WarSimBox
The Model 299 and the checklist
When Boeing’s Model 299 flew in 1935, a journalist called it a “flying fortress”, and the name stuck. On an evaluation flight in October 1935 the pilots forgot to release the control locks and the aircraft crashed. That accident gave birth to the pilot’s checklist read step by step before flight, still one of aviation’s basic safety tools.
Daylight bombing
The US Eighth Air Force believed in accurate bombing by day from high altitude with the Norden bombsight. B-17s flying in box formations would protect each other with their guns. The reality was harsher: in unescorted raids in 1943, such as those on Schweinfurt, dozens of B-17s were lost in a single day. The G added a twin-gun chin turret against German fighters’ head-on attacks.
In 1944, once long-range escort fighters such as the P-51 Mustang began accompanying the bombers deep into Germany, losses fell and daylight bombing severely wore down German industry and the Luftwaffe.
In WarSimBox
In the game it is a heavy bomber: its turbo-supercharged engines carry it very high, its thirteen .50 in guns cover every direction and it is very tough. It carries 12 × 500 lb, 6 × 1,000 lb or, for area bombing, 24 × 100 lb. It is slow and ponderous; fighters spend a lot of ammunition bringing one down.
Unlocked in the aircraft tree after researching North American B-25J Mitchell and Turbo-supercharger. Leads on to: English Electric Canberra B.2, Boeing B-29A Superfortress.
- Top speed
- 460 km/h · 7,500 m
- Climb
- 5.5 m/s
- Sustained turn
- 28.6 s
- Stall speed
- 152 km/h
These figures come from the game’s flight model (climb, turn and stall at sea level).
Fly it in WarSimBox