NW Illinois Stephenson county | Talking from a tv, different WW II documentaries' and series like World at War and such perspective, I would say not very long to take off, BUT when you have several hundred planes taking off from several different airfields and rendezvousing into battle formation on a single mission, I think it may have taken hours to finally get the show on the road potentially a fair distance to the target when assembled into battle formation from all the battle groups. Just my guess. My Dad was in the Army in the Pacific theater.
B-17 https://www.britannica.com/technology/B-17
Formation at least from a single airfield -->
45 minutes
During takeoff, they all sat in the radio room behind the bomb bay—the strongest part of the aircraft where the wings intersect with the fuselage. While the plane was circling into formation (which could take as long as 45 minutes) the crew members would move into their positions.
Edited by Jim Dandy 4/5/2020 16:52
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B-17 during combat question
