It was a four engine, heavy bomber which first flew on July 28, 1935.
In theory, in the words of British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, the “bomber will always get through.” The Americans believed the B-17, with the Norden bomb sight, could be that bomber. In years following World War I, the United States was heavily influenced by Italian air-power theorist Giulio Douhet who called for heavy investment in a force of bombers to fly over the front-lines, destroy an enemy’s infrastructure, and break their will to fight. That aircraft was the Boeing B-17, better known as the “Flying Fortress”. They also believed they had an aircraft which could fight its way in and out of the target area, unescorted, and return home safely. The Americans, on the other hand, were proponents of daylight, precision bombing using their state-of-the-art and top-secret Norden bomb-sight. The British had been bombing from the air, but heavy losses forced them to switch to nighttime area bombing, greatly reducing its effectiveness. The problem was there was no easy way to hit Germany, as a cross-channel invasion of Europe was still years away. Gift of Peggy Wallace, 2010.308.082Įven though it was the Japanese who attacked the Americans at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the official policy of the United States and its allies was to defeat Germany first. Top Image: Close-up of a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber in flight, 1944-45.
