The Importance Of B-17s In European Theater

The B-17, which was an American heavy bomber, was a massive success in the European Theater. According to America in the Air War, B-17s shot down 23 German fighters using defensive 12.7mm machine guns for every 1,000 sorties over Europe (a sortie was one mission by one plane). B-24s, another large bomber, had only 11 for every 1,000 sorties. Most B-17s in Europe were in the 8th Air Force, bombing German airplane parts factories. However, they were not completely invincible. Before long range fighters like the P-47 of P-51 were developed, B-17s took terrible losses from German fighters. On one mission alone, there were over 400 bombers lost. Flak was also a large destroyer of B-17s. Flak is a shell that, at a preset altitude, exploded and threw shrapnel throughout the air. The P-51 Mustang, one of the best performing fighters in World War 2, escorted the B-17 on its bombing runs in Germany. It started development when the British, looking to purchase another order of P-40 Warhawks, found that all of the Warhawks being produced were already ordered. North American Aviation offered to build the British a better fighter in six months using the same engine as the P-40, and the British accepted. The first XP-51s delivered had good performance at
low altitudes, but didn’t have enough power for high altitude fighting like the British and Americans needed. But Thomas Hitchcock, a military attaché in London suggested putting the more powerful Rolls-Royce 61 engine on the same frame. Both the Americans and British agreed, so the conversion was made. The new fighter was very improved by the upgrade. It had a farther maximum range and less fuel consumption, which enabled it to escort bombers even farther into enemy territory.
Opinion
America in the Air War is a book I would definitely recommend to anyone interested in World War 2 era American aviation.
It is a very factual text, and it has many quotes from generals or pilots from this time. For example, a quote from Robert Johnson, one of the leading fighter pilots in the war, described a fight with a Messerschmitt 109 on page 104. “The lead Messerschmitt suddenly stopped smoking. It was a complete giveaway; I knew then he had cut power.” There are also photographs of many of the planes described about in the book. It is very in-depth, and covers the Air Force from the time before the United States entered the war to the period after Japan surrendered. Both the European and Pacific conflicts are
discussed. I believe America in the Air War is unquestionably a must-read for anyone at all who is interested in World War 2 history. This book extensively talks about ground and sea offensives, and combat, too. It provides such daring stories about different raids at German industries. For example, the book details a dangerous series of raids on oil refineries at Ploesti that cost 223 planes from concentrated flak and enemy fighters. Another thing I loved about the book is that it doesn’t dumb down any of the information to make it more readable. You have to really think about what the author means by metaphors and technical wording. The book can be dense though, and if you don’t like scientific and aviation terms, then this book might not be for you. Overall, America in the Air War is very factual and descriptive and I thoroughly enjoyed it.