Warbird Information Exchange

I've read that these were sometimes removed because of potential damage to the airframe if the boots were hit in combat. My question: was icing not an issue over the Continent or England?

A bigger concern was a deicer being hit by flak and coming loose but not off the wing and flapping around causing loss of control on a compromised aircraft, or coming off and hitting another aircraft in the stream.

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My father flew B-17s in the 15th AF. He said they were often removed. And if you look at old photos, you see that some are indeed missing.
Since clear skies were needed for bombing...and you try to stay out of clouds anyway, I'd guess icing wasn't much of an issue.
I've never read any accounts of it in regards of the bomber war.

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Ive seen many pics of this. The ones of OD airplanes with bare metal skin showing where the boots once were do stick out in many pics. I had never put any thought into asking why. Good post

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In the 1943 William Wyler movie Memphis Belle (NOT that 1990 P.O.S.) the B-17 spinning out of formation has had the boots removed as you can see the flashes as it spins, so it must have been a theatre wide deal from the get-go

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