Color YB-17, 1942

[JDK]

Working off the Flickr album recently pointed out by Digger - This great shot, including a couple more rareities (today) in the background. The downloadable TIFF can be enlarged for a better look.



http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/I?f ... 097:@@@fsa

TITLE: A giant of the skyways poises for flight, Langley Field, Va. The four powerful engines of a YB-17 bomber are warmed up before a takeoff

CALL NUMBER: LC-USW36-1053 <P&P>[P&P]

REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-DIG-fsac-1a35097 (digital file from original transparency)
LC-USW361-1053 (color film copy slide)

RIGHTS INFORMATION: No known restrictions on publication.

MEDIUM: 1 transparency : color.

CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1942 May

[F3V]

YB-17 in 2nd Bomb Group service

[Walrus 7]

Great pic. My books tell me that only 13 were built and were fitted with Cyclones rather than P&Ws. There was one Y1B-17A built that had turbo-supercharged R-1830s in it. Is that a B-18 I spy, with an A-20 along side?

Walrus

[JDK]

Is that a B-18 I spy, with an A-20 along side?

Yup, that's what I've got.

There's a few more shots of the YB, and some others of another A-20 in British camouflage in the sequence. Go to the link and look up the Langley Field link.

[SaxMan]

There was one YB at Langley that had copper wire wrapped around its wings as a method to detect submerged submarines. It had limited success, but it did pave the way for (IIRC) the magnetic anamole detector.

[JDK]

...for (IIRC) the magnetic anamole detector.

That's some big black gopher. Too much time watching Tremors?

Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD) I presume? It would be interesting (although not as much fun as a Mole detector) to hear more about this. I wonder if there were any cross relations to the mine sweeping electromagnetic rings used by some countries like Britain and Germany?

[Jack Cook]

It's a shame it was all homefront stuff. The color stuff the overseas
is unbelieveable!!!!!