I’m not convinced it has got 3 engines i’d go for 2. It looks like there is a ridge in the ground beside the concrete and as the shadow hits it it gives the impression of another engine. I think the angle of the sun makes it look deceiving, just my opinion.
I’m going to concur that in my opinion this B-17 has only got 2 engines. My bet is a hanger queen that was converted into a squadron hack. The only reason you would remove the outboard nacelle and fair it over was if you were going to fly. Removing all the turrets add to this theory, with the idea that they probably stripped every last ounce of weight off the old girl.
So, you remove the outboard two engines, but fair the leading edge to reduce drag. You then remove every gun and turret and armor plate, which no doubt saves many thousands of pounds, not to mention that you’re not going to add bombs and bullets. Also, the B-17 probably has a rather large fuel factor, so you could probably cut that way back, as we don’t really care about range. I’ve just looked up that a B-17 could carry approx. 2700 gallons of Avgas. That’s over 16,000 lbs. of fuel. Add 5000 lbs of bombs and the B-17 would fly at a gross weight of close to 52,000 lbs.
Let’s start with an empty B-17, at about 33,000 lbs. We loose the two engines, props and hardware, armor plate, chin turret, top turret, and ball turrets, approx. 13 50 cal. machine guns and other loose fixtures and you probably save at least 11,000 lbs.
So, our two engined B-17 now weights 22,000 lbs. Let’s add 300 gallons a side and put some oil in the engines (always a good idea) to take us to just under 26,000 lbs. That’s less than the gross weight of a B-25.
Half the weight, with half the horsepower. Yea, make sure the CG is within limits and I’ll bet she’ll fly.
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