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Additional Information from Internet Encyclopedia
The Boeing B-29
Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing
which was flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the
Korean War. It was one of the largest aircraft operational during World War II
and featured state of the art technology. It was the single most expensive
weapons project undertaken by the United States in World War II, exceeding the
cost of the Manhattan Project by between 1 and 1.7 billion dollars. Innovations
introduced included a pressurized cabin, dual-wheeled, tricycle landing gear,
and a remote, computer-controlled fire-control system that directed four
machine gun turrets that could be operated by a single gunner and a fire-control
officer. A manned tail gun installation was semi-remote. The name
"Superfortress" continued the pattern Boeing started with its
well-known predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress. Designed for the
high-altitude strategic bomber role, the B-29 also excelled in low-altitude
nighttime incendiary bombing missions. One of the B-29's final roles during
World War II was carrying out the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.
Because of the B-29's advanced design, unlike many other World War
II-era bombers, the Superfortress remained in service long after the war ended,
with a few even being employed as flying television transmitters for the
Stratovision company. The B-29 served in various roles throughout the 1950s.
The Royal Air Force flew the B-29 as the Washington until phasing out the type
in 1954. The Soviet Union produced an unlicensed reverse-engineered copy as the
Tupolev Tu-4. The B-29 was the progenitor of a series of Boeing-built bombers,
transports, tankers, reconnaissance aircraft and trainers including the B-50
Superfortress (the first aircraft to fly around the world non-stop) which was
essentially a re-engined B-29. The type was retired in the early 1960s. The
B-29 production total was 3,970 aircraft. Dozens of B-29s remain as static displays
but only two examples, Fifi and Doc, have been restored to flying status; with
Doc flying again for the first time from McConnell AFB on July 17, 2016.
Boeing began work on pressurized long-range bombers in 1938, in
response to a United States Army Air Corps request. Boeing's design study for
the Model 334 was a pressurized derivative of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
with nosewheel undercarriage. Although the Air Corps did not have money to
pursue the design, Boeing continued development with its own funds as a private
venture. In April 1939, Charles Lindbergh convinced general Henry H. Arnold to
produce a new bomber in large numbers to counter the Nazi production. The Air
Corps issued a formal specification for a so-called "superbomber", capable
of delivering 20,000 lb (9,100 kg) of bombs to a target 2,667 mi (4,290 km)
away and capable of flying at a speed of 400 mph (640 km/h) in December 1939.
Boeing's previous private venture studies formed the starting point for its
response to this specification.
Boeing submitted its Model 345 on 11 May 1940, in competition with
designs from Consolidated Aircraft (the Model 33, later to become the
B-32),Lockheed (the Lockheed XB-30), and Douglas (the Douglas XB-31). Douglas
and Lockheed soon abandoned work on their projects, but Boeing received an
order for two flying prototypes, 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 in case of problems with
Boeing's design. Boeing received an initial production order for 14 service
test aircraft and 250 production bombers in May 1941, 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. It involved four
main-assembly factories: a pair of Boeing operated plants at Renton, Washington
(Boeing Renton), and Wichita, Kansas (now Spirit AeroSystems), a Bell plant at
Marietta, Georgia ("Bell-Atlanta"), and a Martin plant at Omaha,
Nebraska ("Martin-Omaha" - Offutt Field). Thousands of subcontractors
were involved in the project. The first prototype made its maiden flight from
Boeing Field, Seattle on 21 September 1942. The combined effects of the
aircraft's highly advanced design, challenging requirements, and immense
pressure for production, hurried development and caused setbacks. The second
prototype, which, unlike the unarmed first, was fitted with a Sperry defensive
armament system using remote-controlled gun turrets sighted by periscopes,
first flew on 30 December 1942, this flight being terminated due to a serious
engine fire. 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 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 cold weather, further delaying necessary modification. By the end of
1943, although almost 100 aircraft had been delivered, only 15 were airworthy.
This prompted an intervention by General Hap Arnold 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". This resulted
in 150 aircraft being modified in the six weeks between 10 March and 15 April
1944.
The most common cause of maintenance headaches and catastrophic
failures were the engines. Although the Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone radial engines
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. 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 baffles installed around rubber push
rod fittings to prevent oil loss, thorough pre-flight inspections made to
detect unseated valves, and frequent replacement of 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
Forces 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 engines 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.
In wartime, the B-29 was capable of flight at altitudes up to 31,850
feet (9,710 m), at speeds of up to 350 mph (560 km/h) (true airspeed). 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. Only the
heaviest of anti-aircraft weapons could reach it, and since the Axis forces did
not have proximity fuzes, hitting or damaging the aircraft from the ground in
combat proved difficult.
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. Some turrets were made according to patents from the Tucker Gun Turret.
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 analog computers (one dedicated to each sight)
increased the weapons' accuracy by compensating for factors such as airspeed,
lead, 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. 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, and sometimes replaced by a third
machine gun.
In early 1945 Major General Curtis Lemay, commander of XXI Bomber
Command 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 atomic mission-intended Silverplate B-29 airframes, but 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 this 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. This version could also have an improved APQ-7 "Eagle"
bombing-through-overcast radar fitted in an airfoil shaped radome under the
fuselage. Most of these aircraft were assigned to the 315th Bomb Wing,
Northwest Field, Guam.
The crew enjoyed, 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. The nose and the cockpit were
pressurized, but the designers were faced with deciding whether to have bomb
bays that were not pressurized, between fore and aft pressurized sections, or a
fully pressurized fuselage with the need to de-pressurize to drop their loads.
The solution was a long tunnel over the two bomb bays so as not to interrupt
pressurization during bombing. Crews could crawl back and forth between the
fore and aft sections, with both areas and the tunnel pressurized. The bomb
bays were not pressurized.
In September 1941, the Army Air Forces 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. 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, however, plans had changed, partly due to production
delays, and the B-29 was dedicated to the Pacific Theater. A new plan
implemented at the direction of President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a promise to
China, called Operation Matterhorn, deployed the B-29 units to attack Japan
from four forward bases in southern China, with five main bases in India, and
to attack other targets in the region from China and India as needed. The
Chengdu region was eventually chosen over the Guilin region to avoid having to
raise, equip, and train 50 Chinese divisions to protect the advanced bases from
Japanese ground attack. The XX Bomber Command, 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, either by transport aircraft or by the 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") 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 and elsewhere
in Thailand. Five B-29s were lost during the mission, none to hostile fire.
On 5 June 1944, B-29s raided Bangkok, in what is reported as a test
before being deployed against the Japanese home islands. Sources do not report
from where they launched, and vary as to the numbers involved77, 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 lines and destroyed both a Japanese military hospital and
the Japanese secret police headquarters.
On 15 June 1944, 68 B-29s took off from bases around Chengdu, 47 B-29s
bombed the Imperial Iron and Steel Works at Yahata, Japan. This was the first
attack on Japanese islands since the Doolittle raid in April 1942. 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, 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, nearly exhausted fuel stocks at the
Chengdu B-29 bases, resulting in a slow-down of operations until the fuel
stockpiles could be replenished. Starting in July, the raids against Japan from
Chinese airfields continued at relatively low intensity.
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, about 1,500 mi (2,400 km) north of the
Marianas within range of B-29 attacks. The Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed in
December 1943 to seize the Marianas.
A joint US forces invaded Saipan on 15 June 1944. Despite a Japanese
naval counterattack which led to the Battle of the Philippine Sea and heavy
fighting on land, Saipan was secured by 9 July. Operations followed against
Guam and Tinian, with all three islands secured by August.
Naval construction battalions (Seabees) began at once to construct air
bases suitable for the B-29, commencing even before the end of ground fighting.
In all, five major air fields were built: two on the flat island of Tinian, one
on Saipan, and two on Guam. 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, which could be supplied by ship, and unlike the bases in
China, were not vulnerable to attacks by Japanese ground forces, 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.
For this first attack on the Japanese capital since the Doolittle Raid in April
1942, 73rd Bomb Wing wing commander Brigadier General Emmett O'Donnell, Jr.
acted as mission command pilot in B-29 Dauntless Dotty. 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 several
others), and they gravely damaged Japan's war industries. Although less
publicly appreciated, the mining of Japanese ports and shipping routes
(Operation Starvation) carried out by B-29s from April 1945 significantly
affected Japan's ability to support its population and move its troops.
Perhaps the most famous B-29s were the Silverplate series, which were
modified to drop atomic bombs. They were also stripped of all guns except the
tail gun to be lighter. The Silverplate aircraft were handpicked by Lieutenant
Colonel Paul W. Tibbets for the mission, straight off the assembly line at the
Omaha plant that was to become Offutt Air Force Base.
Enola Gay, flown by Tibbets, dropped the first bomb, called Little Boy,
on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. Enola Gay is fully restored and on display at
the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, outside Dulles Airport in
Washington, D.C. Bockscar dropped the second bomb, called Fat Man, on Nagasaki
three days later. Bockscar is on display at the National Museum of the United
States Air Force.
Following the surrender of Japan, called V-J Day, B-29s were used for
other purposes. A number supplied POWs 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, Curtis LeMay, and Emmett O'Donnell, Jr. piloted three
specially modified B-29s from Chitose Air Base in Hokkaidō to Chicago Municipal
Airport, continuing to Washington, D.C., 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 the U.S. 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 7,916 miles (12,740 km) in 35 hours, with a gross takeoff weight of
155,000 pounds (70,000 kg). 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, further proving the capability of routing airlines over the polar
icecap.
Although considered for other theaters, and briefly evaluated in the
United Kingdom, 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 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 squadrons. The aircraft
were 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 had been
occasioned by deliveries of the English Electric Canberra bombers. Three
Washingtons modified for ELINT duties and a standard bomber version used for
support by No. 192 Squadron RAF were decommissioned in 1958, being replaced by
de Havilland Comet aircraft.
Two British Washington B.1 aircraft were transferred to the Royal
Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1952. They were attached to the Aircraft
Research and Development Unit and used in trials conducted on behalf of the
British Ministry of Supply. Both aircraft were placed in storage in 1956 and
were sold for scrap in 1957.
The B-29 was used in 195053 in the Korean War. At first, the bomber
was used in normal strategic day-bombing missions, though North Korea's few
strategic targets and industries were quickly reduced to rubble. More
importantly, in 1950 numbers of Soviet MiG-15 jet fighters appeared over Korea,
and after the loss of 28 aircraft, future B-29 raids were restricted to
night-only missions, largely in a supply-interdiction role. 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.
The B-29 was notable for dropping the large "Razon" and
"Tarzon" radio-controlled bomb in Korea, mostly for demolishing major
bridges, like the ones across the Yalu River, and for attacks on dams. The
aircraft also was used for numerous leaflet drops in North Korea, such as those
for Operation Moolah.
A Superfortress of the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron flew the last
B-29 mission of the war on 27 July 1953. Over the three years 16 B-29 and
reconnaissance variants were lost to North Korean fighters, four to
anti-aircraft fire and 14 to other operational causes.