The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) introduced in the 1930s. Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry outperformed both competitors and more than met the Air Corps' expectations. Although Boeing lost the contract because the prototype crashed, the Air Corps was so impressed with Boeing's design that they ordered 13 B-17s. The B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advancements. The B-17 was primarily employed by the United States Army Air Forces in the daylight precision strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial, civilian, and military targets. The United States Eighth Air Force based in England and the Fifteenth Air Force based in Italy complemented the RAF Bomber Command's nighttime area bombing in Operation Pointblank to help secure air superiority over the cities, factories and battlefields of Western Europe in preparation for Operation Overlord. The B-17 also participated to a lesser extent in the War in the Pacific where it conducted raids against Japanese shipping and airfields. With a service ceiling greater than any of its Allied contemporaries, the B-17 established itself as a superb weapons system, dropping more bombs than any other U.S. aircraft in World War II.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-17_Flying_Fortress

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

618:

Lǐ Yuān became Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries of the Tang Dynasty in China. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Dynasty

1815:

War of the Seventh Coalition: Napoléon Bonaparte fought and lost his final battle, the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Waterloo

1858:

Charles Darwin received a manuscript by fellow naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace on evolution, which prompted Darwin to publish his theory. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Russel_Wallace

1908:

The University of the Philippines, the national university of the Philippines, was established. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_the_Philippines

1940:

World War II: General Charles de Gaulle , leader of the Free French Forces, made an appeal to the French people following the fall of France to Nazi Germany, rallying them to support the Resistance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_of_June_18

1972:

British European Airways Flight 548 crashed near the town of Staines less than three minutes after departing from London Heathrow Airport, killing all 118 aboard, at the time the worst air disaster in the UK. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_European_Airways_Flight_548

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

lenticular (adj): 1. Of or pertaining to a lens. 2. Shaped like a biconvex lens http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lenticular

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The history of a battle, is not unlike the history of a ball. Some individuals may recollect all the little events of which the great result is the battle won or lost, but no individual can recollect the order in which, or the exact moment at which, they occurred, which makes all the difference as to their value or importance. --Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Wellesley%2C_1st_Duke_of_Wellington