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B-17 HEAVY BOMBER PICTURES Heavy bombers dropping bombs |
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THIS IS A GREAT PICTURE OF B-17 IN ACTION OVER GERMANY |
| This is one of the first of Hitler's "Secret Weapons" - the V-1 Buzz Bomb. ------> This unit is shown on the launch pad ( or ramp ) somewhere in France where most of the ram jet bombs were launched toward England. Many hundreds of these bombs fell all over England. The Germans used these flying bombs to devistate London - then other parts of Britain. Many were also aimed at Belgium cities as the Allied forces advanced into towns and villages. The units were controlled by a gyro and several other devices with preplanned distances governed by amounts of fuel consumed. They were not accurate in the beginning - however as time went on the Germans could control the bombs to hit specific targets such as railroad stations and other individual targets. |
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Bomb stock pile. |
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"Bombs Away" - 385th Bombers delivering payload on target |
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B-17 named "Rum Dum" Note in the background next to the landing gear you can see the Control Tower for the 385th Airfield. |
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Not All Landings Are Perfect ! ----> Lt. Lamping flew his crew on two combat missions on D-Day June 6, 1944. The second landing was not perfect due to flak damage over Normandy. A piece of shrapnel punctured the right tire and when the wheels touched down on the tarmac the tire blew ! When the tire blew the bomber skidded across the tarmac and onto grass several hundred feet before spinning around - digging the right wing in the ground. You can notice the ball turret is still in place with little damage. A landing might not be perfect but any one you can walk away from ain't all that bad. ( notice a ground crewman's bike parked adjacent to the damaged tire and wheel ) This B-17 was later named Miss D-day by the crew it was assigned to in June 1944. |
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"Taxiing For Take-Off" - Great Ashfield _________________________________ The sun is up and early morning overcast skys show B-17 bombers taxiing for take-off on a combat mission over Germany. Each bomber waits turn to advance to end of runway - checking and re-checking engines and instruments with each stop. All Airmen on board make ready for the flight. Daylight air raids placed the formation over targets where the most damage could be delivered, however the danger of German fighter interception was also greater- and the flak more accurate.The roar of 140 - 1200 horsepower engines had already awakened all nearby British citizens. _________________________________________________________________________ |
