FLYING'FORTRESS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 December 1942, Page 4

FLYING'FORTRESS

NEW TECHNIQUE IN AIR ATTACK COMPLICATED WEAPON. RAIDS AT HIGH ALTITUDE. I have just inspected one of the American-built Boeing B 17 C Fortresses which are now being used by the R.A.F. for bombing raids carried out at great altitudes, writes the London correspondent of the “Manchester Guardian.” The appearance and sound emitted by this great aeroplane are most impressive, and after climbing into its long fuselage and entering the pilot’s cabin and observer’s compartment, I gained the idea that the Fortress is one of the most complicated weapons of war in existence.

In the pilot’s cabin there are about 130 controls, instruments, and gauges. In the centre of a panel in front of the main controls there are the instruments connected with the four Wright Cyclone engines. On the left there are the switches and instruments for the automatic pilot, and the normal flying instruments are on the right. The first and second pilots sit side by side, and between the two control columns a control base is located for throttle boost, mixture and airscrews. Entry to the observer’s cabin is through the floor of the pilot’s cabin. The special bomb-sight, which is automatic, and so highly developed that most of the difficulties of high bombing are now overcome, is in this second cabin, which also houses the bombcontrol panel and a table .with a special compass. This cabin is heated by hot air distributed by a special system connected with one of the engines. Behind the pilot’s cabin there is the bomb bay. through which one passes along a narrow cat walk to reach the rear of the aircraft. Apart from the engine controls and those of the turbo exhaust superchargers and the landing wheel brakes, everything in the machine is operated electrically. There are many special devices made necessary by the immense altitudes at which the Fortress operates. Fuel has a tendency to boil at great heights, for instance, so that there is a risk of vapour locks developing in the feed pipes. A new type of pump is used to overcome this difficulty. De-icing equipment is fitted to the main-plane, the leading edge of the tailplane, and the fin. Pilots and crews of these planes have to be carefully chosen, for some men are affected by the thin air which exists at the machine’s service ceiling more than others. The men are trained in a pressure chamber and have to become what is termed “oxygen conscious.” Special parachute drill has to be carried out, too. When a wan bales out at a greet height he is handicapped if lack of oxygen is experienced before leaving the machine. The oxygen supply in the aircraft must be used to the last before the jump is made, and after leaving the aeroplane the airman must pull the rip cord of his parachute instantly lest he should lose consciousness. The risks entailed are considerable, but they are being lessened now, a Fortress pilot told we, by the introduction of portaolo oxygen bottles for each member of The crew. The Fortresses are enabling the RAF to develop a new technique in air attack that may prove decisive.