Mechanics of a Memphis Belle

It was a warm October day in 1935, only a few hundreds yards from where Wilbur and Orville successfully harnessed the wind in 1904 for the first time near Riverside, Ohio. Thirty-one years later, the brothers would not recognize the fearsome monster loping along the runway at the airport named in their honor. Wright Field was the designated place for a competition between three masterpieces of aerial destruction. The Army Air Corps wanted a long-range bomber with the necessary firepower to protect itself. It had to be fast, durable and fly high, while carrying an enormous load of bombs. Boeing, Douglas and Martin had each built a prototype and the competition looked a lot like a modern-day Road and Track shootout. The Boeing entry came with a pre-established reputation following its maiden flight in July 1935 where a reporter, upon viewing the plane from the front, called it a “Flying Fortress.”  On Oct. 30,^, 1935, one of the most famous planes in history had a flight that was the antithesis of everything it became known for in the future. The Boeing model 299 took to the air and began to climb steeply; it then stalled and nosed dived back to earth. The two casualties were Army Test Pilot Major Ployer Peter Hill and Boeing Chief Test Pilot Leslie Tower. The cause of the devastating crash turned out to be a failure to remove the gust locks on the plane’s movable control surfaces. This painful lesson was the impetus for “pre-flight checks” that are still observed today.

The Boeing 299 was severely damaged and unable to complete the competition, resulting in its disqualification for consideration by the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). The plane was down, but not out. Exercising a loophole in military contracts, the USAAC was able to buy 13 of the next-generation planes, now known as the YB-17. There were teething pains and several more iterations before the plane became known as the B-17 Flying Fortress. Arguably one of the most successful — if not the most successful — bombers of World War II, the B-17 was so intimidating to other militaries that the Germans and Japanese restored captured B-17s to rebranded them for their own use.

This icon of the war was famous for its legendary ability to survive a number of hits that would cripple most planes and still return home with its crew in tact, thanks in part to durable mechanical controls instead of hydraulics. The B-17 had a unique glass turret that allowed an incredibly wide range of firing angles from the front and virtually a machine gun poking out in every direction. Even with all its firepower, the Fortress ultimately required a fighter escort to return home. In late 1943, the B-17’s perfect match in both range and altitude — the P51 Mustang long-range fighter — took up the position. The battle for air supremacy over Germany was decisively and quickly won by the allies.

B-17G Specifications
First flight	July 28, 1935 (prototype)
Model number	299
Classification	Bomber
Span	103 feet, 9 inches
Length	74 feet, 9 inches
Gross weight	65,000 pounds
Top speed	287 mph
Cruising speed	150 mph
Range (max)	3,750 miles
Ceiling	35,600 feet
Power	Four 1,200 horsepower Wright R-1820-97 engines
Accommodation	2 pilots, bombardier, radio operator, 5 gunners
Armament	11 to 13 machine guns, 9,600-lb bomb load

The most famous B-17 almost certainly is the Memphis Belle. She is not famous for the types of missions she flew as much as she is for completing her 25-mission tour of duty with her entire original crew in tact, no matter how badly she was damaged.

If you are not familiar with a B-17, you might get the impression that this plane is a flying armored car. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. In the summer of 2012, I had the amazing opportunity to ride on a B-17G, known as “the movie Memphis Belle.” It was used in the Hollywood movie of the same name and is a plane that was completed at the end of World War II. She is owned by the Liberty Foundation and has a fairly tame past compared to her namesake. In 1989, she crossed the Atlantic with another B-17 to star in The Memphis Belle in England.

Today, her mission involves flying from state to state, taking history buffs and veterans for trips into the past or down memory lane. My visit with Belle was part of a press event that took place at Rocky Mountain Airport, just north and west of Denver. As I arrived at the airport and walked into the terminal, I heard what I was certain had to be the B-17. Afraid that I had misunderstood the time, I hurried to the outside gate in time to watch the plane gently lift off the runway. I was told they were warming up the engines. For the next hour, it took off and landed a couple of times, but was far too distant to get a look at. On its third landing, it taxied painfully slowly to where we were, stopping 50 feet away. The pilot turned the engines off, leaving nothing but the wind blowing on the tarmac.

After the pilots gave a brief history of the Belle, both real and movie, we were ready to take flight. We watched as the pilot started the plane — one massive turbocharged Wright R1820 radial engine at a time, until all four were creating a gearhead’s symphony as they idled. The exhaust smelled a lot like diesel, rather than the high-octane aviation fuel the engines burn. We climbed into the plane’s small door, and the pilot throttled up and taxied out to the runway. As he sat idling, waiting for the all clear from flight control, the engines reminded me of muffled pro-stock engines idling. As he accelerated to take off speed, there was a difference (aside from the lack of padding in the coach seats on a commercial airliner). A jet airliner seems to just power its way into the sky. The B-17 reaches a certain speed, and the 75-foot-long bird, with a wingspan of 103 feet, seamlessly becomes part of the air. The only drama is the landing gear spinning down from take off and the drone of 4800 horsepower creating lift.

For a 67 year old, she cruises smoothly along. Once we were airborn, we grown men got to play like boys. I walked along the narrow bomb bay catwalk through the business section, where 4,800 lbs. of bombs would have hung during a mission, to the Bombadiers targeting equipment. The view out of the glass front is breathtaking. It is hard to imagine the young men, who must have felt completely exposed, performing their tasks of defending the plan and pinpointing targets. As we flew and the thin metal skin of the plane waved, I gained a deeper respect for the vulnerability of  a B-17 crew, even with 13 guns and a small herd of Mustangs out front.

We touched back down to the real world, and I reluctantly said goodbye to an amazing piece of history and one of the best experiences of my lifetime.

If you would like a ride on the B-17 or a P-51 Mustang visit the Liberty Foundation website http://www.libertyfoundation.org to see when the Memphis Belle or her escort will be landing near you.

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