How a Dead-End Bomber Changed the War Anyway
Colonel Reid didn’t end the project after one mission.
He couldn’t.
Too much money was already spent.
Too much political pressure behind the idea.
Maybe, he thought, new tactics could solve the speed problem.
Maybe positioning YB-40s deeper inside the formation would help.
Maybe the first mission was a fluke.
He ordered seven more missions.
They weren’t flukes.
THE STEADY COLLAPSE OF A BRILLIANT BAD IDEA
June 15 — Mission #2
Target: Le Mans
Four YB-40s flew.
All four fell behind after bomb release.
June 22 — Mission #3
Target: IG Farben chemical plant
Eleven YB-40s flew.
One was shot down.
Ten returned hours late, limping home alone.
Engineers tried:
Shifting ammunition forward
Adjusting gun feeds
Modifying the trim
Lightening armor plates
Nothing worked.
The physics were unbreakable:
A standard B-17 dropped 17,000 pounds of bombs mid-mission.
A YB-40 dropped nothing.
It remained 4,000 pounds heavier than a fully loaded B-17 returning home.
In air combat, being slow is death.
And the YB-40 was very, very slow.
THE FINAL NUMBERS THAT KILLED THE PROGRAM
After 48 combat sorties, the Eighth Air Force compiled the statistics:
5 confirmed German kills
2 probable
1 YB-40 lost
Every mission ended with YB-40s drifting behind
Average separation: 7 miles
Average time alone over hostile territory: 38 minutes
Worst of all:
German pilots preferred attacking the YB-40 over standard bombers.
It was bigger.
Slower.
Easier to hit.
Easier to isolate.
Hitler’s fighter chief, Adolf Galland, reviewed intelligence and concluded:
“The Flying Destroyer is not a threat. It is an opportunity.”
That assessment was the death sentence.
CANCELLED — BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
On August 1943, General Carl Spaatz officially cancelled the program.
The YB-40 had failed.
Spectacularly.
But buried inside the failure were three innovations that would reshape bomber warfare.
⭐ INNOVATION #1 — THE CHIN TURRET
The YB-40’s forward-firing chin turret was a revelation.
Before it existed, B-17s had a massive blind spot at 12 o’clock high.
FW-190 pilots exploited it ruthlessly.
The chin turret erased that weakness.
Combat results were immediate:
Frontal attack success rates plummeted
B-17 survivability skyrocketed
German pilots were forced to abandon their favorite tactic
Boeing immediately adopted the turret.
It became standard on the B-17G, the definitive Flying Fortress.
⭐ INNOVATION #2 — STAGGERED WAIST GUNS
In standard B-17Fs, waist gunners stood directly across from one another.
They:
Bumped into each other
Blocked each other’s traverse
Lost seconds that meant life or death
Engineers studying the YB-40’s interior noticed the fix:
Stagger the positions — one forward, one aft.
This became standard in the B-17G.
Tracking improved by 40%.
Collisions became almost nonexistent.
⭐ INNOVATION #3 — THE CHEYENNE TAIL
Tail gunner Raymond Kak reported poor visibility in the existing tail position.
The fix became legendary:
Larger windows
Wider arcs of fire
Improved armor
Better gun elevation
It was called the Cheyenne Tail.
It became standard on B-17Gs — and saved thousands of airmen.
THE REAL LEGACY
The YB-40 program lasted 3 months.
But its influence lasted the rest of the war.
8,680 B-17Gs were equipped with:
Chin turret
Staggered waist guns
Cheyenne tail
These aircraft flew 290,000 combat sorties.
Statistics suggest the chin turret alone prevented 2,300 bomber losses.
At 10 crew members per bomber, that’s:
⭐ 23,000 Americans brought home alive
…because a failed gunship taught engineers what worked.
THE PILOT WHO HELPED END A PROGRAM — AND SAVE A GENERATION
Captain Hartwell completed his 25-mission tour by October 1943.
He returned home alive.
He never flew a YB-40 again.
Later, as a trainer, he walked bomber crews around the new B-17Gs.
He pointed to the chin turret and said:
“This came from a failure. But it’s the reason you’ll come home.”
When someone asked if the YB-40 was worth the money and lives invested, Hartwell gave the only answer that mattered:
“Absolutely. It taught us how to fail forward.”
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