Following recent government announcements the museum is currently closed, there is plenty to explore in our online archive.
The American Air Museum is a charity - Find out how you can support us
B-17 Flying Fortress
"Dottie" a Douglas B-17F- 45/65- DL in the 42-3XXX serial range circa May, 1943.
Assigned 325BS/92BG Bangor 13/7/42; 97BG Polebrook 8/42; Salvaged NBD 21/10/42. DOTTIE.
This aircraft was assigned to 97BG/414BS and participated in the mission to bomb the U-Boat pens at Lorient, France. The aircraft returned to Polebrook with extensive battle damage and was declared a Category E (damaged beyond repair) loss. The wreck was transferred to Burtonwood to be salvaged for spare parts. No information was found concerning the crew as of this writing 29-Oct-2014.
Group
The 97th Bomb Group flew the Eighth Air Force's first heavy bomber mission from the UK when they bombed a marshalling yard at Rouen on 17 August 1942. Just a month later though the Group were reassigned to the Twelfth Air Force and left England for the...
Squadron
21 October 1942
German U-Boat pens are Lorient, France are the Primary (P) targets for this mission along with the German airfield at Cherbourg, France. 93BG despatches 24-B-24s to Lorient, but cloud cover prevents them from bombing. The main attack force to Lorient...
Military site : airfield
Built for the RAF in 1939-40, the RAF's No. 37 Maintenance Unit used the base from 1940 to 1942, before it became a joint Anglo-American maintenance and servicing airfield - a Base Air Depot. After the war it continued to be used as a maintenance and...
Military site : airfield
Polebrook was laid down for RAF Bomber Command use in 1940-1941. Built by George Wimpey and Co. Ltd, it had short runways which were lengthened for USAAF heavy bomber use. The RAF used the base for operational trials - including of B-17 Flying...
Not yet known
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 22 July 2020 00:29:53 | phil marchese | Changes to markings |
| Sources | ||
See FLYING FORTRESS 1936 1945 discussions and example of paintwork and modifications. |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 10 October 2016 13:22:24 | Lucy May | Changes to production block number, manufacturer, nicknames, description, unit associations, place associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
Brought in information from duplicate record. Source: |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:40:02 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log |
||
