Memphis Belle

The Memphis Belle B-17 symbolizes perseverance and the spirit of optimism, stability, and the promise of a brighter future. This magnificent piece of American history is now a national treasure residing in a restoration facility at the National Museum of the Air Force near Dayton, Ohio. She will never fly the skies again; yet, she is a symbol of hope- past, present and future. A vision of beauty in the sky, yet powerful in battle, she is a legend because she was the first B-17 to complete her tour of duty during the war, and also because she brought all her crew back from every single mission safely (BBC 1). The Memphis Belle is an icon of American airpower, determination and the will to persevere, that symbolizes strength, hope, service and sacrifice to America from World War II through the present.

The advanced wartime engineering of the Memphis Belle was one of the reasons it returned home after all its missions. Culmination of years of engineering, investment, and experimentation lead to the design of the B-17F (Johnsen xi). The B-17F proto-type had been in planning and development at Boeing since 1934 (Johnsen xi). The advanced engineering investment began with the Boeing model 200 monomial, a single engine mono plane with retractable landing gear (Johnsen xi). It embodied almost all of the construction techniques that would be used in the B-17 (Johnsen xi). The B-17 nearly pushed Boeing to financial disaster (Johnsen xi). Congress wanted the cheapest bomber instead of the most advanced leaving Boeing near bankruptcy (Johnsen xii). The Boeing B-17 was also the flagship of the Air Corp’s hopes and dreams, creating a must succeed attitude for strategic bombing proponents (Johnsen xii). The success of the B-17 in combat greatly contributed to winning World War II, to Boeing’s success and to the success of air defense.

The Memphis Belle is one of the most glorious American bombers of World War II. It has a massive wing span of about 103.74 feet long and a hull length of about 74.74 feet long (Morgan 386). The normal bomb load it carried was 8,000 pounds (Morgan 386). It had thirteen 50 caliber machine guns protecting it which is why it is called the B-17 Flying Fortress (Morgan 386). The engines that flew this massive flying fortress were four Wright supercharged radial piston engines generating 1,200 hp each (Morgan 111). She had a maximum speed of 325 miles per hour (Morgan 14). The Memphis Belle originated in the United States and is one of the 12,731 B-17s built by Boeing (Memphis-Belle 1). It cost $314,109 (Morgan 386).