Wing deice boots on B-17´s??

Hector,

I lent out my best B-17 reference book. I did look at the two Squadron Signal in Action B-17 books and there were a few without the deicer boots. More than I would have thought for operating in the harsh European winters. I only saw one reference about the removal of them due to combat damage they caused severe drag. The fighters managed to fly without deicer boots so I guess they might have removed them when they they became non-operational or damaged in the field. Pretty sure they were factory installed up to the end. My book lists all the models and modifications. I'll see about getting it back and checking it out. One detail I didn't really pay attention to before. Good question and observation.

I've read also that part where B-17 deicer boots were removed because they cause so much drag when shredded by flak. Would surely appreciate to know when they were removed so we'll wait for melgyver's ref book.

yeap thats what i have read also but if so then theres a lot of questions that comes to my mind...we will have to wait for melgyver's ref book.

Guys,

I couldn't get the book today and I'm heading out for my regular work week offshore. So it will be a little while. Sorry about the delay.

Years ago I asked my dad about it and he told me that there were 4 reasons they were removed.

A. They tended to cause drag when damaged.
B. They could jam control surfaces when damaged and began flapping in the wind.
C. As 95% of the times the weather was bad enough to need them, you weren't going to be flying anyway (flying for long periods in clouds with a 1000 or so other large aircraft in relativly close formation gets interesting I guess)
D. The weight of the deicer systems (Boots, pumps, lines etc) could be better used in fuel and ammo.

If you think about it, if you get rid of the bombs, an iced up Liberator or Fortress is far more likely to survive an encounter with ice than any figher (I don't know of any civilian P-51s that are "Approved for Operation in Known Icing Conditions" by the FAA)

mandrake

These modifications (and hundreds of others) happened at the various service centers the bombers went to after they left the factory. In order to not slow the pruduction lines, most modifications were carried out by private contractors, like United Airlines at Cheyenne, Wyoming. Remember the "Cheyenne" tail gun mod?. Anyway, by 1943, there were formal "staging lists" in place outlining exactly what mods needed to be carried out before the airplane was delivered to active units. Some were performed in the US, some in the UK. From what I can find out, the de-ice boot removal was performed in the UK staging centers just prior to sending the airplanes to their respective groups. This is also where the airplane would lose its bomb bay fuel tanks and extra seats. Hope this helps!

On "Bit of Lace" B17G, I got it straight from someone who was on the aircraft that in 1945 they were removed from the wings but not the tail. Clearly you have to look up the aircraft and find out what is appropriate.

Ok guys,

I finally got my "Fortress in the Sky" by Peter M. Bowers. The only reference to the deicer boots were they were added to the original contract for the YB-17's. No mention of the factory discontinuing installations. The pictures of the last B-17s coming off the assembly line have deicer boots. I think the previous info about removing them after arrival in the UK is probably accurate especially late in the war. You still need to check your reference pictures to determine if a particular aircraft had them or not. Then who is to say they weren't removed after a picture was taken. As an old modeling buddy used to say, "Have you seen all 12, 692 of these aircraft and can postitively say my markings aren't correct!" Happy Modeling!

Thanks a lot guys, just wondering if this was a factory modification or something made on the field... Thanks a lot for the info!

my very best regards
Me.

Glad you asked! It was one "detail" I hadn't thought about the reason why they were removed. I had noticed pictures before just didn't "click".