"USAAF Bombers duirng Big week 1944" Topic

Hello,

I am wondering if the community can tell me, or point me in the right direction, to determine the most common B-17 and B-24 variants used during "Big Week" missions in Feb 1944.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Week

I am partial to the B-17G with the chin turret but I am not sure if it was common in early 1944.

Thanks

I think they stopped making B-17Fs in late 1943 – but with the supply chain a lot would still be making their way forward to units.

From what I've gathered here and there – B-17Gs would be common but maybe not yet the majority type with units in the 8th USAAF at that time. A lot of the later made Fs had the chin turret or a field modification to add extra firepower in the nose.

Some basic B-17Fs flew on to the end of the war so they would never entirely disappear.

For the B-24 I'd say B-24 H/G/J which are more or less the same would be in the majority. There'd still be a few Ds around though especially in the units that had been through 1943. Most of the B-24 units in 1944 were recently arrived so I'd guess they got the newer models but maybe not.

I'm very curious to read the answers to this question.

Anecdotal evidence. My great uncle was a bombardier in the 390th Bomb Group (568th Squadron), 8th Airforce. He flew from Dec '43 to April '44 in 11 different bombers. Two of these were B-17Fs which he flew in during Jan '44. The other 9 were Gs. One of the Fs and one of the Gs survived the war. The three missions he flew in February were all in Gs.

The 390th has a great website that you can look up mission data on; 390th.org

That is really great information.

Thanks

By Big Week, "G"s would have been the majority type among the '17s. This would have been the earlier "G", without the staggered waist positions.