The B-17's turbochargedWright R-1820 Cyclone 9 engines were upgraded to increasingly more powerful versions of the same powerplants multiple times throughout its production, and similarly, the number of machine gun emplacement locations was increased to enhance the aircraft's combat effectiveness. The B-17E was an extensive revision of the Model 299 design: The fuselage was extended by 10 ft (3.0 m) a much larger rear fuselage, vertical tailfin, rudder, and horizontal stabilizer were added to the design a gunner's position was added in the new tail the nose (especially the bombardier's well-framed, 10-panel nose glazing) remained relatively the same as the earlier B through D versions had, but with the addition of a Sperry electrically powered manned dorsal gun turret just behind the cockpit, and the similarly powered (also built by Sperry) manned ventral ball turret just aft of the bomb bay – replacing a relatively hard-to-use, Sperry model 645705-D remotely operated ventral turret on the earliest examples of the E variant resulted in a 20% increase in aircraft weight. While models A through D of the B-17 were designed defensively, the large-tailed B-17E was the first model primarily focused on offensive warfare.
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