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| Type: High-Altitude Heavy Bombing Origin: Boeing Models: Model 345, B-29 to B-29C Crew: Ten to Fourteen First Flight: September 21, 1942 Squadron Delivery: July 1943 Combat Debut: June 5, 1944 Final Delivery: May 1946 Production: 3,000+ Powerplant: Model: Wright R-3350-23 Duplex Cyclone Type: 18-cylinder radials with 2 turbine driven turbochargers Number: Four Horsepower: 2,200 Dimensions: Wing Span: 141 ft. 3 in. (43.05m) Length: 99 ft. (30.2m) Height: 27 ft. 9 in. (8.46m) Wing Area: N/A |
Weights: Empty: 74,500 lb. (33,795 kg.) Loaded: 135,000 lb. (61,240 kg.) Performance: Max. Speed: 357 mph (575 km/h) Cruising Speed: 290 mph (467 km/h) Climb to 25,000 ft. (7620m): 43 minutes Service Ceiling: 36,000 ft. (10,973 m) Range (With 10,000 lb. bombload): 3,250 miles (5230 km) Armament: Four GE Twin 0.50 in. in turrets above and below. -Sighted from nose or three waist sighting stations. Bell tail turret with one 20mm cannon and two 0.50 machine guns. Bomb Load: Internal load of 20,000 lb. (9072 kg.) |
| Comments: One of the most involved designs developed during the war. The B-29 suffered a few teething problems, including a catastrophic loss of a prototype, before evolving into a devastating bombing platform. The B-29 entered combat on June 5, 1944 with the 58th Bomb Wing. By 1945 20 groups operated from the Marianas and were sending streams of 500 bombers to flatten Japan. Several of these aircraft made emergency landings in Soviet territories, the Soviets then reverse engineered them to produce the Tu-4 bomber and later developed the Tu-70 transport. Probably the most famous, or infamous depending on your viewpoint, use of the B-29 was in the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945. The B-29C had all the guns except the tail armament removed, increasing speed and altitude. Several variants were produced after the war, including the WB-29 which was used for weather research. The RAF flew the type as the Washington B.1 from 1950 to 1958. |
| Image 1 - B-29
loses engine on landing. Image 2 - Enola Gay running up its engines. Image 3 - B-29's in flight. Image 4 - More B-29s in flight. Image 5 - In case of water landing... Image 6 - Bockscar nose. Image 7 - Enola Gay nose. Image 8 - B-29 Sub Assemblies. Image 9 - Olive Drab early B-29s. Image 10 - Cockpit. |
Image 11 -
Warbird - CAF's "FiFi". Image 12 - Assembly line. Image 13 - "Dina Mite" being bombed up. Image 14 - "Pride Of The Yankees" with 2 engines destroyed. Image 15 - Ditched after running off runway. Image 16 - Formation dropping incendiaries. Image 17 - WB-29 weather aircraft. Image 18 - WB-29 weather aircraft. Image 19 - XB-29 prototype. Image 20 - Trio of B-29s doing a fly-by. |
Sources:
Gunston, Bill - The Encyclodepia of the Worlds Combat aircraft, 1976, Chartwell Books, Inc., New York
