Flying Forts The B-17 in World War II Author:Martin Caidin The Century of Flight... — Hundreds and hundreds of long range heavy bombers streaming overhead in mile-long formations, the deep-throated roar of their engines blending with the screaming howl of hundreds more fighter planes above them - a monstrous, ground shaking, overwhelming thunder.... There had never been a time or a sound like it agian, a... more »nd there never has been an airplane like the B-17 Flying Fortress - among pilots and crews, the most loved airplane of WWII.
Because if you had to fly and bomb and fight, the Flying Fortress was the rock to have. It flew high and fast, it flew very well, without unexpected vices or tricks that could kill you in combat, and it could absorb battle damage like nothing else in the skies. Time and time again, Forts with massive wounds of great chunks of the aircraft completely missing, with engines dead and dying, limped all the way home.« less