B-17 Flying Fortress - Early VersionB 17 Flying Fortress airplane model. The B 17 was designed in the mid 1930s to accomplish the Air Corps mission of long range strategic bombing. The problem was that War Department, and the Navy Department did not recognize that mission. Given the isolationist mood in the 1930s that precluded building offensive weapons, the B 17 had to be billed as a "defensive" weapon to defend the coastline. This B 17 model is painted to reflect one that landed