Production. B-17F heavy bombers. Overall view of a conveyor assembly line at the Long Beach, California, plant of Douglas Aircraft Company, showing B-17F fuselages going through and, at right, sectional fuselage jigs in which fuselage halves are assembled from prefabricated parts. Better known as the "Flying Fortress," the B-17F is a later model B-17, which distinguished itself in action in the South Pacific, over Germany and elsewhere. It is a long range, high altitude, heavy bomber with a crew of seven to nine men and with armament sufficient to defend itself on daylight missions