This Day in Aviation History

October 30th, 1935
Prototype Boeing Model 299, NX13372, ‘X13372’, c/n 1963, the future Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, crashes on take-off from Wright Field, Ohio, due to locked control surfaces, killing early military aviator and test pilot Maj. Ployer Peter Hill. Other engineers taken to hospital with injuries. Boeing test pilot and observer Les Tower died later. Ogden Air Depot, Utah, renamed Hill Field, (later Hill Air Force Base), on 1 December 1939. As the prototype was owned by Boeing, it had no USAAC serial. 

According to historian and writer Atul Gawande, the concept of a pre-flight checklist was first introduced by management and engineers at Boeing Corporation following the 1935 crash of a prototype B-17 at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, killing both pilots. Investigation found that the pilots had forgotten to disengage a critical wing adjustment mechanism prior to take-off. Life magazine published the resulting lengthy and detailed B-17 checklist in its 24 August 1942 issue… 

Source:
Wikipedia, Preflight Planning Dispatch Checklist:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preflight_Planning_Dispatch_Checklist

YouTube, How To Fly The B-17: Flight Operations (1943):
How To Fly The B-17: Flight Operations (1943)

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