Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress variant
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Y1B-17A
The single airframe used to develop the turbo-supercharger later fitted across the whole B-17 line.
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress sheet
Image pending
- 1
- Units built
History
The 14th aircraft of the batch, originally intended only for static ground testing, was converted into an engine testbed once a Y1B-17 was found to survive an inadvertent spin unharmed. It received a ventral-mounted turbo-supercharger on each of its four engines — the arrangement that became standard on every subsequent B-17, letting it fly higher and faster. Once testing was complete it was redesignated B-17A.