Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is the aircraft most people picture when they think of the American daylight bombing campaign over Europe. It was a four-engine heavy bomber bristling with machine guns, and Boeing and two licensed builders, Douglas and Lockheed Vega, turned out 12,731 of them between 1936 and 1945.

Today only three fly. The sections below cover how the bomber was developed, how it changed, what its numbers really mean, what it did in the war and why so few are still airborne.

How the B-17 Was Developed

The first B-17 was Boeing’s Model 299, which made its first flight on July 28, 1935. On October 30, 1935, the prototype crashed because the control surface gust lock had not been released before takeoff, killing test pilot Ployer Peter Hill and Boeing’s Leslie Tower.

The Army Air Corps kept faith in the design anyway. On January 17, 1936, it ordered 13 YB-17s for service testing.

The name came from the press. Richard Williams, a reporter for The Seattle Times, described the new bomber as a “15-ton flying fortress” in a photo caption after noticing how many machine guns stuck out of it.

How the Design Changed From B-17B to B-17G

The B-17 was never one fixed design. The B-17E introduced a much larger rear fuselage, vertical fin, rudder and horizontal stabilizer, along with a dedicated tail gunner position.

The final Douglas-built blocks of the B-17F adopted the “chin turret” first tried on the YB-40 escort variant, which gave the bomber far better forward defense. That turret became part of the B-17G, the definitive late-war model, by which point the defensive armament had grown from 7 machine guns to 13.

Specialist versions followed. The U.S. Navy acquired 48 as the PB-1, about 130 became SB-17G air-sea rescue aircraft, and 107 were converted to QB-17G drones and DB-17P drone controllers.

The Numbers Behind the Specs

The full specification table for the aircraft is on this page. A few figures need context, because the same bomber is quoted with very different numbers depending on load and source.

Range is the one most often misquoted. The 2,000 mi (3,220 km) in the table is the range with a 6,000 lb bomb load.

Combat range was much shorter, about 1,100 miles, while a ferry flight with no bombs and extra fuel reached about 3,750 miles. Some period references print 1,850 miles for standard fuel, which reflects different fuel and load assumptions.

Speed tells a similar story. The maximum speed was 295 mph (474 km/h) at 25,000 feet, and the cruise speed was 182 mph (293 km/h).

Reaching altitude was slow work, with 41 minutes needed to climb to 25,000 feet.

The payload figure in the table is a weight limit, not a typical bomb load. The normal bomb bay load was 12 bombs of 500 lb, or 6,000 lb, and the maximum internal load dropped from 8,000 lb on short missions to about 4,500 lb on long ones.

Crew and Defensive Armament

A B-17G carried a crew of 10: pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier, flight engineer who also manned the top turret, radio operator, two waist gunners, a ball turret gunner and a tail gunner.

Thirteen .50 in M2 Browning machine guns covered nine positions around the aircraft.

The pilots flew the aircraft, but not over the target. A WWII bomber pilot interviewed by Military Times in 2019 explained that on the bomb run “the actual flying of the airplane was done through the bombsight by the bombardier,” and that “the pilot and copilot had to just sit there with their arms crossed waiting to take over if necessary.”

What the B-17 Did in the War

B-17s dropped more than 640,000 tons of bombs on Nazi Germany. That was 42.6% of the roughly 1.5 million tons dropped on the country by all aircraft.

The United States fielded 32 overseas combat groups equipped with B-17s. United States Army Air Forces inventory peaked at 4,574 B-17s worldwide in August 1944.

Memphis Belle became the best-known individual airframe because it was one of the first B-17s in the Eighth Air Force to complete a 25-mission tour. It has been on display at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base since May 17, 2018.

How Many B-17s Still Fly

Three B-17s are listed as airworthy as of October 2026. They are Sentimental Journey (N9323Z), operated by the Commemorative Air Force in Mesa, Arizona, Ye Olde Pub (N3701G), which flies from Madras, Oregon with the Erickson Aircraft Collection, and Sally B (G-BEDF) at Duxford, England.

Sally B flew its first sortie of the 2026 season on May 29, a Memorial Day tribute flown to the American Military Cemetery at Madingley. Sentimental Journey is on the CAF’s 2026 Flying Legends of Victory Tour, which is due to finish in St. George, Utah on October 4.

Roughly 45 complete B-17 airframes survive in all, so most are static. Our guide to how many B-17s are still flying covers each survivor and what keeps the rest on the ground.

The oldest is The Swoose, the only intact B-17D, built in 1940. Another former flyer, Yankee Lady, was sold to a private party in June 2024 and has since been partially disassembled for further restoration.

Crashes and Groundings

Two fatal accidents reshaped the surviving fleet. On October 2, 2019, the Collings Foundation’s B-17G N93012 crashed short of the runway at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut, killing 7 people.

The NTSB blamed the pilot’s failure to properly manage the airplane’s configuration and airspeed after he shut down the No. 4 engine following a partial loss of power. It listed inadequate maintenance, the foundation’s ineffective safety management system and inadequate FAA oversight as contributing factors.

On November 12, 2022, the B-17G Texas Raiders and a Bell P-63F Kingcobra collided at the Dallas air show, killing six people. The NTSB’s final report, issued in December 2024, found that inadequate prebriefing by the air boss and event organizer, who relied only on real-time directives and see-and-avoid, allowed the two aircraft to lose separation.

The FAA also issued an airworthiness directive on May 17, 2023 that required inspections of the wing terminal-to-spar chord joints on the B-17E, F and G, effective June 1, 2023. It followed an earlier directive from 2001 on cracking and corrosion in the same area.

B-17 vs F-15: How Big Is the Bomber?

The B-17 is longer and far wider than the F-15 Eagle, but the two weigh about the same. The B-17’s wingspan is 103 ft 9 in (31.62 m), against 42 ft 10 in (13.06 m) for the F-15C.

The F-15C is 63 ft 9 in (19.43 m) long, and its maximum takeoff weight of 68,000 lb (30,844 kg) is actually higher than the B-17’s 65,500 lb (29,700 kg). The two maximum weights are within 2,500 lb of each other.

For other World War II heavy bombers, see the B-24 Liberator, which was built in larger numbers, and the larger B-29 Superfortress.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many B-17 bombers are still flying today?

Three are listed as airworthy as of October 2026: Sentimental Journey in Arizona, Ye Olde Pub in Oregon and Sally B in England. Roughly 45 complete airframes survive in total.

How much is a B-17 worth today?

There is no public price list, because flyable B-17s almost never come up for sale and prices are rarely disclosed. Yankee Lady, for example, was sold to a private party in June 2024 with no public price.

The museum that sold it said that any future long-term grounding would cause financial hardship, which is a clue to how expensive the aircraft are to keep airworthy.

Was the B-17 difficult to fly?

It was a large four-engine bomber that took 41 minutes to climb to 25,000 feet and was flown in formation for hours. Crews of 10 shared the workload, and on the bomb run the bombardier flew the aircraft through the bombsight while the pilots waited to take over.

How much bigger is the F-15 compared to the B-17?

The F-15 is smaller, not bigger. The B-17G has a wingspan of 103 ft 9 in (31.62 m) against 42 ft 10 in (13.06 m) for the F-15C, although the F-15C’s maximum takeoff weight is slightly higher.

How many crew did a B-17 have?

A B-17G carried a crew of 10, including the pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier, flight engineer, radio operator and four gunners.

Why is it called the Flying Fortress?

Richard Williams, a reporter for The Seattle Times, called the prototype a “15-ton flying fortress” in a photo caption because of the number of machine guns sticking out of it.

How many B-17s were built?

Boeing and licensed builders Douglas and Lockheed Vega produced 12,731 B-17s between 1936 and 1945.