Developmental
History
The B-17E was the first version of the
Fortress to be produced in large numbers. It was the version of the bomber that
witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It was originally designed to
correct some of the deficiencies in the earlier Fortresses that had been brought
to light as a result of combat reports coming in from Europe. The modifications,
which resulted in the B-17E, were destined to turn an airplane that had been a
relative failure into an outstanding success.
It is often written that the B-17E was the
result of initial experience with the B-17C and D during the first months of
combat in 1942 in the Pacific against the Japanese. Other sources report that
the B-17E had its origin in the negative experience that the RAF had with the
Fortress I (B-17C) over Europe in the summer of 1941. Neither view is correct,
since the B-17E was first ordered on August 30, 1940, and the first prototype
took to the air on its maiden flight on September 5, 1941.
Modifications being incorporated into the
B-17E introduced a completely new rear fuselage with a manually operated turret
housing two Browning 50 caliber machine guns fitted in the extreme tail. In
order to accommodate the tail gun, the fuselage of the B-17E was a full six feet
longer than that of the D. A Bendix electrically powered turret containing two
50-caliber machine guns was installed on the upper fuselage immediately behind
the flight deck. Rectangular apertures with removable windows replaced the oval
waist positions. A single 50-caliber M2 Browning machine gun could be mounted at
each of these windows. A power-operated belly turret replaced the ventral
"bathtub" housing of the B-17D. This turret was remotely-controlled by
a system of mirror periscopic sights from a Plexiglas bubble below the waist
hatches and, in order to achieve better stability during the bomb run, the span
of the horizontal tail plane was increased, the vertical tail was greatly
increased in area, and a long dorsal fin was fitted in front of the tail. Late
versions of the “E” replaced the belly turret with the more familiar Sperry
Ball turret.
A total of 512 B-17Es were built. They
appeared in the Pacific first, early in 1942, and later in Europe, in July, with
units of the 8th Air Force, based in Great Britain. On August 17 these planes
made their first raid on the European front, with a daylight-bombing mission to
Rouen. Several B-17Es that were provided to England under the famous Lend/Lease
Act were assigned to the Coastal Command to supplement the Albacores, Hudson and
Swordfish aircraft patrolling the English coastline. Two B-17Es were lost on the
Greenland Icecap escorting a flight of P-38s and that is the flight that the
“Glacier Girl” was recovered from. A B-17E was used as the test-bed for the
use of Allison Engines as replacements for the standard Wright R-1820-65 Cyclone
engines.
The Conversion Kit
Paragon Designs
produced many fascinating conversion and detail kits during their lifespan but,
unfortunately, closed their doors a few years ago. These kits can still be found
occasionally at trade shows and on Internet Auction sites with prices that far
exceed the original MSRP. A collector sold this particular kit to me for $35.00
US. The Paragon kit I’m looking at today, designed and produced in 1995, is
intended to convert the Revell B-17F to an “E” model.
The parts are beautifully cast in a medium
yellow resin and show no seam lines or flash. On a close inspection I could not
find any micro holes in the parts. The kit is packaged in a plastic bag stapled
to a cardboard header. It includes a vacuformed replacement nose cone and the
belly gunner’s aiming bubble. The kit does not include replacement windows for
the sides of the nose or new windows to mount around the belly gunner’s aiming
bubble. These will have to be individually cut from stock sheet. There are four
replacement front engine cowlings cast with flaps closed that feature finely
engraved panel lines. As these will have a good separation from the rest of the
model at the cowl flaps the change from raised to recessed lines will hardly be
noticeable.
The “F” model B-17 used an enlarged
paddle blade propeller and Paragon gives us replacement blades for each
propeller. These are blade replacements ONLY so the modeler must cut each
original blade off the hub and install the replacement. This will not only be
some fine quality work but will most likely produce a very delicate propeller
assembly when completed. There are replacement gun barrels for all gun positions
and a remotely operated turret to replace the standard Sperry Ball turret.
The instructions are typical Paragon
instructions. They consist of a single photocopied sheet illustrating the
positioning of the parts and explaining some options on the belly turret. They
tell you to install the kit nose windows then mask over them to create smaller
windows. I think I will be better off to sheet over them with stock sheet and
cut new window frames to be filled with panes cut from clear styrene stock. They
list a few pieces of reference material and list several other B-17 detail and
conversion kits produced by Paragon in different scales.
Conclusions
In 1/48 scale this is
the only conversion kit out there to produce an “E” version of the B-17. Not
only has it been out of production for a few years the required base kit has
been out of production even longer. The parts are of exceptional quality and are
worth the purchase price, even at collectors rates. Neil Burkill (Owner/Operator
of Paragon Designs) is still knocking around out there. Rumor has it that he is
playing around in the F1 auto racing circles. Maybe if we all ask real nice
like, he will come back and make us some more of his really neat conversion
kits. What do you think, Neil?
Matt
Below
are links to all 5 article relating to this B-17 project.
Model Kit |
Resin |
Feature |
Feature |
Feature |
|
|
|
|
|
1/48
Revell B-17F |
1/48
Paragon Designs B-17E Conversion kit #4851 |
1/48
Revell B-17F to E (Part 1) Coastal
Command Conversion
|
1/48
Revell B-17F to E (Part 2) Coastal
Command Conversion
|
1/48
Revell B-17F to E (Part
3) Coastal
Command Conversion
|
Review by Matt
Swan |
Review by
Matt Swan |
by Matt
Swan |
by Matt
Swan |
by Matt
Swan
|
|