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Some points, since this is a subject in which I can claim a certain amount of expertise, and it's a fascinating topic and (waving at the young man with Wolf's daughter) "Hi, Jack..." B-17's would not be launched on a strike with bombs not fused. There is no way in Hell to fuse a bomb load in flight. WWII-era fuses were safed with arming wires and generally required a certain number of revolutions once the wire was pulled by the bomb falling out of the bomb bay. Revolutions of the arming vanes drove gears that lined up components within the fuse so a firing pin could strike the fuse detonator, which is analogous to a primer in a bullet. On a crash landing on an ice cap, if the bombs are still in their shackles and the arming wires are in place, my highly qualified guess is that the bombs should pose no immediate threat. There would be more risk of detonation in a jungle, in my opinion. There's always exceptions however, and old, wise ordnance men never forget that. That's how we get to be old, wise ordnance men.
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