WW2 B17 Flying Fortress Propeller Blade

WW2 B17 Flying Fortress Propeller Blade recovered from the sea

A full size American B17 Flying Fortress Propeller blade recovered from the sea of the Dutch coast in the 1970s. All i know is this ,i don’t know what aircraft it is off. Full size but in a bent condition, It came with the two other blades which are on here. The boss or hub is also for sale. All i have been to find out is that it is an early model .WW2 B17 Flying Fortress Propeller Blade recovered from the sea

pickup only or possible delivery based on location

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater of Operations and dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during World War II. It is the third-most produced bomber of all time, behind the four-engined Consolidated B-24 Liberator and the multirole, twin-engined Junkers Ju 88. It was also employed as a transport, antisubmarine aircraft, drone controller, and search-and-rescue aircraft.

In a USAAC competition, Boeing’s prototype Model 299/XB-17 outperformed two other entries but crashed, losing the initial 200-bomber contract to the Douglas B-18 Bolo. Still, the Air Corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation, then introduced it into service in 1938. The B-17 evolved through numerous design advances^[4][5] but from its inception, the USAAC (later, the USAAF) promoted the aircraft as a strategic weapon. It was a relatively fast, high-flying, long-range bomber with heavy defensive armament at the expense of bombload. It also developed a reputation for toughness based upon stories and photos of badly damaged B-17s safely returning to base.

The B-17 saw early action in the Pacific War, where it conducted raids against Japanese shipping and airfields.^[6] But it was primarily employed by the USAAF in the daylight strategic bombing campaign over Europe, complementing RAF Bomber Command‘s night-time area bombing of German industrial, military and civilian targets.^[7] Of the roughly 1.5 million tons of bombs dropped on Nazi Germany and its occupied territories by U.S. aircraft, over 640 000 tons (42.6%) were dropped from B-17s.^[8]