Original U.S. WWII B-17 Flying Fortress Souvenir Gun Sight Mounted on Board

Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry (prototype Model 299/XB-17) outperformed both competitors and exceeded the Air Corps' performance specifications. Although Boeing lost the contract (to the Douglas B-18 Bolo) because the prototype crashed, the Air Corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation. From its introduction in 1938, the B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advances, becoming the third-most produced bomber of all time, behind the four-engined Consolidated B-24 Liberator and the multirole, twin-engined Junkers Ju 88.

This is a tremendous souvenir piece put-together by a soldier at the end of WWII. This is a gun sight off of a B-17 Flying Fortress mounted onto a block of wood. The wood is inscribed:

WORLD WAR II
SOUVENIR OF B-17
BOMBER
1945

The inscriptions are entirely period and are even partially colored. One side of the actual sight retains designation markings:

17A 5811
TYPE B-11

The piece measures 3 x 3 x 3½” and makes for a fantastic display piece. Comes ready for further research and display!