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The B-17 - A Historical Perspective
by Joe "Impaler" HighmanWhen an aircraft like the B-17 sits idle for long periods of time, oil will collect in the bottom of the engine. Serious damage will occur to the delicate components inside unless the oil is manually circulated. This is the reason why you might see ground crewmen in documentaries hand turning the propellers. My indoctrination into the flight crew began here, on the inner engine on the pilot’s side of the aircraft. Known as Number Two, this engine is fitted with a three bladed Hamilton Standard propeller.You can perform all of the research you want. You can read books, watch videos, study forums and websites, and consider yourself quite the expert on things, but nothing can prepare you for the fine details. The first thing I noticed when grasping the propeller blade was just how very heavy it was! I am 5’10”, 210 pounds of adult man. It took me completely by surprise and it was all I could do to recover enough power in that first rotation to push the blade through and up!
The other detail that my research never talked about was the texture of the blade itself. It had the same resin feel that a floppy disk might have, only much sturdier. The leading edges of the propeller blade were narrow and sharp, and I realized by about my fifth turn that the pilot’s decision to wear gloves during the process was indeed a wise one.Soon after prepping the four engines for takeoff, the seven civilians gathered at the rear door for briefing. The flight engineer, who in combat would monitor the engines, fuses, and man the top turret for defense, explained the rules to us. A third detail emerged here. We were instructed not to touch a bundle of steel cables that ran along both sides of the interior walls of the fuselage. This instruction was a sensible one. Those cables are linked to the aircraft control surfaces from the pilot and copilot controls!I was disappointed to not be in the cockpit for the takeoff, but I was assigned a seat in the Radio Operator’s compartment, just aft of the bomb bay. I sat in a seat so that my face was only inches from the Liaison radio stack. The crew had thoughtfully strapped a thick pad across this radio, as the first bump sent my face hurdling towards it! All of my years of research did not mention one other feature: "how in heck do I get this seat restraint fastened?".
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