Hello does any one know how many hours they take to fly a B17 from USA to England? under the war, and did they be some fuel stop somewere. Delivery route.

Does Boeing have a complete flight hours on the B17?  

Best regards Mattias E

Extract from HyperWar Link below:

At the beginning of the 1943 season, conditions generally along the North Atlantic route were superior to those pertaining in the previous year. Personnel at the North Atlantic Wing bases were more numerous and more experienced, and communications facilities were more complete, though far from perfect. To handle the anticipated increase of traffic, the North Atlantic Wing in March secured permission to use Dow Field at Bangor, Maine, as a second staging point for the overseas movement of tactical crews and their aircraft. In March, too, Meeks Field near Keflavik in Iceland was opened as a replacement for the crowded airdrome at Reykjavik.

The new season opened with something of a flourish. When Col. Robert M. Love, Deputy Chief of Staff of the ATC, ferried a B-17 directly across the North Atlantic from Newfoundland to Prestwick in a ten-hour flight on 16-17 April, he was one of approximately sixty ferry pilots cleared within a few hours to fly the same route.

So a 10 hour flight non-stop in a B-17 from Newfoundland.  Would be longer if you count flight time from a US base to there, but that seems to be an average time from "The New World" to the old.   Remember also, that time was probably just a ballpark figure.  Lots of variables would have entered into each flight, but 10 hours is probably average for a no problem flight.    Many landed at bases in Greenland and Iceland because of mechanical trouble, weather, etc,  and I assume they would top off the fuel before flying on.  Read more at the link below.

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/VII/AAF-VII-4.html

SHAEF1944 American Veterans Museum

Mattias E :

My crew delivered a new B-17G to Italy, via the Northern route, in November 1944-December 1944.

Grenier Field, New Hampshire..to Goose Bay, Labrador........Flighttime 5 hours, 50 minutes
Goose Bay Lbdr, to Meeks Field,Iceland................................Flight time 8 hours 28 minutes
Meeks Field, Iceland to Valley, Wales....................................Flight time 5 hours 42 minutes.

Fuel Stop each time.


Jim :-)

James S. Peters Sr. T/Sgt
B-17 Flt Engr, 27 missions
99 BG, 348BS, 5th Wing, 15th AAF
Tortorella, (Foggia#2), Italy
My Tour was from 12/03/44-06/19/45
M/Sgt USAF (Retired)

In case you are interested in the southern route from US to N.Africa---

Day flights --Palm Beach to Borenquin Fld, Puerto Rico, to Atkinson Fld, Britsh Guiana, to Belem, Brazil, to Natal, Brazil to Dakar
 N.Africa.
Natal takeoff was at 10 PM local time
Natal to Dakar. The ocean flight took 10-11 hours. Had to aim for landfall 50 miles south of Dakar because if you were left of Dakar you would parallel the coast and run out of fuel

Jules Horowitz, B-17 pilot, 99th BG, 50 missions/sorties
My tour was from 7/19/43-2/13/44