Posted By William Beigel on March 20, 2006 at 23:52:20:
In Reply to: Scrapped B-17 airplanes posted by jeffry pages on March 08, 2006 at 06:51:51:
Many of the scrapped B-17s were kept in production in case the war with Japan continued on, and was not terminated, as it was, by the atomic bombs. At the end of the war in Europe, Mighty 8th B-17 and B-24 crews were sent back to the states, for transition training to fly the B-29s. Other elements of the 8th were preparing to transfer, in their own aircraft, to Okinawa for further service against Japan. As well, units of the RAF (known as the "Tiger Team"), mainly consiting of Lancaster heavies, were also preparing for movement to Okinawa.