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The Liberty Foundation. “Boeing B-17 ‘Flying Fortress.’” Dez Moines Register, 2017

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Boeing is one of the largest aerospace companies in the world as of 2023. While many may know this company for the worldwide usage of their commercial aircrafts, such as the Boeing 737 commercial airliner, Boeing is also famous for their various military contracts in which they developed and produced numerous aircraft for various branches of the United States military.

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Tabourin, Christophe. “Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress.” Airliners.Net, 2003

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Entering the Military World and the B-17 "Flying Fortress"

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Entering the Military World and the B-17 "Flying Fortress"

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As far back as the 1930's, Boeing has been introducing countless designs of their aircraft to submit for the United States Government's requests for militarized aircraft. While initially contracted for more civil projects like mail transportation to Alaska from the Pacific Northwest (New York Times, 1920), Boeing would then take on contracts requesting specialized aircraft for the United States Military. According to an article published by The New York Times in December of 1935, the Boeing Aircraft Company had won a bid to produce and deliver thirteen B-17 bombers, nicknamed the "Flying Fortress", to the War Department of the United States to "build up their Army Air Corps" (New York Times, 1935). According to another article written by the New York Times in 1937, the new aircraft would be described by Army Air Corps officers as "more formidable than anything ever constructed by any country in the world." Equipped with a wingspan extending over one-hundred feet and the capability of hauling over one ton of explosive ordinance, the B-17 is stated to also be built with "living accommodations on board," the first military aircraft to achieve such a feat (New York Times, 1937). Even with these significant achievements in developing four-engine bombers, the B-17's accomplishments would be short lived as the United States Military had begun requesting a more advanced and capable long range bomber.

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Egloff, Andy. “Boeing B-29 Superfortress.” Airliners.Net, 2017

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Boeing's WWII Bomber: The B-29 "Superfortress"

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Boeing's WWII Bomber: The B-29 "Superfortress"

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In 1938, the chief of staff for the Army Air Corps wanted an even larger, more capable "super bomber" which would surpass even their own newly acquired B-17's (Dorr, pp. 7). As early as 1943, the newer Bowing B-29, dubbed the "Superfortress", had been finalized and delivered to the United States military (Dorr, pp. 10). The B-29 was described as a "massive" aircraft which spanned one-hundred forty-one feet and three inches across with a length totaling ninety-nine feet from head to tail (Combat Edge). Perhaps the most impressive aspects of this revolutionary aircraft were its newly acquired combat capabilities. In an article written by Combat Edge, one massive evolutionary achievement for the B-29 was the remote capabilities which allowed remote firing of the aircraft's machine guns. According to the book B-29 Superfortress Units of War by Robert Dorr as well as a short summary of the aircraft provided by Combat Edge, the massive Superfortress boasted a total of five different turret positions; an upper-forward, upper-aft, lower-forward, lower-aft, and tail locations (Dorr, pp. 11) with each turret position wielding at least two .50 caliber machine guns to provide effective defensive capabilities. There was also a 20mm cannon positioned on the tail turret, though this cannon combined with the smaller .50 caliber machine guns caused conflicting accuracy results due to the ballistic differences of the differing calibers (Dorr. pp. 11). Nonetheless, the B-29 would go on to provide the U.S. Air Corps a great deal of combat service for the remainder of World War 2. According to Dorr, the average B-29 would receive a crew that ranged between eleven to thirteen throughout WWII, with each individual receiving a unique role in the operations of the aircraft. A B-29 usually consisted of: a pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier, flight engineer, radio operator, radar operator, and four gunners to operate each individual set of .50 cal machine guns (Dorr, pp. 12-13).

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The B-29's notorious devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

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The B-29's notorious devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

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On August 6th, 1945, a B-29 bomber dubbed "Enola Gay" dropped an atomic bomb from it's bomb bay onto the city of Hiroshima, Japan (Noronha). Only three days later on August 9th, a second B-29 nicknamed "Bockscar" would drop a second bomb on the city of Nagasaki, Japan (Noronha). Out of all the missions the B-29 had flown during WWII, the two most notorious had been these operations. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians were killed within one week, with Japan surrendering soon after these tragic events had unfolded.

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Whitehead, Kevin. “Boeing B-52H Stratofortress.” Airliners.Net, 2006

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The Culmination of Boeing's Bombers: The B-52 "Stratofortress"

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The Culmination of Boeing's Bombers: The B-52 "Stratofortress"

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The B-52 "Stratofortress" has been the primary strategic bomber used by the United States military since 1952 (Klare). Equipped with jet engines as well as a more advanced wing system, the Stratofortress is capable of long range strategic bombing missions which has caused devastation to the opposing forces of those who wield them. The B-52 has seen deployment throughout various conflicts since its adoption. According to Michael Klare, the B-52 saw action throughout the Vietnam War, creating a name for itself through its obliterating bombing results against the North Vietnamese.  After the war, sources claim that the B-52 had been refurbished to accommodate its original role of being a nuclear payload transport (Klare). Even so, the B-52 has continued to be used in other conventional roles such as high altitude bombing strikes against key hostile positions according to the research conducted by Michael Klare. While the B-52 program has long since been concluded, the U.S. Air force continues to refit these aircrafts with more modern technology as well as using higher quality materials to reinforce the plane's hull (Advanced Materials & Processes). According to the article provided by Advanced Materials and Processes, "advances in material technology will ensure the structural integrity of the B-52H fleet, perhaps enabling it to become the first aircraft with a century of service."

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Harvey, Steve. "Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber." Unsplash.com, 2020

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B-2 "Spirit": The Ultimate Long Range Stealth Aircraft

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B-2 "Spirit": The Ultimate Long Range Stealth Aircraft

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Nearing the end of the 20th century, the United States military had been sitting on the top of the world as a superpower. However, in order to keep this status as the mightiest military in the world there needed to be constant changes to the various forces that support this fearsome entity. In the late 20th century, stealth became the deciding factor and ultimately the driving force behind the development of Northrop Grumman and Boeing's B-2 Spirit. According to Bell et al., in 1988 the United States government had announced two new aircraft capable of utilizing stealth technology; the F-17 by Lockheed Martin and the B-2 "Spirit" by Northrop Grumman and Boeing. There are a total of twenty-one operational B-2 bombers as of 2023, with new technologies being integrated into them as a newer stealth bombing aircraft is currently in development, the B-21  nicknamed "Raider" (Magnuson). With an estimated price of $2.1 billion USD, the B-2 is considered the most expensive aircraft in the world both inside and outside of military use.

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B-2 Systems Case Study by Griffin et al.

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B-2 Systems Case Study by Griffin et al.

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A link to the in-depth analysis offered by Griffin et al.: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA464771.pdf

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Griffin, John M., et al. B-2 Systems Engineering Case Study. (pp. vii). 2007

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Works Cited

"108 SWIFT BOMBERS ORDERED FOR ARMY: CONTRACTS COVER 90 DOUGLAS PLANES AND 13 NEW BOEING 'FLYING FORTRESSES.' COST IS PUT AT $9,046,000 PREVIOUS ORDERS WILL GIVE THE WAR DEPARTMENT 490 OTHER MILITARY PLANES IN 1936." New York Times (1923-), Dec 22, 1935, pp. 24. ProQuest, http://edmonds.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/108-swift-bombers-ordered-army/docview/101255823/se-2.

"20-Ton Bomber Rolls from Hangar; Leads all War Craft in Size, Power: Army's 'Flying Fortress' Soon to be Tested at Seattle--Wing Span Exceeds 105-Foot Figure of Y-l7--has Great WeightCarrying Ability--Details Guarded from the Public BIG ARMY BOMBER OUT FOR ITS TESTS Equipment to be Tested First." New York Times (1923-), Apr 17, 1937, pp. 1. ProQuest, http://edmonds.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/20-ton-bomber-rolls-hangar-leads-all-war-craft/docview/102172669/se-2.

"AIR TRIP TO ALASKA IN 10 HOURS PLANNED: WORK OF MAPPING ROUTES FROM SEATTLE TO SKAGWAY TO BE STARTED IMMEDIATELY. BOAT TAKES 120 HOURS OFFICIAL OF PLANE COMPANY SAYS EXPRESS, PASSENGER AND MAIL WILL BE CARRIED." New York Times (1857-1922), May 23, 1920, pp. 1. ProQuest, http://edmonds.idm.oclc.org/login url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/air-trip-alaska-10-hours-planned/docview/98185859/se-2.

"B-29 Superfortress." Combat Edge, vol. 8, no. 11, 2000, pp. 16-17. ProQuest, http://edmonds.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/b-29-superfortress/docview/197295869/se-2.

"The B-52 Stratofortress." Advanced Materials & Processes, vol. 161, no. 6, 2003, pp. 65-67. ProQuest, http://edmonds.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/b-52-stratofortress/docview/203894344/se-2.

Bell, Trudy E., and John A. Adam. "Aerospace and Military." IEEE Spectrum, vol. 26, no. 1, 1989, pp. 64. ProQuest, http://edmonds.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/aerospace-military/docview/196686378/se-2.

Dorr, Robert F. B-29 Superfortress Units of World War 2. Osprey, 2002.

Griffin, John M., et al. B-2 Systems Engineering Case Study. Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson Afb Oh Dept of Systems and Engineering Management, 2007.

Klare, Michael T. "The B-52 Bomber: The Iconic U.S. Instrument of Nuclear Combat and Coercion." Arms Control Today, vol. 52, no. 4, 2022, pp. 6-11. ProQuest, http://edmonds.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/b-52-bomber-iconic-u-s-instrument-nuclear-combat/docview/2659724748/se-2.

Magnuson, Stew. "B-2 Spirit, B-21 Raider Draw Inevitable Comparisons." National Defense, vol. 107, no. 830, 2023, pp. 23. ProQuest, http://edmonds.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/b-2-spirit-21-raider-draw-inevitable-comparisons/docview/2765927909/se-2.

Noronha, Joseph. "Hall of Fame: Boeing B-29 Bomber – Nuclear Nemesis." SP's Aviation, 05, 2022. ProQuest, http://edmonds.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/magazines/hall-fame-boeing-b-29-bomber-nuclear-nemesis/docview/2667700796/se-2.

Images

Egloff, Andy. “Boeing B-29 Superfortress.” Airliners.Net, 2017, https://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled/Boeing-B-29-Superfortress/4499235. Accessed 19 May 2023.

Liberty Foundation, The . “Boeing B-17 ‘Flying Fortress.’” Dez Moines Register, 2017,  https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/indianola/2017/06/12/world-war-ii-boeing-b-17-flying-fortress-take-skies-over-des-moines/102783390/.

Tabourin, Christophe. “Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress.” Airliners.Net, 2003,  https://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled/Boeing-B-17G-Flying-Fortress-299P/377958.

Whitehead, Kevin. “Boeing B-52H Stratofortress.” Airliners.Net, 2006, https://www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Air-Force/Boeing-B-52H-Stratofortress/1139051.

Harvey, Steve, “Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.” Unsplash.com, 2020, https://unsplash.com/photos/rxHjxQSfH6E.

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History&214 Digital Artifact Sources 2023 - David Guichard