Subject: Bomber Series--Boeing B-17 Fortress (20 of 27)

From: [email-masked] (joseph.f.baugher)
Date: 4 Sep 94 01:49:52 GMT

The following is an account of the B-17's service in the Pacific 
theatre of operations.  

In early December of 1941 immediately prior to Pearl Harbor, there 
were 13 USAAC heavy bomber groups, but most of them were far below the 
32-plane strength that had been authorized.  Many of them were 
equipped with Douglas B-18s, a military version of the DC-2 commercial 
transport.  Only some 150 B-17s were on hand, most of them the 
small-tailed B-17C and D versions, although a very few B-17Es were 
available as well.  

In response to the growing crisis in the Pacific, most B-17s had been 
deployed overseas.  The 6th Bombardment Group based in the Canal Zone 
had eight B-17Bs and received eight new B-17Es in the first week in 
December.  The 42nd Reconnaissance Squadron based in Newfoundland had 
six B-17Bs.  The 7th Bombardment Group based at Salt Lake City, Utah 
had 35 new-model B-17Es, but preparations were under way for this 
outfit to be shipped out to the Far East.  Six B-17Cs and 29 B-17Ds 
were serving with the 19th Bombardment Group based in the Philippines.  
The 14th Squadron of the 19th Bombardment Group had been transferred 
to the Philippines in September of 1941 in a spectacular trans-Pacific 
flight to Clark Field, and two more squadrons had flown to the 
Philippines in October.  The 5th Bombardment Group based at Hickam 
Field, Hawaii had 12 B-17Ds.  The other six heavy bomber groups in the 
USAAC were equipped with a total of 12 YB-17s, 22 B-17Bs, and five 
B-17Cs.  

The B-17 was to achieve its first taste of combat in American hands at 
Pearl Harbor.  On December 7, The 38th Reconnaissance Squadron with 
four B-17Cs and two new B-17Es was inbound from Hamilton Field, 
California to Pearl Harbor on their way to the Philippines to 
reinforce the American force there.  None were armed.  They arrived at 
Pearl Harbor at the height of the attack (radar operators mistakenly 
thought that the Japanese attack force was this flight arriving from 
California).  Some of the planes managed to land at a short fighter 
strip at Haleiwa, one set down on a golf course, and the remainder 
landed at Hickam under the strafing of Japanese planes.  

Twelve B-17Ds of the 5th Bombardment Group were parked on the ground 
at Hickam Field during the attack.  Five of these B-17s were 
destroyed, and eight were damaged.  

The B-17Es of the 7th Bombardment Group based at Salt Lake City, Utah 
left Utah on December 5 for deployment to the Far East.  Six of them 
arrived in Hawaii just after the Pearl Harbor attack, but the rest of 
them were ordered to remain in the USA to defend California against 
the Japanese threat, since in the hysteria of the moment the Japanese 
fleet was expected to show up off Santa Barbara at any time.  Only 19 
B-17Bs could be spared to be sent to Spokane to help defend the 
Northwest, and two B-17Bs were sent to Alaska.  

News of the Pearl Harbor attack was received at about 3 AM on Dec 8 in 
the Philippines.  According to the previously-agreed upon plan, If 
hostilities were to break out, an attack on Japanese bases in Formosa 
was to be carried out by the 19th Bombardment Group's Fortresses.  On 
Dec 8, there were 35 USAAC B-17s in the Philippines, with two 
squadrons at Clark Field on Luzon with a total of 19 planes, and two 
squadrons at Del Monte on Mindanao 500 miles to the south with the 
other 16 B-17s.  

For reasons which are still unclear even today, the planned raid on 
Formosa was delayed.  Instead, in order to prevent them from being 
destroyed on the ground by a Japanese air attack, all flyable B-17s 
based at Clark Field had been ordered into the air and to patrol the 
waters around Luzon.  In the meantime, General Lewis H.  Brereton, 
General MacArthur's air commander, finally got approval to carry out 
the strike against Japanese bases on Formosa, and the B-17s were 
recalled to Clark.  When the Fortresses returned to Clark, three of 
them were equipped with cameras for reconnaissance and the remainder 
were loaded up with 100-lb and 300-lb bombs in preparation for the 
planned mission to Formosa.  

The three reconnaissance B-17s were taxiing out for the initial 
photographic mission to Formosa when about 200 Japanese aircraft 
struck.  Unfortunately, all the P-40 fighters had been recalled for 
refuelling and were on the ground.  The attack was devastating.  All 
except one of the B-17s were destroyed or damaged on the ground.  The 
sole survivor had not taken off on the morning alert, and had been 
taken up in the air while the rest were being prepared for the Formosa 
raid.  The Fortresses at Del Monte 500 miles to the south were out of 
range of the Zeros from Formosa and were left untouched.  

At Clark Field, three or four of the damaged B-17s were put back into 
service.  They were joined by the B-17s from Del Monte.  By December 
9, reconnaissance missions were being undertaken by the 19th 
Bombardment Group in search of the Japanese fleet.  

On December 10, a Japanese convoy was spotted, and five B-17s were 
dispatched.  This was the first American bombardment mission of World 
War II.  No fighter opposition was encountered, and some hits were 
recorded on the transports.  

That same day, a B-17C piloted by Captain Colin P. Kelly dropped 
bombs from high altitude on what the crew thought to be a Japanese 
battleship.  Hits were recorded, and a tremendous explosion was 
observed.  Kelly's plane was immediately pounced upon by Zeros, one of 
which was flown by Saburo Sakai, who was later to become a famous ace.  
Kelly guided his heavily-damaged plane back towards Clark Field.  He 
ordered the crew to parachute to safety, but before Kelly himself 
could leave, the aircraft exploded and Kelly was killed.  

When the surviving crew was questioned, the report was flashed out 
that they had sunk the battleship *Haruna*, and the mission was hailed 
as a great victory.  Captain Kelly was posthumously awarded the Medal 
of Honor for his heroism, and was written up in glowing press reports.  
However, it turned out later that the *Haruna* was nowhere near the 
area at that time and that the ship most likely struck was the cruiser 
*Ashigari*, and it was not sunk.  

By December 14, out of the original 35 B-17s in the Philippines, only 
14 remained.  They were all stationed at Del Monte, hopefully out of 
range of Japanese aircraft.  Beginning on December 17, the surviving 
B-17s based there began to be evacuated to Batchelor Field near 
Darwin, Australia.  

The first mission out of Australia took place on December 22, with 9 
B-17s taking part.  It was an attack on Japanese shipping at Davao.  
They landed at Del Monte on Mindanao, which was still in American 
hands.  

On that same day, Japanese forces landed on Luzon, and quickly 
advanced on Manila, driving MacArthur's forces onto Bataan and then to 
Corregidor.  

It seemed that the Japanese were advancing just about everywhere.  The 
19th Bombardment Group based in Australia moved up to Java in an 
attempt to stop the Japanese advance.  They were joined in January by 
the B-17Es and LB-30s of the 7th Bombardment Group.  The small force 
of B-17s could do very little to stem the tide of the Japanese 
advance.  launching valiant but futile attacks against the masses of 
Japanese shipping.  The 7th Bombardment Group was withdrawn to India 
in March of 1942, leaving the 19th to carry on as the only 
Fortress-equipped group in the South Pacific.  

The Japanese regarded the B-17 as a tough and well-armed opponent, one 
that was particularly difficult to shoot down.  It could absorb an 
incredible amount of battle damage and still remain flying.  It was 
the most feared and respected American aircraft during the early stage 
of the war in the Pacific.  However, the early B-17s were 
insufficiently protected against attacks from the immediate rear, a 
deficiency that the Japanese were quickly to learn to exploit.  
Fortress pilots were able to compensate somewhat for this weakness by 
jinking their planes back and forth when attacked from the rear, 
giving the left and right waist gunners alternatively a shot at the 
approaching aircraft.  

The newer large-tailed B-17Es began to join the depleted force of 
earlier-model B-17s in the Pacific.  The tail gunner of the B-17E was 
an unpleasant surprise for the Japanese, who had become accustomed to 
attacking the Fortress from the rear.  The crews of pre-B-17E 
Fortresses often adopted the expediency of rigging sticks in the rear 
of their planes, hoping to convince the Japanese attackers that tail 
guns were actually fitted to these planes as well.  However, it soon 
became clear that the remotely-controlled belly turret of the B-17E 
did not work very well, the complicated system of mirrors being so 
confusing to the gunner that he could not see anything at all.  It was 
soon replaced on the production line by the famous ball turret.  

In March of 1942, A B-17E flew General MacArthur out of Del Monte 
airfield in the Philippines and evacuated him to Australia.  

In Hawaii, the B-17E-equipped 5th and 11th Bombardment Groups were 
used in the Battle of Midway to attack Japanese surface fleets.  
High-altitude bombing attacks against moving ships capable of evasive 
action proved to be completely unsuccessful at Midway.  Although 
several attacks were made by the B-17s, none of their bombs actually 
hit a single Japanese ship.  An attack against naval vessels at sea 
was found to be a job best done by low-altitude medium bombers or by 
dive bombers.  

By August of 1942, the 43rd Bombardment Group in Australia had become 
the fifth B-17E group to be deployed against Japan.  The 5th 
Bombardment Groupe Bombardment Group carried out air search duties 
from Hawaii and were transferred to the South West Pacific in time to 
participate in the drive from the Solomons back to the Philippines.  
The 11th and 43rd Bombardment group retrained on B-24s early in 1943.  

By mid-1943, most Fortresses had been withdrawn from the Pacific in 
favor of the longer-ranged B-24 Liberator.  The B-24 was better suited 
for operations in the Pacific, having a higher speed and larger 
bombload at medium altitudes.  In addition, the losses in Europe were 
reaching such magnitudes that the entire B-17 production was needed 
for replacements and training in that theatre.  Shortly after the 
Battle of the Bismarck Sea, it was decided that no more B-17s would be 
sent to the Pacific.  It was to be in the European theatre of 
operations that the B-17 was to gain its reputation.  In fact, the 
B-17 flew 98 percent of its combat sorties in Europe.  

The only Clark Field B-17 to survive the war was *Swoose* (40-3097).  
It was basically a B-17D but was equipped with parts scavenged from 
several other B-17s, hence its name, which stood for a cross between a 
swan and a goose.  As newer, more capable B-17s became available, 
40-3097 was used as a personal transport by LtGen George H. Brett, the
deputy commander of Allied forces in Australia.  During its career,
it ferried around a lot of VIPs, including a young Congressman from
Texas named Lyndon Johnson, who was then on active duty as a Navy
lieutenant commander.  *Swoose* is now with the Smithsonian 
Institution and is in storage somewhere at the Paul Garber 
restoration facility in Suitland, Maryland awaiting restoration.

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.

  American Caesar--Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964, William Manchester,
  Little, Brown, 1978.
 
  Final Cut: The Postwar B-17 Flying Fortress: The Survivors, Scott
  A. Thompson, Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, 1993.

Joe Baugher			**************************************
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