It was back in Sept, they almost managed to have 6….

Now if we could just get all 6 Tigercats in one place…

Apparently not, according to people who were there…

I concur, the depth of field is a playing trick here. Note that the wing of the Corsair casts a shadow over the wing of the B17 several seconds later. If it were dangerously close, the shadow would have passed over very quickly if not at the same time. (IMHO)

That shadow appears on the B17 wing less than 2 seconds after the Corsair pilot pulled up…If the Corsair pilot had delayed 1 second I think the outcome would have been a lot worse.
B17 appears at in the frame at .05, Corsair pilot reacts & contrails appear from wings at 0.06, shadow crosses B17 wing at 0.07.. but in that one second the Corsair climbs quite a bit.

hard to tell exactly how close from one angle was it in front or behind the B17, looks in front to me.

They were belly to belly. I thought the Corsair was slightly behind the B17. You see the shadow of the Corsair pass over the B17 wings as he pulls up.

Talking of accurate targeting….
When they started throwing Minuteman I’s at Kwad, SOP was to evacuate everyone off the atoll & move em 200 miles out….
By the time the Minuteman III came on line, SOP was to find a comfy spot on the beach & watch them splash down in the lagoon..