The B-17 Project

Telling the B-17s war stories. A credit to the memory of the men who flew, maintained and supported bombers and fighter aircrafts of the 8th Air Force.

[thatsrightice]

Fun fact, Masters of the Air more or less condensed five months at Thorpe Abbotts into a couple of days. Take a look at the MotA timeline of events. See the parallels in events and how different the order and dates of these events are. I understand why they did it, and it was definitely for the best in terms of storytelling, but it is still interesting to examine and take note of.

MotA Timeline of Events (Ep 7)

3/8/1944 - Rosie’s 25th mission

Length of tour increased to 30 missions for new crews (existing crews need 27 missions)

3/?/44 - maybe next day? Bennett’s office

Rosie becomes squadron commander of the 350th Squadron after previous is shot down

Bennett mentions Operation Argument aka the plan to use bombers as bait to lure out Luftwaffe and achieve air superiority

Actual Real Timeline of Events

2/20/1944 - start of Big Week aka Operation Argument aka the plan to use bombers as bait to lure out Luftwaffe and achieve air superiority

3/8/1944 - Rosie’s 25th mission, becomes Asst Group Operations Officer (Jack Kidd)

3/19/1944 - length of tour increased to 30 missions for new crews (existing crews need 27 missions)

4/26/1944 - Rosie’s 26th mission, first of his second tour

5/06/1944 - Colonel Jeffrey replaces Colonel Bennett as CO of the 100th Bomb Group

5/25/1944 - Rosie becomes squadron commander of the 350th Squadron after previous is shot down

[thatsrightice]

100th BG Missions:

I absolutely love graphics and charts, so I made a calendar and started overlaying the missions of the 100th Bombardment Group on top of it where every gray circle represents a day that the 100th flew a mission. The red number associated with them is the number of crews lost on the given mission.

Note: the 100th BG arrived at Thorpe Abbotts on June 9th

Full Circles - Missions

Empty Circle - Mission Recalled

Empty Circle w/ Line - Mission Scrubbed

Full Circles w/ Green - Chowhound Missions

Full Circles w/ Orange - POW Revival Mission

Full Circle w/ Black - Troops Ferry

I also went ahead and used the same format to make mission calendars for just a couple of the main people in the 100th, again using the records provided by the 100th BG's website. If there is a member of the 100th you would like me to do this for other than those I have listed, please let me know and I will happily do so!

Gale "Buck" Cleven:

John "Bucky" Egan:

Note: Bucky Egan arrived in England in May 1944 in advance of the 100th BG's arrival

Additional Note: According to 100th records that I don't have access to, Maj Egan flew 16 missions with the 100th Bomb Group

Robert "Rosie" Rosenthal:

Note: Rosie Rosenthal joined the 100th BG in early October 1943

Harry Crosby:

Note: Harry Crosby flew 32 official missions, but the exact date of the 30th mission is not known.

[thatsrightice]

After the introduction of the nose turrets on the B-17G model, the Luftwaffe wouldn't attack a formation of B-17s from head on. This is why Navigators and Bombardiers are the least likely to be wounded or killed by enemy fighters. However, this doesn't mean they're the safest position on an aircraft. In fact, quite the opposite is true. The nose of the plane is arguably the deadliest region of the plane for crew members.

If you’ve done even the smallest bit of research on B-17s, you’ve likely come across the following diagram showing the casualties for each position on a B-17 from June to August 1944 (the same range of dates applies to all data in this post).

And there’s a lot of really good information on here, but I took the data from the study and streamlined it a little bit…

I want to make note of the fact that there are two waist gunners per plane, meaning that of course they’re going to have the highest amount of casualties because theres twice as many people who could be wounded by virtue of their position.

If we counted the navigator and the bombardier as one unit called the Nose like how they combine the LH and RH waist gunners, it wouldn’t even be close. And that’s after I also combined the Pilot, Copilot, and Top Turret Gunner into “Cockpit.”

Some other little tidbits of information:

Waist Gunners, Tail Gunners, and Radio Operators were the most common casualties from enemy fighters

Bombardiers were the only position more likely to be wounded in their upper extremities (shoulders, arms, hands). Every other position in the aircraft was more likely to be wounded in their lower extremities (buttocks, legs, feet, etc.)

No Ball Turret Gunners were wounded in their abdomen during this data sample

68% of plexiglass fragment wounds were to Bombardiers, Navigators, and Top Turret Gunners. Almost all of the plexiglass (secondary missile) wounds were to the head and neck, with only a very small handful of exceptions.

No plexiglass wounds were fatal and they very rarely penetrate deep into tissue, but 6% resulted in the man being permanently grounded. 31% of men returned to flight status within 1-7 days.

I’ll be putting together some more charts later, but if you want to know more about statistics for specific positions or types/causes of injuries, etc. please let me know!

[b17project]

100th Bomb Group - Regensburg Mission Formation Chart

Courtesy of 100th BG, 100thbg.com

I dived deeper into the "Alice From Dallas" story by contacting the 100th BG Association. I wanted to know more about the formation that set up that day for the 100th BG. As for many Bomb Group Associations, the 100th BGA is in charge of keeping the Bomb Group memories alive. They are a very valuable point of contact when making historical research on a particular aircraft, mission, event of crew member.

Mike Faley, one of the 100th historian and history consultant for the Masters of the Air serie, kindly provided me the formation charts for the Group. I thank him very much for that.

This first task force going for Regensburg was composed of three Combat Wings (CW): 403CW would consist of 62 aircraft: 96BG (21) Lead Group; 388BG (21) Low Group; and 390BG (20) High Group; 401CW would consist of 42 aircraft: 94BG (21) Lead Group; 385BG (21) Low Group; and 402CW consisted of 42 aircraft: 95BG (21) Lead Group; and 100BG (21) Low Group.

The latter is were is located the 'Alice From Dallas’. This aircraft was lead of the second element from the low squadron, certainly one of the most exposed position for every B-17 combat box, with a smaller defensive firepower than the rest of the formation. The Germans quickly discovered that, and this position was often referred to the "Purple Heart Corner" : no comment ...

As shown on the following chart, almost all but two aircrafts from the Low Squadron were downed that fateful day. Cleven and De Marco, who will wrote the MACR n°678 for Claytor's crew, were the only B-17s left from the outfit.

Courtesy of 100th BG, 100thbg.com

[b17project]

"Alice From Dallas" - The Painting

"B-17F "Alice From Dallas" - Masters of The Air", ©Nikausse

After an attack by German fighters, the B-17F “Alice From Dallas” is seriously hit on the left wing by sudden and precise fire of German Flak around 10:20 a.m., above Belgian territory. There seems to exist two different stories about what downed "Alice From Dallas" this day: the first, and well-spread on the Internet, is the Flak version. The second is the fighter attacks, and this is the version written on MACR n°678 by Lt. B. A. DeMarco that is showned in the miniserie.

I did this painting last year to pay tribute to the "Alice From Dallas" crew, after having seen the Masters of the Air about the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission (EP3). I choose the Flak version story, and painted the B-17 from above to show the extensive damages sustained at this day, moments before the bail out bell sounds by 1Lt Roy F. Claytor. I tried to be "accurate" in regards to this scene in EP3, as there are not much details available in the archives.

You can find the HD version with its details on my Artstation portfolio here: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8bYKOR

Sources:

MACR n°678 : https://100thbg.com/macr/?macr_id=13

EP3 Masters of the Air, 2024

[b17project]

"Alice from Dallas" and the Infamous Schweinfurt-Regensburg Raid

Exactly a year after the bombing of Rouen, France, which marked the first raid of the 8th Air Force on the ETO, VIII Bomber Command planners were working on deeper penetrations into Germany and especially a complex attack to split in half the German defenses.

Initially, the attack was to target Wiener Neustadt and Regensburg on August 7th, 1943. Due to bad weather, the raid was aborted and the Regensburg strike force, dispatched from England, was not able to take-off. Instead, B-24 bombers from Africa bombed Wiener Neustadt on August 13rd and caught the German by surprise due to the long distance involved. Supposedly one of the most heavily defended area in Europe, this certainly has something to do with the overconfidence of US planners regarding deep, unescorted bombing missions into Germany.

They therefore continue to develop a plan to target simultaneously two major German industries, in accordance with the "Casablanca Directive" (21/01/1943) and the "Pointblank Directive" (14/06/1943). The Messerschmitt factories in Regensburg and the ball-bearing industry in Schweinfurt were deemed to represent the most strategic and vital targets at that time.

A first strike force of 146 B-17Fs lead by Col. Le May were to he headed for the former, as they were equipped with long-range 'Tokyo tanks', bomb the plants and then turn south and head for North Africa. Perhaps one of the most important change made during the B-17F production was the increase of fuel capacity from 1,730 to 2,810 US gallons of fuel thanks to the adjonction of 9 bladder fuel cells in each wing outboard of the engines. These additional tanks added almost 1,000 miles of range under certain combat conditions, and allowed the equipped B-17 to go farther into Germany than ever before.

This first task force going for Regensburg was composed of three Combat Wings (CW): 403CW would consist of 62 aircraft: 96BG (21) Lead Group; 388BG (21) Low Group; and 390BG (20) High Group; 401CW would consist of 42 aircraft: 94BG (21) Lead Group; 385BG (21) Low Group; and 402CW consisted of 42 aircraft: 95BG (21) Lead Group; and 100BG (21) Low Group. The latter is were is located the 'Alice From Dallas'.

A second strike force, composed of 230 B-17s, was to target the ball-bearing plants in Schweinfurt. They were to follow the Regensburg strike force by ten minutes on a parallel track, turn to the ball bearing factories and then head back to England. 2nd Air Task Force would consist of 116 aircraft divided into two Combat Wings (CW):

101CW would consist of 57 B-17s: 91BG (18) Lead Group; 381BG (20) Low Group; and Composite Group A (High Group) consisting of 19 B-17s: 306BG (7); 91BG (6); and 381BG (6).

The other Combat Wing (CW) of 2nd Air Task Force was a Composite Wing which would consist of 59 B-17s: 351BG (21) Lead Group; 384BG (18) Low Group; and Composite Group B (High Group) consisting of 20 B-17s: 306BG (9); 305BG (9) and 92BG (2).

These CWs were to take off at five minute intervals ten minutes after 1st Air Task Force and attack Schweinfurt.

3rd Air Task Force going to Schweinfurt too would consist of 114 B-17s divided into two Combat Wings (CW):

102CW would consist of 61 B-17s: 306BG (21) Lead Group; 92BG (20) Low Group; and 305BG (20) High Group;

103 Provisional CW would consist of 53 B-17s: 379BG (18) Lead Group; 303BG (18) Low Group; and Composite C (High Group) 17 B-17s: 303BG (10), 379BG (6), 384BG (1).

These two Air Task Forces were to take off at five minute intervals between CWs, twelve minute intervals between Task Forces and ten minutes after 1st Air Task Force.

As it was expected that the raids would cause a large air-battle, escort would consist of all available P-47 fighter groups (18 in total), as well as 16 Spitfire squadrons. At this period during the war, neither fighter had the range, even with belly-paper tanks for the P-47, to escort the bombers to the German northwestern border.

On the morning of August 17th, 1943, the weather over the American bases in England was terrible. Ground fog, light drizzle, and completely overcast skies caused the take-off time schedule to get seriously degraded. 1st Air Task Force under Col. LeMay had much training in instrument take-offs and they managed to get in the air and assembled pretty much on schedule. Their schedule was also very tight, as they were supposed to arrive at the African bases before dusk, after almost 11 hours of flight.

The 230 B-17s of 1st Bomb Division were not well trained for taking-off in the conditions and they waited an incredible one and one half hours for the fog to lift before they took off. The plan was doomed from the start: both strike forces would have to force their way into southern Germany. German fighters will have time to land, refuel and rearm between both bomber streams.

The first wave of 146 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers departed for Regensburg in the early morning faced immediate opposition from German fighters after crossing into enemy airspace, as soon as the escort left the bomber stream. Since the B-17s lacked long-range fighter escorts, the Luftwaffe took advantage of this vulnerability and launched multiple waves of fighters to intercept the bombers.

"Alice From Dallas" was was the lead crew of the second element of the low squadron of 100th BG this day, and it was caught in the first waves of attack, above Belgium. In the miniserie, the aircraft is hit by a frontal attack: its left wing is raked by ennemy fire, engine 2 was on fire and threatened to spread to the entire wing area before the bail-out bell is activated. Many details are written on the MACR n°678, and I can only encourage you to have a look here: https://100thbg.com/macr/?macr_id=13

Next time, I will show you my painting of this event, stay tuned!

Sources :

Boeing B-17 - The Fifteen Ton Flying Fortress, Graham Simmons and Dr. Harry Friedman, Pen & Sword Aviation, 2011

Schweinfurt-Regensburg 1943 - Eighth Air Force's costly early daylight battles, Marshall L. Michel, Osprey Air Compaign, 2020

https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/aircraft/42-5867

https://b17flyingfortress.de/en/b17/42-5867-alice-from-dallas/

https://100thbg.com/

[b17project]

"Alice From Dallas" - Going Down

When continuing to investigate what happened exactly to the B-17F "Alice From Dallas" and its crew during this fateful day on August 17, 1943, I found out what is certainly the most detailed account of what happened this day.

Mr. Dirk Thielens from the Belgian association Task Force Liberty (https://www.taskforceliberty.be/) has written an exceptional account of all the events, especially unfoldind from the moment the aircraft was hit at 10.30 a.m by Flak to the aftermath of the crew landing in occupied territory.

You can find the original text written by Dirk Thielens here : https://www.taskforceliberty.be/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Alice-from-Dallas-deel-1.pdf I thank him very much for having accepted to publish the story he wrote on my blog.

I translated a part of it to English for sharing this incredible story :

"When they had reached the province of Limburg at 10:30 they were fired upon by German anti-aircraft (flak). A heavy shock wave was felt in the aircraft when they were hit by anti-aircraft shells. Immediately the right wing of the aircraft, which was full of fuel, caught fire.

Roy Claytor, the pilot, pushed the nose of the aircraft down to leave the formation. Alice from Dallas began to lose altitude rapidly and threatened to go into a left spin. At that moment Roy noticed that the left wing was also on fire and as a reflex he engaged the autopilot and shouted "bail out!" over the intercom. This was the order for the crew to buckle up their parachutes and bail out. Bombardier Kenneth Lorch did what he had to do in that situation. He opened the bomb hatch and dropped all the bombs, which were still on safe, at once after which he, navigator Oscar Amison and Engineer/top turret gunner John Burgin bailed out of the burning aircraft. While the pilot was still trying to to keep it somewhat under control, co-pilot Raymond Nutting also left the cockpit. Pilot Roy Claytor was meanwhile also standing between the two seats in the cockpit and holding the control column. Suddenly the nose of the aircraft went up and he was sucked into the space behind the cockpit. Roy managed to reach the escape hatch and open it, after which he could jump out of the burning crashing aircraft. He waited to open his parachute to get enough distance to the aircraft, in case it would explode in the air.

Roy saw seven parachutes hanging around him. So two parachutes were missing. These were Edward Musante and William Hinton. Apparently they had not gotten out of the aircraft in time. Musante had managed to jump, but his parachute got caught in the tail of the crashing aircraft and he was dragged down into the depths, to a certain death. Two Focke-Wulf 190s of the Luftwaffe circled the crashing aircraft but they did not open fire. They were probably just looking to see where the plane and the parachutes would land and then alert the German ground troops of the exact location. Roy Claytor opened his parachute at about 1,000 feet (+/- 300 meters) altitude.

He saw the remains of Alice from Dallas come down with a huge explosion a little further away. While hanging from his parachute he was thrown in all directions and landed with a thud in a meadow. For about a minute he was dazed and could not move. About thirty paces further on a dirt road one of his comrades also landed with a thud. Roy Claytor had to shout at him three or four times before he reacted. It was Raymond Nutting, the co-pilot. Raymond had only missed the softer grass field he was aiming for by a few meters because he did not dare to pull the ropes of his parachute at low altitude. They had barely managed to get up and had deployed their parachutes when they were surrounded by a few dozen Belgian civilians from the nearby village. (Probably Schoonbeek).

John Burgin had also jumped from the plane together with bombardier Kenneth Lorch via the forward escape hatch. They had first had to remove some escape equipment and blankets. They jumped from the plane at approximately 12,000 feet (+/- 4,000 meters) and opened their parachutes at an altitude of approximately 2,000 meters. John Burgin took off his flight helmet, goggles and oxygen mask and put them in his overalls. The B-17 circled dangerously in flames in its death throes. For a moment John thought the plane would come their way and drag him down. Fortunately it turned around just in time and left the two crew members unharmed. No detailed account of the facts is available from Kenneth Lorch, but from John Burgin there is. As he was hanging from his parachute and drifting quietly southwards, he saw the Germans busy on the ground. He saw Germans taking up positions on various roads. He was hanging above a forest and when he landed at the edge of the forest, a Belgian civilian was quickly standing next to him. He wasted no time with many words and immediately began to pull the parachute out of the branches of the trees. John quickly took off his flying gear. The parachute and the gear were thrown into old shell craters (probably from the fighting in May 1940) and filled with branches, grass and leaves to camouflage them. They heard a German truck approaching, the Belgian man walked up the forest road to see where the danger was coming from and then signaled to John to quickly walk in the other direction. Waist gunner Charles Bailey also did not hesitate to jump out of the plane when the order came. He always wore his parachute harness loose enough so that he could put his hands in his pockets during the flight. The waist gunner stands to the side of the plane in an opening behind his machine gun.

Flying at that altitude with an open door is a guarantee for freezing temperatures. When Charles opened his parachute, he was hit hard by the rather loose harness. So hard that he thought he was going to be torn to pieces. He pulled off his oxygen mask and dropped it. For a moment he thought he was going to land in a pond, but luckily he drifted off. As he descended, he realized that he should have paid more attention in the courses on what to do when landing behind enemy lines. Luckily, he remembered that you should try to hide your parachute as quickly as possible. Charles landed in a garden and his parachute got stuck in a pear tree. The landing itself was pleasant and easy. At least 50 people gathered around him in a circle.

They asked him if he was English or German. When he made it clear that he was American, they spontaneously started hugging and kissing him. He had not yet had breakfast and was spontaneously offered pears from the tree. After his parachute was lowered, he took off his leather jacket and his coverall. There was a piece of shrapnel in his leg and he tried to treat it with a piece of his parachute. While he was administering first aid to himself, the people made it clear to him that he had to get out of there and hide. The people took his equipment and he hid in a ditch. There they brought him food and civilian clothes. The people hung around in the area and strangely enough no Germans showed up. About an hour later they brought him a bicycle and from there his journey was organized.

Of the ten crew, eight managed to escape by parachute. Two crew members, Edward Musante and William Hinton, were killed. Charles Bailey later recalled: “Musante was the right side gunner and I was the left side gunner. I kept a close eye on him at all times because I was older than he was and he seemed to depend on me a great deal. He always had trouble understanding what was said on the intercom and I always made sure he knew what was being said. Also when the pilot gave the signal to jump I checked Musante and he got ready. We both went to the escape hatch and I pulled the lever and Musante went forward to jump. But suddenly he changed his mind and signaled me to go first. Two engines were on fire and the plane was descending very rapidly so I saw no reason to lose any time and jumped. After my parachute opened I tried to keep my eyes on the plane and count the parachutes but I could only see eight.” So what actually happened to Musante is not really clear.

Did he hesitate to jump at the last moment and thereby seal his fate? It is certain that he got caught in the tail with his parachute. Also William Hinton the ball turret gunner could not leave the plane in time. His body was found after the crash among the wreckage. Both crew members were temporarily buried in Genk on 20 August 1943 and were reburied in their home country after the war."

[b17project]

"Alice From Dallas" - The Short Story

If you have watched Masters of the Air, you've certainly had heard about the B-17F-30-VE "Alice From Dallas" during the infamous Regensburg Mission (Episode 3).

On August 17, 1943, a combined force of some 376 bombers took off from its bases in England to strike Regensburg and Schweinfurt, with the aim of paralyzing German production of combat aircraft and ball bearings. The B-17 “Alice From Dallas” was part of the force of 146 B-17s tasked with bombing the Me-109 factories in Regensburg. Usually flown by 1st LT. William D. Desanders, the plane was named after his wife he married in 1942 Alice Jones. For the Regensburg mission, Desanders was on leave, and the aircraft was flown by The 100th Bomb Group occupied the low squadron at the rear of the formation that day. A very vulnerable place because it offers less defensive firepower than the rest of the combat boxes. "Alice From Dallas" was leading the second low element.

After an attack by German fighters, “Alice From Dallas” was seriously hit on the left wing by sudden and precise fire of German Flak around 10:30 a.m., above Belgian territory. Both wings ignited, and 8 of the 10 crew members had time to abandon the aircraft a few moments before it transformed into a ball of fire and crashed shortly after in Belgium, near the town of Langerloo. Two crew members were killed, while among the survivors who managed to abandon the aircraft, 4 were captured (including one in Bordeaux 8 months later) and 4 managed to escape and return to England.

The Schweinfurt-Regensburg raid marks a turning point in the doctrine of precision daylight bombing that the Americans prided themselves on. The considerable losses that day - almost 25% of the initial fleet, or 60 B-17s which were shot down or rendered unusable and around a hundred damaged - showed even its greatest defenders that the daytime raids over the Germany without fighter escorts are a bloody result. Beyond the successive improvements of the B-17 that came online, it was the introduction of the P-51 Mustang in December 1943 that would constitute a key factor in the Allies achieving air superiority in 1944, and therefore the continuation of major daytime bombing campaigns.

Some sources :

https://100thbg.com/aircraft/?aircraft_id=10055

https://100thbg.com/personnel/?personnel_id=906

https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/aircraft/42-5867

https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/18018572/roy-frank-claytor

https://b17flyingfortress.de/en/b17/42-5867-alice-from-dallas/

[b17project]

A B-17F is under attack from 6' o'clock by a twin engine German fighter, somewhere above Germany in late 1943. Legend of the original picture states that this aircraft is from the "Bloody Hundredth" 100th Bomb Group. Anyone has additional info on this picture?

[b17project]

"Contrails", B-17 and the High Altitude

My latest speed painting untitled “Contrails” evokes a formation of American B-17s (yes, I'm fixated on this plane) conducting a raid somewhere over Europe during the Second World War. I wanted to work on a more “aerial” photo study to practice painting sky and clouds in very bluish tones.

Precision bombing from high altitude was the doctrinal background that prompted Boeing to design and build the B-17 for the USAAC as early as the mid-1930s. From the third version onwards, the aircraft was equipped with turbocharged engines for improved flight performance at altitudes above 25,000 ft (7,500 m). By 1938, the Y1B-17A was able to reach altitudes of 35,000 ft (10,510 m), a record (FAI-homologated in August 1939) for its time, especially as the aircraft was not, and never would be, pressurized. Imagine an aircraft with all its openings (bomb bay, gun ports) at the altitude of a modern airliner, the crew and all mechanical elements facing torrents of freezing air at nearly -60° throughout the entire flight.

During the war, the British who were the first to engage the B-17C in combat in 1941, had them operate at almost 32,000 feet (9,700 m), well above American recommendations. These missions put men and machines to a severe strain: because of the permanent polar cold, mechanical problems affected engines, hydraulic systems, control surfaces and weapons. The crews are not to be outdone either, with the slightest malfunction in the oxygen supply causing loss of consciousness in a matter of seconds, and even death in a matter of minutes. Anecdotes in this regard were not uncommon.

As the conflict progressed, the B-17's reliability was improved, and crew training was adapted accordingly. Selection remained drastic throughout the conflict, notably because of the physical stress generated by the extreme altitude. While a number of missions were still flown by the Americans at very high altitudes (>30,000 ft; 10,000 m), German cities were mostly bombed between 20,000 and 30,000 ft during the war, to maximize raid accuracy and avoid the fearful Flak.

It wasn't until pressurized aircraft were introduced that regular operations at even higher altitudes were possible: in May 1946, American B-29s set nearly a dozen altitude records in the space of a few days, ranging from 39,521 feet (12,046 m) to 47,910 feet (14,603 m) with loads of 2 to 15 tons!

[usaac-official]

B-17E Hangar Queen and her crew at Grafton Underwood, likely August 1942. The aircraft would participate in the first American B-17 raid on the continent on 17 August 1942, bombing the rail yards at Rouen. On 18 August the 97th Bomb Group would trade their B-17Es for brand new B-17Fs and Hangar Queen would be relegated to rear area duties for the rest of the war.

[b17project]

Small 25-minute sketch of the B-17E "Yankee Doodle" (S/N 41-9023) in the parking lot, about to be refueled. This aircraft was one of the first American planes to bomb the continent. During the 8th Air Force's 1st raid on the European theater on August 17, 1942, the 97th Bomb Group attacked the city of Rouen. "Yankee Doodle" was the lead plane in a formation of 6 aircraft tasked with carrying out a diversionary raid on the French coast.

For some reason that still escapes me, I forgot the "Doodle" at "Yankee Doodle" ... 😶

[b17project]

Welcome on board!

Hi all!

My name is Nicolas and I'm a French-based, aerospace illustrator. As many of you did, I discovered the incredible miniserie "Masters of the Air" beginning of 2024 : this was mind-blowing. I discovered that despite an ongoing passion for military aviation history, I was not knowing well the ETO air campaign during WWII.

Since the serie, I dived into a deep passion for the 8th Air Force, the B-17 Flying Fortress and the crew who flew them. I started gathering and reading lots of books, searching archives and painting many scenes to tell their stories of the air war over Europe.

I felt that this was time to share, and thus came the idea of this blog. I intend it to be a place of sharing to advance our knowledges of this period, machines and men.

But mostly, I want it to be a credit to the memory of the men who flew, maintained and supported bombers and fighter aircrafts of the 8th Air Force.

Legend : a bombardier is posing for the photographer in the nose of his (unindentified) B-17G Flying Fortress. When not on the bomb run, the officer was tasked with controlling the Bendix chin turret, which was a very valuable improvement against Luftwaffe head-on attacks compared to the B-17F model.