JF Ptak Science Books   Quick Post

I’ve long been an admirer of the Boeing B-17 aircraft and have posted about it on this blog a number of times.  Today I just wanted to share some images of the aircraft’s production and assembly at the Boeing Seattle works in 1942.  All photographs are from the Farm Security Administration series (Office of War Information) and can be found (with a hundred others) at the Library of Congress site, here.

(Our younger daughter, Tess, with here antique wooden model of the B-17, with the real thing (B-17G)  in the background.)

Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives:  B-17 Construction, 1942-1944

“Production. B-17F heavy bombers. A women worker, over 60 years old, does an expert riveting job on a B-17F bomber in the Long Beach, California, plant of Douglas Aircraft Company. Better known as the “Flying Fortress,” the B-17F is a later model of the B-17, which distinguished itself in action in the South Pacific, over Germany and elsewhere. It is a long range, high altitude, heavy bomber with a crew of seven to nine men and with armament sufficient to defend itself on daylight missions.”