Production. B-17F heavy bombers. The stinger in the tail of the B-17F heavy bomber has sent many a Jap and Nazi plane down in flaming wreckage. This new ship is ready for delivery from the Long Beach, California, plant of the Douglas Aircraft Company. 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 with armament sufficient to defend itself on daylight missions