Other Versions
PB-1
Name of a B-17F and B-17G, which was used by the US-Navy for different kind of tests.
PB-1G
Air- and Sea-Rescue variant of the US Coast Guard, similar like the B-17H of the USAAF.
PB-1W
The PB-1W was a Navy variant of the B-17G used for long range anti-submarine patrol. Most of the PB-1Ws had APS-20 search radar mounted in a large bubble under the nose. However, some aircraft had the bubble mounted atop the fuselage, which became standard on later airborn early warning and antisubmarine aircraft such as the Lookheed EC-121.
QB-17L und QB-17N
The QB-17 was a remote piloted drone aircraft initially used in the Bikini atomic bomb testes to check the effects of the nuclear blast on aircraft's flying characteristics and equipment. Later, in the 1950s, QB-17s were used as targets for Air Defense Command gunnery meets, and in the testing of a new generation of air to air missiles such as the Sidewinder. QB-17s were some of the most colorful aircraft in the Air Force, painted in Yellow with Black stripes, which sometimes covered the entire aircraft. Controller aircraft for the QB-17 drones were designated DB-17.
TB-17G
The TB-17 was a trainer version of any B-17 variant.
XB-38
An aircraft which was equipped with Allison-V 710-89 in-line engines as a trial.
XC-108
Retrofitting to a transport plane for 38 persons
XC-108A
Freighter with freight door on the left fuselage side
XC-108B
Experimental air tanker
YC-108
VIP transport plane
The history and variants of the B-17 would remain incomplete if one embezzled her exciting secret uses under the I./KG 200 of the German Luftwaffe. The B-17 were the most important spoils pattern of this group with which she carried out numerous long range missions under the assumed name Dornier Do 200, mostly in the G version. These machines operated in risky missions over all of Europe of Norway via Jordan up to the desert in the west of North Africa. The Germans aimed thus not at all primarily at a deception of the Allies but these machines were simply for the respective purpose suited better than every other German planes!