MARCH IN REVIEW: The venerable B-17

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. John Hale
  • 452 AMW Historian
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. --  The venerable B-17 is one of the most recognized airplanes in aviation history. The plane was made famous through its reputation as a tough and dependable aircraft, as well as its portrayal in movies made during and about World War II. 

The 1990 box office smash The Memphis Belle renewed  interest in the B-17 and the bombing campaign of the Eighth Air Force, though Clark Gable helped make the Flying Fortress famous much earlier with his own 1938 blockbuster film, Test Pilot. The film featured Gable as test pilot Jim Lane, ably assisted by his friend and mechanic Gunner Morris, played by Spencer Tracy. The final sequence of the film was shot at March Field and featured Gable and Spencer testing the Air Corps' newest aircraft.

By the end of World War II, the Flying Fortresses had dropped more than 640,000 pounds of bombs on Nazi Germany, accounting for nearly half the total tonnage dropped. The B-17 was loved by crews for its superior survivability and has achieved an almost mythic status among aviation enthusiasts.

This B-17, assigned to the 32nd Bombardment Squadron of the 19th Bombardment Group, served at March Field until mid-1941, when the 19th Bombardment Group moved to the Albuquerque Army Air Base, later renamed Kirtland Army Air Field. Though March Field served as a final step for bomber crews completing their training before transferring to combat commands in the South Pacific, the aircraft used to train those crews no longer included the Flying Fortress.