Subject: Bomber Series--Boeing B-17 Fortress (15 of 27)

From: [email-masked] (joseph.f.baugher)
Date: 21 Aug 94 01:11:14 GMT

The designation XC-108 was assigned to B-17E serial number 41-2593 that 
was converted to a special transport for General Douglas MacArthur in 
1943.  All armor an armament except the nose and tail guns guns were 
deleted.  Extra windows were installed, and the interior was fitted 
out as a flying office for the General, complete with living and 
cooking facilities.  A drop-down entry door with built-in steps was 
cut into the rear fuselage.  

The designation YC-108 was assigned to B-17F-40-VE serial number 
42-6036 which was converted into VIP transport aircraft similar to 
General MacArthur's XC-108.  

The XC-108A was B-17E 41-2595 converted in March 1944 at Patterson
Field as a cargo aircraft.  It was part of an experimental program 
to test the feasibility of converting obsolescent bombers into cargo
transports.  All armament and military equipment was removed, and a 
large cargo door was cut into the rear fuselage.  The interior 
arrangement was reqorked, and the radio operator and navigator were
moved to a position behind the pilot's where the top turret had
originally been located.  The nose compartment was rebuilt to provide
space for cargo or personnel, with access being geined by the crawlway
underneath the cockpit or by a solid, hinged nose piece that replaced
the transparent nose of the standard B-17E.  The bomb bay doors were
sealed shut and the bulkhead between the bomb bay and what had been
the radio compartment was opened up.  The bulkhead between the
radio compartment and the waist area was removed.  Provision for
cargo or troop-transport was installed in both the former bomb bay
and the aft fuselage.

The XC-108A was based in India and was used for tramportation of materials
into China over the Hump.  It was not a success as a transport, being 
subject to continual engine problems, and there were no further cargo
transport conversions of the Fortress.  The XC-108A returned to the 
States in October of 1944, and after the war ended up in bits and pieces
in a junkyard near Dow Field in Maine.  In 1985, a vintage airplane buff 
moved the pieces of the XC-108A to Galt Airport in Illinois, and current
plans are to restore the plane to B-17E configuration for display in 
a museum.  This will make it the only surviving B-17E.

The XC-108B was B-17F serial number 42-30190 converted as a fuel 
transport aircraft.  It was a test of the feasibility of converting 
bombers into tankers for use in ferrying fuel over the Hump from Burma 
to China.  All armor and armament was removed, and extra fuel tanks 
were installed in the fuselage.  

Many other B-17s were converted to VIP transport configuration under 
the designation CB-17, the C indicating their status as converted 
bombers.  

Sources:

  Flying Fortress, Edward Jablonski, Doubleday, 1965.

  Famous Bombers of the Second World War, Volume One, William
  Green, Doubleday, 1959.

  Boeing Aircraft Since 1916, Peter M. Bowers, Naval Institute
  Press, 1989.

  United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, Gordon Swanborough
  and Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989.

  Boeing B-17E and F Flying Fortress, Charles D. Thompson,
  Profile Publications, 1966.

  American Combat Planes, Ray Wagner, Third Edition, Doubleday, 1982.

  Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II, Military Press, 1989.

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