Part 1 of 4 on the B-17 Flying Fortress and the 8th Air Force. Staff Sergeant Maynard Smith was a ball turret gunner and the first enlisted aircrewman to receive the Medal of Honor for a May 1st, 1943 mission to St Nazaire, France.
This episode covers the development of the B-17 from the prototype Model 299 to the B-17F, the early days of the heavy bomber in action with the 8th Air Force, the role of the aerial gunner, and SSgt Smith’s Medal of Honor mission.
 
Selected readings:
The Mighty Eighth, The Mighty Eighth War Manual, and The Mighty Eighth War Diary, Roger A. Freeman
Flying Fortress: The Illustrated Biography of the B-17''s and the Men Who Flew Them, Edward Jablonski 
Get That Fighter, Army Air Forces publication 
A Mighty Fortress: Lead Bomber Over Europe, Charles Alling
Black Thursday: The Story of the Schweinfurt Raid, Martin Caidin