We believe that it is some 38 years since an air show audience was treated to the sight of the BBMF Lancaster, PA474, flying in formation with Boeing B-17G “Sally B”. These two examples of the most iconic Second World War four-engine heavy bombers were seen again in formation at the Imperial War Museum Duxford Air Show across the weekend of 16-17th September, “wowing” the crowds.
Photo credit: Paris Pratley-Gomez, BBMF, Crown Copyright
Both of these two aircraft were produced just too late to see service in the war. Lancaster PA474 was completed on 31st May 1945, just over three weeks after the war in Europe ended, and the B-17 now known as “Sally B” was delivered to the USAAF on 19th June 1945. However, they are both representative of the many of their type that flew operationally over Europe during the Second World War in the Combined Bomber Offensive, with the RAF Lancasters mostly operating at night and the USAAF Eighth Air Force B-17s by day. Both types undoubtedly helped the Allies to win the war and might be considered the best heavy bombers of the war. As to which is the best heavy bomber of the war, there is only one winner in our eyes and that, of course, is the Lancaster.
The Lancaster could carry a typical bomb load of around 14,000lbs weight in its cavernous bomb bay, for over 1,600 miles at 200mph. Meanwhile, the B-17’s much smaller bomb bay allowed it to carry just 8,000lbs of bombs on shorter missions of less than 400 miles, or 4,500 - 6,000lbs for mission of 800 miles or more, cruising at 180mph. Interestingly, the total tonnage of bombs dropped by Lancasters and B-17s during the war was similar, a little over 600,000 tons each, but that figure for the B-17 includes operations in other parts of the world.
The B-17 did have some advantages over the Lancaster, notably its heavy self-defence armament and its service ceiling was higher, between 25-35,000 feet depending on bomb load, whereas the Lancaster’s was 24,500 feet. In addition, the B-17 proved to be easier to escape from if the aircraft was shot down. Only 18.8 percent of RAF Lancaster crewmen survived being shot down, whereas for the crews of the USAAF B-17s it was closer to 50 percent. In a telling insight into the human losses, the Eighth Air Force lost a total of almost 3,400 B-17s to all causes during missions in the European Theatre of Operations, whilst 3,249 Lancasters failed to return and over 200 more were destroyed or written off in crashes from the 6,500 that flew on ‘ops’ during the war. Today the BBMF Lancaster and B-17 “Sally B” fly in tribute to all of those who operated the bombers in wartime.
