World War II US Gunships – YB-40 Flying Fortress and XB-41 Liberator Bomber Escorts – X-Planes No. 14

The XB-40 and XB-41 were secret, little-known experimental modifications of the B-17F and B-24D, respectively, into heavily-armed bomber gunships sometimes referred to as “bomber escorters”. They were developed during early World War II in response to the lack of a USAAF long-range fighter aircraft able to escort and protect regular B-17 formations making the round trip from Britain deep into Germany. Using many formerly-classified documents from his large microfilm collection, William Wolf presents their previously-unpublished history. It describes in depth for the first time the politics and development and associated problems of both escort types.

AUTHOR – William Wolf

PUBLISHER – Osprey

FORMAT – Softback

PUBLISHED – 2020

PAGES – 80

ISBN – 978 1 4728 4469 9