The Flying Fortress of B17 is a gargantuan, genial nation, ruled by Edward Curtis Wells with an even hand, and renowned for its barren, inhospitable landscape, ubiquitous missile silos, and frequent executions. The compassionate population of 12.554 billion pilots have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The enormous government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of The Cockpit. The average income tax rate is 72.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The pilots economy, worth 575 trillion dollars a year, is quite specialized and dominated by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Arms Manufacturing, and Cheese Exports. Average income is 45,869 dollars, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.5 times as much as the poorest.

B17 has designated The Cockpit as its capital city, Edward Curtis Wells has just been declared ruler of B17 in an international press conference, the military is on a massive recruiting drive in advance of an invasion of Brasilistan, and Boeing has been named as B17's national religion. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. B17's national animal is the P-51 Mustang, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is Boeing.

B17 is ranked 200,994^th in the world and 4,714^th in the Rejected Realms for Largest Automobile Manufacturing Sector, scoring -3.16 on the Henry Ford Productivity Index.