Item Description
Original Item: Only One Available. This is just amazing, a genuine vintage World War Two Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress pilot’s complete control column that comes complete with yoke (steering wheel) and yoke hub cover (the cap that reads BOEING). Some wiring still present as well as information labels and also marked Boeing at the base of the column and on the side.
For display we have manufactured a custom steel mount (stand) that allows one to move the yoke left/right in order to simulate your very own bombing run! This is one of the only complete control yoke and columns we have ever seen, a very rare piece of iconic WW2 equipment just perfect for your home or office!
Dimensions 38 H x 16 x 9
When mounted on stand: 39 x 17 x 14
Weight mounted on stand: 44 lbs
On July 28, 1935, a four-engine plane took off from Boeing Field in south Seattle on its first flight. Rolling out of the Boeing hangar, it was simply known as the Model 299. Seattle Times reporter Richard Smith dubbed the new plane, with its many machine-gun mounts, the Flying Fortress, a name that Boeing quickly adopted and trademarked. The U.S. Army Air Corps designated the plane as the B-17.
In response to the Army’s request for a large, multiengine bomber, the prototype, financed entirely by Boeing, went from design board to flight test in less than 12 months.
The B-17 was a low-wing monoplane that combined aerodynamic features of the XB-15 giant bomber, still in the design stage, and the Model 247 transport. The B-17 was the first Boeing military aircraft with a flight deck instead of an open cockpit and was armed with bombs and five .30-caliber machine guns mounted in clear blisters.
The first B-17s saw combat in 1941, when the British Royal Air Force took delivery of several B-17s for high-altitude missions. As World War II intensified, the bombers needed additional armament and armor.
The B-17E, the first mass-produced model Flying Fortress, carried nine machine guns and a 4,000-pound bomb load. It was several tons heavier than the prototypes and bristled with armament. It was the first Boeing airplane with the distinctive and enormous tail for improved control and stability during high-altitude bombing. Each version was more heavily armed.
In the Pacific, the planes earned a deadly reputation with the Japanese, who dubbed them four-engine fighters. The Fortresses were also legendary for their ability to stay in the air after taking brutal poundings.
Seventy-five years after the B-17’s first flight, an 88 year-old veteran sent The Boeing Company a letter. After explaining how he returned to England after a bombing raid over Germany with 179 flak holes and only two out of the four engines, he wrote: I’m glad to be alive. Thank you for making such a good airplane.
Gen. Carl Spaatz, the American air commander in Europe, said, Without the B-17 we may have lost the war.
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