cabot Studies
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 90 05:13:46 GMT
Approved: military@att.att.com
Message-ID: <1990Oct30.051346.5620@cbnews.att.com>
Followup-To: sci.military
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Lines: 38



From: welty@lewis.crd.ge.com (richard welty)

a little while back, someone mentioned that they thought that
the B-17s in the film ``Memphis Belle'' looked like late war
aircraft, where the film was set in 1943.  now that i've finally
seen the film, i can address the query (i did enjoy the film,
by the way.)

the B-17s were actually fairly representative of B-17F models,
the aircraft which were used in that period.  the earliest models
of Fortress (A through D) used in wwii either 1) were used only in
the pacific or 2) were only used by the RAF costal command.  the
E model was only manufactured in small numbers; they introduced a
completely redesigned tail and much heavier armament and armor.
the remote control belly turret of the E model was unsuccessful in
practice, being balky and unreliable.  the F model was the first
large production B-17; they introduced the manned ball turret.  the
aircraft in the film had the ball turret, the early tail gun
enclosure (later aircraft had a much larger greenhouse for the
tail gunner), the two nose machine guns for the navigator and
bombadier (the G model introduced the chin turret), and the
open waist gunner and open radio operator windows (later aircraft
enclosed these firing positions.)

the most notable slip i saw was the use of P-51s as `little
friends'; in 1943, escorts were still fairly limited range
fighters, and the P-51 (with drop tanks) was one of the fighters
that allowed escort to the target and back.

richard
-- 
richard welty         518-387-6346, GE R&D, K1-5C39, Niskayuna, New York
welty@lewis.crd.ge.com                 ...!crdgw1!lewis.crd.ge.com!welty            
``We're in a road movie to Berlin, can't drive out the way we drove in''
                                -- They Might Be Giants