B-17: Combat Missions takes the reader through every crew position of the "Flying Fort" to show what it was like to fly-and fight-in what was one of the most famous bombers of World War II. Uniquely, first-hand accounts from crewmembers are grouped with archive and commissioned photographs of the plane and of items of memorabilia, to bring the stories of these "gladiators of the air" alive in truly vivid detail.