Maj. Squadron: B-17G Flying Fortress
***** This cache is not at the posted coordinates ******
Because this final has been relocated, in order to obtain the new final coordinates you need to minus from your Northern coordinate answer -11.374 minutes and add to your Western coordinate answer +1 degree and 0.699 minutes
The Flying Fortress is now being escorted by the P-51 Mustang as it should be.
Welcome to the Maj. Squadron Series of Geocaches.
I needed a theme for this series of geocaches and being a fan of WW2 era aircraft I decided to settle on the names of some of my favorite fighters and bombers to hold the title of the geocaches in this series.
This is the final cache in the "Maj. Squadron" Series. To obtain the coordinates of this cache you must first find the other six geocaches I have placed around the Northern CA area. Each one of those caches will contain part of the coordinates (a yellow dog tag wired to the log book), required to find this container. Those other six caches, listed below, are all stand alone traditional geocaches. Each container is large enough to hold trade items and all have been stocked with various swag consisting of typical camping/hiking items such as compasses, carabiners and LED flashlights.
The First To Find will have his/her choice of goodies to choose from but as an intended FTF prize I have provided an 1882 S Morgan Silver Dollar in about XF condition. The melt value alone of this item, in the current precious metals market, is about $20. As a numismatic piece it is worth a little more than that. Doesn't quite cover your gas but what the heck? You don't have to go for it. ;-]
About this cache: It is an ammo can. GZ is along a ridge line with nice views. Difficulty rating is due to the effort it will take and the distances traveled to obtain the coordinates. The terrain difficulty rating is about a 3 but jumps to a 4 right at the cache site.
Yay! Congratulations to ecrane for a hard earned and very well deserved First To Find. Great job, ecrane! And congratulations to the runner ups as well, riledwino and The Question. Way to go, guys. I hope you liked the adventure and thank you for playing.
To find this cache, "Maj. Squadron - B17G Flying Fortress" GC2NF45 you will have to first find the following geocaches in this series:
"Maj. Squadron: P-51D Mustang"GC2NFER
"Maj. Squadron: P-38L Lightning" GC2NFDR
"Maj. Squadron: P-47D Thunderbolt" GC2NFFJ
"Maj. Squadron: F6F-5 Hellcat"GC2NFCA
"Maj. Squadron - F4U-4 Corsair"GC2NFBV
"Maj. Squadron: P40E Warhawk" GC2NFCJ
Have fun. S! Maj.
The B-17G Flying Fortress:
The Flying Fortress is one of the most famous airplanes ever built. The B-17 prototype first flew on July 28, 1935. Although few B-17s were in service on Dec. 7, 1941, production quickly accelerated after the U.S. entry into World War II. The aircraft served in every combat zone, but it is best known for the daylight strategic bombing of German industrial targets. Production ended in May 1945 and totaled 12,726.
The Pearl Harbor attack of December 7,1941 finally brought the United States into the war and production of the B-17 rapidly increased. By July 1942, the US began forming the Eighth Air Force in Britain, equipped with B-17Es. The 'E' represented an important improvement over the earlier B-17s, in that it had a tail turret, eliminating a previous defensive blind spot. Production of the B-17F was undertaken by Douglas and Vega, a subsidiary of the Lockheed Aircraft Corp., but modifications were taking their toll in airspeed. There were more than four hundred modifications on the B-17F. The B-17F, now armed with eleven .50-cal. guns, could only reach 299 mph (481 km/h), but landing speed was up to 90 mph (144 km/h)! Service ceiling was 37,500 ft. (11,430 m) and range 2,880 miles (4,634 km). It took twenty-five and a half minutes to climb to 20,000 ft. (6,096 m). Three thousand, four hundred B-17Fs were produced by the three companies.
On 19 July 1943, US B-17s and B-24 Liberators carried out the first bombing raid on Rome. US bombing in Europe reached its high point in February 1945 with a 1,000-bomber raid on Berlin, escorted by 400 fighters, and the Dresden raid (alongside RAF Lancasters) which, caused a massive fire storm to sweep the city.
By September 1943, the Flying Fortress showed its final shape during firepower tests on the XB-40, a modified B-17F with the advantage of a "chin" turret. The success of the chin turret, led to the delivery of the B-17G (the major production version), which was the first production variant to have a chin turret installed, under the nose. The Bendix turret held two .50-cal. guns, which increased the armament to thirteen guns. In all, there were 8,680 B-17Gs built by Boeing, Vega, and Douglas to make this the largest production variation.
TECHNICAL NOTES:
Armament: 13 .50-cal. machine guns; normal bomb load of 6,000 lbs.
Engines: Four Wright Cyclone R-1820s of 1,200 hp each
Maximum speed: 300 mph
Cruising speed: 170 mph
Range: 1,850 miles
Ceiling: 35,000 ft.
Span: 103 ft. 10 in.
Length: 74 ft. 4 in.
Height: 19 ft. 1 in. Weight: 55,000 lbs. loaded