A lot of WW2 heavy bomber bristles with guns, so why B-17 earn the name 'flying fortress'?

Answer 1

The B-17 was the first to carry that kind of defensinve armament. In the late 1930s.

Alot of those WW2 heavy bombers you are thinking off didn't enter service until late in the war.

Answer 2

The B-17 was called the FLYING FORTRESS because of a newspaper article in the Seattle Times which a reporter referred the plane to a flying fortress. The Boeing company picked up the name after that and named it the Flying Fortress as a result.It is marketing, simple as that.

Answer 3

The B-17 got the name from one of the newspaper reporters who saw it when it was first unveiled. It was the first heavy bomber we had, and the defensive armamment was so visibly improved over what had come before, that it never failed to impress the viewer. However, as was too common with our pre-war designs, some improvement was needed: the Germans quickly figured out that the best way to attack the US made heavies was to attack from head-on, where the armament (up through the E/F models on the -17) was the weakest.

Answer 4

I think you will find that the American Flying Fortress had a few more guns than other aircraft. They had twin tail guns, an upper turret gun in the fuselage, guns in the belly under the fuselage a nose gunner and there might have been side turrets on the fuselage.
Happy Christmas.

Answer 5

lot's of cotton swabs in the world why Is Q' tip the Biggie? If the Lancaster was sold as the Flying Fortress the B-17 may have been called the Azz Kicker......

Answer 6

Because it was the first to carry so many machine guns,

none of the British bombers were so heavily armed.