The B-17 was the first Boeing military aircraft with a flight deck instead of an open cockpit and was armed with bombs and five .30-caliber machine guns. The B-17 Flying Fortress went far beyond the requirements of the competition, and jumped light years ahead of every other airplane in the world.
In the Pacific, the planes earned a deadly reputation with the Japanese, who dubbed them “four-engine fighters.” The Fortresses were also legendary for their ability to stay in the air after taking brutal poundings. The B-17 Flying Fortress was a marvel. But it had a disastrous beginning.
On its second flight, the test pilots forgot to disengage the gust lock, a brake that holds the plane in place when it is parked on the ground—a forgivable mistake considering it was only the second time the crew had ever flown it. The plane went into a stall just after takeoff and crashed, killing everyone on board. That should have been the end of the B-17. But the Air Corps officers who had seen the B-17 Flying Fortress could not let it go. They persuaded their congressional friends not to abandon the Boeing project. Boeing’s engineers redesigned the B-17 Flying Fortress with even more powerful engines and added other improvements. The crash also spurred the institution of the “checklist,” still used today by all pilots to prevent potential problems before takeoff. Despite that humble initial order of thirteen planes, more than 12,000 B-17s would be built by the end of World War II.
The War Bird cache series contains micro or small cache containers that are hidden in high muggle areas. Each container contains log only so be sure and take your pen/pencil with you and use stealth when necessary. If you find the log is almost full, feel free to replace it or let us know so we can bring a new one out.
***CONGRATULATIONS TO Super_Nate & Called2Care FOR CO-FTF***
To find the hidden coordinates to the final location of this cache, answer the following question:
The B-17 was the first Boeing military aircraft with what?
A. A flight deck instead of an open cockpit . . . N 35° 3.105' W 85° 11.641'
B. Ten .30-caliber machine guns . . . . . . . . . . N 35° 2.674' W 85° 11.396'
C. Four engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N 35° 0.779' W 85° 11.402'