OT - B17 warbird question

Hi,

One quick question for the war bird enthusiasts that sometimes frequent this board and post. How were the Engines on the B17 numbered?

I read a book where it says that engine 1 was started first and then engine three was started second. Just courios.

As an asside (I'd never thought about it before),

Quote
In December 1944, Vonnegut was captured by the German army and became a prisoner of war. In Slaughterhouse Five, he describes how he narrowly escaped death a few months later in the firebombing of Dresden. "Yes, by your people [the English], may I say," he insists. "You guys burnt the place down, turned it into a single column of flame. More people died there in the firestorm, in that one big flame, than died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. I'm fond of your people, on occasion, but I was just thinking about 'Bomber Harris, who believed in attacks on civilian populations to make them give up. A hell of a lot of Royal Air Force guys were ashamed of what Harris had made them do. And that's really sportsmanship and, of course, the Brits are famous for being good sports," he concedes.

The Independent, London, 20 December 2001, p. 19

My comment is dead is dead whether by firestorm or nuclear explosion.

Thanks.

If this post is felt to be bad (being off topic), feel free to delete it.

Doug vV