Another planequiz

Ay, 'tis a bathtub, a bathtub it truly is! Ugh, that Ju88 is such an ugly plane!

 

You know what they say, form follows function!

 

What, scare off Allied fighters?

 

No, make them flinch away at the last moment due to how ugly it looks!

 

They'll think it's worse to have to fly it than to crash in it...

 

OK another one for the Forum.

Why was the B-17 called the Flying Fortress?

 

Is it the really obvious one about it being covered in guns?

Because if it was, they must have had a strange idea what 'covered' meant - early B-17s were less well armed than a He111!

 

Precisely! This latter reason (Which is the most often quoted!) is actually incorrect, anyone know what the actual reason was?

 

I believe it was only called the Flying Fortress when the G version arrived which had the new front turret to cover the lower front side of the plane. This feature gave it more of a bumpy look, maybe that's the reason?

 

The name "Flying Fortress" came from a reporter from the Seattle Times, Dick Williams, who stated that the aircraft was a virtual flying fortress when it was shown to the public for the first time, apparently because of its numerous ( five ) turrets. This is at least the official version.

 

what plane was the heaviest during WW II?

 

The one that weighed the most.


Ta dah.

 

you are so funy!!!
:smok: smart guy

 

Actually the name Flying Fortress was nothing to do with the defensive armament. As Ricky correctly stated, in its original guise the B-17 had defensive weaponary comparable with the He111 (Hardly fortress like!), no turrets, just 6 or 7 pintel mounted machine guns.

It was called the Flying Fortress because it was originally intended to be a long range patrol bomber which would cruise the Atlantic and Pacific with its bombload to detect and destroy an enemy invasion fleet before they could land any troops on continental US.

It provided an isolationist US with a Flying Fortress without the need to actually fortify their entire coast Atlantic Wall style.

 

The Heaviest plane....

I'd guess if we're considering prototypes and all the Me264 Amerika Bomber. But that's just a guess.

 

Possibly the Me363. At least that plane was the biggest.

 

Ah - but it was a glider...
(or rather, a conversion of a glider)

What about the B-29?

 

Rather, eh... With six engines it's hardly a glider anymore.

That would be my other guess.

 

My reckoning was that, being as it was converted from a glider, the basic structure would be as light as possible, so that (even after strengthening & 6 engines + fuel) it would not be as heavy as a 'normal' 6-engined plane like some of the later German transports.

 

What, they made more?