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The British Airfields for the B-17
The B-17 Flying Fortress was conceived by the well-known US aviation designer and manufacturer Boeing during the 1930s, principally as a defensive weapon. Owing to the high levels of publicity it received during its service, it duly became a symbol of the Allied war effort. Indeed, the B-17 became one of the most important US aircraft of the war, and it played a major part in the Allied bombing campaign against Nazi Germany.
As told by Malcolm V. Lowe in his book B-17G Flying Fortress, Flying Fortresses needed a considerable amount of infrastructure and large, permanent air bases. These airfields had to be fully equipped with all the necessary amenities, even including their own bomb dumps and fuel facilities. It has rightly been said that, by the height of Eighth Air Force operations, and combined with other Allied air assets, the British Isles had become the equivalent of an enormous aircraft carrier. Each B-17 air base became, in effect, a small town with several thousand men and women working towards the goal of getting a B-17 Group into the air for its next operations, Everything from catering to security had to be handled locally, and in this the Americans usually received friendly (or otherwise) cooperation from their British hosts.
“Permanent” stations
Although a lightly laden Flying Fortress could in theory operate from grass runways, in practice a heavily laden B-17F/G needed a hard and preferably permanent surface. All air bases used by Eighth Air Force Fortresses in Britain were permanent and of good quality. Some existed before the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) arrived, while others were created specially in the early and mid-war years during the extensive period of airfield construction in Britain.
“Permanent” stations such as these had (by the standards of their day) fairly comfortable living quarters and buildings for administration. It was a different story out on the airfields themselves, though, where long-suffering groundcrew worked in all weathers to maintain the aircraft. Many airfields that hosted bombers had permanent hangars for covered maintenance, but the Fortress was a sizeable machine and most day-to-day work had to be performed out in the open, even if one of their number could be placed inside a hangar.
Fortresses that suffered major battle damage would need more extensive work, and this was usually conducted away from the operational airfields, at specialist centers. A considerable amount of small-scale, but nonetheless vital, work was needed on each new arrival B-17F/G to make it combat ready. B-17s were ferried by air to Britain, or to the Mediterranean, and this was the work of Air Depots that catered specifically for individual aircraft types when they arrived in-theater.
The situation in the Mediterranean
The situation in the Mediterranean for the Fortresses of the Fifteenth Air Force, however, was very different to that in Britain. Starting with the North African bases and then on into Italy, facilities varied widely in their overall condition and infrastructure. Most were ex-Axis airfields that were taken by force. Much bomb damage had to be cleared and repaired. Living quarters were often tents, making life for aircrew, maintenance personnel, and all the other staff very difficult at best.
Although the bomber airfields were well behind the front lines, unlike many less permanent landing grounds employed by tactical aircraft, such as those constructed in southern Britain prior to the D-Day landings, this did not make them immune from the enemy. Indeed, on several occasions, Eighth Air Force bombers returning to their British bases from daylight raids were attacked by Luftwaffe intruder aircraft, which produced inevitable casualties.
B-17G Flying Fortress is published by Key Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo credit: U.S. Air Force
