A new “very-heavy, very-long-range bomber to replace the B-17 and B-24” was needed. the test crew and 20 people on the ground were killed.) Boeing built new B-29 facilities in Renton Head On. The Luftwaffe found that attacking the B-17 Flying Fortress head on proved more fruitful and therefore the Americans developed the term “Bandits at 12 O’ Clock High” for oncoming Luftwaffe fighters. A Damaged B-17. 6. The cost. A single B-17 Flying Fortress would cost US$238, 329 in 1945. A Consolidated B-24 bomber tests its wings in a flight over the Pacific in San Diego, December 3, 1940, before flying to England. The first 26 of these huge aircraft were earmarked for England During World War II, Ford Motor Company built 8,685 B-24 Liberator bomber airplanes at its Willow Run plant, 35 miles west of Detroit. By the spring of 1944, employees on Ford's bomber assembly line could turn out a finished airplane every 63 minutes. Workers completed the 6,000th B-24 in September 1944 -- with considerable fanfare. The Boeing B-17 was built in response to a 1934 request by the US Army Air Corps (USAAC) for strategic bombers. The Corps wanted a plane capable of flying at 10,000 feet, at speeds of up 200 mph DOQ5Pz.