How did an aircraft that crashed and burned on its first military evaluation become a symbol of Allied air power, and invent the preflight checklist along the way? This episode unpacks the paradox of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.

We trace the 1935 Model 299 gust-lock disaster, the doctrine of daylight precision bombing, the Norden bombsight, the combat box formation, the staggering losses over Schweinfurt, and the bomber's strange second life as a rescue plane and radio-controlled drone.

• How a locked control surface birthed the written preflight checklist
• The Norden bombsight and the promise of surgical daylight strikes
• The combat box formation and the flying porcupine nickname
• Black Thursday over Schweinfurt and the grim math of attrition
• Skip bombing, Dumbo lifeboats, and Operation Aphrodite d ...