Customer Reviews

B-17 Flying Fortress Units of the MTO (Combat Aircraft)

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Well worth the cost. A nice addition to my collection of books on the subject mainly for the photographs.

Though dismissed as the 'minor league' by their 8th AF counterparts, the six B-17 groups assigned to the 15th Air Force flew their share of tough missions. Established in October 1943, the 15th AF's 5th Bomb Wing eventually included the 2nd, 97th, 99th, 301st, 463rd and 483rd Bomb Groups. The missions they flew - to Ploesti, Budapest, Rome, Vienna and Berlin - and the history they made is the subject of Bill Hess' 2003 Osprey book, #38 in their 'Combat Aircraft' series.

The 15th's initial B-17 units were drawn from the 12th AF; subsequent BGs reporting straight from the States. In time, North African targets were replaced by Italian targets and, in turn, targets in the Balkans, Germany and France just as the B-17Fs intially flown gave way to B-17Gs. Fifth BW B-17s nicknamed 'Patches,' 'Bad Penny,' 'Glittering Gal,' 'El Diablo,' 'Bad Penny,' and 'Rigor-Mortis' fought their way through the flak- and fighter-filled skies over Ploesti, Werner-Neustadt, Regensburg, Anzio and countless targets, sometimes with heavy losses. By war's end, a number of 5th BW B-17 units had won DUCs.

With such a large canvas, Hess does a good job summarizing 5th BW missions, including a number of exciting first-person narratives. The book includes over 80 photographs, 13 pages of color profiles and three pages of nose-art close-ups. The photos include three classic battle damage shots: 'All American' (97th BG) almost cut in half by a mid-air with a Bf 109; the mangled - and almost severed - waist section of the 2nd BG's 'Sweet Pea' and the 483rd BG B-17G staggering through the sky with its nose completely shot away. The 15th AF had its share of tough missions!

Recommended.