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Why Is B-17 So Successful

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Anna Doline Mr.Kidwell World History 29 June 2016 B-17 World War II, was one of the biggest wars in history. The reason it was so important is because of the impact of the Long Range bombers. The reason the bombers were so successful is because of the Allied B-17 missions. B-17 was many strategic bombers that led to the Allies victory. Boeing Plant built a total of six-thousand, nine-hundred and eighty-one B-17s in various models and another five-thousand, seven-hundred and forty-five were built under a nationwide collaborative effort. Every plane that was flown made a significant impact on the war. At first the bombers weren't making an impact on the war at all, because the technology wasn’t advanced enough. The planes couldn’t carry out …show more content…

The Boeing company came out with a plane with all metal construction, that held four-thousand eight-hundred pounds. It was heavily armed with gun turrets in the nose and three rounded windows. It was a four-engine, model 299 plane called the “Flying Fortress”. Wikiquote says “Although Boeing lost the contract because the prototype crashed, the Air Corps was so impressed with Boeing's design that they ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation,” (Wikiquote). Considering the Fortress failed the Boeing built twelve-thousand planes, for B-17. B-17 proved to be very successful and effective overtime. B-17 was most successful in Europe because they delivered half of the bombs dropped. America and the Allies were quickly taking over the war. The advance in technology allowed them to build bigger and better planes that dropped better bombs. America told Japan to stop fighting and surrender or they will drop a nuclear bomb on them. Japan thinking that the bomb threat is fake decided not to surrender. Under the leadership of General Curtis Lemay, B-29 Enola Gay dropped the first nuclear bomb on the city of Hiroshima, killing …show more content…

The impact of the long range bombers, make it safer for the people in the planes, also it makes the bomb cover more ground when it explodes. B-17 and B-29 planes were very effective in dropping bombs. The downside to this is that many innocent citizens were killed, and it destroyed so many cities and towns, but it also ended the war. Many people give all the credit to the nuclear bombs for ending the war, but in reality without the Boeing company building the planes, brave men flying the planes, the capacity the planes could hold, and the technological advances to build stronger bombs, none of this would have been

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