[ARC5] Navy B-17's

[Mike Everette]

The Navy, to the best of my knowledge, got their first B-24s in early 1942 when they took over the antisubmarine mission in the ETO and perhaps the MTO from the Army Air Forces.  This was a direct turnover of a/c from one service to the other, and I'd doubt that time was wasted in refitting radio gear.  This was a most urgent mission.  

73

Mike
W4DSE

--- On Thu, 4/18/13, Robert  Eleazer <releazer at earthlink.net> wrote:

> From: Robert  Eleazer <releazer at earthlink.net>
> Subject: [ARC5] Navy B-17's
> To: arc5 at mailman.qth.net
> Date: Thursday, April 18, 2013, 8:08 AM
> 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
> 
>      
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