Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress
“Nine-O-Nine”

The Collings Foundation’s B-17G Flying Fortress “Nine-O-Nine.”

This photo begins our tour and walk-through of the B-17G.

With a maximum 8000 pound bomb load, thirteen .50 caliber machine guns, 3750 mile range and crew of 10, the B-17 Flying Fortress was one of the most important aircraft of WWII. Each of its four Wright Cyclone 1820-ci 9-cylinder air-cooled turbocharged radial engines produced 1200 hp at 2500 rpm at takeoff, consumed 200 gallons of fuel per hour and required a 37 gallon oil tank for lubrication during long missions over hostile German Luftwaffe territory.

The Collings Foundation’s B-17G, Nine-O-Nine, and other vintage B-17 Warbirds like it, are a tribute to the men who flew a B-17 in combat and who only can appreciate the trauma of battle, the horror of ME109 Messerschmitt fighters and the feeling of helplessness in flying through the telltale black puffs of antiaircraft flack.