All skins by JaRink, Stiboo and Bakshi
B17 Hell's Angels unloads it's 500 pound GP bombs over France in Mid 1943.
B17 Knockout Dropper - pilot J Rolle, one of the most famous B17s of the 8th Airforce, it was the first to complete 50 missions and then 75 missions! Aircraft returned to the USA Mar 1944.
B17 S-For-Sugar - pilot G.E Hagenbuch, aircraft Missing In Action Jan 1944.
Another view of Hell's Angels, with it's final version of nose art in mid 1943.
B17 Hell's Angels climbs over the English Channel for yet another mission.
Ranwers has done a great job with this B17 cockpit
The 303rd BG's home - Molesworth
Ball gunners view just after take off.
Inside the nose of 'Hells Angels'
Ranwers calling card !
Manning the nose gun - German fighters started using head on attacks from Jan 1943, as the best way to avoid most of the B17s guns.
The FW190 was the B17s most feared enemy in early 1943 - a small target packing a heavy punch, and with German pilots who knew how to fly it, only 12 months later most of the German experts were dead, and US P51 Mustangs and P47 Thunderbolts roamed at will over Europe, and flak was the bomber's nightmare.
Bf 110G diving down on B24 Liberators as they head for U-Boat Yards at Vegesack Germany 18th Mar 1943, as 1943 progressed the Germans used more and more Bf110 and Ju88 nightfighters to try and combat the ever growing numbers of B17s and B24s.
B17 VKD - Hell's Angels climbs after takeoff, also visable are VKF -Hunga Dunga, ...BNO - The '8' Ball,.. and... PUC -Ooold Soljer, on one of the first missions to France in December 1942. Compare the Hell's Angles early markings with it's final paint scheme at the top of the page.
The 303rd BG in Combat Box formation, aircraft visable are PUA - Yardbird.....PUG - Shak-Hak.....and .....PUJ - Beats Me
B17 code BNO The '8' Ball ..with feathered engine, returning from a mission to Germany in early 1943.
By mid 1943 the 8th Airforce could put up to 400 B17s in the air for a mission, the German's threw every type of aircraft they could at the formations in a desperate bid to stop them, despite some heavy losses the bombers always got through.
B17 Ser No 41-24558 ..'HUNGA DUNGA'... takes off from Molesworth on another mission, this aircraft was lost on 18th March 1943.
Bigwing.net and IL2 historical campaigns - by Stiboo - no affiliation with Ubisoft, Maddox Games, or 1C - this page last updated 01 10 2009