RAF crews in B-17's?

[Spitfire]

I was re-watching "A Family at War" the other night. In one of the last episodes we follow an airraid over Germany with RAF crews. They were all flying something that looked very much like B-17's. Which almost spoiled the whole evening.
I know it's a TV series, I know about limited budgets and I guesse, they had to use what they could get hold on back then in the 70's.
But anyway - RAF in B-17's!!!!

But then I began to wonder. Could it be right???:eusa_doh:
The lend/lease thing and all.
Any of you gents know about that. Did RAF Bomber Command use american bombers during the war?

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Yes!

Early in the war, lend lease did offer B-17 Flying Fortresses to the British. A good article is here: http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_B-17_RAF_Service.html Here too is a good YouTube flick on the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhpJv1eTsLs

It's doubtful they were used for long range bombing missions as there were to few, but primarily coastal patrol was the applied use.

I will do a bit more searching to find more info 'spit'. Thanks for bringing up this subject - I love the history of the 'Fort' - my favorite bird!

-dixon cannon

 

[Fletch]

Yes, the RAF in 1941 took delivery of 20 B-17Cs, which they called Fortress I.

The C model was no longer considered combat-ready by the USAAC, but Britain was so desperately short of aircraft that they went directly into service with high-altitude daytime raids over Germany.

RAF crews liked the B-17C, but it was a disaster in combat. Guns and components tended to freeze up, and the slender fin made the plane too unstable for accurate bombing.

Boeing was already building the B-17E based on updated air combat intelligence, and it was a much better weapon.

The RAF later acquired Fortress IIs and IIIs, the B-17F and G, but not in any great numbers, and as Dixon notes, mostly for coastal defense.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Here's the story...

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher2/b17_6.html

-dixon cannon

 

[Spitfire]

Thanks, gents. Most interesting read.

 

[Fletch]

Look closely during the combat sequences in Howard Hawks' Air Force (now available on DVD!) and you can see actual footage of Fort I's in RAF service - insignia and all. (If we even took any film of our B-17s in combat so early in the war, it would have been classified and unusable in a theatrical release.)

 

[taggers]

The Fort (as it was known in RAF service), was well liked in Costal Command, credited with 11 U-boats, and for search and rescue, dropping dinghys.

By the time of the big bomber raids, it was the B17's long range bombload that militated against it (B24s, however were used in large numbers).

Believe it or not some RAF 17s were used for long range airborne electronic countermeasures.

Odd it was never offered t the Soviets.

 

[MPicciotto]

Odd it was never offered t the Soviets.

They must have felt that way too... hence the capturing of three B-29's late in the war.

Matt

 

[taggers]

And then making their own...