Inside the B-17 Flying Fortress

The B-17 Flying Fortress was designed to carry heavy bomb loads deep into hostile territory while giving its crew enough defensive firepower to survive the journey home. Powered by four turbo-supercharged radial engines and surrounded by machine-gun positions, the B-17 became one of the most recognizable American bombers of World War II. But behind its rugged appearance was an incredibly complicated machine packed with fuel systems, control cables, oxygen equipment, defensive weapons, and tightly confined crew stations. How did ten men operate effectively inside an aircraft flying for hours at freezing high altitude? How did the turbo-supercharger system keep the engines producing power where the air became dangerously thin? And how could a heavily damaged bomber sometimes continue flying after losing engines, control surfaces, or large sections of its structure? Watch our new film as we travel inside the B-17 Flying Fortress from nose to tail, exploring its cockpit, engines, bomb bay, defensive weapons, crew positions, and the engineering that allowed this legendary bomber to survive some of the harshest air combat of World War II.


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