Originally Posted by Load Toad (Post 11203862)

No, it wasn't suitable in that version for what RAF Bomber Command wanted (flying higher, at night). Other versions did perfectly OK in electronic warfare and air sea rescue and meteorological service. They were also perfectly OK for Coastal Command.

Originally Posted by PAXboy (Post 11200826)

The Americans may reckon the B-17 as the foremost. Our most overshadowed is the Hurricane.

Originally Posted by megan (Post 11204374)

Tactics were part of the problem, the first raid was by three aircraft and those that followed were mostly by individual aircraft, problems were had with guns freezing at altitude, issues with the Sperry bomb sight, no rear defensive armament. Between the aircrafts initiation 8 July and removal from the bombing role 26 September they flew 26 raids, 51 sorties, of which 25 had been aborted with no bombs dropped. Of the 50 tons of bombs dropped only one ton is estimated to have hit the target, eight aircraft lost - one undercarriage collapse on landing (aircraft cannibilised for spares), one aircraft disintergrating on touch down due combat damage, one accidentally burnt on the ground, three destroyed by fighters on Norway raid, one lost on high altitude test, one appeared in a vertical dive from cloud into the ground. Aborts due aircraft unservicabilities seem to back up the USA advice that the aircraft was not yet ready for service.