[ARC5] Navy B-17's

[Robert Eleazer]

The US Navy did have B-17's in WWII, although they had far more B-24's.  The reason was what occurred at the Battle of Midway.  The Navy found that the USAAF B-17's could not hit maneuvering ships from high altitude but that 4 engined heavy bombers were vastly superior for scouting for enemy forces than were their PBY's.  Any Japanese combat aircraft could attack a PBY cruising at 75 kts, but B-17's at 25,000 ft were virtually immune to most Japanese Navy aircraft and could even fight off attacking Zeros.

At Midway, the Navy resorted to putting its own personnel in USAAF B-17's for scouting, since Army personnel tended to report any ship they sighted as being a battleship.  Then the Navy got their own heavy bombers, although rather than the B-17 they preferred the B-24 with its greater range, and called it the PB4Y-1.  Eventually they developed their own new version of the B-24 called the PB4Y-2.  I wrote about this in the November 2002 issue of Aviation History.

I don't know what radio gear the first Navy 4 engined bombers had.  I would guess that under the press of urgency they took them with Army gear, at least at first.  Of course the PB4Y-2 had a full and extensive fit of Navy gear.

Wayne