The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was a 4-engine American bomber, primarily employed in the daylight precision strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial and military targets. In the Pacific, the planes earned a deadly reputation with the Japanese, who dubbed them "four-engine fighters." The Fortresses were also legendary for their ability to stay in the air after taking brutal poundings. They sometimes limped back to their bases with large chunks of the fuselage shot off.
