The World War II Photo of the Week
for 2 February 2004
Five Grand in the Air ...
The 5,000th Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress built at the Boeing Aircraft Company's plant in Seattle since Pearl Harbor is shown in flight. Named "5 Grand," the plane's strange appearance is due to the fact that it's covered from nose to tail with the names of thousands of Boeing employees who built her. She went on to fly 78 combat missions in the ETO. More information about her is available here. (The uncredited black and white photos above and below were found at auction and the source and copyright are unknown. Anyone with information on these photos is encouraged to contact the Webmaster.)
In this NARA photo from Ron Martin, the golden patina on the metal is a result of the thousands of signatures the workers
applied to the hull of the aircraft during its construction. The weight of the ink reportedly reduced the plane's
top speed by five knots.
Closeup of 5 Grand with unknown crewmen.
Another closeup of 5 Grand with an unknown serviceman.
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