B-17 Serial Numbers From 1942 All US Military A/C S/N's 1908 to Present

[75Plus]

Armoredman's  comment in another thread that he was a fan of the B-17 reminded me of this serial number list I ran across a few weeks ago. The list also has the fate of each plane. While the list is mostly B-17's there are a few other types as well. The most surprising thing I found was that Douglas also built B-17's. I hah always thought that all of them were built by Boeing. The list covers over 9 thousand planes acquired in 1942. The overall war effort is absolutely mind blowing!!


I believe this to be somewhat gun related so I feel that I have posted in the proper forum.

Have fun!!

http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_2.html

I back tracked to the home page of this site and found a listing of ALL A/C serial numbers 1908 to present.

http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/usafserials.html

Scrolling to the bottom of the page the list can be translated to the Czech language! How fitting is that.

Joe

[Hurryin Hoosier]

That's quite a list. Thanks for posting.

And to think, that was just 1942. We weren't really even "geared up", yet!

[armoredman]

Amazing - they even got the names of the pilots that shot them down and what plane they were in when they did it.
After the war, remote piloted B-17s were flown through radioactive clouds to measure what active radiation would do to a plane. They were then "disposed of". So many beautiful warbirds were casually destroyed because we had lots of them, and they were outdated.

This is SORT of gun related - so I'll post some aviation ordnance photos of B-17G, "I'll Be Around", currently at Pima Air Museum in Tucson, AZ. She was restored to flyable status - drain the preserving fluids, add gas, oil, and charge the batteries...and she could fly. Note items of CZ-USA display, to bring this in line with CZF.



Note remote operated twin .50 caliber machine guns in chin turret. Not of Czech manufacture.
Here is a dummy bomb, and tour guide.



Looking down the plane from the bomb bay, you can clearly see the .50 caliber waist gun, ready to rock. Also not of Czech manufacture. I wasn't allowed IN the plane, so I held the camera up on the extended tripod for the best pictures I could get.



The man in the red hat was the co-pilot of this aircraft after the war, when she flew for the CIA. The man in the wheelchair was a navigator on this Warbird during WWII. Not the turret to the left - that's the top turret removed for display, replaced by a dummy display turret.



I wish I could fly in one someday, but the number of B-17s certified by the FAA as airworthy drops every year. Oh well. Someone give me an F6F Hellcat, and I;ll feel better.

[Grendel]

Armoredman: You can fly right here: http://www.collingsfoundation.org/menu.htm

75+: During the big one, many different companies built all sorts of things in support of the war effort, Ford built planes, Standard typewriters built rifles so it's not unusual to find that Douglas took on some B 17 production.

[75Plus]

Armoredman: You can fly right here: http://www.collingsfoundation.org/menu.htm

75+: During the big one, many different companies built all sorts of things in support of the war effort, Ford built planes, Standard typewriters built rifles so it's not unusual to find that Douglas took on some B 17 production.

Widge, I lived through that war so I know how the war effort worked. Having said that I still found it surprising as Douglas and the other aircraft companies were busily building their own designs.

Joe

[armoredman]

Widge.....

Flight Experiences are $450 per person aboard the B-17 or B-24.

Gah....but its cheaper than this one...

Flight training in the P-51 is $2200 for a half hour flight, and $3200 for a full hour.

Double gah....I think I'll just go watch Memphis Belle instead...

[Grendel]

Armoredman: You can fly right here: http://www.collingsfoundation.org/menu.htm

75+: During the big one, many different companies built all sorts of things in support of the war effort, Ford built planes, Standard typewriters built rifles so it's not unusual to find that Douglas took on some B 17 production.

Widge, I lived through that war so I know how the war effort worked. Having said that I still found it surprising as Douglas and the other aircraft companies were busily building their own designs.

Joe

Yep. I guess it was wherever they could find the requisite expertise, workforce, and spare production capacity. It's quite possible that Douglas had the room to take on the extra work.  I can imagine that any fairly competent machine shop or manufacturing concern could be tooled up to produce aircraft, tank, and other weapon parts regardless of the initial fabrication and design.

[Grendel]

Widge.....

Flight Experiences are $450 per person aboard the B-17 or B-24.

Gah....but its cheaper than this one...

Flight training in the P-51 is $2200 for a half hour flight, and $3200 for a full hour.

Double gah....I think I'll just go watch Memphis Belle instead...

As I recall, they actually treat you like a real WWII crewman and give you training on the different roles together with a full mission brief prior to the flight.

[DenStinett]

I dig all the cool names

[cwcoolcow]

Do it! You won't be sorry! :-) :-) :-)

[bobanddog]

The most surprising thing I found was that Douglas also built B-17's. I hah always thought that all of them were built by Boeing.

That was true with lots of our aircraft and other weapons during the war.  Every assembly line in the country was put to use.  For example, Goodyear, the tire makers, also built F4U Corsairs.