B-17 may be grounded

[RAMC181]

On a side note. Does anyone know what the round opening was for in plexiglass nose? I have asked a few bombardier veterans and no one knew. The only thing I could think of would be to wipe off the glass in front of the norden, but I can't imagine putting your hand out there at 25k feet.

It's a "Windshield Dehydrator", for ground use to ventilate the nose and let condensation evaporate before flight so it didn't freeze at altitude. The hatches were usually rectangular on B-17Fs and circular on B-17Gs.
There was a kit provided to install a windshield wiper for the flat aiming panel.

The larger .30 BMG ball mounts in the B-17F models so fitted were reinforced and usually in the upper half of the nosecone.


I'll see if I can find the tech drawings for the hatch in the archive.

TTFN,
Paul