Warbird Information Exchange

Some may find these two images interesting. Both are B-17's. I'm not educated enough to state what models they are so I'll leave that to the B-17 experts.


Passenger version (modification)


Combat version with waist gunner positions.

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[Thread title is ridiculous btw]

No seat recline or infotainment screen for the pax?

Exactly my thoughts. Looks like almost any flight would be too long in that config. Not a very comfy looking set up.

When I arrived in Vietnam in August 1968 as a 68B20 Aircraft Engine Repairman I flew from the replacement depot at Cam Rahn Bay to the 1st Cav HQ at An Khe in a C-130. There were about 60 of us and our luxury accommodations consisted of some cargo straps attached across the cargo bay where we sat on the floor facing aft with our duffle bags and using the cargo straps as rudimentary seat belts. Not much insulation in the airplane and when the landing gear was retracted it sounded like we had just made a belly landing on a PSP landing strip. Not a lot of TLC expended on FNGs in those days.

When the war ended my dad (483rd BG) did not have enough points to come home so he flew troops from Pisa to Casablanca as part of the Green project. They called it Homebound Airlines. He said they stripped them down and put 2 x 6's down each side to sit on. Turrets stayed put. Crew of 5.
Couldn't have been comfortable but I'd say the troops were just glad to be headed home.

Somehow I doubt that the Swoose, General MacArthur's plane, or most other transport-converted B-17s were so spartan inside. The ones that flew personnel home after the war, as mentioned here? Probably like the one in the picture above.

I don't ever recall(now I'm gonna go look for interior shots in my books)that armor plate in the waist, interesting...

Still, it beats Delta.

As for the model of B-17...
The passenger version looks to be a late "G" with the staggered gunner windows.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

There were several variations of the armor plating, including the one pictured. Here's a drawing that shows the one pictured.

TWA model 299 with passenger interior.....

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remember the Oogahonk!
old school enthusiast of Civiltary Warbirds and Air Racers

No less comfy that the troop seats on a C-47.
Or for that matter, any modern transport.

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

Well, now I want to know the *rest* of the story. When did TWA use a B-17 as an airliner, and on what routes?
Not for very long, I'd guess.

I wonder if the armor plate in the drawing and photo were put in place on the production line, at a Stateside depot before the planes went overseas or in a kit sent overseas for installation at the unit level?

Mac

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WWII Naval Aviation Research - Pacific
https://www.ww2nar-pac.com/