The Y1B-17 enters service evaluation

Despite the Model 299 crash, on 17 January 1936 the Air Corps used a legal loophole to order 13 pre-production aircraft, designated Y1B-17. Between 1 March and 4 August 1937, 12 of them were delivered to the 2nd Bombardment Group at Langley Field, Virginia, for operational development and flight testing — including the widely publicized interception and photographing of the Italian ocean liner Rex 610 miles off the Atlantic coast, led by then-Lieutenant Curtis LeMay.