B-17 Flight Engineer / Top Turret Gunner

What were the specific duties / responsibilites of the B-17 Flight Engineer? 
Thank you, Howard

As a former flight engineer, the list is long. 
 
The main purpose of the flight engineer, was to assist the pilots in operating the aircraft. This included monitoring the engine instruments in flight, paying close attention to the cylinder head temperatures, (as they were red lined in climb, on a mission).
 
In preparation for the flight, the load list ( a list of ALL crewmen by serial number,rank, and duty) was completed,signed by the pilot,then given to the crew chief to forward to operations.
 
Used the load adjuster to determine that the Center of Gravity was within the correct limits.
 
( In  airline operations today the function is performed by the airline operations, where the porper loading of the baggage is calculated to include which bags are in either the forward or aft baggage compartments).
 
In moving the aircraft, the flight engineer assisted the pilots by re-locking the tail wheel, when taxi-ing. I also after the aircraft was on the runway for take-off, called off the airspeed for the pilot, until we were airborne.,monitoring the engine instruments.
 
The flight engineer was also the NCOIC of the enlisted men, to include the radio operator. and the other gunners.
 
During the mission, the flight engineer stayed on the ship interphone, to listen for any crew member who needed to pass on information to the pilots,as they were on the VHF/UHF,monitoring the Group Lead.
 
To do this, the FE removed his left headset, the pilot his right and the copilo also his left and  communcation was by yelling over the sound of the engines...this was necessary,because if any other crewmwmber used the call position of the ship interphone, the call  position OVERRODE ..ALL communcations to include interphone, VHF/UHF functions...so, if the radio silence was imposed,  the radio silence would be compromised.
 
In preparation for landing, he obtained the manual landing gear cranks,and verified the full down postion of the tail wheel, and each main landing gear, and returned to the cockpit.
 
Again, he called off the airspeed in the landing pattern...and relocked the tail wheen required,on the taxiing to the parking stub.
 
After landing , the FE was responsible to list any and all abnormal discrepancies, on the Form  1....the pilot would review and sign the form to be given  to the crewchief.
 
This is a compressd list and does not include all functions.
 
(Added...Roland's two references tell it liike it was...they are both comprehensive in detail).
 
While it concerned a FE from the 8th AF, the listing applied to all B-17 FEs.
 
Jim :-) 

Just from my perspective as a crew member, the Flight Engineer was the primary person for all matters technical, before, during and after the mission.  Before the mission he coordinated with the ground crew chief to make sure the aircraft was ready to perform as needed.  Durimg the mission, responsibilities as Jim covered, and any equipment emergencies that happened needing immediate solutions.  After the mission he again coordinated with the ground crew chief on the aircraft's performance plus all known damage to the plane.  In short as I saw it he was the key member of any crew for all things technical.

Rolland, 
 
I had my engineer able to fly the plaane except for landings and takeoffs.
It paid off. On my way overseas to Marrakech after leaving the Sahara, I had to go over the Atlas Mts. We did not have oxygen in the plane . the maps were unreliable, we had to go through a pass but didn't find it. I had the engineer sit on th strap between he the 2 pilot seats and told both thec opilot and engineer that not knowing what our O2 tolerance it would be better to have 3 pople able to hndlr the controls rather then  2. We were able to cross the mts at 20k with no problem. I thought better safe then sorry.
jules
 
 
 
 

Greatly appreciate all the information.  Very, Very, helpful