But how much do you really know about the Flying Fortress? The B-17 originated as the Boeing Model 299, created in response to a 1934 U.S. Army Air Corps competition to replace the Martin B-10.

Photo: USAF Archives Now given a new company name, the Model 299, Boeing worked tirelessly to integrate novel features that modern airplanes can't live without. Items like two gasoline-fueled ...

In 1935, a prototype of the four-engine plane departed Boeing Field in Seattle for its first flight. Known only as Model 299, a Seattle Times reporter nicknamed the plane “Flying Fortress ...