B-17 CC Additional Material by Robert M Stitt

Boeing B-17E Fortress 41-9234,
alias Fortress IIA FL461
Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress
41-9234, alias FL461, photographed
near Wau, Papua
New Guinea in April 1977.
It crash-landed following
a raid against a Japanese
convoy off Lae on January
8, 1943. Of note is the large
B-17F-style gun window on
the port side of the nose,
added in Australia with
a similar starboard window
after the Fortress had been
reassigned to the USAAF.
In the autumn of 1940, the United States government ordered 512 B-17Es under contract W-535 ac-
15677. Production at Boeing’s Seattle plant began on September 5, 1941, and on May 26 of the following
year, the US Army Air Forces accepted 41-9234 (constructor’s number 2706), the 501 st B-17E built.
It had cost American taxpayers $280,135.00 and was allocated to ‘Britain’ under the US-UK Lend-Lease
agreement. Four days later, the Fortress was flown to the United Air Lines-run Cheyenne Modification
Center at Cheyenne, Wyoming, to be modified as a Fortress IIA for antisubmarine operations with RAF
Coastal Command. But with the USAAF’s then urgent need for offensive capability in both Europe and
the Pacific, 41-9234, along with 15 other B-17Es assigned to Britain, was taken back by the USAAF.
On August 6, it was flown to Hamilton Army Air Field in California for delivery to Australia under the
shipping code Sumac.
The Fortress had spent approximately nine weeks at Cheyenne, four weeks longer than the typical
five-week modification period for a Fortress IIA. From examination of its remains, it is known to have
been fitted with an astrodome and ASV Mk II aerial arrays for service with the RAF. It was also painted
in a Temperate Sea camouflage scheme of Dark Slate Grey and Extra Dark Sea Grey with Sky under
surfaces, together with Type A1 fuselage roundels, equal-banded fin flash, Type B upper wing roundels
and the Air Ministry serial number FL461 – in common with earlier RAF-bound B-17Es, the Fortress
displayed its yellow USAAF radio call number ‘19234’ on the fin (see Appendix B for a discussion on the
camouflage applied to 41-9234 and the colour profiles on pages 193–194). The fact that 41-9234 was
fully modified and wearing a British serial number, the only instance involving a B-17E subsequently
transferred back to the USAAF, suggests that a ferry flight to Dorval for onward delivery to the United
Kingdom was imminent. Supporting this conclusion, a British Air Commission (BAC) document notes
FL461 at Cheyenne on July 7, 1942, five weeks after it arrived from Seattle – and therefore at the end
of the normal modification period – and at the same time other Lend-Lease B-17Es in the same Army
Air Forces serial number range were departing Cheyenne for Dorval. Shortly after the report to the BAC,
41-9234 was reconfigured for operations with the USAAF at Cheyenne – including removal of the astrodome
and ASV Mk II radar aerial arrays – but retained its Temperate Sea with Sky finish and indeed was
operated over New Guinea in this scheme before being repainted in Dark Olive Drab with Neutral Grey.
When the Author visited the Fortress in 1977, the Dark Olive Drab finish had weathered away to
reveal the Dark Slate Grey and Extra Dark Sea Grey camouflage pattern and colours applied at Cheyenne
although, after 35 years in the tropical sun and exposure to the occasional brush fire, the hulk appeared
a uniform medium grey from a distance. The fuselage sides still carried remarkably sharp Type A1 RAF
fuselage roundels while Type B blue-and-red roundels were evident on the upper wing. The British serial
number FL461 was discernible in front of the port horizontal stabiliser while the yellow USAAF radio
call number ‘19234’ was still clearly visible on both sides of the bullet – and shrapnel-riddled fin.
41-9234 departed Hamilton Field in mid-August under Project X – the transfer of B-17s and B-24s
to Australia – and arrived, most likely at Townsville in Queensland, on August 21. Once in Australia, the
nose section was fitted with large B-17F-style gun windows, a field modification applied to a number
of B-17Es operated by the 5 th Air Force. Allocated
to the 28 th Bombardment Squadron of the
19 th Bombardment Group based at Mareeba,
Queensland, it flew its first mission just four
days after its arrival.
Trial by Fire
The war in the Southwest and Central Pacific
was characterised by island-hopping campaigns
that relied heavily on the availability and
safe passage of shipping – targeting convoys
engaged in invasion and resupply operations
therefore became a critical role for the aerial
forces of both sides. Boeing had designed its
legendary Flying Fortress as a high-level strategic
bomber. But its availability in the Pacific at
the beginning of the war – and the prevailing
belief that heavily-armed, unescorted bombers
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