I like to pride myself in the history and knowledge of aircraft, but I am always more than willing to humble myself when I find out more than I knew (or thought I knew) before. Such was the case when I saw this picture of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress with one single turboprop engine instead of the typical four radial engines. I assume it's some sort of test aircraft and I noted the civilian registration on the wing, but if anyone knows more about this particular aircraft, please fill me in. I found it on this website that contains rare American aircraft, the majority of which come from the WWII era or just beyond. Most of the photos I had seen before, but I was highly intrigued to see many others which were completely new to me. Here are a few more rare B-17 shots for you.
Here's a JB-17G with a Wright XT-35 Typhoon Turboprop added to the nose.
Here's another 5-engine B-17, this time with a fifth radial engine and one big honkin prop.
This B-17 was modified to carry the Loon which was the US copycat of the German V-1 flying bomb.You can find more rare wartime aircraft from other countries at the main host site.
Thanks, John ;)
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12 comments:
top one is a photoshop
There were also two other B-17 modifications of some note. There was one that had four turboprop engines, and had a top speed of around three hundred mph. I think that the prototype burned in an accident. There was another B-17 that had a number of additional 50 caliber machine guns added, and it also carried additional ammunition. It was intended to protect the bomber formations, but it flew slowly, and it was viewed as a liability in combat.
The gunship version of the B-17 was the YB-40.
No Photoshop: "JB-17G from 1945 was civil and USAF test-bed for an added 6000hp P&W XT34 "Turbo-Wasp," Wright XT-35, Wright R-3350, and Allison T-56 POP: 3 [N5111N, 44-85747, x]. When it was realised that the turboprop can power the plane itself, the other four engines were removed. While results were encouraging, the armistice and dawn of the jet age curbed the project."
I agree with Shane.
The 5 engine version did exist and they did shut down all 4 original engines.
Searching the USAF Museum website finds mention of this aircraft however, it makes no mention of it having the wing mounted engines removed. It seems to me if the USAF had made a single engine turbine this big and it worked they'd be pretty quick to point it out.
Hiya,
The top photo is indeed modified to remove the radials.
This plane still flies today as 'Liberty Belle' following an intensive restoration.
See details here: http://www.libertyfoundation.org/
Cheers,
Bob
So are you saying the aircraft or the photo was modified?
I've been on the liberty bell website, and again there is no mention of actually removing and fairing over the wing mounted engines. I'll email the Liberty Bell group and see if i can get a straight answer.
Brian
Shane you're right.
Looking at the clumps of trees in front of the leading edge in the lo res-image, you see two repeats, left and right- Typical Photoshop cloning behavior favored by those who like to add numbers to their missile "tests".
Sorry, was typing in Engrish! The top photo is absolutely photoshopped. If they had done that for real with the test plane, where would they put the mainwheels without massive aditional engineering? And what if the single engine failed?
I can remember see the five engine B-17 flying over my house in New Jersey during the early 1950's (West Caldwell, NJ, just west of the old Curtis Wright field
Hello;I fly out of 47A where the liberty Bell is based for its yearly overhaule.The guys that fly it say it was a test plane and at one time it had 5 engines on it
If you look up Liberty Bell B-17 on wiki you will see the original phot of the 5 engined tesbed. Pretty clear that the single engined photo was photo-shopped from this pic.
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