Streamliner is a French comic book in two volumes.
B17 - "The Flying Fortress
The spearhead of Allied bombing in Europe.
Created by the Boeing company, with 4 Wright engines developing 1,200 hp each, heavily armored, resistant to numerous impacts, capable of returning to base with only one engine, or the tail damaged. Great autonomy of flight. First flight in 1935, it will be really operational only in 1942.
Armament : 13 machine guns of 50mm calibre. 2.7 tons of bombs that can go up to 10 tons.
10 men crew.
Controversy...
In March-April 1945, the Bomber Command dropped more than 10,000 tons of bombs on Germany, more than during the 30 months from September 1939 to March 1942.
But the French population also paid a heavy price...
The British and the Americans, very logically throughout the war, are in a logic of massification, according to which they try to make the most of what makes their strength - their industrial power - in order to ensure the victory.
The aim in France was to destroy the factories, railroads and airfields that provided the occupying forces with the means to continue the war.
The B17s bombed from a distance of 6,000 meters, and it is understandable that they sprayed - when they managed to hit them - their target, but above all the civilian neighborhoods and the surrounding population. Their target is often located near the cities, even in the center. The appearance of the Norden sights which are supposed to point at the target with precision is far from being efficient...
There are many cases where the bombings leave the target intact while hitting a residential area; or the case where the targeted installations are well reached, but at the price of a copious spraying of the surrounding districts (the center of Nantes almost annihilated in 3 attacks making 1 400 deaths). This last case is the most widespread, so much so that it can be qualified, not as a blunder or an accident, but as a structural element of the allied bombings of the European continent.
In spite of Eisenhower's recommendations on friendly populations, the leaders of the 8th U.S. AIR FORCE did not often take them into account. While the R.A.F. was more precise and often used fighter-bombers for targets such as bridges, it used time bombs that killed many people after the wave during the relief effort. The Allies were reluctant to arm the Resistance, which would often be more effective in sabotage with less loss of civilian life.
To the point that in 1944, the Allies were called the "Killer liberators" by the French population, even though the latter welcomed them with dignity, aware of the help they had provided and, moreover, participated in the evacuation of the surviving crews, burying the dead with respect during the entire war. This unpopularity affected the Americans more than the English, who were reputed to be more civilized and better aviators...
Between 1962 and 1973, the planes of the U.S. AIR FORCE will pour about 4 million tons of bombs on its ally, South Vietnam...
