B-17 Bomber's Left Side Exterior Features

The intent of this video is to provide an introduction to the WWII B-17 Bomber’s left side exterior features. Various topics including B-17 crew positions and locations of the, ADF antenna, Crew relief tube, tail wheel, dorsal fin, life raft, and celestial navigation dome.

[@Tubes12AX7k]

I can't imagine what it must have been like trying to use the "relieve tube" in the deep cold. I remember going to the latrine in well-below freezing conditions and having to strip down to do what I needed to do. I was shaking in the cold with exposure when I finally had to relieve myself.

[@tomasthomas7407]

Appreciate All Your EF’FORT’, in your putting these wonderful videos together 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@flyus747]

Thank you for making this channel. A true bomber buffs channel.

[@markharnitchek9205]

back in 1990's when i was stationed at NAS Oceana in VA Beach I got to fly in B-17G ... on the Friday before the shows on Saturday and Sunday, the performers -- warbirds included -- would practice the entire show ... i was paying close attention watching the pilots from the flight deck, but wish i had seen your video prior to my flight ... i missed a lot ... i was also suprised how small (small to me anyway) the airplane was. thanks again for another great video ... with this and all your other scholarship, you've a got the makings of a great book.

[@julianshawyer4718]

Great attention to detail. Things like the crew relief tube and trailing antenna.

[@markjosephbudgieridgard]

Another fantastic vidio especially if your obsessed with the B17/24/29 heavy bombers just like me.... These bomber crews where the bravest of the brave everyone here in the UK owes these guys a debt of gratitude.... They will always be remembered 🇬🇧❤️

[@TigerDominic-uh1dv]

To Me This Is Such A Beautiful Plane 😊

[@nelsonde]

I believe the FE/TTG was generally a TSgt and was considered the ranking enlisted member of the crew. Their MOS was 748, Engineer - Gunner, aerial.

[@peterbrown6224]

I never knew that about the mainwheels. Fascinating!

[@jeffp3415]

This was a fairly common design feature in the 30's, but the A10 Warthog also has it!

[@DimMakTen31]

Really awesome info. Ive been binge watching all day.

[@Hi-lb8cq]

I love your videos!!...that's cool that schwinn used to make B-17 parts

[@davefellhoelter1343]

My Pops was a Flight Engineer, I would have Asked More Questions! He talked mostly of training dangers as he saw more dangerous than Combat Conditions.

[@dukecraig2402]

It actually wasn't more dangerous but it's easy to see why it could be perceived that way given the number of losses during training, but one factor people don't take into account is the fact that not all training deaths were due to mistakes or inexperience as one would assume, a fair share of them were due to mechanical failures just as it could happen to an experienced crew, a lot of people would naturally chalk those up to lack of experience also. It was a dangerous business to be in, something like ⅓rd of all 8th Air Force deaths were from accidents and mechanical failures. I myself was in the peacetime Army and saw my share, when you're driving armored vehicles around in the dark with no headlights because you train like how you'd fight you're gonna have them running through camps at night, driving off cliffs and a myriad of other things that amount to the tiniest of slip up's being deadly. Since I got out of the Army in July of 1986 I've had 3 of the 10 deadliest occupations in the history of the US, including being an Ironworker erecting buildings and bridges, and I saw more guys get killed and maimed in the 3 years I was in the peacetime Army than all the years combined doing the jobs I've had since I got out, being in the military is a dangerous occupation even in peacetime, throw in someone trying to kill you and it gets that much worse.

[@craigpennington1251]

Another great explanation of duties on the B-17 & where they are. Cool stuff.

[@samsavage3426]

other than possibly the last version before retirement the b-17 was equiped with browning .30 cal machine guns, aftermarket framework was developed and installed on the bombers

[@BIG-DIPPER-56]

THANK you so much!!! 🙂😎👍

[@01ZO6TT]

Just found this channel and I’m very impressed with all the details. I’ve always been interested in WW2 aircraft and how they work. It’s interesting to see how all the men worked and fought together, and all the different jobs they had to do. Thanks so much for these awesome videos! New subscriber.

[@davidalonso4971]

Wonderful job. If you haven’t discovered more you probably will. The reason an airplane has a forward CG is to keep the wing flying forward. It will not fly backwards. Make the airplane more predictable and recoverable from stalls. They learned that from the early airplanes not being able to recover from a stall. Also the 75 pounds of paint smoothed over the extruded rip vets and made the airplanes faster saving 470 pounds of fuel on a typical mission. Instead of the bear airplanes. The dorsal fin was enlarged to provide additional Rutter effectiveness during engine failures.

[@andreyplumer3990]

Thank you for all the hard work! It's really amazing and educating.

[@WWIIUSBombers]

Thanks!

[@troz451]

Nice! Thank you

[@bruceringrose7539]

It’s not a “ sex tent” LOL, it’s a “sextent”, it’s almost “sextunt”. Great stuff, keep it up! Present a review of the PBY Catalina, a less glamorous but critical roll in the S Pacific Theater, very much under-appreciated.

[@wisenheimer66]

Well Done! Very informative & well spoken!

[@Hi-lb8cq]

Well you do videos covering the B-24???

[@briansteffmagnussen9078]

Looking at the plane in detail there seem to be a lot of aerodynamic lift in the whole construction. When you loose one of the three control surfaces theres still a lot left to produce lift. The fuselage it self seem to make some lift in it self. No wonder this construction made it home with half of its wing somewhere in Germany. The Liberators did make it with some damage, but only barely and the pilots would have to struggle more with damage to the wings.

[@clmccomas]

How about a video on the communications systems and how they were networked? VHF FM voice and the HF CW sets used by the radio ops. How was comms done back to base on long range missions? How were FM voice channels handed out or shared? A great channel with information I have never seen before. Great stuff

[@johnbender5356]

I love your channel

[@WWIIUSBombers]

Thanks, more B-17 topics on the way.

[@alanrogers7090]

The USAAF started to stop the normal process of painting the aircraft in favor of bare aluminum to save weight. One B-17 fully painted would weigh 500 pounds more than another of the same model and equipment but without paint. 500 pounds equals one extra bomb, or that much more fuel. If all things were equal, the bare plane would fly a little faster.

[@dukecraig2402]

The weight difference was 75 lbs not 500, and a painted B17 actually could actually lift over 450lbs more than an unpainted one could because of the increase in airspeed, painted one's also had an decrease in fuel consumption giving them a slightly longer range. There are various reasons as to why they started flying missions unpainted that have to do with the different commands. At first they were painted at the factories, the decision to stop painting them there was to speed up production and make delivery less complicated, after that it was up to unit commander's as to whether or not they'd be painted before flying missions, things like perceived effectiveness and how fast a replacement plane had to be pressed into service were the deciding factors. Same thing with fighter's, that's why sometimes you see some P47's flying over Europe painted and in the same picture you'll see some that are the same variant in the same unit that are unpainted.

[@markstott6689]

Why do you pronounce the name Norden as if it has the letter T in it? It sounds like you're saying Norton.