The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine 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 Flying Fortress, the Superfortress was designed for high-altitude strategic bombing but also excelled in low-altitude night incendiary bombing, and in dropping naval mines to blockade Japan. B-29s also dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, becoming the only aircraft to ever use nuclear weaponry in combat.
MORE/VIDEO HERE (47:21 minutes)
"...becoming the only aircraft to ever use nuclear weaponry in combat."
ReplyDeleteSO FAR
"...flown primarily by the Unites States..." Who else flew the B-29? (I admit I haven't watched the video yet, so it's possible the answer to my question lies therein).
ReplyDeleteRussia interned a few during WWII and built their own version thereafter, so they probably flew the ones the "borrowed" from their US ally a few times.
DeleteRussian Tu4 was an exact copy of the B 29
DeleteDaryl
The Royal Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force USAAF/USAF and as menu, the Rooskies.
DeleteBet Antifa can't make one of those.
ReplyDeleteIt was too much of an advanced weapon at the time to sell it any other countries. To my knowledge only the US flew it.
ReplyDeleteThe British used them as an interim bomber well after WW2 pending the arrival of their locally developed bombers. They were called the Washington in British service.
DeleteIF one of the few remaining flyable B-29s comes to an airfield near you do yourself a favor and gov for a tour. The danger the men who crewed these beasts faced, from the time before engine start to the time after chocks in place, was immense. A friend's dad was a crewman on one in Korea, he said they did pretty good until the MiG 15 showed up and then they might as well have been sitting still.
ReplyDeleteIf offered a ride airborne, do yourself another giant favor and DO NOT go!
Piss on living history, it is not 1944 and you are not a 20-yr old GI. That damned thing is a basket of trouble, piston-slapping, oil-puking, valve-eating goddam monster. The maintenance is very suspect (read the report on Nine-O-Nine replica) and those engines are 80 years old, lose one on takeoff and see what happens.
No. Don't do it.
Those fucking things belong in a museum not in the air; the more they fly the closer they are to a crash.
I live in the approach for a regional airport. Last year for the opening of football season, the university got a fly by from "Doc".
DeleteI was out in my yard on Friday night and heard a plane approaching. It sounded BIG, and I could tell without looking that it was four props. Turned and looked, and my first thought was "Fifi"!
They made two passes that night taking the brave aloft, and three more on Saturday.
You're right, Patterson!
DeleteNeighbor was copilot on one in the Pacific Theater. Flew the weather recon for MacArthur's arrival to Japan. Was also one of the first planes to land in Japan right after the war.
ReplyDeleteHe was about 6'4", the pilot was 6'6" - the only guy onboard under 6' was the radioman, who stayed on board to remain in contact, while the rest of the crew wandered around town for a bit.
Neighbor said the local got really round-eyed seeing them, almost like they were thinking 'no wonder we lost, we were fighting giants'.
Pretty good training film, but I don't buy letting the copilot play Flight Engineer for the flight. My experience with (Navy) Flight Engineers is "Tell that fuckin' J.O. to keep his paws off my motors."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGp3VAySJO4
The RAF operated a few
ReplyDeletePaul J
https://i.imgur.com/PlR0vJ0.jpg
ReplyDeletePhoto taken from the waist gunner's position of a B-29 showing a flight of escorting P-51 Mustangs. That's the gunsight taking up much of the frame.
In the final months of the war the fighters would launch from Iwo Jima and rendezvous with the bombers for attacks on the Japanese home islands.
Mustangs are equipped with aux fuel tanks indicating a long-range mission. My Dad is flying the lead Mustang.
Cool Don. Black and white pic so was he a red tail hard to tell in the pic. Glad they finally got the public credit they deserve. I know the bombers loved them. One of my 3 favorite planes.
DeleteNice picture, thank you for sharing and appreciate your dad's service.
DeleteKind of hard to tell from the picture, but seems like they are flying pretty close....what is that about 100 ft between the bomber and first fighter?
I was a crew member on a B-29 from 1951-53 until SAC retired the aircraft and reassigned or released the crews from active duty. During my 400 hours of flight time
ReplyDeletemy position was left gunner. Technically the B-29 didn't have gunners like the WWII B-17 and B-24, instead we were remote controlled turret system operators. Our machine guns were not hand held on the B-29 but contained within turrets outside the pressurized portion of the aircraft and essentially inaccessible in flight.
Before gunnery school every gunner had to successfully graduate from turret systems mechanic school. After gunnery school SAC formed us into combat crews and thus began my life as a tip of the spear airman.
Very impressive, sir. Thanks for the comment.
Delete