Wings over Manhattan, 1938

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Y1B-17s no. 81 and 10 of the 2nd Bomb Group pass over NYC's financial district, with the East River bridges and Brooklyn in the background.

Just seconds earlier, planes 80, 81, and 10 traversing midtown.

 

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Joining the first flight here is a second, comprising planes 53, 52, and 51.

These six ships, plus six more in the 2BG, comprised the Army's entire heavy bomber complement at the time. 39 more B-17s would be delivered in 1939-'40.

 

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Plane 61 passing over Governors Island, probably in 1937. By early '38 the large nose numbers were applied.

 

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Over Hoboken, about to cross the Hudson.

 

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[johnwayne]

Quite evocative pics in b/w, poss wouldn't look right in colour?

 

[dmar836]

Never saw those shots before. Do you know if any of the early B-17s made it into combat or by 41/42 were those all superceded?
I generally dislike crowds and never made it down to the city when in school but I have to admit there is a bit of a draw to it.
Dave

 

[Silver Surfer]

that b-17 pearched atop the empire state building reminds me of a little know incident that took place in nyc, in 1945 or there abouts. if i recall correctly a b-25 crashed into the empire state building. remarkably, the only fatalities were the crew......calling mr. kong.

 

[zoomer]

Never saw those shots before. Do you know if any of the early B-17s made it into combat or by 41/42 were those all superceded?
I generally dislike crowds and never made it down to the city when in school but I have to admit there is a bit of a draw to it.
Dave

18 years in the vicinity of NYC after growing up in the Midwest is what made me dislike crowds. However, I think I would have liked NY in the prewar years.

The Y and B types never saw combat. By 1942 they were training ships and a year later, scrapped. I’m told that the E and later models changed so much that only the tires off the Y would have fit.

B-C-D types had superchargers for higher altitudes and a slightly bigger rudder and fin to counter instability (it didn’t). Most of the C order went to the RAF, where they did terribly on high night raids. Some Cs & Ds served in the Pacific early on but their defensive gunnery was too weak.

Like most 1930s warplanes, they were built by people who knew a lot about planes, but not enough about war.

 

[zoomer]

Quite evocative pics in b/w, poss wouldn't look right in colour?

I don't know, judge for yourself. (Faked from actual color photos circa 1940.)

 

[zoomer]

Any artists present? How do I get the rear plane to not look so pasted in?i can’t tell the depth of focus to save my life, or where the sun was when either pic was taken (other than “not in the lens”).

 

[Technonut2112]

Nice pics... I've been messing around colorizing B&W pics here (Doesn't look as accurate and vibrant as yours though): https://demos.algorithmia.com/colorize-photos/

 

[zoomer]

Good work! But I didn’t colorize, I pasted an original color pic of the plane (the only one of a bare metal, shark fin B-17 in flight, taken over Wright Field) into an original color pic of midtown.

 

[Technonut2112]

Good work! But I didn’t colorize, I pasted an original color pic of the plane (the only one of a bare metal, shark fin B-17 in flight, taken over Wright Field) into an original color pic of midtown.

LOL! You did more work cutting and pasting than I did. I just run pics through the demo, then use my handy screenshot tool, and save.....

 

[dujardin]

that b-17 pearched atop the empire state building reminds me of a little know incident that took place in nyc, in 1945 or there abouts. if i recall correctly a b-25 crashed into the empire state building. remarkably, the only fatalities were the crew......calling mr. kong.

https://www.ranker.com/list/when-a-b-25-crashed-into-the-empire-state-building/michelle-nati

 

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July 28, 1945, was a Saturday. On a weekday things would have been much, much worse. Only 14 people died, the 3 aboard the bomber and 11 workers for the Catholic War Relief on the 79th floor who were pretty much flash-fried by the exploding fuel tanks.

The sad thing is that ATC at LaGuardia did everything they could. The pilot kept asking for conditions at Newark. Visibility was zero, so LaGuardia said turn east, away from midtown, and land here. He had had only a few hours in a B-25 and must have completely freaked out. He just kept on the flight path to Newark...swerved to avoid the Chrysler Bldg...then boom.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...-state-building-bomber-crash-article-1.792783