This is a collection of 15 B-17 manuals with special features including 14 manuals on the Wright R-1820 9-cylinder radial engine used on the B-17, and 3 manuals on armament, including the Browing M2 .50-caliber machine gun, the Bendix Chin Turrent, and the Lower Ball Turret. These are PDF-format copies of scanned original manuals. Scans were made at 400 lpi. Color was captured when present. Large-format scanners were used for wide fold-out pages. Each and every page has been hand-edited to remove imperfections from the 60-year-old original manuals (whenever possible). There is a full-text index for speedy text searches.
Free shipping for CONUS. More for foreign. Direct download is available. After purchase, send me a note requesting download. For foreign, I will refund shipping charges.
As I have edited every page of every manual to remove blemishes and scanning problems, the images in these files differ from the original manuals. My changes are all copyright 2004-2022. Permission is given for personal, educational, and research use only.
Manuals include the following:
"Bomb Rack" Department of Armament, Air Forces Technical School, Lowry Field, Colorado 110p
"Flight Handbook USAF Series B-17G; Navy Series PB-1W Aircraft" TO 1B-17G-1, 120p, 1 August 1944, Revised 1 June 1953
"Installation, Operation and Maintenance of the Flight Engineer Engine Power Control" Honneywell Corporation, 50p
"Lockheed Training Folder" 130p
"Illustrated Parts Breakdown, USAF Series B-17G Aircraft" TO 1B-17G-4, AN 01-20EG-4, 450p, 1 September 1945, Revised 15 February 1956
"B-17 Pilot Training Manual for the Flying Fortress" 210p - 1944
"Instructor's Supplement to B-17 Pilot Training Manual for the Flying Fortress" 30p
"Pilot's Flight Operating Instructions Army Models B-17G and G; British Model Fortress II", 110p, AN 01-20EF-1, August 1, 1943, Revised October 1, 1943
"B-17F Airplane Erection and Maintenance Instructions" 500p - TO 01-20EF-2, December 1, 1942, Revised March 1, 1943
"Erection and Maintenance Instructions for Army Model B-17F; British Model Fortress II Airplanes" 650p - TO 01-20EF-2, December 1, 1942, February 15, 1944
"Familiarization and Maintenance of the B-17F Airplane" Published by the Materiel Command Center, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, over 500p. This is a wonderful manual with fifteen 11x17 illustrations of every part of the aircraft. Many of these illustrations are in full color as well.
"Familiarization Manual for Maintenance of Model B-17F Bombardment Airplane", 650p, 1943. This is a "preliminary" manual by Boeing Aircraft Corporation. It is very complete, but unfortunately, the print quality is not great. I've improved the halftone images as much as possible to preserve the original tonality, but the print quality limits what I can do there. Sorry.
"Familiarization Manual for Operation of Model B-17F Bombardment Airplane", 140p, 1943. This is a "preliminary" manual by Boeing Aircraft Corporation.
"Preliminary Handbook of Instructions for the Model B-17F Bombardment Airplane", 800p, 1942, Boeing Aircraft Corporation manual D-3962. This seems to be an unusual manual. It is the earliest dated manual showing the complete internal details of the B-17. It has some information not shown in any other manual.
"Boeing Model B-17G Field Service Manual", 600p, date uncertain. This is a marvelous manual with great detail for the upkeep of these aircraft. There are extensive wiring diagrams, hydraulic routing diagrams, cabling, and much, much more.
Other manuals include these:
Bendix Chin Turret
Lower Ball Turrets AN 11-45G-1
Browning M2
Manuals on the R-1820 "Wright Cyclone 9" engine used on the B-17:
R-1820 Overhaul Changes TO 2R-R1820-5
R-1820 Overhaul Manual
R-1820 Parts Breakdown NAVWEPS 02A-35GK-4
R-1820 Service Instructions AN 02-35GD-2
R-1820 Wright Cyclone 9HC Service Manual
R-1820 Wright Service Information Bulletins
R-1820-103 Handbook Service Instructions TO 2R-R1820-32
R-1820-103 Illustrated Parts Breakdown TO 2R-R1820-34
R-1820-84 Handbook Service Instructions Revisions NAVWEPS 02A-35GM-502
R-1820-84 Illustrated Parts Breakdown NAVWEPS 02A-35GM-504
R-1820F Wright Cyclone Instruction Book
R-1820G Parts Catalog for Wright Cyclone Engines
Wright Cyclone 9 Operation and Service
Wright Cyclone Operating Instructions Military 7 and 9 Models