![Boeing-Whichata B-29 Assembly Line - 1944](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Boeing-Whichata_B-29_Assembly_Line_-_1944.jpg)
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined
propeller-driven heavy bomber
Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs) and longest range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the larges ...
, designed by
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
and flown primarily by the United States during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the
B-17 Flying Fortress
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
, the Superfortress was designed for high-altitude
strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systematica ...
, but also excelled in low-altitude night
incendiary bomb
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, th ...
ing, and in dropping
naval mines
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any v ...
to blockade Japan. B-29s dropped the
atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only aircraft ever to drop
nuclear weapons
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
in
combat
Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...
.
One of the largest aircraft of World War II, the B-29 was designed with
state-of-the-art
The state of the art (sometimes cutting edge or leading edge) refers to the highest level of general development, as of a device, technique, or scientific field achieved at a particular time. However, in some contexts it can also refer to a level ...
technology, which included a
pressurized cabin
Cabin pressurization is a process in which conditioned air is pumped into the cabin of an aircraft or spacecraft in order to create a safe and comfortable environment for passengers and crew flying at high altitudes. For aircraft, this air is ...
, dual-wheeled tricycle
landing gear
Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...
, and an
analog computer
An analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computer that uses the continuous variation aspect of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities (''analog signals'') to model the problem being solved. In c ...
-controlled
fire-control system
A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs the same task as a ...
that allowed one gunner and a fire-control officer to direct four remote machine gun turrets. The $3 billion cost of design and production (equivalent to $ billion today), far exceeding the $1.9 billion cost of the
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
, made the B-29 program the most expensive of the war. The B-29 remained in service in various roles throughout the 1950s, being retired in the early 1960s after 3,970 had been built. A few were also used as flying television transmitters by the
Stratovision
Stratovision was an airborne television transmission relay system using aircraft flying at high altitudes. In 1945 the Glenn L. Martin Company and Westinghouse Electric Corporation originally proposed television coverage of small towns and rura ...
company. The
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
flew the B-29 as the ''Washington'' until 1954.
The B-29 was the progenitor of a series of Boeing-built bombers, transports, tankers, reconnaissance aircraft, and trainers. For example, the re-engined
B-50 Superfortress
The Boeing B-50 Superfortress is an American strategic bomber. A post–World War II revision of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, it was fitted with more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines, stronger structure, a taller tail fin, and ot ...
''
Lucky Lady II
''Lucky Lady II'' is a United States Air Force Boeing B-50 Superfortress that became the first airplane to circle the world nonstop. Its 1949 journey, assisted by in-flight refueling, lasted 94 hours and 1 minute. The plane later suffered an ac ...
'' became the first aircraft to fly around the world non-stop, during a 94-hour flight in 1949. The
Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter
The Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter was a long-range heavy military cargo aircraft developed from the B-29 and B-50 bombers. Design work began in 1942, the first of three prototype XC-97s flew on 9 November 1944 (none saw combat), and the first of s ...
airlifter, which was first flown in 1944, was followed in 1947 by its commercial airliner variant, the Boeing
Model 377 Stratocruiser. This bomber-to-airliner derivation was similar to the
B-17
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
/
Model 307 evolution. In 1948, Boeing introduced the
KB-29
The Boeing KB-29 was a modified Boeing B-29 Superfortress for air refueling needs by the USAF. Two primary versions were developed and produced: KB-29M and KB-29P.
The 509th and 43d Air Refueling Squadrons (Walker AFB, NM and Davis-Montha ...
tanker, followed in 1950 by the Model 377-derivative
KC-97
The Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter is a four-engined, piston-powered United States strategic tanker aircraft based on the Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter. It replaced the KB-29 and was succeeded by the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker.
Design and developm ...
. A line of outsized-cargo variants of the Stratocruiser is the
Guppy
The guppy (), also known as millionfish and rainbow fish, is one of the world's most widely distributed tropical fish and one of the most popular freshwater aquarium fish species. It is a member of the family Poeciliidae and, like almost all ...
Mini GuppySuper Guppy
Super may refer to:
Computing
* SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter / player
* Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages
* Super key (keyboard butt ...
, which remain in service with
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
and other operators. The Soviet Union produced 847
Tupolev Tu-4
The Tupolev Tu-4 (russian: Туполев Ту-4; NATO reporting name: Bull) is a piston-engined Soviet strategic bomber that served the Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to mid-1960s. It was reverse-engineered from the American Boeing B-29 S ...
s, an unlicensed
reverse-engineered
Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...
copy of the B-29. Twenty B-29s remain as static displays, but only two,
''FIFI'' and
''Doc'', still fly.
Design and development
Before
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...
concluded that the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, which would be the Americans' primary strategic bomber during the war, would be inadequate for the
Pacific Theater
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
, which required a bomber that could carry a larger payload more than 3,000 miles.
![Boeing B-29 Superfortress at Davis-Monthan AFB](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Boeing_B-29_Superfortress_at_Davis-Monthan_AFB.jpg)
In response, Boeing began work on pressurized long-range bombers in 1938. Boeing's design study for the Model 334 was a pressurized derivative of the
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
with
nosewheel undercarriage. Although the Air Corps lacked funds to pursue the design, Boeing continued development with its own funds as a private venture.
[Bowers 1989, p. 318.] In April 1939,
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
convinced General
Henry H. Arnold
Henry Harley Arnold (June 25, 1886 – January 15, 1950) was an American general officer holding the ranks of General of the Army and later, General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps (1938–1941), ...
to produce a new bomber in large numbers to counter the Germans' bomber production. In December 1939, the Air Corps issued a formal
specification
A specification often refers to a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. A specification is often a type of technical standard.
There are different types of technical or engineering specificati ...
for a so-called "superbomber" that could deliver of bombs to a target away, and at a speed of . Boeing's previous private venture studies formed the starting point for its response to the Air Corps formal specification.
[Willis 2007, pp. 136–137.]
Boeing submitted its Model 345 on 11 May 1940,
[Bowers 1989, p. 319.] in competition with designs from
Consolidated Aircraft
The Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was founded in 1923 in aviation, 1923 by Reuben H. Fleet in Buffalo, New York, the result of the Gallaudet Aircraft Company's liquidation and Fleet's purchase of designs from the Dayton-Wright Company as the ...
(the Model 33, which later became the
B-32),
[Wegg 1990, p. 91.] Lockheed (the
Lockheed XB-30
The Lockheed XB-30 (company model L-249)Stringfellow and Bowers 1992, p. 31. was the design submitted by Lockheed after the request by the United States Army Air Forces for a very heavy bomber, the same request that led to the Boeing B-29 Superfo ...
),
["Factsheet: Lockheed XB-30."](_blank)
''National Museum of the United States Air Force''. Retrieved: 15 November 2010. and
Douglas
Douglas may refer to:
People
* Douglas (given name)
* Douglas (surname)
Animals
*Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking
*Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...
(the
Douglas XB-31
The Douglas XB-31 (Douglas Model 332) was the design submitted by Douglas after the request by the United States Army Air Forces for a very heavy bomber aircraft, the same request that led to the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Lockheed XB-30, and Co ...
).
[Francillon 1979, p. 713.] Douglas and Lockheed soon abandoned work on their projects, but Boeing received an order for two flying
prototypes
A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is generally used to ...
, which were given the designation XB-29, and an airframe for static testing on 24 August 1940, with the order being revised to add a third flying aircraft on 14 December. Consolidated continued to work on its Model 33, as it was seen by the Air Corps as a backup if there were problems with Boeing's design.
[Willis 2007, p. 138.] Boeing received an initial production order for 14 service test aircraft and 250 production bombers in May 1941,
[Knaack 1988, p. 480.] this being increased to 500 aircraft in January 1942.
The B-29 featured a fuselage design with circular cross-section for strength. The need for pressurization in the cockpit area also led to the B-29 being one of very few American combat aircraft of World War II to have a
stepless cockpit design, without a separate windscreen for the pilots.
Manufacturing the B-29 was a complex task that involved four main-assembly factories. There were two Boeing operated plants at
Renton, Washington
Renton is a city in King County, Washington, and an inner-ring suburb of Seattle. Situated southeast of downtown Seattle, Renton straddles the southeast shore of Lake Washington, at the mouth of the Cedar River. As of the 2020 census, the ...
(
Boeing Renton Factory
The Boeing Renton Factory is the Boeing Company's manufacturing facility for narrow-body commercial airliners, and their military derivatives. Current production includes the Boeing 737 MAX passenger airliner and the Boeing P-8 Poseidon military ...
), and one in
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...
(now
Spirit AeroSystems
Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc., based in Wichita, Kansas, is the world's largest first-tier aerostructures manufacturer. The company builds several important pieces of Boeing aircraft, including the fuselage of the 737, portions of the 787 fus ...
), a
Bell
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...
plant at
Marietta, Georgia
Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Cobb County, Georgia, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 60,972. The 2019 estimate was 60,867, making it one of Atlanta's largest suburbs. Marietta is the fourth largest ...
, near
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
("Bell-Atlanta"), and a
Martin Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austral ...
plant at
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
("Martin-Omaha" –
Offutt Field Offutt may refer to:
*Offutt (surname)
*Offutt, Kentucky
*Offutt Air Force Base, United States Air Force airbase in Sarpy County, Nebraska
*Offutt Field (Greensburg)
Offutt Field is a multi-purpose athletic field, located in Greensburg, Pennsylv ...
).
[Bowers 1989, p. 322.] Thousands of
subcontractor
A subcontractor is an individual or (in many cases) a business that signs a contract to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract.
Put simply the role of a subcontractor is to execute the job they are hired by the contractor f ...
s were also involved in the project.
[Willis 2007, pp. 138–139.] The first prototype made its maiden flight from
Boeing Field
Boeing Field, officially King County International Airport , is a public airport owned and operated by King County, five miles south of downtown Seattle, Washington. The airport is sometimes referred to as KCIA (King County International Airpo ...
,
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, on 21 September 1942.
The combined effects of the aircraft's highly advanced design, challenging requirements, immense pressure for production, and hurried development caused setbacks. Unlike the unarmed first prototype,
[Brown 1977, p. 80.] the second was fitted with a Sperry defensive armament system using remote-controlled gun turrets sighted by periscopes and first flew on 30 December 1942, although the flight was terminated due to a serious engine fire.
[Peacock ''Air International'' August 1989, pp. 70–71.]
On 18 February 1943, the second prototype, flying out of Boeing Field in Seattle, experienced an engine fire and crashed.
The crash killed Boeing test pilot
Edmund T. Allen
Edmund Turney Allen (January 4, 1896 – February 18, 1943) was a pioneer of modern flight test who flew for nearly every major American aircraft manufacturer and took some of the most famous planes of all time up for their first flights.
Early ...
and his 10-man crew, 20 workers at the Frye Meat Packing Plant and a Seattle firefighter. Changes to the production craft came so often and so fast that, in early 1944, B-29s flew from the production lines directly to modification depots for extensive rebuilds to incorporate the latest changes. AAF-contracted modification centers and its own air depot system struggled to handle the scope of the requirements. Some facilities lacked hangars capable of housing the giant B-29, requiring outdoor work in freezing weather, further delaying necessary modification. By the end of 1943, although almost 100 aircraft had been delivered, only 15 were airworthy.
[Willis 2007, p. 144.][Peacock ''Air International'' August 1989, p. 76.] This prompted an intervention by General
Hap Arnold
Henry Harley Arnold (June 25, 1886 – January 15, 1950) was an American general officer holding the ranks of General of the Army and later, General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps (1938–1941), ...
to resolve the problem, with production personnel being sent from the factories to the modification centers to speed availability of sufficient aircraft to equip the first
bomb groups in what became known as the "
Battle of Kansas
The Battle of Kansas (also known as the "Battle of Wichita"Airpower July 1981) was the nickname given to a project to build, modify, and deliver large quantities of the world's most advanced bomber to the front-lines, originally in Europe and a ...
". This resulted in 150 aircraft being modified in the five weeks, between 10 March and 15 April 1944.
[Knaack 1988, p. 484.][Bowers 1989, p. 323.]
The most common cause of maintenance headaches and catastrophic failures was the engines.
Although the
Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone
The Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone is an American twin-row, supercharged, air-cooled, radial aircraft engine with 18 cylinders displacing nearly . Power ranged from 2,200 to over 3,700 hp (1,640 to 2,760 kW), depending on the model. ...
radial engine
The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ca ...
s later became a trustworthy workhorse in large piston-engined aircraft, early models were beset with dangerous reliability problems. This problem was not fully cured until the aircraft was fitted with the more powerful
Pratt & Whitney R-4360 "Wasp Major" in the
B-29D/B-50 program, which arrived too late for
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Interim measures included cuffs placed on propeller blades to divert a greater flow of cooling air into the intakes, which had baffles installed to direct a stream of air onto the exhaust valves. Oil flow to the valves was also increased,
asbestos
Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...
baffles were installed around rubber
push rod
An overhead valve (OHV) engine, sometimes called a ''pushrod engine'', is a piston engine whose valves are located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier flathead engines, where the valves were located b ...
fittings to prevent oil loss, thorough
pre-flight inspection
In aviation, an outside check or walk around is the air crew inspecting certain elements of an aircraft prior to boarding for security, safety, and operational reasons.
The pilot primarily inspects outside parts of the aircraft they will steer ...
s were made to detect unseated valves, and mechanics frequently replaced the uppermost five cylinders (every 25 hours of engine time) and the entire engines (every 75 hours).
Pilots, including the present-day pilots of the
Commemorative Air Force
The Commemorative Air Force (CAF), formerly known as the Confederate Air Force, is an American non-profit organization based in Dallas, Texas, that preserves and shows historical aircraft at airshows, primarily in the U.S. and Canada.
The CAF h ...
's ''
Fifi'', one of the last two remaining flying B-29s, describe flight after takeoff as being an urgent struggle for airspeed (generally, flight after takeoff should consist of striving for altitude).
Radial engine
The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ca ...
s need airflow to keep them cool, and failure to get up to speed as soon as possible could result in an engine failure and risk of fire. One useful technique was to check the magnetos while already on takeoff roll rather than during a conventional static engine-runup before takeoff.
[Gardner, Fred Car]
"A Year in the B-29 Superfortress."
''Fred Carl Gardner's website'', updated 1 May 2005. Retrieved: 11 April 2009.
![B-29 Weapons Bay with General-Purpose AN-M64 TNT 500 LB bombs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/B-29_Weapons_Bay_with_General-Purpose_AN-M64_TNT_500_LB_bombs.jpg)
In wartime, the B-29 was capable of flight at altitudes up to ,
''Boeing''. Retrieved: 22 March 2012. at speeds of up to (
true airspeed
The true airspeed (TAS; also KTAS, for ''knots true airspeed'') of an aircraft is the speed of the aircraft relative to the air mass through which it is flying. The true airspeed is important information for accurate navigation of an aircraft. Tr ...
). This was its best defense because Japanese fighters could barely reach that altitude, and few could catch the B-29 even if they did attain that altitude.
Defensive gun turret emplacements
![B29 55 MO tail HAFB](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/B29_55_MO_tail_HAFB.jpg)
The General Electric Central Fire Control system on the B-29 directed four remotely controlled turrets armed with two
.50 Browning M2 machine guns each. All weapons were aimed optically, with targeting computed by analog electrical instrumentation. There were five interconnected sighting stations located in the nose and tail positions and three Plexiglas blisters in the central fuselage. Five
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
analog computers
An analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computer that uses the continuous variation aspect of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities (''analog signals'') to model the problem being solved. In c ...
(one dedicated to each sight) increased the weapons' accuracy by compensating for factors such as airspeed,
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
, gravity, temperature and humidity. The computers also allowed a single gunner to operate two or more turrets (including tail guns) simultaneously. The gunner in the upper position acted as fire control officer, managing the distribution of turrets among the other gunners during combat.
[Brown 1977, pp. 80–83.][Williams and Gustin 2003, pp. 164–166.] The tail position initially had two .50 Browning machine guns and a single
M2 20 mm cannon. Later aircraft had the 20 mm cannon removed,
[Willis 2007, p. 140.] sometimes replaced by a third machine gun.
[Pace 2003, p. 53.]
In early 1945, Major General
Curtis Lemay
Curtis Emerson LeMay (November 15, 1906 – October 1, 1990) was an American Air Force general who implemented a controversial strategic bombing campaign in the Pacific theater of World War II. He later served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air ...
, commander of
XXI Bomber Command
The XXI Bomber Command was a unit of the Twentieth Air Force in the Mariana Islands for strategic bombing during World War II.
The command was established at Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas on 1 March 1944. After a period of organization an ...
—the Marianas-based B-29-equipped bombing force—ordered most of the defensive armament and remote-controlled sighting equipment removed from the B-29s under his command. The affected aircraft had the same reduced defensive firepower as the nuclear weapons-delivery intended
''Silverplate'' B-29 airframes and could carry greater fuel and bomb loads as a result of the change. The lighter defensive armament was made possible by a change in mission from high-altitude, daylight bombing with high explosive bombs to low-altitude night raids using incendiary bombs. As a consequence of that requirement, Bell Atlanta (BA) produced a series of 311 B-29Bs that had turrets and sighting equipment omitted, except for the tail position, which was fitted with AN/APG-15 fire-control radar.
[Willis 2007, pp. 140, 144.] That version could also have an improved
APQ-7 "Eagle" bombing-through-overcast radar fitted in an airfoil-shaped radome under the fuselage. Most of those aircraft were assigned to the 315th Bomb Wing, Northwest Field, Guam.
Pressurization
The crew would enjoy, for the first time in a bomber, full-pressurization comfort. This first-ever cabin pressure system for an Allied production bomber was developed for the B-29 by
Garrett AiResearch
Garrett AiResearch was a manufacturer of turboprop engines and turbochargers, and a pioneer in numerous aerospace technologies. It was previously known as Aircraft Tool and Supply Company, Garrett Supply Company, AiResearch Manufacturing Compa ...
. Both the forward and rear crew compartments were to be pressurized, but the designers had to decide whether to have bomb bays that were not pressurized or a fully pressurized
fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...
that would have to be de-pressurized prior to opening the bomb bay doors. The solution was to have bomb bays that were not pressurized and a long tunnel joining the forward and rear crew compartments. Crews could use the tunnel if necessary to crawl from one pressurized compartment to the other.
Operational history
World War II
![Enola Gay2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Enola_Gay2.jpg)
In September 1941, the
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
' plans for war against Germany and Japan proposed basing the B-29 in Egypt for operations against Germany, as British airbases were likely to be overcrowded.
[Craven and Cate Vol. 1 1983, pp. 145–149.][Craven and Cate Vol. 2 1983, p. 6.] Air Force planning throughout 1942 and early 1943 continued to have the B-29 deployed initially against Germany, only transferring to the Pacific after the end of the war in Europe. By the end of 1943, plans had changed, partly due to production delays, and the B-29 was dedicated to the Pacific Theater.
[Craven and Cate Vol. 5 1983, pp. 11–12.] A new plan implemented at the direction of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
as a promise to China, called
Operation Matterhorn
Operation Matterhorn was a military operation of the United States Army Air Forces in World War II for the strategic bombing of Japanese forces by B-29 Superfortresses based in India and China. Targets included Japan itself, and Japanese bases i ...
, deployed the B-29 units to attack Japan from four forward bases in
southern China
South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...
, with five main bases in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, and to attack other targets in the region from China and India as needed.
[Willis 2007, pp. 144–145.] The
Chengdu
Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...
region was eventually chosen over the
Guilin
Guilin ( Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''; alternatively romanized as Kweilin) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and borders Hunan to the nort ...
region to avoid having to raise, equip, and train 50 Chinese divisions to protect the advanced bases from Japanese ground attack.
[Craven and Cate Vol. 5 1983, pp. 18–22.] The
XX Bomber Command
The XX Bomber Command was a United States Army Air Forces bomber formation. Its last assignment was with Twentieth Air Force, based on Okinawa. It was inactivated on 16 July 1945.
History
The idea of basing Boeing B-29 Superfortresses in C ...
, initially intended to be two combat wings of four groups each, was reduced to a single wing of four groups because of the lack of availability of aircraft, automatically limiting the effectiveness of any attacks from China.
This was an extremely costly scheme, as there was no overland connection available between India and China, and all supplies had to be flown over the
Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
, either by transport aircraft or by B-29s themselves, with some aircraft being stripped of armor and guns and used to deliver fuel. B-29s started to arrive in India in early April 1944. The first B-29 flight to airfields in China (over the Himalayas, or "
The Hump
The Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek and t ...
") took place on 24 April 1944. The
first B-29 combat mission was flown on 5 June 1944, with 77 out of 98 B-29s launched from India bombing the railroad shops in
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
and elsewhere in
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
. Five B-29s were lost during the mission, none to hostile fire.
[Peacock ''Air International'' August 1989, p. 87.]
Forward base in China
On 5 June 1944, B-29s raided
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
, in what is reported as a test before being deployed against the
Japanese home islands
The Japanese archipelago (Japanese: 日本列島, ''Nihon rettō'') is a group of 6,852 islands that form the country of Japan, as well as the Russian island of Sakhalin. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East Chi ...
. Sources do not report from where they launched and vary as to the numbers involved—77, 98, and 114 being claimed. Targets were
Bangkok's Memorial Bridge and a major power plant. Bombs fell over two kilometers away, damaged no civilian structures, but destroyed some
tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
lines, and destroyed both a Japanese military hospital and the
Japanese secret police
The , also known as Kempeitai, was the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1881 to 1945 that also served as a secret police force. In addition, in Japanese-occupied territories, the Kenpeitai arrested or killed those suspecte ...
headquarters.
[Stearn, Duncan]
"The air war over Thailand, 1941–1945; Part Two, The Allies attack Thailand, 1942–1945."
''Pattaya Mail,'' Volume XI, Issue 21, 30 May – 5 June 2003. Retrieved: 18 February 2012. On 15 June 1944, 68 B-29s took off from bases around Chengdu, 47 B-29s
bombed the Imperial Iron and Steel Works at
Yawata
is a city located in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. the city has an estimated population of 70,433 and a population density of 2,893 persons per km². The total area is 24.35 km².
The city was founded on November 1, 1977 and currently has a s ...
,
Fukuoka Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. This was the first attack on Japanese islands since the
Doolittle raid
The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first American air operation to strike the Japan ...
in April 1942.
[Craven and Cate Vol. 5 1983, p. 100.] The first B-29 combat losses occurred during this raid, with one B-29 destroyed on the ground by Japanese fighters after an emergency landing in China,
[Craven and Cate Vol. 5 1983, p. 101.] one lost to anti-aircraft fire over Yawata, and another, the ''Stockett's Rocket'' (after Capt. Marvin M. Stockett, Aircraft Commander) B-29-1-BW 42-6261, disappeared after takeoff from Chakulia, India, over the Himalayas (12 KIA, 11 crew and one passenger). This raid, which did little damage to the target, with only one bomb striking the target factory complex,
[Willis 2007, p. 145.] nearly exhausted fuel stocks at the Chengdu B-29 bases, resulting in a slow-down of operations until the fuel stockpiles could be replenished.
[Craven and Cate Vol. 5 1983, pp. 101, 103.] Starting in July, the raids against Japan from Chinese airfields continued at relatively low intensity. Japan was bombed on:
* 7 July 1944 (14 B-29s)
* 29 July (70+)
* 10 August (24)
* 20 August (61)
* 8 September (90)
* 26 September (83)
* 25 October (59)
* 12 November (29)
* 21 November (61)
* 19 December (36)
* 6 January 1945 (49)
B-29s were withdrawn from airfields in China by the end of January 1945. Throughout the prior period, B-29 raids were also launched from China and India against many other targets throughout
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
, including a
series of raids on Singapore and Thailand. On 2 November 1944, 55 B-29s raided Bangkok's
Bang Sue marshaling yards in the largest raid of the war. Seven
RTAF Nakajima Ki-43
The Nakajima Ki-43 ''Hayabusa'' (, "Peregrine falcon", "Army Type 1 Fighter" ) is a single-engine land-based tactical fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service in World War II.
The Allied reporting name was "Oscar", but it was o ...
''Hayabusa''s from Foong Bin (Air Group) 16 and 14 IJAAF Ki-43s attempted intercept. RTAF Flt Lt Therdsak Worrasap attacked a B-29, damaging it, but was shot down by return fire. One B-29 was lost, possibly the one damaged by Flt Lt Therdsak. On 14 April 1945, a second B-29 raid on Bangkok destroyed two key power plants and was the last major attack conducted against Thai targets.
The B-29 effort was gradually shifted to the new bases in the
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...
in the
Central Pacific, with the last B-29 combat mission from India flown on 29 March 1945.
New Mariana Islands air bases
In addition to the logistical problems associated with operations from China, the B-29 could only reach a limited part of Japan while flying from Chinese bases. The solution to this problem was to capture the Mariana Islands, which would bring targets such as
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
, about north of the Marianas within range of B-29 attacks. The Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed in December 1943 to seize the Marianas.
[Willis 2007, pp. 145–146.]
US forces
invaded Saipan on 15 June 1944. Despite a Japanese naval counterattack which led to the
Battle of the Philippine Sea
The Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944) was a major naval battle of World War II that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invas ...
and heavy fighting on land, Saipan was secured by 9 July.
[Willis 2007, p. 146.] Operations followed against
Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
and
Tinian
Tinian ( or ; old Japanese name: 天仁安島, ''Tenian-shima'') is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of th ...
, with all three islands secured by August.
[Dear and Foot 1995, p. 718.]
Naval construction battalions (
Seabees
United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Force (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Depending upon ...
) began at once to construct air bases suitable for the B-29, commencing even before the end of ground fighting.
In all, five major airfields were built: two on the flat island of
Tinian
Tinian ( or ; old Japanese name: 天仁安島, ''Tenian-shima'') is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of th ...
, one on
Saipan
Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...
, and two on
Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
. Each was large enough to eventually accommodate a bomb wing consisting of four bomb groups, giving a total of 180 B-29s per airfield.
These bases could be supplied by ship and, unlike the bases in China, were not vulnerable to attack by Japanese ground forces.
The bases became the launch sites for the large B-29 raids against Japan in the final year of the war. The first B-29 arrived on Saipan on 12 October 1944, and the first combat mission was launched from there on 28 October 1944, with 14 B-29s attacking the
Truk atoll. The 73rd Bomb Wing launched the first mission against Japan from bases in the Marianas, on 24 November 1944, sending 111 B-29s to attack
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
. For this first attack on the Japanese capital since the
Doolittle Raid
The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first American air operation to strike the Japan ...
in April 1942,
73rd Bomb Wing
The 73d Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, where it was inactivated on 1 April 1966.
History World War II
The 73d Bombardment Wing w ...
wing commander
Brigadier General
Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...
Emmett O'Donnell Jr.
General Emmett E. "Rosie" O'Donnell Jr. (September 15, 1906 – December 26, 1971) was a United States Air Force four-star general who served as Commander in Chief, Pacific Air Forces (CINCPACAF) from 1959 to 1963. He also led the first B-29 ...
acted as mission command pilot in B-29 ''
Dauntless Dotty
''Dauntless Dotty'' is the nickname of a Boeing B-29-40-BW Superfortress during the Second World War that led the first B-29 raid on Tokyo on 24 November 1944, the first bombing attack of the Japanese capital since the Doolittle Raid on 18 April ...
''.
The campaign of incendiary raids started with the bombardment of
Kobe
Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
on 4 February 1945, then peaked early with the most destructive bombing raid in history (even when the later ''Silverplate''-flown nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are considered)
on the night of 9–10 March 1945 on Tokyo. From then on, the raids intensified, being launched regularly until the end of the war. The attacks succeeded in devastating most large Japanese cities (with the exception of Kyoto and four that were reserved for nuclear attacks), and gravely damaged Japan's war industries. Although less publicly appreciated, the mining of Japanese ports and shipping routes (
Operation Starvation
Operation Starvation was a naval mining operation conducted in World War II by the United States Army Air Forces to disrupt Japanese shipping.
Operation
The mission was initiated at the insistence of Admiral Chester Nimitz who wanted his naval ...
) carried out by B-29s from April 1945 reduced Japan's ability to support its population and move its troops.
The nuclear weapons
The most famous B-29s were the
Silverplate
Silverplate was the code reference for the United States Army Air Forces' participation in the Manhattan Project during World War II. Originally the name for the aircraft modification project which enabled a B-29 Superfortress bomber to drop a ...
series. These aircraft were extensively modified to carry nuclear weapons. Serious consideration was given to using the British Lancaster bomber, as this would require less modification.
The most significant modification was the enlargement of the bomb bay enabling each aircraft to carry either the Thinman or Fatman weapons. These Silverplate bombers differed from other B-29s then in service by having
fuel injection
Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of an injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines.
All comp ...
and
reversible props. Also, to make a lighter aircraft, the Silverplate B-29s were stripped of all guns, except for those on the tail. Pilot Charles Sweeney credits the reversible props for saving ''Bockscar'' after making an emergency landing on Okinawa following the Nagasaki bombing.
''
Enola Gay
The ''Enola Gay'' () is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, piloted by Tibbets and Robert A. Lewis during the final stages of World War II, it be ...
'', flown by Tibbets, dropped the first bomb, called
Little Boy
"Little Boy" was the type of atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 during World War II, making it the first nuclear weapon used in warfare. The bomb was dropped by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress ''Enola Gay'' p ...
, on
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
on 6 August 1945.
''Enola Gay'' is fully restored and on display at the Smithsonian's
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the Udvar-Hazy Center, is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia. It holds numerous ...
, outside Dulles Airport near Washington, D.C. ''
Bockscar
''Bockscar'', sometimes called Bock's Car, is the name of the United States Army Air Forces B-29 bomber that dropped a Fat Man nuclear weapon over the Japanese city of Nagasaki during World War II in the secondand most recent nuclear attack in ...
'', piloted by
Major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
Charles W. Sweeney
Charles William Sweeney (December 27, 1919 – July 16, 2004) was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II and the pilot who flew ''Bockscar'' carrying the Fat Man atomic bomb to the Japanese city of Nagasaki on Augus ...
, dropped the second bomb, called
Fat Man
"Fat Man" (also known as Mark III) is the codename for the type of nuclear bomb the United States detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in warfare, the fir ...
, on
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
three days later.
''Bockscar'' is on display at the
National Museum of the United States Air Force
The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is the ...
.
Following the surrender of Japan, called
V-J Day
Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on ...
, B-29s were used for other purposes. A number supplied
POWs
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...
with food and other necessities by dropping barrels of rations on Japanese POW camps. In September 1945, a long-distance flight was undertaken for public relations purposes: Generals
Barney M. Giles
Barney McKinney Giles (September 13, 1892 – May 6, 1984) was an American military officer who helped develop strategic bombing theory and practice. Giles stepped outside established bomber doctrine during World War II to develop long-range cap ...
,
Curtis LeMay
Curtis Emerson LeMay (November 15, 1906 – October 1, 1990) was an American Air Force general who implemented a controversial strategic bombing campaign in the Pacific theater of World War II. He later served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air ...
, and
Emmett O'Donnell Jr.
General Emmett E. "Rosie" O'Donnell Jr. (September 15, 1906 – December 26, 1971) was a United States Air Force four-star general who served as Commander in Chief, Pacific Air Forces (CINCPACAF) from 1959 to 1963. He also led the first B-29 ...
piloted three specially modified B-29s from
Chitose Air Base
, is a Japan Air Self-Defense Force base located in Chitose, Hokkaidō
is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; ...
in
Hokkaidō
is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel.
The la ...
to
Chicago Municipal Airport
Chicago Midway International Airport , typically referred to as Midway Airport, Chicago Midway, or simply Midway, is a major commercial airport on the Southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) from the Lo ...
, continuing to
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, the farthest nonstop distance (c.6400 miles) to that date flown by U.S. Army Air Forces aircraft and the
first-ever nonstop flight from Japan to Chicago.
[Potts, J. Ivan, Jr]
"Chapter: The Japan to Washington Flight."
''Remembrance of War: The Experiences of a B-29 Pilot in World War II.''
Shelbyville, Tennessee: J.I. Potts & Associates, 1995. Retrieved: 8 June 2009. Two months later, Colonel Clarence S. Irvine commanded another modified B-29, ''Pacusan Dreamboat'', in a world-record-breaking long-distance flight from Guam to Washington, D.C., traveling in 35 hours,
["Monday, January 01, 1940 – Saturday, December 31, 1949."]
''History Milestones (US Air Force).'' Retrieved: 21 October 2010. with a gross takeoff weight of .
[Mayo, Weyland]
''b-29s-over-korea.com.'' Retrieved: 21 October 2010. Almost a year later, in October 1946, the same B-29 flew 9,422 miles nonstop from Oahu, Hawaii, to Cairo, Egypt, in less than 40 hours, demonstrating the possibility of routing airlines over the polar ice cap.
B-29s in Europe and Australia
![Boeing B-29A Washington B](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Boeing_B-29A_Washington_B.1_WF502_90_Sqn_Hooton_20.09.52_edited-2.jpg)
Although considered for other theaters, and briefly evaluated in the UK, the B-29 was exclusively used in World War II in the
Pacific Theatre. The use of YB-29-BW ''41-36393'', the so-named ''Hobo Queen'', one of the service test aircraft flown around several British airfields in early 1944, was part of a "disinformation" program from its mention in an American-published
''Sternenbanner'' German-language propaganda leaflet from
Leap Year Day
February 29, also known as leap day or leap year day, is a date added to leap years. A leap day is added in various solar calendars (calendars based on the Earth's revolution around the Sun), including the Gregorian calendar standard in mo ...
in 1944, meant to be circulated within the Reich, with the intent to deceive the Germans into believing that the B-29 would be deployed to Europe.
American post-war military assistance programs loaned the RAF enough Superfortresses to equip several
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...
squadrons. The aircraft was known as the Washington B.1 in RAF service and served from March 1950 until the last bombers were returned in early 1954. The phase-out was occasioned by deliveries of the
English Electric Canberra
The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid- to late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havil ...
bombers. Three Washingtons modified for
ELINT
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ( ...
duties and a standard bomber version used for support by
No. 192 Squadron RAF
No. 192 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron operational during the First World War as a night training squadron and during the Second World War as a radar countermeasure unit. After the war the squadron served again in the Electronic Intell ...
were decommissioned in 1958, being replaced by
de Havilland Comet
The de Havilland DH.106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It featured an aerodynamically clean design with four d ...
aircraft.
Two British Washington B.1 aircraft were transferred to the
Royal Australian Air Force
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
(RAAF) in 1952.
They were attached to the
Aircraft Research and Development Unit
The Royal Australian Air Force's Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) plans, conducts and analyses the results of ground and flight testing of existing and new Air Force aircraft. ARDU consists of three test and evaluation flights ...
and used in trials conducted on behalf of the British
Ministry of Supply
The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...
.
Both aircraft were placed in storage in 1956 and were sold for scrap in 1957.
["A76: Boeing Washington."](_blank)
''RAAF Museum.'' Retrieved: 28 January 2012.
Soviet Tupolev Tu-4
![Tupolev Tu-4 01 red (10255123433)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Tupolev_Tu-4_01_red_%2810255123433%29.jpg)
At the end of WWII, Soviet development of modern four-engined heavy bombers lagged behind the west. The
Petlyakov Pe-8
The Petlyakov Pe-8 (russian: Петляков Пе-8) was a Soviet heavy bomber designed before World War II, and the only four-engine bomber the USSR built during the war. Produced in limited numbers, it was used to bomb Berlin in August 1941. ...
—the sole heavy bomber operated by the
Soviet Air Forces
The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...
—first flew in 1936. Intended to replace the obsolete
Tupolev TB-3
The Tupolev TB-3 (russian: Тяжёлый Бомбардировщик, Tyazhyolyy Bombardirovshchik, Heavy Bomber, civilian designation ANT-6) was a monoplane heavy bomber deployed by the Soviet Air Force in the 1930s and used during the early ...
, only 93 Pe-8s were built by the end of WWII. During 1944 and 1945, four B-29s made emergency landings in Soviet territory after bombing raids on Japanese Manchuria and Japan. In accordance with
Soviet neutrality in the Pacific War, the bombers were interned by the Soviets despite American requests for their return. Rather than return the aircraft, the Soviets
reverse engineered
Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...
the American B-29s and used them as a pattern for the
Tupolev Tu-4
The Tupolev Tu-4 (russian: Туполев Ту-4; NATO reporting name: Bull) is a piston-engined Soviet strategic bomber that served the Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to mid-1960s. It was reverse-engineered from the American Boeing B-29 S ...
.
[
On 31 July 1944, ''Ramp Tramp'' (]serial number
A serial number is a unique identifier assigned incrementally or sequentially to an item, to ''uniquely'' identify it.
Serial numbers need not be strictly numerical. They may contain letters and other typographical symbols, or may consist enti ...
42-6256), of the United States Army Air Forces 462nd (Very Heavy) Bomb Group was diverted to Vladivostok
Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea ...
, Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, after an engine failed and the propeller could not be feathered. This B-29 was part of a 100-aircraft raid against the Japanese Showa steel mill in Anshan
Anshan () is an inland prefecture-level city in central-southeast Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, about south of the provincial capital Shenyang. As of the 2020 census, it was Liaoning's third most populous city with a population ...
, Manchuria
Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...
.["Tu-4 "Bull" and ''Ramp Tramp''."]
''Monino Aviation''. Retrieved: 1 November 2009. On 20 August 1944, ''Cait Paomat'' (42-93829), flying from Chengdu, was damaged by anti-aircraft gunfire during a raid on the Yawata Iron Works. Due to the damage it sustained, the crew elected to divert to the Soviet Union. The aircraft crashed in the foothills of Sikhote-Alin
The Sikhote-Alin (russian: Сихотэ́-Али́нь, , , ) is a mountain range in Primorsky and Khabarovsk Krais, Russia, extending about to the northeast of the Russian Pacific seaport of Vladivostok. The highest summits are Tordoki Yani at ...
mountain range east of Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk ( rus, Хабaровск, a=Хабаровск.ogg, r=Habárovsk, p=xɐˈbarəfsk) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China ...
after the crew bailed out.
On 11 November 1944, during a night raid on Omura in Kyushu, Japan, the ''General H. H. Arnold Special'' (42-6365) was damaged and forced to divert to Vladivostok in the Soviet Union. The crew was interned. On 21 November 1944, ''Ding Hao'' (42-6358) was damaged during a raid on an aircraft factory at Omura and was also forced to divert to Vladivostok.
The interned crews of these four B-29s were allowed to escape into American-occupied Iran in January 1945, but none of the B-29s were returned after Stalin ordered the Tupolev
Tupolev (russian: Ту́полев, ), officially Joint Stock Company Tupolev, is a Russian aerospace and defence company headquartered in Basmanny District, Moscow.
Tupolev is successor to the Soviet Tupolev Design Bureau (OKB-156, design off ...
OKB
OKB is a transliteration of the Russian initials of "" – , meaning 'experiment and design bureau'. During the Soviet era, OKBs were closed institutions working on design and prototyping of advanced technology, usually for military applications. ...
to examine and copy the B-29 and produce a design ready for quantity production as soon as possible.[Lednicer, David]
"Intrusions, Overflights, Shootdowns and Defections During the Cold War and Thereafter".
David Lednicer, 16 April 2011. Retrieved: 31 July 2011.
Because aluminum in the USSR was supplied in different gauges from that available in the US (metric vs imperial),[ the entire aircraft had to be extensively re-engineered. In addition, Tupolev substituted his own favored airfoil sections for those used by Boeing, with the Soviets themselves already having their own ]Wright R-1820
The Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 is an American radial engine developed by Curtiss-Wright, widely used on aircraft in the 1930s through 1950s. It was produced under license in France as the Hispano-Suiza 9V or Hispano-Wright 9V, and in the Soviet Uni ...
-derived 18 cylinder radial engine, the Shvetsov ASh-73
The Shvetsov ASh-73 was an 18-cylinder, air-cooled, radial aircraft engine produced between 1947 and 1957 in the Soviet Union. It was primarily used as the powerplant for the Tupolev Tu-4 heavy bomber, a copy of the American Boeing B-29 Superfortr ...
of comparable power and displacement to the B-29's Duplex Cyclone radials available to power their design. In 1947, the Soviets debuted both the Tupolev Tu-4 (NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
ASCC code named Bull), and the Tupolev Tu-70
The Tupolev Tu-70 (russian: Туполев Ту-70; NATO reporting name: Cart) was a Soviet passenger variant of the Tu-4 bomber (which was reverse-engineered from the American Boeing B-29 Superfortress) and designed immediately after the end of ...
transport variant. The Soviets used tail-gunner positions similar to the B-29 in many later bombers and transports.
Transition to USAF
Production of the B-29 was phased out after WWII, with the last example completed by Boeing's Renton factory on 28 May 1946. Many aircraft went into storage, being declared excess inventory, and were ultimately scrapped as surplus. Others remained in the active inventory and equipped the Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...
when it formed on 21 March 1946.[Peacock ''Air International'' September 1989, p. 141.] In particular, the "Silverplate" modified aircraft of the 509th Composite Group remained the only aircraft capable of delivering the atomic bomb, and so the unit was involved in the Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the ...
series of tests, with B-29 ''Dave's Dream'' dropping a "Fat Man"-type bomb in Test ''Able'' on 1 July 1946.
Some B-29s, fitted with filtered air sampling scoops, were used to monitor above-ground nuclear weapons testing by the US and the USSR by sampling airborne radioactive contamination
Contamination is the presence of a constituent, impurity, or some other undesirable element that spoils, corrupts, infects, makes unfit, or makes inferior a material, physical body, natural environment, workplace, etc.
Types of contamination
W ...
. The USAF also used the aircraft for long-range weather reconnaissance (WB-29), for signals intelligence
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ( ...
gathering (EB-29) and photographic reconnaissance (RB-29).
Korean War and postwar service
The B-29 was used in 1950–53 in the Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
. At first, the bomber was used in normal strategic day-bombing missions, though North Korea's few strategic targets and industries were quickly destroyed. More importantly, in 1950 numbers of Soviet MiG-15
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (russian: Микоя́н и Гуре́вич МиГ-15; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of ...
jet fighters appeared over Korea, and after the loss of 28 aircraft, future B-29 raids were restricted to night missions, largely in a supply-interdiction role.
The B-29 dropped the 1,000-lb VB-3 "Razon" (a range-controllable version of the earlier Azon
AZON (or Azon), from "azimuth only", was one of the world's first guided weapons, deployed by the Allies and contemporary with the German Fritz X.
Officially designated VB-1 ("Vertical Bomb 1"), it was invented by Major Henry J. Rand and Thoma ...
guided ordnance device) and the 12,000 lb. VB-13 "Tarzon
The ASM-A-1 Tarzon, also known as VB-13, was a guided bomb developed by the United States Army Air Forces during the late 1940s. Mating the guidance system of the earlier Razon radio-controlled weapon with a British Tallboy bomb, the ASM-A-1 saw ...
" MCLOS
Manual command to line of sight (MCLOS) is a method for guiding guided missiles.
With an MCLOS missile, the operator must track the missile and the target simultaneously and guide the missile to the target. Typically the missile is steered with a ...
radio-controlled bombs in Korea, mostly for demolishing major bridges, like the ones across the Yalu River
The Yalu River, known by Koreans as the Amrok River or Amnok River, is a river on the border between North Korea and China. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the border between ...
, and for attacks on dams. The aircraft also was used for numerous leaflet drops in North Korea, such as those for Operation Moolah
Operation Moolah was a United States Air Force (USAF) effort during the Korean War to obtain through defection a fully capable Soviet MiG-15 jet fighter. Communist forces introduced the MiG-15 to Korea on November 1, 1950. USAF pilots reported th ...
.
A Superfortress of the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron flew the last B-29 mission of the war on 27 July 1953.
Over the course of the war, B-29s flew 20,000 sorties and dropped 200,000 tonnes (180,000 tons) of bombs. B-29 gunners were credited with shooting down 27 enemy aircraft.[Futrell et al. 1976.] In turn 78 B-29s were lost; 57 B-29 and reconnaissance variants were lost in action and 21 were non-combat losses.
Soviet records show that one MiG-15 jet fighter was shot down by a B-29 during the war. This occurred on 6 December 1950, when a B-29 shot down Lieutenant N. Serikov.
With the arrival of the mammoth Convair B-36
The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a strategic bomber that was built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built. It had the longest win ...
, the B-29 was reclassified as a medium bomber by the Air Force. The later B-50 Superfortress
The Boeing B-50 Superfortress is an American strategic bomber. A post–World War II revision of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, it was fitted with more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines, stronger structure, a taller tail fin, and ot ...
variant (initially designated B-29D) was able to handle auxiliary roles such as air-sea rescue
Air-sea rescue (ASR or A/SR, also known as sea-air rescue), and aeronautical and maritime search and rescue (AMSAR) by the ICAO and International Maritime Organization, IMO, is the coordinated search and rescue (SAR) of the survivors of emergenc ...
, electronic intelligence gathering, air-to-air refueling
Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft a ...
, and weather reconnaissance
Weather reconnaissance is the acquisition of weather data used for research and planning. Typically the term reconnaissance refers to observing weather from the air, as opposed to the ground.
Methods
Aircraft
Helicopters are not built to w ...
.
The B-50D was replaced in its primary role during the early 1950s by the Boeing B-47 Stratojet
The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long-range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft ...
, which in turn was replaced by the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...
. The final active-duty KB-50 and WB-50 variants were phased out in the mid-1960s, with the final example retired in 1965. A total of 3,970 B-29s were built.
Variants
The variants of the B-29 were outwardly similar in appearance but were built around different wing center sections that affected the wingspan dimensions. The wing of the Renton-built B-29A-BN used a different subassembly process and was a foot longer in span. The Georgia-built B-29B-BA weighed less through armament reduction. A planned C series with more reliable R-3350s was not built.
Moreover, engine packages changed, including the type of propellers and range of the variable pitch. A notable example was the eventual 65 airframes (up to 1947's end) for the Silverplate
Silverplate was the code reference for the United States Army Air Forces' participation in the Manhattan Project during World War II. Originally the name for the aircraft modification project which enabled a B-29 Superfortress bomber to drop a ...
and successor-name "Saddletree" specifications built for the Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
with Curtiss Electric reversible pitch propellers.
The other differences came through added equipment for varied mission roles. These roles included cargo carriers (CB); rescue aircraft (SB); weather ships (WB); and trainers (TB); and aerial tankers (KB).
Some were used for odd purposes such as flying relay television transmitters under the name of Stratovision
Stratovision was an airborne television transmission relay system using aircraft flying at high altitudes. In 1945 the Glenn L. Martin Company and Westinghouse Electric Corporation originally proposed television coverage of small towns and rura ...
.
The B-29D led progressively to the XB-44, and the family of B-50 Superfortress
The Boeing B-50 Superfortress is an American strategic bomber. A post–World War II revision of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, it was fitted with more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines, stronger structure, a taller tail fin, and ot ...
(which was powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-4360
The Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major is an American 28-cylinder four-row radial engine, radial reciprocating engine, piston aircraft engine designed and built during World War II. First run in 1944, at , it is the largest-displacement aviation ...
-35 Wasp Major engines).
Another role was as a mothership. This included being rigged for carrying the experimental parasite fighter
A parasite aircraft is a component of a composite aircraft which is carried aloft and air launched by a larger carrier aircraft or mother ship to support the primary mission of the carrier. The carrier craft may or may not be able to later recov ...
aircraft, such as the McDonnell XF-85 Goblin
The McDonnell XF-85 Goblin is an American prototype fighter aircraft conceived during World War II by McDonnell Aircraft. It was intended to deploy from the bomb bay of the giant Convair B-36 bomber as a parasite fighter. The XF-85's intended r ...
and Republic F-84 Thunderjet
The Republic F-84 Thunderjet was an American turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft. Originating as a 1944 United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) proposal for a "day fighter", the F-84 first flew in 1946. Although it entered service in 1947, the Thu ...
s as in flight lock on and offs. It was also used to develop the Airborne Early Warning
Airborne or Airborn may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Airborne'' (1962 film), a 1962 American film directed by James Landis
* ''Airborne'' (1993 film), a comedy–drama film
* ''Airborne'' (1998 film), an action film sta ...
program; it was the ancestor of various modern radar picket aircraft. A B-29 with the original Wright Duplex Cyclone powerplants was used to air-launch the Bell X-1
The Bell X-1 (Bell Model 44) is a rocket engine–powered aircraft, designated originally as the XS-1, and was a joint National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics– U.S. Army Air Forces–U.S. Air Force supersonic research project built by Be ...
supersonic research rocket aircraft, as well as Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
rockets for the testing of ejection seats.[Shinabery, Michael]
"Whoosh failures were 'instructive'."
''Alamogordo Daily News
''Alamogordo Daily News'', founded in 1898, is a daily newspaper published in Alamogordo, New Mexico. It carries local news as well as syndicated content from Associated Press and others.
History
''Alamogordo Daily News'' claims 1898 as its f ...
'', 26 October 2008. Retrieved: 17 May 2014.
Some B-29s were modified to act as testbeds for various new systems or special conditions, including fire-control systems, cold-weather operations, and various armament configurations. Several converted B-29s were used to experiment with aerial refueling
Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft a ...
and re-designated as KB-29s. Perhaps the most important tests were conducted by the XB-29G. It carried prototype jet engine
A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term ...
s in its bomb bay, and lowered them into the air stream to conduct measurements.
Operators
;
* Royal Australian Air Force
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
(two former RAF aircraft for trials)
;
* Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
(87 loaned from the USAF as the Washington B.1)
;
* United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
* United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
* United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
(four former USAF aircraft designated as P2B patrol bombers)
;
* Soviet Air Forces
The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...
(three USAAF B-29s made emergency landings in the USSR during WWII, and were never returned; they were reverse-engineered to make the Soviet Tupolev Tu-4
The Tupolev Tu-4 (russian: Туполев Ту-4; NATO reporting name: Bull) is a piston-engined Soviet strategic bomber that served the Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to mid-1960s. It was reverse-engineered from the American Boeing B-29 S ...
"Bull" bomber.)
Surviving aircraft
Twenty-two B-29s are preserved at various museums worldwide, including two flying examples; ''FIFI'', which belongs to the Commemorative Air Force
The Commemorative Air Force (CAF), formerly known as the Confederate Air Force, is an American non-profit organization based in Dallas, Texas, that preserves and shows historical aircraft at airshows, primarily in the U.S. and Canada.
The CAF h ...
, and ''Doc'', which belongs to Doc's Friends. Doc made its first flight in 60 years from Wichita, Kansas, on 17 July 2016. There are also four complete airframes either in storage or under restoration, eight partial airframes in storage or under restoration, and four known wreck sites.
Three of the Silverplate B-29s modified to drop nuclear bombs survive. The ''Enola Gay
The ''Enola Gay'' () is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, piloted by Tibbets and Robert A. Lewis during the final stages of World War II, it be ...
'' (nose number 82), which dropped the first atomic bomb, was fully restored and placed on display at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air & Space Museum near Washington Dulles International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Eastern United States, loc ...
in 2003. The B-29 that dropped Fat Man
"Fat Man" (also known as Mark III) is the codename for the type of nuclear bomb the United States detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in warfare, the fir ...
on Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
, ''Bockscar
''Bockscar'', sometimes called Bock's Car, is the name of the United States Army Air Forces B-29 bomber that dropped a Fat Man nuclear weapon over the Japanese city of Nagasaki during World War II in the secondand most recent nuclear attack in ...
'' (nose number 77), is restored and on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force
The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is the ...
at Wright-Patterson AFB
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wri ...
in Dayton, Ohio. The third is the 15th Silverplate to be delivered, on the last day of the war in the Pacific. It is on display at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History
The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History (formerly named National Atomic Museum) is a national repository of nuclear science information chartered by the 102nd United States Congress under Public Law 102-190, and located in unincorporated ...
in Albuquerque, New Mexico, posed with a replica of the Mark-3 "Fat Man" nuclear bomb.
Only two of the 22 museum aircraft are outside the United States: ''It's Hawg Wild'' at the Imperial War Museum Duxford
Imperial War Museum Duxford is a branch of the Imperial War Museum near Duxford in Cambridgeshire, England. Britain's largest aviation museum, Duxford houses the museum's large exhibits, including nearly 200 aircraft, military vehicles, artill ...
and another at the KAI Aerospace Museum
The KAI Aerospace Museum is an aerospace museum in Sacheon, South Korea located at adjacent to Sacheon Airport.
Aircraft on display
Helicopters
* Bell UH-1B-BF 64-14003 (Construction Number 1127). This helicopter was purchased by the United Sta ...
in Sachon
Sacheon () is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Sacheon's chief fame comes from its being the site of two naval battles in the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598), Seven Year War.
The ...
, South Korea.
Accidents and incidents
Accidents and incidents involving B-29s include:
* The Friday evening of 10 November 1944 crash of a B-29 near Clovis, New Mexico
Clovis is a city in and the county seat of Curry County, New Mexico, Curry County, New Mexico. The city had a population of 37,775 as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, and a 2019 estimated population of 38,319. Clovis is located in th ...
. All 15 members of the crew were killed.
* 12 June 1946 a B-29 crashed into Clingmans Dome
Clingmans Dome (or Clingman's Dome) is a mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina in the southeastern United States. Its name in Cherokee is Kuwahi or Kuwohi (ᎫᏩᎯ or ᎫᏬᎯ), meaning "mulberry place." At an to ...
in Tennessee killing the entire crew of twelve.
* The 1947 crash of the Kee Bird
The ''Kee Bird'' was a United States Army Air Forces Boeing B-29 Superfortress, serial ''45-21768'', of the 46th Reconnaissance Squadron, that became marooned after making an emergency landing in northwest Greenland during a secret Cold War sp ...
in Greenland during a flight to the geographic North Pole, and its subsequent destruction in 1995 during a recovery attempt.
* The 1948 Waycross B-29 crash, which resulted in the ''United States v. Reynolds
''United States v. Reynolds'', 345 U.S. 1 (1953), is a landmark legal case in 1953 that saw the formal recognition of the state secrets privilege, a judicially recognized extension of presidential power.
Overview
Three employees of the Radio ...
'' lawsuit regarding state secrets privilege The state secrets privilege is an evidentiary rule created by United States legal precedent. Application of the privilege results in exclusion of evidence from a legal case based solely on affidavits submitted by the government stating that court ...
* The 1948 Lake Mead Boeing B-29 crash.
* The 3 November 1948 crash at Bleaklow
Bleaklow is a high, largely peat-covered, gritstone moorland in the Derbyshire High Peak near the town of Glossop. It is north of Kinder Scout, across the Snake Pass ( A57), and south of the A628 Woodhead Pass. Much of it is nearly 2,000 ...
moor near Glossop
Glossop is a market town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is located east of Manchester, north-west of Sheffield and north of the county town, Matlock. Glossop lies near Derbyshire's borders with Cheshire, Greater Manches ...
, Derbyshire, England. All 13 crew onboard were killed. Much of the wreckage is still exposed and can be reached by a 2 mile walk from the summit of Snake Pass
Snake Pass is a hill pass in the Derbyshire section of the Peak District, crossing the Pennines between Glossop and the Ladybower Reservoir at Ashopton. The road was engineered by Thomas Telford and opened in 1821. The pass carries the A57 roa ...
, starting along the Pennine Way
The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...
footpath through Devil's Dyke.
* On 11 April 1950 a B-29 departed Kirtland Air Force Base
Kirtland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in the southeast quadrant of the Albuquerque, New Mexico urban area, adjacent to the Albuquerque International Sunport. The base was named for the early Army aviator Col. Roy ...
at 9:38 PM and crashed into a mountain on Manzano Base Manzano is a Spanish word used for apple trees, Malus domestica, and is also used as a patronymic name. Manzano can refer to any of the following:
Places
* El Manzano, a village in Spain
* Manzano, Italy, a municipality in Italy
* Manzano, New ...
approximately three minutes later, killing the crew. Detonators were installed in the nuclear bomb
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
on the aircraft. The bomb case was demolished and some high-explosive (HE) material burned in the gasoline fire. Other pieces of unburned HE were scattered throughout the wreckage. Four spare detonators in their carrying case were recovered undamaged. There were no contamination or recovery problems. The recovered components were returned to the Atomic Energy Commission. Both the weapon and the capsule of nuclear material were on board the aircraft but the capsule was not inserted in the bomb for safety reasons, so a nuclear detonation was not possible.
*On 5 August 1950 a bomb-laden B-29 Superfortress crashed into a residential area in California; 17 were killed and 68 injured
* The 1953 "Tip Tow" crash, Peconic Bay
The Peconic Bay is the parent name for two bays between the North Fork and South Fork, Suffolk County, New York, South Fork of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is separated from Gardiners Bay by Shelter Island (t ...
, New York State.
Specifications
Notable appearances in media
See also
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
*
* Anderton, David A. ''B-29 Superfortress at War''. Shepperton, Surrey, UK: Ian Allan Ltd., 1978. .
* Berger, Carl. ''B29: The Superfortress''. New York: Ballantine Books, 1970. .
* Birdsall, Steve. ''B-29 Superfortress in Action (Aircraft in Action 31)''. Carrolton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc., 1977. .
* Birdsall, Steve. ''Saga of the Superfortress: The Dramatic Story of the B-29 and the Twentieth Air Force''. London: Sidgewick & Jackson Limited, 1991. .
* Birdsall, Steve. ''Superfortress: The Boeing B-29''. Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc., 1980. .
* Bowers, Peter M. ''Boeing Aircraft since 1916''. London: Putnam, 1989. .
* Bowers, Peter M. ''Boeing B-29 Superfortress''. Stillwater, Minnesota: Voyageur Press, 1999. .
* Brown, J. "RCT Armament in the Boeing B-29". ''Air Enthusiast
''Air Enthusiast'' was a British, bi-monthly, aviation magazine, published by the Key Publishing group. Initially begun in 1974 as ''Air Enthusiast Quarterly'', the magazine was conceived as a historical adjunct to '' Air International'' maga ...
'', Number Three, 1977, pp. 80–83.
* Campbell, Richard H., ''The Silverplate Bombers: A History and Registry of the Enola Gay and Other B-29s Configured to Carry Atomic Bombs''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2005. .
* Chant, Christopher. ''Superprofile: B-29 Superfortress''. Sparkford, Yeovil, Somerset, UK: Haynes Publishing Group, 1983. .
* Clarke, Chris
"The Cannons on the B-29 Bomber Were a Mid-Century Engineering Masterpiece"
''Popular Mechanics
''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...
'', 30 November 2015.
* Craven, Wesley Frank and James Lea Cate, eds
''The Army Air Forces In World War II: Volume One: Plans and Early Operations: January 1939 to August 1942''
. Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force History, 1983.
* Craven, Wesley Frank and James Lea Cate, eds
''The Army Air Forces In World War II: Volume Two: Europe: Torch to Pointblank August 1942 to December 1943''
. Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force History, 1983.
* Craven, Wesley Frank and James Lea Cate, eds
''The Army Air Forces In World War II: Volume Five: The Pacific: Matterhorn to Nagasaki June 1944 to August 1945''
Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force History, 1983.
* Davis, Larry. ''B-29 Superfortress in Action (Aircraft in Action 165)''. Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1997. .
* Dear, I.C.B. and M.R.D. Foo, eds. ''The Oxford Companion of World War II''. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1995. .
* Dorr, Robert F. ''B-29 Superfortress Units in World War Two''. Combat Aircraft 33. Botley, Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2002. .
* Dorr, Robert F. ''B-29 Superfortress Units of the Korean War''. Botley, Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2003. .
* Fopp, Michael A. ''The Washington File''. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1983. .
* Francillon, René J. ''McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920''. London: Putnam, 1979. .
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Berkley Books is an imprint of the Penguin Group.
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External links
B-29 Combat Crew Manual
"Meet the B-29"
''Popular Science
''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...
'', August 1944—the first large and detailed public article printed on the B-29 in the US
Pelican's Perch #56:Superfortress!
Article wrote by John Deakin, one of the pilots who regularly fly the world's first restored-to-flight B-29
Listing of surviving B-29s
*
{{Authority control
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
B-29 Superfortress
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...
Four-engined tractor aircraft
Boeing B-29
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fly ...
World War II bombers of the United States
Mid-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1942
Four-engined piston aircraft