Boeing B-29 Superfortress

BOEING B-29 SUPERFORTRESS

Oth er titl es in the Crowood Aviation Seri es A ich i D3A I/2 Val A irco - T h e A ircraft Man ufactu rin g Com pany Av ro Lan caster Av ro Sh ackle to n BAC O ne -Eleven Boe ing 737 Boei ng 747 Boe in g 757 and 767 Boe ing 13- 17 Flying Fortress Brist o l Brttan ni n C o nso lida ted 8 -24 Libe rato r Do uglas A -26 and 13-26 In vader Do uglas A D Skvraidcr Do uglas Twinj ers Eng lish Electr ic C an berra English Elec tr ic Ligh tn ing Fa irch ild Republi c A - I0 T h underbo lt [I Fair y Swordfish and A lba co re Fokkcr A ircra ft of W o rld War O ne H awk er Hu nt er

Heinkel H e II I Jun kers J u 88 Lo ck heed C- 130 He rcules Lo ckh eed F- I04 S tarfigh te r Luftw affe - A Picto rial Hi stor y Mc Do n nel l Do ugla s A -4 Skyhawk Mc Do nnel l Do uglas F- 15 Eag le M csserschmirt Bf 110 M esscrsch mit t Me 262

N icupo rt A ircraft of W o rld W ar O ne Nort h A me rica n 13-25 Mi tchel l No rt h A me rica n F-86 Sabre Nort h A me rica n F- IOO S upe r Sa bre Nort h A me rican T 6 Pan avi n To rn ado Pet! yakov Pe-2 Pcsh/((1 Short S und erland T he Turr e t Fighte rs V-Bo mb ers Vickers VC I 0 Vo ugh t F4 U C orsa ir

Pet er C. Sm ith Mi ck Davis Ken Del ve Ba rry Jones Malc o lm L. Hill Malc o lm L. H ill Mart in W. Bowm an T h o mas Bech er Mart in W. Bowman C h arle s W ood ley Martin W. Bowma n Sc o tt T hompson Peter C. S m ith T hom as Becher Barry Jo n es Mart in W. Bo wm an Pet er C. S m it h \X!. A . H arri so n Pau l Leam an Bar ry Jo n es Ro n Macka y Ron Macka y Marti n \X!. Bowman Martin \X!. Bowman Eric Mo m bcck Brad Elward Pet er E. Da vies am i Tony T ho rnboro ugh Ron Mackay David Bak er Ray Sange r Je rry Sc utts Du ncan C urt is Pet er E. Da vies Peter C. S m ith A ndy Eva ns Pe ter C. S m ith Ken De lve A lec Bre\\' Barry Jones Lan ce C o le Marti n W. Bow man

SUPERFORTRESS Steve Pace

I =>~cl The Crowood Press

First publish ed in 2003 hy

Dedication

The C rowood Press Ltd Ram shury, Marlbo rou gh Wi ltshi re 5

1

2H R

T h is book is ch iefly ded ica ted to th e th ou sands of peop le wh o we re a soc iared with th e Boein g B-29 S upc rforrress in World \Var Two a nd th e Kor ean \Var. It is also ded icat ed to th ose wh o fait hfu lly served with h er duri ng th e C o ld \Var, never kn owing wh en th ey migh t h ave to take h er in to ba ttle once agai n .

www.c rowood..com

© Ste ve Pace 2003 A ll righl s reser ved .

0

part o f this publicatio n ma y

he reprod uced or t ra n srnirred in a ny form or hy any mean s, e lec t ro n ic or mechani cal. inc lud ing l'h()t () ~

copy. record ing. or any information sto rage and rc rricval syste m , wi tho ut pe rmissio n in writing (rom

th e pu b lish er s. Bril ish Librar y Ca tulog u ing -in -P u biicnti o n Data A cata logue record for t h is book is ava ila!.'le from rhc

Acknowledgements

Brilish Library.

I BN I 86 126 58 1 6 Pho tograph o n pa ge 6: The EN OLA GAY as sh e ap pe a red t he da y befo re she dropped Lirrle Boy on Hirosh im a. Rich ard Ii. Ca mpbe ll C o llect ion

Typefaces used : Cloudy (rexr), C h el te n h a m

(heculin):s) , U n ivers C o nde nsed (ca/>liollS,," d hoxes). Type set a n d de sign ed by D & N Pub lishing Lowesdcn Busi ne ss Pa rk. H un ge rford . Berkshi re . Pri m ed and ho un d by Book c ra fr, M id so mc r

o r t on ,

Pet er M. Bowers; Scott Burris, heav ybombers.co m: Rich ard H. Campbell; Col Melv in G . Cas h , US A F (Retd ); Bob Cole; Bill Cope land; W illiam R. C or ker, A me rica n Insti tute of A eron aut ics an d Astron autics - Au gust 1999 cwslcrrcr of the N ew England Sec tion ; Spa rky Corrndina, B-29 Research Resources; Ronald Ellison; Frank 'Bud' Farrel l; John Forster; Joe Godfrey, AvWeb .com Profiles; Sha wn Ham ilton; C h ris Howlett, \Vash ingto n Tim es cwslett er and B-29 Research Resources; C h uck Irwin ; Ph ilip Jarrett; Mich ael J. Lom bardi , Boeing H istor ical A rchi ves; Earl Johnson; Dav id Karr and Wi lliam R. 'Billy' Karr : C h ester W. Marsh all; David Ma xwell, B-29 Research Resour ces; M/Sgt David W. Men ard , USA F (Re td ); Ma x Nel son; Tricia N iquett e, Boeing C ommercial A irplan es,

Wi chita Division ; S ta n Pier, founder/executi ve director , T he G len n L. Marrin Av iation Museum ; Dav id Price-G ood fellow, D& Publish ing; Dr Raymond L. Puffer. arch ivist/h isto rian, A ir Force Flight Test Cente r H istory Office, Edwards AFB ; A lexand er Rearick ; W illiam Royster; Mrs Don na Jean Sc h ifferli; Leon D. Smith; Maj Donald R. Spe lling , US A F (Rcrd ): H an sHciri S ta pfcr: Pat rick S tinso n ; 2nd Lt laude E. Surface, USA F (Retd ); Earl Swinha rr, The Av iat ion Histor y O n -line Museum, nvia rion -hi srory.com: \Vatren E. Thompson ; Sa llynn n \Vagun er, B-29.org; Will iam F. 'Bi ll' Welc h ; R.C. 'C olin ' \Villiams; and Dick Ziegler, conun un icat ions, Boeing A irplane C ompany, W ichi ta Division.

Contents Foreword

7

Introduction

9 THE BOEING AIRPLANE CO MPANY

10

2

SUPERBOMBER

19

3

PRODUCT ION

39

4

STRUCTURES AND SYSTEMS

51

5

WORLD WAR TW O

75

6

SILVERPLATE

97

7

DE-ENG INEER ING THE SUPERFORTRESS: TH E TUPOLEV TU-4 'BULL' AND DERIVAT IVES

109

8

STRATEGIC AIR CO MMAND

12 1

9

WASHINGTON

129

10

KOREAN WAR

139

11

B-29 DER IVAT IVES, VA RIANTS AND SPIN-OFFS

149

12

SURVIVORS

173

13

SUMMARIES

179

B-29 Product ion

187

Individual Aircraft Names

193

Appendix

I

Appendix II Bibliography

205

Index

206

Foreword II was Monda y morning, :30am, 5 Fcb ruIry 1940 . It was rain in g a nd foggy (as u ua l), Boeing A irpla ne Compa n y Presik-ru Ph il Joh nson grabbed a c up of ho i .. Ifce and sat down at hi s desk to go dHl lllgh th e morning ma il. H e n orm a lly .m ncd a ll the en velopes before he read III\' lett e r, but th is one caugh t hi s eye : '\Va r I k part lllen t, US A rmy A ir C or ps, W right 11l'1L1, O h io'. Inside h e found a th ick documc ru with a co ve r page, whi ch began 'US rmv, A irplane , Bomba rd ment , S pcc ifi.u ron For' . It was da te d 29 Jan uary 1940. T h us began th e long, so met imes tragic, I"urney rh ar would cu lm ina te in th e Boe11\1-: B-29 S upc rfortrcss, unquesti onably th e 1111 1st formidable bombing aircraft of W'l rld War Two. It was ori gin ally design at ed Boe ing lodc l 1'-34 1 but , after ra king a few sug!:l'stions from th e British (who were the n u' ll1g a sma ll n umbe r of B-17 C s as Fort ress I for the Royal A ir For ce), Boe ing began ,Illd ing self-scalin g fuel tanks, more armour .nul state-of-th e-art defe nsivc armame nt, .uuongsr oth e r refin em ent s; wh en they were th rou gh , the y sen t th e new spcc ificalio n ro the A rmy Ai r C or ps and rcd esign.u cd it Boein g Model 1'-345 . T he spec ifications we re appro ved in Ju ne and by th e end of 1940 , Boeing had comp lete d a mock-up. Afte r an inspect ion an d approval by th e US A A C , two proto type XB-29-BO a ircraft a nd a stat ic test airframe were o rde red , a nd th e Boei ng-Scard e plan t sh ifted into h igh gea r. W ith in five mont hs, and before a sing le piece of th e XB-29 h ad been manufactured, the A rmy orde red 250 more 1'-29 aircraft. Before th e first 1'-29 ever flew, 1,650 were on orde r by th e USA A F (aro und this l ime the nam e was changed from 'US Arm y Air C orps' to 'US Army Air Forces') . Fourt een of the first bat ch we re designa ted YB-29BW. (The last two lett ers in th e design ati on were for th e compan y name and locati on of the manufa cturing plant. '-BW ' sign ified 'Boeing-W ich ita.' '-1'0 ' was used for 'Boeing-Seattle in order t o avo id '-BS'.) T h e YB-29s wou ld be th e 'Service Test' aircraft.

T h e first prob lem was finding a win g to lift th e gian t . A search for an 'off-t he-shelf' wing yielded nothi n g suitable. Any given win g would have enough lift, on ly to have too mu ch drag at cruising speed . A noth er wou ld have low drag bUI wick ed sta ll charac te rist ics. Yet anothe r wou ld have low dr ag, goo d sta ll ch arac rcrist ics and not enough lift 10 gel the I05,0001b (48 ,000kg) mon ster off an y runw ay of reason ab le len gth . Boeing's so hu ion was simple: it designed its own win g, design at ed the Boeing ' l IT win g, \Vh en the win g design was fin ished , it was 141 ft 3 in (4 3.05m ) and had an area of 1,736sq ft (I 6 1.3sq m ). It h ad a set of flaps, whi ch wou ld increase th e wing area by 3 50sq ft (32 .5sq m ), for better co ntrol at slowe r speeds. With the flaps retracted , th e win g had very lo w dra g, whi ch permitted high er speeds. Boein g h ad to devi se a way to man ufacture two win g spars, whi ch were th e longest and h eavi est Duralumin ext rusions eve r made . During destruct ion test ing of the Boein g I 17 wing, it took 300 ,000 1b ( 136 ,OOOkg) of pressure to co llapse th e wing. Early on , Boeing wrestled with the problem of crew comfor t in th e S uperfort ress. ln smaller bomb ers the pro blem was less severe because of the ir limited range. Wi th rhe endura nce of th e S uperfort rcss. rhe crew could be airborne for up to 18 hours at altitudes of 32, 000 ft ( 10 ,000m) wh ere th e temp era ture co uld dro p to SO°F below zero. T hi s inc an t I he 1'-29 crew areas would have to be pressurized . But, if the plan e were pressuri zed, how could you open 40ft ( 12m ) of the fuselage to outside a ir pressure at 32,000ft in ord er to d rop th e bombs ?The so lutio n: pressuri ze th e are as fore and aft of th e doub le bomb-bay and con nec t I he two sec tions wit h a large tube pla ced over the to p of th e bo mb-bays so airmen could get from one sect ion of th e sh ip to th e othe r. T hen th ere wer e prob lem s with th e hu ge, 16.5ft (5m) H amil to n S ta nda rd pro pellers, wh ich caused 'runaway' eng ines and problems with th e four rem ot ely contro lled gu n 'barbcrrcs'. There were problems with the fire-con tro l 'bliste rs' wh ere

7

gun ne rs were statione d to a im th e bar bcrrcs: rhe blisters some t imes blew out whe n th e craft was pressur ized and flyin g at hi gh a ltit ude . (G un ners were adv ised 10 wear a safety line in ord er to avo id be ing blown overboard if a blister poppccl.) T he re we re problems with booster c. »it ro ls for the rudd er, and proble ms wi th the radar. Fina lly on Mond ay 2 1 Septe mbe r 194 2, in fro n t of almost all th e Boein g e mployees who had co n tr ibuted ove r 1,300, 000 man hours to th e Model 34S pro ject , XB-29 Numbe r O ne was rolled out on th e run way at Boei ng Field, Sea ttle . Engines were war med , take-off power was app lied and Eddi e A llen , Boeing's C h ief Test Pilot , lifted I h e first S uperfortress off th e runway as smoo th ly as if he'd been do ing it for yea rs. The 52.S-ton (4 7.6-ton ne) craft rose stea d ily to 6 ,OOOft ( I , OOm) , whe re A llen made th e preliminar y tests of th e co n tro ls for pitc h, yaw a nd roll. Afte r a IY1 hour fligh t , he brough t th e hu ge a ircraft back to a smoot h land in g. The second pro totype fle w th ree mo nt hs later. As a measure of the prob lem s yet 10 be so lved , in th e ninet y-seven days fo llow ing th at first flighl, A llen was a ble to acc umulat e on ly twent y-seven h ours' flight t ime in N um be r O ne . However. as a measure of th e fundamenta l int egrity of th e aircra ft itself, n ot a single basic alrcra t io n 10 rhc a irframe was req uired th rou gh out its pro d uct ion hi stor y. T he most relen tless pro blem was th e 2,200 bhp Wri ght C yclo ne R-3350 twin row rad ial engine . It had a persisten t inclinati on to overheat, swallow valves and even catch fire in fligh t. In an effort to produ ce mor e horsepower from a light er engine , th e cran kcase was made of magn esium, a very ligh t and very stro ng metal. The probl em was that magn esium is also a flamma ble meta l. \Vh en th at was combined with the add it ional problem of a fuel indu ction syste m th at tended to ca tch fire and burn long enough to set the magnesium on fire. it becam e a ve ry serious situat ion. 'Band -A id' treat ment s such as air baffles to direct more air to the rear row of cylinders

FORE W O R D

and propelle r c uffs to force more air thro ugh the eng in e helped , but it would be man y moon s before the prob lem was solved . Boeing lost its C h ief Test Pilot along with th e cream of th e B-29 fligh t test crew bec a use of a fire wh ich destro yed a win g spar. Sh orrly after noon on T h ursda y, 18 February 1943 , Edd ie A lle n was flight testing XB-29 Nu mbe r Two wh en an engine fire develop ed . T he po rt wing spar burned th rou gh a nd co llapsed , se nd ing th e hu ge bomber crash ing in to a meat packing pla nt a few mil es south of Boeing Field . A ll eleve n me n aboard th e p lane a nd e igh tee n (som e sources say twe nt y) in th e plan t were killed insta n tl y. Eventually, Se nat or H arry S . Truman (who wou ld lat er become President Truman ) headed a committ ee looking in to th e pro blem s of th e W right C yclon e eng ine . T he com mitt ee found W righ t Aerona utica l at fault for lett ing qualit y go by th e board in favo ur of quant ity. Equa lly at fault, acc ordi ng to th e comm itte e report , was th e U SAA F for putt ing too much pressure on W righ t to speed up prod ucti on of th e C yclon e . T hough th e prob lems were not completely so lved , by the end of 1943 they were und er co n trol to th e extent th at BoeingRenton , Bell-A tlanta and Mart in -Omah a began tu rni ng out th e first of nearl y 2,000 B-29 S upcrforrrcsscs con tained in the ini tial orde rs for deli very to th e USAA F. It was ar med with th e G enera l Electric auto -co mputing fire-cont rol syste m co mposed of eigh t re mot ely cont rolled .50-calibrc machine-guns insta lled in four barbctr cs located on the top and bottom of th e fuselage, fore and aft. Lat er mod els added two more mach ine-gun s to the to p for ward barbctre to assist in defendi ng aga inst frontal atta cks. C on trol of the four bar bcrres could be tran sfe rred to a sing le gun ner or sha red between front, righ t, left and top gun ne rs. The tai l-gun ner co n trolled two mor e fifties plus a 20m m can no n . It was estimated the tail -gun ner acco unted for 75 per cent of all ene my aircraft destro yed by the S uperfortrcss. O ne reason for th is was th e 20mm can non. A not her was th e slow closing rat e of an ene my approa ch ing from th e rear, which allowed more time for th e tail-gunner to sigh t on th e at tacker, In itiall y th e B-29 h ad a maximum permi ssible weight of a ro und 105,0001 b (48,000k g). Dur ing th e latt er ph ases of th e war with Japan , gross tak e-off weight s of we ll ove r 140 ,000l b (6 4 ,000kg) were fairly co mmo n for the Supc rfortrcss.

A whoppin g 40 pe r cent of th e fuselage was ded icated to carry in g bo mb s. T he double bo mb-bay co uld ca rry 20 ,000 1b (9 ,000kg) to a target 2,050 miles O,JOOkm) away and return to base. It rook 6,988 US gallons (5,8 19 Imp. gallonsj2 6,4761rr ) of IOO-octane aircraft fuel to fill the tan ks. T h e maxim um capac ity was 9,548 US ga llo ns (7,950 Imp. gallon s) with ferr y ranks in the bo mb -ba ys, in wh ich case th e ran ge was ex te nded to 6,000 miles (9 ,700km) . T he S upcrforrrcss was furn ished in thr ee basic co nfigurat ions - B-29 , B-29A and B29 B. T h en the re was th e F- 13 phot o versio n , wh ich was used to obta in targe t photos of Japan, and in fact the enti re west ern Pacific and easte rn A sia area . T hough th eir ' inna rds' were sometimes very d iffe ren t they were a ll nea rly ident ical in outward appearanc e. As each S upe rforrrcss ro lled down th e assembly lin e, it was given th e latest USAAF mod ificat ions, wh ich resu lted in 3 ,970 B-29s, eac h of whi ch was just a bit d ifferent from the next. T he S upc rlort rcss ac quitt ed itsel f we ll in th e Pacific war in sp ite of mech ani cal and electro n ic pro blems. A t first, it wasn 't unu sual for a mission to lose mor e a ircraft to mech ani cal pro blems tha n to th e ene my. But , as th e cre w ch iefs became mor e ade pt at field mod ificati on , th e n um bers slowly began to improve . T h e major fact or in creating an effic ien t bom b ing machin e out of the S upcrforrress was an A ir Forces major ge neral named C urt is E. LeM ay. N ickna med ' Iron A ss', LeMay was put in co mma nd of th e B-29s based on th e Mar ian as Gro up in th e western Pacific and was responsible for solv ing se ve ral of the S upc rforrrcss's o pera tion al pro ble ms in one stroke : he ord ered th e B29 crews to rem ove th e guns, gun ne rs an d all th e ammun ition. (Som e of th e ta il guns we re replaced with broom sticks so the ene my fighter pi lots, hop efully, wou ldn 't become aware of the missin g guns. ) A nd he o rde red th at mission s be flown at 8 ,000- 12,000ft (2,400- 3 ,700m ). Bomb ing ac cura cy h ad been miser able becau se of th e hi gh winds at th e 28,00034 ,000 ft (8,600- 1O,OOOm) level wh er e previou s missions h ad bee n flown . Abor ts wer e co mmo n because of eng ine s ov erh eat in g wh ile climb ing to a ltitude . Wi th the n ew procedures, fuel co uld be saved , witho ut th e weight of gun s, amm un ition and gun ne rs, more bombs co uld be carr ied , eng ine s would run cooler a nd bombing wou ld be done from bel ow th e fierce winds raging over Japan .

8

LeMay faced a near-m uti ny from his crews, who we re ce rtain Japanese flak bat teries would rip th em to pieces at such a low altitude . A nd he knew his career was on th e line if it turned in to a massacre. But he stuck to hi s decision an d it was a good one. C asualties went down , the n um ber of targets destroyed rose dr am at ically and th e num ber of aborts due to ove rh eated eng ines dropped . T h e air war against th e Japanese home islan ds ente red a new and apocalyptic phase wh ere city aft er c ity was nearl y oblite rate d by firebombs: the city of Toyama was 99 .5 per ce n t destroyed in one raid by 173 B-29s on th e nigh t of I Au gust 1945. A t 2:45am, Mond ay 6 A ugust 1945 , an ord ina ry-loo king B-29 -45 -MO, serial num be r 44-8629 2, sat at th e end of th e runway at ort h Field, T in ia n , a n obscure little isla nd in th e Mar ian as. T h e engin es were run up one at a time, a spotl igh t illumi n ating eac h to ch eck for undu e smo ke or ot he r d isord ers. T h e on ly thi ng pecu liar about the sh ip at all was the nam e; no rauco us female n ude in a suggestive pose pain ted on th e nose , just the rath e r unr emarka ble print ing 'ENOLA GAY'. In co mmand was Col Pau l W. Ti bbets Jr, commander of the 509 th C o mposite G roup; h is co -p ilot was C apt Robert Lewis. T h e Group h ad been at Ti n ian since June and c uriosity amongst the or he r G ro ups was mounting. Th e 509th d id n 't see m to h ave a pa rt icular mission , just a few 'tra in ing' flights to Truk a nd othe r low prior ity ta rgets in Japan itself. T h ey kept th eir d ista nce fro m th e oth er G ro ups, didn 't min gle at all. In an othe r few h ours, th e wh ole worl d wou ld kno w of th e m ission of th e 509t h C omposite Group a nd thi s parti cu lar airc raft, th e EN OLA G AY. Lift ing 75 ton s (68 tonncs) off th e runway, she was on h er way to Ja pan . A t 8: 15: 17am th e EN O LA G AY was over Hi roshima, Japan at 3 I ,600ft (9 ,630m) wh en th e world 's first ato mic bo mb to be dro pped fro m an a ircra ft was toggled. Two m in ut es lat e r it exploded over th e ci ty at an alt itude of ab out 2,000ft (600m ). The bomb wiped out a circle 4.5 miles (7.25km ) in di am et er in th e midd le of H irosh ima . O n 9 A ugust, ano the r ato m bomb was dropped on N agasaki. S ix days lat er, th e Japa nese uncond ition all y surrende red . Thus th e e nd of Wo rld War Two was bro ugh t abo ut in no sma ll measure by th e Boeing B-29 S upc rfortress. Earl Swi n har t, Th e Aviation HistOl')' O n-line M useum

Introduction I Ill' Boe in g B-29 S upe rforrrcss will forc vIll' re me m bered as th e bo mb e r th at Illlpcd br in g a bo ut th e earl ie r-t ha n pl'l' ted close to \X!o rld \Var Two . For o n IIld 0 A ugust 194 5, resp ec ti vel y, B-29s () LA G AY a n d BO C KSCA R lai d , I tl' to th e j apan ese c it ies o f Hi rosh ima Ill.! N agasak i. T h ese co n rro vc rsia I ac t io ns I rom p rcd j apan to sur re n de r o nce a n d for .11, t h us sav in g t h e lives of co u n tl ess lhccl serv iceme n wh o surel y wou ld h ave I -c n sac rificed in th e invasio n of Ja pan 's h,.ml' islan ds, pla nned to begin in o vcm I " 104 5. Ye t th e re is far mor e t han just lhl"e two mi ssions to t h e h istor y o f th e upc rfo rrrcss, whi ch u ltimat e ly se rved in lwo 'h o t ' wa rs and part of th e C o ld \Var I -lorc it was a llo wed to ret ire . Ih c B-29 Supc rfort ress was de signe d , h-vcloped an d produced as a pisto n ngi ned h eavy bo m ber for serv ice in th e l JS A rmy A ir C orps (U SAAC) . It subscIUl' n tl y served wit h U S Arm y Air For ces (LJSA A F) an d U S Ai r Force ( SA F) - th e I JS A A C becam e t h e USA A F on 20 Jun e Il)4 1 a nd th e U SA A F became th e SA F on 18 Se pte m be r 194 7. It a lso se rved wit h Hoyal A ir Fo rce Bom be r C o m ma n d an d till' Ro ya l A ust ra lian Ai r For ce ( RA AF ). T he B-29 was un offic ia lly ca lled 'A I" imhcr', 'S uper Bo mbe r' an d 'S upcrf »r ', hut its official nam e was Supc rforrrcss. But what ever th e Supe rfo rrrcss was ca lled , it was the wor ld 's first tr ue h eavy-cl ass bomb er a ircra ft, designed specifically for st rategic co n ven t iona l and nuclea r bom ba rdment. Boe ing sta rted full-sca le B-29 p ro d uct ion a t its Wi ch ita , Kansas a n d Ren to n , W ash in gto n fact o ries in mi d - an d lat e 1943 , respe c ti vel y, In add it io n , d ue to th e n um bers req uir ed fo r th e war, B-29s wer e soo n be ing built by th e Be ll A irc raft C or po rat io n at A tlanta, Geo rgia a n d h y th e G len n L. M a rtin Compa ny a t O ma ha , N ebraska , For th e most parr th ese B-29s were pro d uced in arou n d -th e -cl ock te n -

h our sh ifts, six an d e ve n seven d ays a week , day an d ni ght. 2,776 B-29s an d B29As we re b ui lt by Boe in g, 668 B-29s a n d B-29B s by Be ll , an d 53 1 B-29s b y Mart in th ese last in cl ud in g t h e six ty-five spec ia lly modi fied Silve rplare B-29 s, t h e world 's first ato m ic bo m be rs. T he last B-29 to be bu ilt ro lled off th e Boe in g-R e nto n p rod uc t io n lin e o n 28 M ay 1946 . Befor e Vj -Dny th er e we re 9 ,052 B-29s on orde r but soo n afterwards 5,0 8 2 wer e cance lled . T hu s, incl udin g th ree ex pe rime nta l pro to type XB-29s, fou rt een se rv ice-tes t YB-29s and te n pat tern B-29s, a gra n d to ta l of 3 ,9 70 B29 ' were bui lt. (Ten , possib ly e leve n , pat tern ai rp lan es an d 3 ,9 43 o r 3 ,94 2 fu ll-sca le pro d uct io n a irc raft wer e buil t - Bo ei n g reco rds sho w that four pa tt e rn B-29s went to Be ll a nd six patte rn B-29s went to M ar t in; h ow e ver, th e U A AF says five patt ern B-29s went to each. ) S ince th e B-29 was p ut into p rod uct io n an d se rv ice in a co ns id e ra ble rush - it went fro m first fligh t to first co m ba t in a me re twent y-o n e month s - it was frau gh t with d eve lopm ent p ro blem s. Irs de vel o p ment woes h ad ce n tred mostl y o n it s n ew an d unpro ven e n gine s, wh ich at first h ad a ten de n cy to leak cran kc ase o il, o ve rhe at an d ca tc h fire. N ume ro us early non -combat an d co m bat c rash es we re att ribu ted to th is spec ific p ro blem . The B-29 S upc rfo rt ress in cl uded m an y design innov a t io ns n ever be fore applied to a produ c tio n h ea vy bo m her. A m ong th ese wer e a t ricycl e un der ca rr iage, a utopilot , du a l ( in tandem ) bo mb -bays, pr essu rized c rew sta t io ns an d a re mot e ly cont ro lled can n o n an d mach in e -gun a rma me n t. It can eas ily he sa id th a t it was th e most adv a n ce d hom be l' o f \'(Ior ld W ar Two. The B-29 an d a num ber o f its deri va tives were e xtens ivel y used in co m bat , erving in both \'(Ior ld \Var Two a n d th e Kor ean W ar. It performed a var iety of bo m bin g d ut ies, ra n gin g from th e rel ease

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o f sm a ll in cen d iar y bo mb s to th e oblite rati on o f two c it ies with two a to m ic bombs. \'(Iit h its max imu m speed o f 3 50 m ph (560km/h ), it co uld ca rry a m aximu m bo m b lo ad of up to 20,OOO Ib (9 ,000k g) for a d istance of 1,600 mil es ( 2,600 k m) . T h e m an y ve rsio ns of th e B-29 inc lud ied th e F- 13 ph o togra ph ic reconna issan ce an d mapp in g a irc raft , wh ich became th e R B-29 ; th e KB-29 ae ria l-refue ll ing tank er ; t h e S B-29 sea resc ue a ircra ft; th e TB-29 bombe r t ra in in g an d tran sit ion m od el; th e \/ B-29 V IP t ran sport; an d th e WB-29 went h e r reco n n a issan ce a ircraft. During t h e co urse o f the B-29's ca ree r th ere we re numerou s improvements mad e to t h e a irfra me a n d eng ine s. These ulti mat e ly led to t h e creat ion o f th e prop osed B-29D mo del , lat er redesign at ed B-50A , of wh ich Boeing went o n to build 3 7 1. Eve n th e B-50 h ad spin-off including th e gargan t ua n 13-54, whi ch d ue to th e ad ve n t o f th e je t age was n or proceed ed wit h . O n 4 o vc rn bc r 19 54 th e last co m bat ca pa ble S upc rfo rt rcss, a S tra teg ic A ir C o m m an d B-29A o f th e 30 7th Bo mb \'(Iin g, ba sed at Kad en » A ir Base o n O k in awa , re ti red to t h e a irc raft sto rage an d rec lam a t ion fac ility at Dav is-M o nr h an Ai r For ce Base in A rizona . A limit ed number of o t h er n o n -com bat-c ap ab le B-29s re mai ned in se rv ice , h o we ver ; th e last of th ese , a weat h e r recon n a issan ce \'(IB-29 , re tir ed in 1960 . Th e Boe in g B-29 Supe rfort ress led an atte n ti o n -grab bin g life d esp ite t h e n umb er of de velo pme nta l co m plic at io ns fro m wh ich it h ad suffered . Bur o n e m ust remem be r h o w d ifficu lt t im es wer e d urin g its ges ta t io n peri od and ju st h ow adv anced thi s part icu lar ai rcr aft ac t ua lly was. In a le tt er to th is write r in 2002 , fo rmer B-29 a ircraft co m man der M ajo r Dona ld R. S pe llin g sa id ' If th e war h ad d ragged on into the lat e 1940s th ere 's n o o th er bomber I'd ha ve wan ted to be assoc iat ed wit h .'

CHAP TE R ONE

The Boeing Airplane Company T he Boe ing A irplane Com pan y is a wor ld leader in th e de -ign , development and pro d uct ion of large and heavy mull i-engin e aircraft for c ivilian and m ilitary usc. Wi lh its headquarters now based in C h icago , Illin ois ( Boeing moved to C h icago from Se att le, Washington in Septem ber 200 1), Boein g rem ain s o ne o f th e wor ld's largest aerospace firms, rivalled on ly by th e Lockh eed Mart in Corporat ion . But il certa in ly did no t sta rt out th at way: in 191 6, when wh at was to becom e the Boe ing A irplane om pan y was founded , th e re were no world leaders in the sale and produc tio n of aircra ft. \X!ill iam E. 'B ill' Boe ing was born on I O cto ber 18 I to a Germa n immi grant wh o became a weal: h y lum ber baro n in th e orrh \X!estern region of the U n ited States. A s a 22-year-o ld he opted to leave th e She ffie ld Sc ient ific Sc hoo l at Ya le U n iversity to pursue hi s place in th e rapid ly growing tim ber ind ust ry, in whi ch he soon prospered. T hat was in 1903, the very same yea r I hat the \X!right Brolhers made the ir hi stori c flight s in th e world 's firsr co n trolled and powered aircraft. T hose even ts at Kitty Hawk, No rth C arolina mesmerized Bill Boeing and he soo n became eng rossed with

William E. 'Bill' Boeing, founder of the Boeing Airplane Company. Boeing M edia BelOW: The first of the two Modell Boeing and Westervelt (B&W) seaplanes on Lake Union in Seattle , just after its first flight on 29 June 1916.

Peter M . Bow ers

avi an on . He immediatel y wan ted to fly himself, beco me a pilot and eve n tua lly build hi s own aircraft. His first Iliglu , with a barn stor me r nam ed Terah Ma roney ove r ca tt le on 4 Ju ly 1914 , had him hoo ked for life; he th en set abo ut d esigni ng and buildin g a bet ter a ircraft th an he ha d flown in. In Decemb er 191 5 Boei ng had an a ircra ft h anger bu ilt on th e we t ho re o f Lak e U n ion in ca rrlc, W ash ingto n . This soo n becam e known as Bill Boeing's Lake nion Hanger, and here he fou nd ed t he Pa ific A ero Prod uc ts Com pa ny o n 15 July 19 16. T he co m pa ny was fou nded wit h Boeing's friend and business partner Lt o nr ad W ester vel t, a n ava l officer a nd aerona uti ca l enginee r assigned to a ca ttle sh ipya rd . Whi le th e h an ger was till under o ust ruct io n, Lt \'\Ieste rve lt started I he de -ign of the Model 1 or B& W (Boe ing and Wester vel t ), whi ch q uick ly e vo lved into a twoplace uti lity sea pla ne po we red by a 125h p Hall -Sco tt A -5 eng ine d riving a two -blad e pro pel le r. Two B& \'\1 a irplane s were bui lt, the first exa m ple making its first flight on 29 Ju ne 19 16. A ca reer naval office r, Lt Wester vel l was reassigned to the cas t coast o f the U A in

I

I

I

/1 10

Tl t E BOEI NG A I RPLANE

rI )917 . A t th is time , with n o producti on I. ,

t~ ir

the B& W forthcom ing and liN' of slow busin ess with the U SA mil l! III gen era l, W estervelt sign ed o ff o n th e IlIl Aero Prod ucts Compa n y. A fter hi s I uturc , h owever, the USA av v subcon " , Il'cI with the co mpa n y to build fifty C ur.. IIS ·2 L flying boat , for use in W orl d W ar lt l l ' . So, with a n ew manu facturing fac ility III I he Hca rh S h ipyard on th e Duwam ish I rver in so uth Seattl e , Bill Boeing csra bII IwcI the Boe ing A irp lane Com pa n y o n 26 I nl 19 17. A bo ut h alf of th e orde r for H S I was term ina ted after th e war and Boe ing t1WIl strugg led to get n ew bu sin ess. I he fledglin g Boeing A irp lane C o m pan y " Il l in ned 10 o bta in m inima l o rde rs for th e ,',)' lim ited prod uct ion of its own design s nc plane h ere , o ne p lan e th er e, and a few m.mufacruring subco n trac ts for ot he r a irI.llt and re lated asse mblies. In the mean III Ill', I I I kee p its wor k force o f sk illed car I -n rcrs intac t , Boei ng even bu ilt furn itur e. II \\'as no t un ti l th e ad ve nt in 19 22 o f th e I. "Id B- I 5 fight e r, wh ich ente red service IIh rhc U SA A rmy as th e PW-9 and U S A ,IV)' as rhc FB- I , that Boeing first built its o wn design s in rel ati vely large qu an rir ics. Boei ng co nt in ued to develop an d pro lucc figh ters fo r th e A A rm y a nd avy Illfll ugh o ut th e I9 20s a nd into th e 1930s, ulm ina t in g with its F7B and 1'-26 . (The n nv re ferred 10 its fight e rs as 'p ursui t '

CO ~ t PANY

a irc raft , h en ce th e ' P sulfix.) O the r pursuit / fighter types wer e d esign ed an d offe red to t he A rm y and N avy, but wer e n ot pro ceed ed wit h .

O n th e c iv ilian side of Boe in g's busin ess a number of n ot ab le a irc raft eme rged in th e late 19 20s and througho ut th e 193 0s. T h e first successful civ il type was th e sing le -

ABOVE: Bill Boeing (holding the mail bag) and his then-favourite test pilot, the famed Eddie Hubbard, pose in front of a Model C-l F seaplane. Wayne All en Collection

BElOW: Boeing's first factory building, the Red Barn, which is now an integral part of the Museum of Flight, Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington . Ben Wilson Co ll ection

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e ngine Model 200 Monomail monoplane. T he Monomail was a combined mail and ca rgo tran sport with noc u ft (6.2cu m ) of mail/cargo space . T he first M onorn ail madc its first fligh t on 6 May 1930. Wi th its monoplan e co n figuration the Model 200 was a major milestone for Boeing: it was one of the first truly succcssful mon opiancs. Its 575 hp Pratt & W h itn cy Horn et engine gave it a to p speed of 160mph ( 260km/h) and an impressive, for th e rime, cli mb rare of 50ft/min ( 260m/min) . Boeing's seco nd successful c ivil tvpc was th e Model 0 series of t ri-rnotor passen ger a irliners, the first of whi ch flew for the first time in A ugust 192 . T hc or igin al Model 80 carried twelve passen gers a nd I hr cc crew, along wit h I,000 lb (4 50kg) of cargo , o ver a di stan ce of some 540 m i l e~ (870k l{1). Thc Model 80 was powered by I hr cc 41Oh p Pratt & \Vhitney Wasp eng ines, and had a to p speed of 130m ph ( 21Okm/h ). Desp ite th e variety of airc raft Boei ng had been build ing and selling sinc e 19 16, it h ad no t vet produ ced a succ essful bomber, Th is cha nged with th e adv en t o f th e ope n- co ckpit Model B-2 14 a nd B-2 15 de ign s, wh ich applied th e struc tural and ae rodyna mic features of th e Model 200 Monomai l. \Vith no requi re men ts forth co ming fro m th e A Army for a ne w bombe r, Boei ng de veloped th e B-2 14 a nd B-2 15 usin g its ow n mone y. T he two types were for th e most pa n ident ica l, hu t were powered by d ifferent engines. T he Mod el 215, with two 575h p Prall & Whitney 1\-1860- 13 Hornet aircoo led rad ial engines, was completed first and made its first n igh t on 13 A pril 193 1. T he B-2 15's perfor man ce was quite amazing for I he I ime: I hc A rmy Iikcd wh at it saw and ordered bot h types on 14 A ugust 193 I, before B-2 14 h ad eve n bee n fini shed . A t this t ime th e B-2 15 was design ated YB-9 , tho ugh for a shor t ti me B-2 15 was kn own as XB-90 I (X - Experi mental, B - Bomber, 90 1 - 90 lst rest aircra ft) . Th e Mod el 2 14, whi ch h ad been design at ed Y I B-9 , was co mpleted in late O cto ber 193 1 with two liquid -coo led 600hp C urt iss \1- 1570 C onqu eror in linc eng ines and was first flown on 5 ovember 1931. In man y wavs the Boe ing B-9 monoplan e bombers were rcvol urion arv for th eir day. The y were touted as h igh -spced bom bers, and in fact, with thei r 175mph ( 280km/h) 'peed , th ey were faste r th an a ny ope rational US A A rmy or avv pursuit/figh ter rvpc in service at th e rime. The B-2 14/ 2 15 designs led to th e improved Mod el B-246, wh ich was give n

The sale Model B-40 mailplane first flew on 7 July 1925. Although it was not ordered into production it served as the foundation for the advanced Model B-40A. Mark Linn Collection

The mail- and passenger-carrying Boeing Model B-40A was a limited success Inr Boeing, However it led to the manufacture Df several fDIIDw-Dn types, including the famed model B-200 MDnDmai l. The first ot twenty-five MDdel 40As was first Ilown en 20 May 1927. Wayne Allen

th e service dcsignat io n YI B-9A and whi ch was, in fact, ordered at rh e same time t h ar th e 2 14/2 15 a ircraft were bought. The ma in cha nges from th e B-2 14/ 2 15 design were an enclosed cockpit, a revised vcrrical rail and uprat cd en gines. O dd ly, th ough th e enclosed coc kpit con figuration was called for, it was neve r in fact applied. T he YI B-9A was powered by two 630 hp Prat t & Whitney 1\- 1860-11 rad ial eng ine s and its to p speed was I86 mph (300km/h ). Five service test aircraft were ordered and bu iIt, and even th o ugh th ey wer e top of th e line wh en th e first one flew on 14 Jul y 193 2, the y wer e qu ickly surpassed by rhc Martin B- IO and B- 12 series, whi ch could carry a greater load , had a longer ran ge and had an

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even h igher speed , at mor e th an 200 mph (3 20km/h) . Th us th e sho rt per iod of the Bocin g B-9' success was o v er, Ne xt came a n outstand ing civilian transport th at borrowed the techno logies Boci ng h ad developed for th e Monorn a il and B-9. Th is was th e trend-sett ing Model B-247 , whi ch h as been descr ibed as th e worl d 's first 'modern ' airlin er. The first B247 mad e it first ni ght on Febru a ry 1933 . The B-24 7 boasted spee ds some 50- 70m ph ( 0- 1IOkm/h ) faster th an th e th en sta re-o f-th e-art Boeing, Ford rind Fokk er tr i-rn o ro rs. It could carry ten passenge rs at 180mph ( 290km/h), at alt itudes of up to 20 ,000ft (6 ,000m ), and had a rangc of so me 500 miles (800k m) . They

T HE 1l0 EI :"G AlR Pl.A NE CO \ IPANY

: There was a time when tri-motor passengerIrying airliners were all the rage. The Boeing d I B-80 series competed with s uch notable otors as the Fokker EVil and Ford5-AT. "'0 Media liT. The

Boeing Model B-214/-215 Y1B-9 and YB-9 r among the world's ear liest monoplane mbors. The Y1 B-9 is shown with a Model P-26 'Peashooter' monoplane pursuit plane. vne Allen l OW: When

it first appeared the Boeing Model 2 7 was quite revolutionary with its all-metal w·wing monoplane design. It was we ll rece ived ntil the advent of Douglas' DC-1/-2/-3 series. oomg Media

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TI l E IIO EI G AIRI'LA:"E

were all powered by e ithe r Pratt & Whit ney \Vasp or Twin \Vasp Jun ior e ng ine s th at pro duce d 525 h p. Boeing went on to build seve nt y Model 24 7s for U n ited A ir Lin es (which Boein g itself founded) and Germany's Luft h an sa. It is most likely th at Boe ing would h ave built man y more 247s, but fo'r one serious marketing mistake. That is, Tran scon tinen ta l and Western A irlines (lat er Trans World A irlines ) and othe rs want ed to buy 247s, but Boeing refused to deliver any of the new aircraft to othe r ca rriers before its own airline, U n ited Ai r Line , go t its quota . Therein lies the problem, for T \VA pur out a requ est for pro posals to othe r manufact urers to co me up with a transpo rt equal ro or bcrrer th an Boeing's 247. The Douglas A ircraft ompa ny rose to th e occasion with its Model s DC - I, DC -2 and DC 3. Boeing's fai lure to sh are its trend-setti ng 24 7 with ot h er airlines spelled an ignomi n ious doom for what had really been a milesto ne in th e c ivilian tran sport at ion field . Boeing's last and best serious pursuit of sel ling a figh te r to the USA A rmy for some sixty yea rs to come came in th e for m of its Model B-248. T h e 248, designed at Boeing's own expense to a U SA A rmy spec ifica tion , becam e th e Mod el 266 P-26A /B/C Peash oot er se ries. T h e first Peash oot er, a P-26A , made its first [ligh r on 10 Januar y 1934 . W ith a rop 'peed of Z35mph (380 km/h ) the ope n- coc kpit P-26C wou ld be the cream of th e Peashoot er c rop. In all. Boei ng built 136 P-26s of all type ' for th e A rmy, as wel l as the Model B-2 I exp ort var iant th at we nt to C h in a a nd S pain . A USA N av y version , th e e nclo sed -coc kpi t Mod el B-273 , XF7B- I , was offered but not pro ceed ed wit h . As it h appen ed , ot her USA ae roplane man ufacture rs such as Seversky Av iat ion

C () ~ I I'AN Y

(lat er Rep ublic Av iati on) , Lockheed A ircraft, Bell A ircraft and C urt iss-Wr ight soon all came up with much more mode rn figh ter designs th an Boeing's 1'-26 and pro posed 1'-29. Respectively, these were th e 1'-35 and 1'-36, 1'-38, 1'-39 and 1'-40 . The slowest of th ese, the 1'-36 with a top speed 295 mph (4 75km/h), was 60mph ( IOOkm/h) (aster th an th e 1'- 26 . S ince Boein g had no othe r advanced figh ters on the drawin g board , it red irected its effo rts toward th e design , devel opment a nd product ion of post-B-9 bombe r aeroplane s, whil e not abandon ing civil transport types. This led to the Model B-294/XB- 15 and B-299/XB- 17, which are describ ed in det ai l in C hapter Two. T he Stear ma n A ircraft C ompany of Wi chita, Kan sas becam e a di vision of Boeing in th e early 1930s. Lloyd C. S tea rman had ho ldly challenged th e world with th e develo pment of several uniqu e ae roplanes , but th e USA depression had hi t h is company extre mely hard, Boei ng, more financ ially sec ure, opted to expa nd its growth into th e Midw estern USA with the acq uisition of S tear ma n in Wi ch ita , Kan sas. A t first the former S tearma n plant conc ent rated on bu ilding advan ced and primary train ers such as th e famed Kader biplane series for th e A rmy and Navy; lat er, man y B-29s wou ld be built at W ich ira as wel l. Busin ess rap id ly pick ed up ove r th e subseque nt years a nd Boeing esta blishe d itsel f as a major aircr aft manufacturi ng co mpan y. It is beyo nd the sco pe of th is book to describe the nu me ro us airl ine r, m issiles and rockets , bomb e r plan es and ot he r products it h as produced in th e last eigh typlus yea rs. The refor e th is wor k will focus on Boe ing's com mitment to th e develop me nt of large - and ve ry large - multi engine ( that is, two or mor e eng ines ) pisto n -powered aircraft , wh ich led up to the

The four-engine Boeing Model B-307 Stratoliner was the world's first fully pressurized high-altitude airliner. It set the standard in passenger travel until Douglas unveiled its DC-4. Boeing Media

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B-29 an d its post -war relatives, in wh ich Boeing h as mor e rh an excel led. These were th e Mod els B-294/XB- 15 and 13299/13- 17 Flying Fo rt re s (see h apt er Two) ; and th e Model B-30 7 trnrolin cr,

Mod el 8-307 Stratolin r T he S traro linc r was a fully pressurized passenger airline r whi ch bor rowed a nu mber of assemblies from the B- 17C Hying Fortr ess. Specifica lly, the rrat oliner used th e B17C 's horizonta l and ve rt ical stabilizers, wings, engines and nacell es. Its ' ylindrical fuselage, howeve r, was rorally d ifferent and seat ed thirty-three passengers and a fiveperson crew in pressurized omforr, Developm en t of th e 13-307 began in late 1935 and ca rr ied on th rough 1936. In 1937 Pan A merican A irways (I' ) b 'c ame th e first a irline to order th e tr at o lin cr, a nd th e first B-30 7 made a succe ssful first flight at Sea ttle o n 3 1 December 193 . T he S rraro lin cr was po wered hy four aircooled Wri ght G R- I 2 y lon e radi al e ngines of 900h p a t 2,300 rpm at 17,300 ft (5,300m). It was 74ft 4in ( 22.6 7m ) long, 20ft 9 in (6.3 7m ) h igh with a wingspan of 10 7ft 3 in (32 .70 m ). Irs maxim um speed was 246 mph (39 6km/h) and its gross weight was 4 2,OOOIb (1 9,000k g) . In additio n to PA A , Trans \Vorld A irlines (T\VA ) also bou gh t a number of 13307 s. T h e T WA rra rol in crs were on fisca red by the U SA A F A ir Tra nsport crvicc C omma nd (AT SC) in 194 2. These were designat ed C -75 and ca rried milita ry supplies th rough out th e rem a ind er of World War O neTwo . Beca use of th e advent of the mor e adva nc ed Douglas DC -4 kymastcr airline r (or C -54, as it was kn own in th e US AAF)

THE BOEI:"G AIRPLAN E C O ~ I I'A N Y

I I I, xk hccd L-49 Conste lla t ion, on ly ten I \ '7 S tr.uo lincrs were built by Boei ng. II lit the m , owned by th e Na tional A ir I I " pace M useum (NASM) - bel ieved to I II ll' lasl o ne in exist en ce - was fully , ,"rn l to flying co nd it ion by M useum of II. ,III vo lunteers in Se att le, Wa sh ingto n . I II l1lg a test fligh t on 28 March 2002 th is 1I 11,' r I'AA 13-30 7, named the C LIPPER II YINl ~ C LO U D, lost power in all four II ' 1Il" S o n fina l appro ach to Boe ing Field I II Illade a successful gear-up belly land ing II <,a ttlc's Ellio t Bay with out se rio us injury '"~ ,IllY of its four cr cwrnc mbcrs , Even ,I.IIl1gh it suffe red relat ivel y m inor damage, II u-muins unclear as to wh eth er thi s one I kind classic will be restored aga in .

Model B-314 Flying Boat T h e Boe ing Mod el 13-3 14 'C lipper' was erea rcd to mee t Pan A merica n A irways' 193 5 spec ifica tion for a tr an soceani c flying-boat a irline r. Pan A merica n ord ered six C lippers o n 2 1 Jul y 193 6 and the first exa mple mad e a successful fi rst fligh t o n 7 J un e 1938. O n 20 May 1939 C lippe rs in it iated a tran satlanti c a irma il se rvice, and o n 28 June they began to ca rry passengers across th e A tlant ic to Europ e and ac ross the Pacifi c to Hawa ii and be yond . A t the time th ey were t he largest passenger-carrying tran sports in th e wo rld . (Th e 13-3 14 never rece ived an 'offic ia l' nam e. It was Pa n A me rica n th at req uest ed t hat its 13-3 14

·17G (44-83514) of the 457th BG. Chuck Irwin

HOW: The Boeing Model B-314 flying boats were I

ci all y built for Pan Amer ic an Airways who l erred to them as their 'Clipper' fleet. Boeing Media

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flying boat s be ca lled 'C lippe r', as its o the r flying boar s were .) Pan A merican then orde red six im proved C lip pe rs, kn o wn as B-3 14A s, and brou ght five of its ea rlier o nes up to 3 14 A sta nd ard . The 13-3 14 C lippers wer e built in major sec tio ns at Boe in g's Plant I fac ilit y o n th e Duwa rn ish River, th en barged northwa rd to Ellio t Bay wh e re th ey we re assem bled and flight -t est ed prior to deli very. T h e 13-3 14 co uld acco m mo da te seve nty-fo ur passengers a nd ten c rewrnc m bc rs. It was po we red by fo ur 1,200h p W righ t G R-2600 Do ub le C ycl o ne a ir-c oo led rad ia l e ngine s fo r a ma xi m um speed o f 190 m ph (300k m/ h ). T he y h ad a maxi mu m ra nge o f 3,500 m iles ( 5,600k m) a nd

TI l E 1l0 EI:>1 G AIRPLANE

a service ceiling of 13,400ft (4 ,000m ). T he B-3 14 was 106ft (32.3 m ) long, 27ft 7in (804m) h igh, with a wingspa n of 152ft (46.3m ); its gross rake -off weigh t was 82 ,5001b (3 7,400 kg ). In World War Two five B-3 14As we re requi siti oned by th e USA A F and wer e redesign at ed C- 98. Three wer e requi sitioned by the US A av v and were kn own as B-3 14s. A no the r th ree were bough t by the British Overseas A irways Corporation ( BO A C ) for wartime tran sat lan t ic se rvice.

Model B-344: The XPBB-l Sea Ran ger T he so le XPBB- I Se a Range r (n icknamed th e 'Lone Ra nger') was built to prov e to the US A avv the usefuln ess of a large, long-range, long-enduran ce, twin -eng ine pat ro l bom ber flyin g boat , in th e h o pe that they would order such an a irc raft. T he XPBB- I used va riou s B-29 co mpo nent s in cl udi ng its ' 117' airfo il section and, in facr. was built a longside XB-29 n umber o ne at Boeing's Plan t I fac ility. Afte r its co mplet ion it was bar ged to th e newly built Plant 3 fac ility at th e so uth e nd of Lak e Washington in Ren ton , Wash ington wh er e th e prod uc tion PBB- I was to be bu iI t . It made its firsr fligh t on 9 Jul y 194 2, with Edm und T. 'Edd ie' A lle n at the cont ro ls.

C O ~ I PA:>1 Y

T he XPBB- I (Bureau umber 3 144 ) was powered by two 2,000 hp W right R3350-8 rad ial eng ines a nd h ad a top speed of 2 19mph (352 km/h) at 4,500ft ( I,400m) . It was 94ft 9in (28.9m) long, 35 ft ( 10.6m) high and its wingspa n was 139ft 8in (4 2.6m) . T he PBB- ! was int en ded to be o pera ted by a ten -man crew. The USA avy liked th e PBB- I wel l eno ugh to orde r fifty- even . Howe ver, req uire me nts ch anged a nd the avy cvcnrually o pted ins tead to go with pat rol flying boat s already in produ ction ; thus th e cont rac t was canc elled . Eve nt ua lly th e USA avv turn ed ove r its Plant 3 facilit y to the USA Army A ir Fo rces for th e product ion of B-29s. In exc ha nge , th e Na vy got use of No rt h A me rica n Aviat ion 's Kan sas C ity plant for th e pro d uct ion of its lan d-based PBJ-I a irplane s, whi ch were fo r the most pa rt B-25J Mit chell bombers in n aval dr ess.

Mod el B-367: Th e C-97 St ra to fre ighter The Boe ing Model B-367 - th e C- 97 - was de velop ed in Wor ld War Two but on ly a few se rvice test ex amples S, IW lim ited ac tion in the war. In Janu ary 1942 th e USAA F order ed three XC -97 ca rgo/transpo rt prototype s, wh ich Boeing soon nam ed rrat o frc igh re r.

The first XC -97 exa mp le, th e Model 5 367 - 1- 1, made its first fligh t on 15 ovcmhe r 1944. (The second and th ird XC -97 airplan es received Boeing mod el nu mber B-367 - 1-2.) O the r th an its ra th er unique dou ble-lob e fuselage it was esse nt ia lly a 5 29 ada pted for a cargo/tra ns po rt role. T hat is, it employed the B-29's win g, land ing gear, powe rplanr, nacell es a nd tail asse mbly. Its lowe r lobe was th e sa me d iameter as the B-29's fusel age. T h e th ree XC -97 airplan es wer e followed hy ten se rvice test YC -97s (six YC 97s, thr ee YC -97 As and one YC -975 ). The first service test ex ample, one of six YC 9 7s, made its first fligh t on II March 194 7. T he C- 9 7 S rrarofrcigh rer featur ed 'cl am sh ell' doors on th e ce n trel ine in its aft belly. T he 74ft (22.5m ) long upper lobe could ca rry two ligh t-class ranks (such as the M48 Patt on) , or th ree fully-load ed 3,000Ib class ( I ,400kg) truck , or eigh ty-th ree stretche r pat ients, or 134 co mbat troo ps. They were operate d hy five crewmcmbcrs and four atte nda nt s. Th e YC -97 was powered by four 2,32 5hp Wrigh t R-3350 -57A rad ial engine s. Its to p speed and ope rat ing alt itude were 34 6m ph (557km/h ) a nd 28 ,700 ft (8 ,750m ), respectively. Th e YC -9 7 was 110ft 4 in (33 .64m ) long and 33ft 3i n ( 10 . 14m) h igh , with a win gspan of 141ft 3 in (43m) . It " gross weight was 120 ,0001 h (5 4 ,500k g). Th e C9 7 went on to beco me a workhorse transit.

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The Boeing Model B·344 XPBB·l Sea Ranger was to be built at Boeing's Plant 3 faci litv in Renton. Washington . The Sea Ranger programme was cancelled, however, and B-29s were built there instead . Author

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TI l E BOEI NG A I RPLA NE

C O ~t PA N Y

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The Boei ng Model B-367 C-97 Stratofreighter evolved into an adequate . though 01 w orld-class. cargo transport airplane for the US Air Force Military Air nsport Servic e (MATSI; YC-97A (45-59595) is shown . USAF

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The KC-97 Immed iately afte r \Vo rld \Var Two th e l ISA A F and Boe ing wor ked in co nce rt to k-vclop th e tech n iqu e of in -fligh t rcfu·lIing (or the ne wly estab lish ed S tra te gic \Ir C ommand (SAC) and its global-rea ch I un bcr force. \V h ile th ey struggled to adapt B-29s (or the task, th ey soon realized •ha t the C -9 7 would he pe rfect (or th e job, .11 least in th e in te rim wh ile S AC, wait ing tor its first jet-po wered bomb ers, co n rin ul·d with its pro p-dr iven fleet. T hu s th e ":C- 9 7A was born . To dev elo p th e KC -9 7, o( whi ch I I would event ually he built, three C -9 7A s were fitted with a n imp ro ved ve rsion of the 'flying boom ' in -flight refuel ling syste m tha t Boei ng h ad already de vel oped (or

The tanker version of the B-367 wa s a cr itical addition to the USAF in that it performed extremely well with piston -powered B-36s and B-50s. Howe ver. w ith the advent of the jet-pow ered B-47 Stratojet, KC-97s actuall y had to pitch the ir noses down in an effort to gain speed wh ile refuelling the B-47; otherwise the B-47s would have been forced to fly at near their stall speed. A KC-97A (49-2591) is show n. USAF

the KB-29 P (de scribe d in derai l in C h apter Eleven) . Tests with th e system were success ful and th e U SAF orde red , initi ally, sixty KC -9 7E tan ker/cargo -t ran sport a irc raft; these would be fo llowed by 159 KC -9 7Fs and 592 KC-97 G s. T he KC -97G was the most import an t version o( KC -97 and it was powered by four 3 ,500 hp (2,600kW) Pratt & W h itney R4360-5913 radial e ngines. To increase its own range th e KC -9 7G was fitt ed with two 700 US A gallon (582.8 Imp. gallon/ 2,650 Itr) ex te nd Iucl ranks - one und er eithe r wing. Its gross weigh t was 175,0001h ( O,OOOkg) and, incl uding its boom , it was 117ft Sin (3 5.8m ) long, 3 (t 3in ( I I.67m) h igh and its Wingspa n was 14 1(t 3in (43 m) . Its maximu m speed was 37 5mph (600k m/h ) at 30 ,000(t (9,000m) .

The Boeing Model B-377 Stratocruiser featured a unique double-deck conf iguration. It w as not until the advent of the Boeing 747 and forth coming Airbus A-380 that such an arrangement was used again . Boeing via W. Allen

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Maciel 8-377: Th e St ra to c ruis e r T he Mod el 13-3 77 tr arocruiser is unique among th e prop-d riven ai rl ine rs o( the late 1940s a nd ea rly 19 50s, (or it was of a douhie-deck design offering un precedented comfor t and amen it ies for its passen gers. T he S tra rocru iscr was a civilian a irline r version of th e mi litar y C -9 7 cargo /transport, and used the same Pratt & \X! h itn ey eng ines and 7SST structure. The prototype 13-377 - 10- 19 S rra roc ruiscr Iollowcd th e so le YC -9 7B - a spec ially builr very impo rt ant pe rson (V IP) tra nsport , on the C -9 7 produ ction line , a nd il mad e its (i n flight on 8 Ju ly 194 7. Produ ct ion S rrnroc ru iscrs ca rried between (i(ly-five a nd 100 passen gers and flight a n c nda n ts. with five fligh t crew. W ith a ran ge of 4 ,200 mi les (6, 750km), it was cons ide red to be a lon g-range transport . The S rraroc ruiser was I IO(t 4 in (33.64 m ) long, 3 (t 3 in ( 11.6m) h igh and th e wing spa n was 14 1(t 3 in (43m) . It W ;JS powered by (our Pratt ., W hi tne y R-4360 rad ial eng ines o( 3 ,500h p (2 .600 kW ). The maximu m spee d was 37 5mph (6 00km/h). U n fo rruna tely (or th e S rra roc ruise r it was con rcmpora ry with a nother pro pellerdr iven long-range a irliner th at was bette r rece ived by hOlh the a irl ines and th e payin g pub lic. T h is was th e elegan t, tr iplerai led Lockheed Cons te lla tion , wh ich offered high er spee d , longe r ran ge and better load -carryin g capahi liry, T h us on ly six a irline ' o rde red S rratocruiscrs, and just fifty-five wer e built.

TI l E BOEING AIRPLANE

Post-Wa r Immed iat el y afte r \Vo rld \Var Two Boein g was hard -pressed to ge ne rate new c ivilian and military business. But several sign ifican t Boeing-design ed a ircraft ch ange d all th at. T he B-47 S tra roje t , of whi ch more th an 2,000 were built , was th e worl d's first o pe rationa l strateg ic jet bom ber. T h e 3 70 B-50 'S upc rforrrcss lls' (de c ribed in C ha pte r Eleven) were dir ect descen dants of th e B29. T h e B-52 Stra rofortrcss first flew as far back as 19 52, yet survivors of th e 740 built arc st ill flyin g in th e gu ise of th e B-52H . T h e Model 707 Jet Srrarolincr was the most successful of the first gene ration of mod ern jetl ine rs and derived from it were the KC 135 S trato ran kcr mili tar y ta n ke r-ca rgo/ tr ansport ae rop lan e and th e C - 135 SIrutofreigh ter, the world 's first jet-powe red cargo/ transport . Boeing event ually produ ced some 1,000 707s a nd 800 KC/C-13 5s. T he Boe ing A irplane Com pa ny has ce rta in ly co me a ve ry long way over th e last eigh ty-fi ve yea rs or so. O the r th an th e Lockheed Marti n C o rpor at ion it is th e longest -sur v iving a irc raft man ufac tur ing firm in the USA , for all th e othe r on ce -great airc raft ma n ufact urers such as Bel\, C on va ir, C urt iss, Do uglas, General Dyna mics, Martin , McDonnel \, o rrli A merican , Republi c , Ryan a nd ma n y ot h ers have e ith er bee n absor bed or eliminn rcd a ltoge the r. In th e co urse of heco ming the aerospace gian t it is today, Boeing purch ased the aircraft, rocket pro pulsion and spacec raft d ivision s of th e Rock well C or pora t ion on 12 Decem be r 1996 to form th e Boe ing Nor th A me rican d ivision . II th en me rged wit h the Mc Donnell Douglas C or po rat ion

C O ~ lI 'AN Y

on I A ugust 1997 to becom e th e seco nd largest ae rospace firm in the wor ld, afte r Lockh eed -Mart in . The Boeing Ai rpla ne Compan y of today is a mu lti-faceted cor poral ion with num er o us ent ities a nd di visions. T he se incl ude Boei ng Business Jets, Boei ng Com me rc ia l A irp lan es, Boe ing Mili ta ry Aircraft and Missile Syste ms, Boein g N ort h A merican , Boe ing Ph ant om \Vor ks, Boeing Space and Com mun ica tions , and th e recently esta blish ed Boeing U n ma n ned Systems d ivision . In the co m mercial field , th e Boeing Ai rplan e C ompany is c urren tlv man ufactur in g its 7 17, 737, 747, 75 7, 767 and 777 jet airlin ers, with its revo lutionary So n ic C ruise r a irline r rising over th e ncar hor izon. O n th e military side it is either responsible for or prod ucin g th e B- 1B Lancer, B-52H S trarofortrcss, C- 17A G lobcmas rcr III, F15E S tr ike Eagle, F/A - 18E/F S uper Horn et , KC - IOA Extend er, KC -135 S rrarorankc r and the YAL - IA Ai rbor ne Laser, among o the rs. It is also in part nership with ort hrop G rumma n on th e B-2A S pirit and with Lockh eed Ma rt in on the F-22 A Rapror program mes. \V hether or no t it team s up with Lockheed Mart in on th e F-35 A/B /C Jo int S trike Figh ter program me rem ains to he seen. Boei ng co nti n ues 10 de velop an d pro duce some of th e world 's most important aircra ft and spacec raft. Ir is ve ry likely that it may soo n be build ing its So n ic C ruiser for the world 's airl ine s, the E/A - 18 A irho rne Electron ic A tt ac k Var ian t of th e two-scat F/A - 18F S upe r Ho rnet to replace the EA -6 B Prowle r, and th e X-45A U n man ned C om bat Ae rial Veh icle. It is to build fort y F- 15K S trike Eagle figh te rs for th e Republic of Kor ea to keep the famed

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F- 15 air-supe riority figh te r in producti on th rough the year 2008 . It has also recentl y sta rted work on 100 ta nker aircraft based on its767 m in -jet wide-bod y jetliner, wh ich arc to be leased or hought by the US A F to supplement and replace 40-plus-year-old KC 135s. Boeing is also heav ily invol ved in space business incl udin g it" managem ent of the Int ernational Space Station, Spa ce Sh uttle, Sea Lau nch , co mme rcial and military satellite-launc h programmes. So Boein g h as bu ilt a large number of significant aircraft over the last eight-plus decades, most part icula rly the hu ge run of large and heavy multi -engine commercial and mili tary types thai sta rted with th e legcnd.irv B- 17 Flying Fortress of Wor ld W,lr Two and has no end in sigh t. Bill Boeing had sta rted out with a fan tasy to fly. He co nt inued to strive toward build ing bet ter a ircraft th an he had flown in . T he \Vesterveltdesigned B& \V was th e first result of tha t effort. By the time Mr Boein g passed away on 28 Septe mber 1956 he was no lon ger associated with the compa ny he had fou nd cd , for he had left it in 1934. He had, however, witnessed the da wni ng of the jet age and some of the incred ible jet-powe red aircraft that were emerging. A numb ' r of th ese were comi ng from th e Boeing irplanc Company itself. and they were a far ry fn un th e aircraft he had enj oyed as a young man.

Boeing Mod el B-345-2 w as to be the B-290. but becam e the B-50 instead. Sometimes referr ed to as 'Superfortress II' . th e B-50 served the USAF well until the arrival of the jet-powered B-47 and B-52; a B-50B (47-159) is shown . USAF

CHAPTE R T WO

Superbomber I \ 1 he ea rly 1930s it h ad beco me a ppa re nt

.11..1 t h e wo rld - free o ( glo ha l con flict

,,1\ ,. 19 I R-

was be co ming a very d anger pla ce . Ja pa n h ad a lre ad y in vaded 11111;\ an d M an c h ur ia , an d G e rma n y was • 1'I\lIy rea rm in g. These un comfo rt a b le I t v (" rce d US mi lita ry p lan n er s to face .1", lea l possib ilirv o( a sec o nd world war, II wu li e n e m ies ac ros s bo t h oc ea n s. It I

was a t ime o f ago n izing reapp rai sa ls (o r US a ir pow er , bu t sinc e th e S A was n ot ac t ua lly in vo lved in any war , ad eq ua te fu nd s would n o r be fo rthc o m ing (or th e tim e be in g. cv crth c lcss, a ir pow er ad vo ca tes in t h e US A rm y A ir C or ps co nt in ued to ' h un t a n d peck' (or mu ch - im pr o ved co m bat a ircraft . spec ifica lly ad va n ced bomber typ es.

The only XB-15 on its first flight. on 15 October 1937. It laid the foundat ion for all subsequent large bomber airc rah developed by Boeing . Boeing Historical Archives BElOW: The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was a rea l workhorse in World War Two . The B-17 and its stable -mate. the Consolidated B-24 Liberato r. did more to bring the German war machine to its knees than any other daytime bomber aircrah; a B-17G 142-38091) is show n. Royal Air Force bombers took care of Germany in the night-time . USAF

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O n 14 A pril 19.34, th e USA AC issued a requirement (or a bo mber that co uld carry a 2,0001b (9 00 kg ) bo mb load at 200 mph (.320 km/h) over a d ista n ce o f 5,000 mil es ( ,000 km ). T h e Bo e ing A irp la ne Com pan y proposed its Model 13-294, a bch cm or h to be po we red by ( O llt' 24-cy lind e r A lliso n XV-.3 42 0 1,600h p liqui d -co ol ed inlin c eng ine s. The 13-294 was o ne o( two selec te d (or furt h er developmen t a nd th e U SAAC ga \'C it the design at io n XBLR- I. The o th er successful design was th e Dou glas XBLR -2, a lso to be po we red by (ou r XV-342 0s. Esse nt ia lly, A lliso n 's pr o posed V-.3 4 20 eng ine was a pa ir of l Zvcv lindcr V- 17 10 engin e ' joi ned by a co mmo n cra nks h aft (in o th e r wor ds, a V-24 rath e r th an a V- 12) . T h is en gin e und e rwent se rious d evel o pmenta l dela ys an d d id n ot first run unt il 1940 , too late (or th e XBLR - I and XBLR-2 prot ot ypes. But wh en it did run it produ ced a hu ge .3,OOOh p, instead o( th e I ,600h p th at h ad been or igina lly adve rt ised . Ne vert heless, it n ever Iou nd its way o n to th e ' Lo ng Ra nge A irp lane S uita ble (or M ilit ar y Pur poses' as th e XB LR pro ro typcs were being referr ed to . S ince th e A llison en gine wou ld n o t be availa ble to Boe ing in t ime , it chose to huild its XBLR - 1 wi th (o ur two -row I ,000h p Pra t t & Whitney R- 1830- 11 Twin W asp l -l-cylindc r radi al eng ines in stead . Boe ing's XBLR - I was redesign at ed XB15 in July 1936, rh c Dou glas XBLR-2 l-ccoming th e XB- 19 at th e same rime. \V irh Eddi e A llen at the co nt ro ls th e XB-I S made a successful first fligh t in catt le on 15 Octo her 193 7. Ir was woe fullv underp ow ered, as h ad been (ea red , yc r ir act ua lly set a [ew payload and d istance records in 1939 . e ith er th e XB- 15 nor the XB- 19 was wh a r th e USA AC was loo king (or in a lo ng-range h eavy bomb er, Bur th ese two a irc raft wer e trul y sign ificant , and rh ey h el ped lay th e fo und at io ns upon whi ch large bo m ber a irc ra ft in rh e future wo uld be built. (There was a th ird conten der in th is lo ng-ra nge bomber vent ure , the proposed S ikorsky XBLR-.3, whi ch n ever rece ived an 'XB' - Exp erimen ta l Bomber - design at io n because it was n ot proceede d wit h .)

S U I'E R BO ~ I BE R

A fine study of a B-17F named MARY RUTH (42-29536). Stan Piel

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In rh e mcant imc, Boe ing h ad been work ing o n irs Mod el 13-299, whi ch in ma n y ways was a sca led-do wn version of th e XB- IS . The first 13-299 , unoffic ially designat ed ' XB- I T, mad e irs first fligh t a t Se at tle o n 28 J uly 193 5. By th e rime the XB-l S ma de irs first flighr in O crober 193 7 rh e 13-299, now officially design ated 13-1 7, was making itself wel l kn o wn 10 th e U AAC. But it was a far cry fro m what th e USA AC st ill wan ted a nd need ed in th e way o f a ve ry lo ng-ran ge heavy bo m ber. A prop osed fo llow -on program me to rh e XB-15 was th e Mod e l 13-294 -2, wh ich was to be rhe service test ver ion of the XB- IS, d esign at ed Y113-20 du e to severa l differ ences. Two YI B-20s we re ord ered, with t he more power ful 1,400h p Pratt & Whitney R-2180-S eng in e, in lat e 193 7. ornc wha r sim ilar to th e XB- IS in appearance, th e YI 13-20 was to be 90 ft ( 27.4 m ) lo ng with a wingspan o f 152ft (46.3m ). Irs projec ted kg) and ir gross weigh t was O,OOOlb (36, was 10 be man ned by ten c rew. Ho wever, eve n before it rea hed mo k-up stag e the Y113-20 was canc e lled.

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O n 1 Septe mber 19 9 e rman y in vad ed Po land and a ll hell began 10 break loose in Euro pe. Afte r a n ultimatum was given to Hitler, wh ich he ignored . hot h G reat Britain and Fran c declared war o n G erman y two da ys later. In the Presid ent Roose velt subm itted a ve ry large defenc e neut ral ity, hut bud ge t, procl aiming prom ised in May 194 to bui ld 'SO,OOO a irc raft per year fo r th • nat ion 's d .fe n c'. ud den ly the 'h un ting and pc kin g' was over and th e re was plenty of mon ey ava ila ble for new m ilitary a ircraft. In lat e 1939 h oweve r, with war raging in Europe, U AAC planne rs wer e hard-pressed to find th e money for the type of bomber they d esired , one with even greate r range th an eith er th e XB- IS o r XB- 19, a 'S upc rbo m bcr', whi c h so me were refe rring to as a ' H emisph ere Defence Weapo n' and othe rs a 'Ver y Long Ra nge Bo mb er'.

MIDDLE LEFT:

The Boeing Y1 B-20.

Lloyd S. J ones

BOTTOM LEFT: A Consolidated B-24 Liberator (41-23711). Stan Piel

20

S U I'E R H O ~ 1B E R

\ )" I0 Septe m ber 1939 , ne wly appo int pres id en t Phil Jo h nso n ca lled in 1111'1 eng ineer \Vellwood Bea ll, assista n t 1111'1 e ng ineer Ed Wel ls, acrodyna mi c ist II lIrgl' Sc ha irer a nd eng in ee ring test pilo t I I,hl' A lle n to disc uss ne w d esign s. S pcc ifdly. he wan ted t o kn o w abo ut Bo e ing's unbc r d esigns . A ll (o ur to ld Joh nson th at lin o-ca llcd Su pe rbo m bc r, Model 13-34 1, I co m ing a lo ng qu ite wel l. They to ld hun tha t W righ t A rmy A ir Field was h igh I uu crcsred but th ere was n o req uirem ent IIld no money ) (or it just ye t. But d ue to 1Ill' war in Euro pe th is wou ld soon ch ang e. I I~ Il'ing

Cutaway of design 341. wh ic h was the XB-29's immediate predecessor. USAF

q uirem ent R-40-B III No ve m be r 1939 USA A C co mma nde r I h-nrv H . ' Hap' A rno ld start ed hi s c rusade I II a very long-range heavy bo m ber supelIo r 111 ev ery way 10 th e 13- 17 and 13-24 . H i ' unpa ign lasted abo ut t h ree mo n t hs a nd ulm ina tcd with an ext reme ly fa r-sighted I Huber req ui reme nt. O n 5 Februar y 194 0 r c ircular (ro m \Vrigh t A A F reached Boc IIlg labe lled 'R-40 - B'. (RA O-B mea n t I cq uircmcn t n umb e r 40 , Bom bcr.) T h e o ffic ia l no tice asked t ha t ev ery in terested ••mpan v subm it a propo sa l, wit h in o ne mllnt h o( rece ipt , (o r a h igh -alt itud e, h igh Il'ed bo m bard ment a ircraft wit h a 5,3 33 nu le (8 ,583km ) range , with de ta iled cos t \ t ima rio ns, e ng ine ering da ta a nd d rawIIlgs. It was sta m ped 'U rge nt', ca lling (or a lull-sca le e ng inee ring mock -u p to be ready lor inspec tio n by 5 Au gust 1940 , th e first .urcraft deli ve red by 1 Jul y 194 1 and a n y .uld itio na l a ircra ft one mo n th t he reafte r. C h ief engineer Bea ll was in c ha rge of the R-40 -B project. He appo in ted Lyle Pierce . IS projec t engin eer; Do n Euler to h ead up prel imina ry design ; Edd ie A lle n (or win g, tai l a nd per forman ce data ; and Jo h n Ba ll, wit h his assistant G eorge Mart in, to be in charge of struc t ures. Ed Wel ls wo uld supervise the de ta il design groups wit h N .D. S howa lter se rving as h is c h ief assista nt. By th is time , d ue to di(ficult ies with th e dev elopmen t of th e Model 13-34 1, Boe ing was vigorously working on Model 13-345, similar in some ways to 13-34 1. but larger and he avier to meet the rigid requ irem ent s of R40 -13. It was the design best suited to the R40-13 project and the one Boein g pursued . In late March a nd early A pril 194 0 (o ur a irfra me con trac to rs - Boe ing. Lockheed , Do uglas and Conso lidated - subm itt ed the ir respec t ive R-40 -B d ata to Wright Field . In gene ra l, each firm had met th e

The Lockh eed XB-30. Lloyd S. J ones

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The Douglas XB·31. Lloyd S. Jones

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The Consolidated XB-32. Lloyd S. Jones

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u· es FEET

The Boeing-ownedFairchild PT-19lilted with scaled-down B-29 wing and tail assemblies to evaluate the B-29's aerodynamics in flight. Peter M. Bowers

22

SUI'ERBOMBER

I n ificario ns and all wer e rewa rded co n11 .11 Is 10 build and evalua te wind -tunnel 1Il111kls. and to prov ide cost estima tes and lcr.u lcd enginee ring data and drawin gs. l lu-sc pro posals were designa ted th e Boeing 1\-29. Lockheed XB-30 , Douglas XB-3 1 11I.1 C o nsolidat ed XB-3 2. (The Model B14S ha d received its official USAAC dcsigu.u ion . XB-29, on 24 A ugust 1940.) I\oe ing co nt in ued to work h ard o n t h e .1\-29, a nd mad e numerous c ha nges and Improve men ts o ve r th e ne xt several . -c ks, T he n , o n I I May 1940, it subm ith·d t he fin al design for t h e XB-29 . Boe ing W.IS pro m ising a range of ov er 5,000 IIIl1es (8,OOOkm ), a speed ov e r 3 70 mph (600km/h ), an alti t ude of 38 ,OOOf\ (1 1,500 111 ) a nd a bom b load exc eed ing ' .OOOlb (900kg ). In add itio n to wind -t un 1Il,I eva luat io ns, Boei ng had ho ugh I a 1'.lIrc h ild PT- 19 A (4 1-205 3 1), a small two- place U SA A C prim ar y tr ain er. It was turcd wit h sca led- do wn B-29 win g and r.ul flying surfaces and se rved as a flyin g Il'st-hed for B-29 aerody na m ic c va luanons. T h is 'ex tra ' wo rk by Boeing was well rece ived by Wri ght Field. T he tr iple- ta iled Lock h eed Model 51 1-0 1 XB-30 was closely based on Lock hec d's Model 49 C-69 C o nstella tion cargo/ rr.msport, whi ch itse lf was bused o n th e 1,xlel 49 C onstel lat ion airliner. It was to he I iwcred by four 2,200 hp Wr igh t 1\-3350- 13 rad ial eng ines. Ir was to have a len gth of 104ft 8 in (3 1.9m ), a win gspan of 123ft (n.5m ) and ca rry a twelve-m an c re w. T he Douglas Model D-33 2F XB-31 was In he larger and heavier than a ny of th e " the r S upcrbo mber co nte nde rs. It was to be powe red by (our 28-cy linder 3,OOOhp Pratt & W h itney 1\-4360 radial engines and ca rry a 25,OOOIb (l I,OOOkg) bomb load . It was to ha ve an eigh t-ma n crew, a Icngth of 117ft ~ i n (35.75m ), a wingspan of 20 7(t (63m) and a maximum rake-off weigh t of I98,OOOlh (90 ,OOOkg ). Its pilot and co -pilot were to be seated side-by-side und er separa te 'hug-eye' bu bble ca no pies, (This ca no py arrangement larer appeared on the Douglas c- 74 G lobcmastcr ca rgo/transport and th e XB-42 Mixmaster light att ack bo mbcr.) Lockheed and Dou glas, whose design s were inferior to both th e XB-29 and XB-3 2, elec ted to how o ut of th e co mpetit io n and withd rew fro m th e R-4 0-B progra mme scvcral months before the USAAC decision was sched uled for an nou nc eme n t. With th e XB-30 and XB-3 1 o ut of co nt e nt ion , o n 6 Scprcmher 1940 both Boeing and Consolidated received US A AC co ntrac ts to build ,

v

Ma rtin XB-33. Lloyd S. Jones

respec tively, two XB-29s (41 -00 2/-003) and two XB-32 s (41 - 1411-142) . Conso lidat ed's Model 33 XB-3 2 T ermi na tor', lat er Do m ina to r, was of se rious in te rest to t he USAAC, th ou gh it lack ed th e a ltitude, spee d and ran ge be ing pro jec ted by Boei ng for th e XB-29 . The XB32 featured tw in, inwa rd-canted ve rt ica l tai ls in its ori gina l co n figurat io n (wh ich was cha nged to a sing le ra il late r). It was power ed by four 2,200h p Wri gh t R-335013 rad ial eng ines . It was 83ft ( 2S.2m ) lo ng, 20ft lOin (6. 12m) hi gh a nd its win gspan was 135ft (4 l.1m ). Its maximum tak e-off

23

weight was 10 1,66 21b (4 6 ,I 13kg) an d it had a to p spee d of 3 76 mph (605km/h) at 25 ,OOOft (7,600m ). ltco uldca rry a 2,OOOlh (900k g) bo mb load 4.45 0 mil es (7 , I60km). The first XB-3 2 ro lled o ut o n I Se pte mbe r 194 2 a nd , with C o nso lida ted lest pilot Russ Rodge rs at the co n tro ls, made a successful first flight o n 7 Se pt embe r - four teen days a head of th e first X B-29 - at Lind hergh Field , San Diego . Eve nt ua lly I I B-3 2 Domina tor s were built. The US A AC wou ld indeed h av e a S upc rbo mb c r, But wou ld it he th e B-29 or th e B-3 2! O r wo uld it be bot h !

S U I'E R II O ~ I IIE R

Th e Expe rimenta l Prototype XB-29 The fina l co n figurat io n of the ex pe rimen ta l prototype ~vl odel 345, o r XB-29, was th e result of a hea vy bo mbe r des ign evo lution in the mi litary preli minary design sec tio n of th e Boei ng A irplane Company. Us ing what it had learn ed (and was st ill learn ing ) (ro m its earlier B-9, B- 15, B- 17 and B-20 bomber design s, Boeing a t first ca me up with the Model B-3 16, a (our-e ng ine h igh wing mach inc with tri cycle landi ng gear based in large pa n on th e B-307 Srraro lin cr. ex t ca me the B-33 2, a (our-e ng ine , mid -wing ' ta il-d ragger' design with no ta b le B- 17 Icarurcs suc h as the or igi na l XB- 17 ta il assem bly and gun bliste rs. T he B-333 and 33 3A d esign s were sim ilar high -wing a irc raft, but wit h two ve ry di fferent (ourengi ne layo uts. The B-3 33 was a 'p ush -m e, pu ll-me' design th at featured both pu sh er

and t rac to r eng ines - two o n c ith er win g, in linc with o ne ano th er - whil e the 13333A had fo ur separate engines, two bu ried in eac h win g. The B-33 4/-33 4A o fferings were refined B-333/-3 33A d esign s, th e (ormer fea turing thr cc ve rt ica l ta ils. cx r ca me rh c B-34 1, wh ich (or th e most part - excl ud ing its ligh te r wei ght and sho rte r wingspa n - was a d irect prec ursor o( t he 13-34 5. T h e 13-34 1 was ye t a no th e r refin e ment o( t he sing le-m il (o ure ng ine B-334A , but wit h man y ne w fca rur cs th a t eve n t ua lly wer e used o n th e XB29 . In (act , it was the 13-34 1 dcsign th at was first offe red to th e USA F wh en Lock h eed , Do ugla s and Conso lidar cd had o((cred up the ir respec tive XB-30, XB-3 1 and XB-32 'Su pe rbo mb c r' designs. But it was furt he r refin em en ts to th e B-34 1, and a brand n ew win g, that ult ima tel y led to th e Mo del B-345 - th e XB-29 . It soo n beca me obvio us th at th e AAC was more impressed by rhc B-29 I han the

XB-29-1 at Boeing Plant 1 in Seattle , Washington . It was at this stage of manufacture that the first two XB-29s were barged up the Duwamish River to Plant 2 for fin al assembl y. Peter M. Bowers

24

B-32 . ever liking to put all o( its cggs in one basket, however, it proceeded with both prog rammes. This becam e apparen t o n 29 o vembc r and 14 Decem ber 1940, respccrive ly, wh en th e U AA approve d ame nded co nt rac ts (or a thi rd prototype (rom eac h firm - XB-29 nu mb er th ree (4 1- 1 33 5) and XB-3 2 n umber three (41 -1 336 ). Bo eing used its Plan t 1 (acility, abo ut a mile north of its main Plant 2 factory, to man ufactu re and attach the mai n assemblies o( th e th ree XB-29s. They were rhe n bargcd down the Duwam ish River and a ' sembled in a cordoned of( area inside Plant 2, away (rom th e B- 17 assemb ly line. T he first XB-29 (4 1-002) was fin ished at Boc ing Plant 2 in early Septe mber 194 2, and on th e n igh t 0( 20 Se ptem ber, Boein g Directo r of Flight and Research Edd ie A llen declared it ready (or fligh t. A llen was an cng inccring rest pilot exrrao rd ina irc and Boein g Direct or of Flight and Research . Naturally, hc would fly th e XB-29 .

S UI'E R IlO ~ I Il E R

XB-29-1 nears completion . on 8 August 1942 at Plant 2. Peter M. Bowers

Spo rt ing a US Army o live d rab paint sche me with neut ral grey undersides, no arma me nt and l Zft-d iamere r (5.1 m) th ree-bladed propellers, th e first XB-29 was fin ed with four 2,200h p W righ t A eron au tica l R-3350-13 rad ial eng ines , eac h o ne with two G eneral Elec tric type B- l 1 tur boch argcrs. It was 98ft 2in (29 .93m) lon g with a win gspan of 141ft 3 in (4 3.06m) . Its wing was qu ite lo ng co mpared to its chord (wid t h ) and feat ured a h igh aspec t ra tio (1 1.5: I ). T he wing used large-area Fo wler flaps, whi ch inc reased its tot al area by 20 pe r ce nt whe n t hey were exte nded. The fir t XB-3 2 h ad made its first flight a lread y, at Lind bergh Field, Sa n Diego o n 7 Se pte mbe r 194 1 with Conso lida rcd 's

Russ Rodge rs at th e co n tro ls. But twenty m inutes in to the fligh t, th e a irc raft unde rwent serious buffeting and tail Ilut tc r, d ue to a rudder tr im tab 'grem lin' di sco ve red late r. Rogers made an eme rge nc y lan ding at ava l Ai r Sta tion N o rt h Island , Sa n Diego. Exactly tw o week s lat e r o n 2 1 Scprcmbe r 194 1, Edd ic A lle n made a succe ssful test flight o ut of Boe in g Field in co mma nd of XB-29 num ber one. Hi s co- pilot was Boe ing C h ief Test Pilo t A l Reed . Be ing t he hi gh ly expe rienced e ng inee ring rc t p ilo t th a t h e was, A llen exac tly knew the pluses and m in uses ex h ibite d by t he S upc rforrress o n t h at first fligh t. He took off at 3.40p m from Bocing Field 's rela tiv ely

25

sho rt 5,200ft runway and landed o ne hour and fifteen min utes later. H e and Reed flew o ve r \Vash ington tat e's Puge t o und area, ne ve r exceed ing 6 .000ft whil e eva luat ing its basic flying capa bilit ies. After th e fligh t Edd ie A lle n succ inc rly sa id 'S h e flies!' T h e following fligh t-t ests we nt fai rly wel l, th o ugh with so me rathe r perp lexing difficu lti es, espec ially wit h th e o il-leaking, fire-pron e R-3350 eng ines , wh ic h we re for th e most pa rr unproved . T h e XB-29 was far and away th e most techn ologica lly adva nced bo mb ard me n t a irplane in th e worl d a nd it le t its follo we rs know it. Whi le lan ding after its ninct ccnt h flight, o n 18 Decem ber, the first XB-29 ran in to a

S PERB O.\ lB ER

The XB-29s were completed with three-bladed propellers. Here XB-29-1 is s hown with lour-bladed propellers on 17 December 1943. All B-29s after the XBs and YBs were fitted with four-bladed propellers. USAF

ABOVE:

lirrlc tro uble: rhc left-h and main land ing gear doors an d part of the Fow ler flaps were da maged afte r the two main land ing gear lyres blew out upon touchd own. O n 28 Dcccrnb cr 1942, during wh at was to he a high alt itude pe rforman ce rest, the fligh t h ad to he a borted when , at 6,000ft, th e number one cng inc failed and had to he feathered (turn ing rhe prop elle r blades para llel to th e airflow to min imize ac rodvna mic dr ag). As it turned out, the reduction gcar had failcd , and to co rrect th at problem, floating bushings were ret rofitt ed. \'Virh Eddi e A llen at rhc co nt rols once aga in , th e seco nd XB-29 (41 -003 ) made irs first flight on 30 Deccmb er 1942. It was nea rly identical to XB-29 num ber on c bu t was unpaint ed and loaded with test equip me nt. \'Virh th e add ition of a seco nd XB-29 ro the S upe rbo mber pro gramme th e allimport ant fligh t-t est clara could bc gcn cr.u cd and d igested mor e qu ickly. However,

O f co urse, an in ten se cras h in vestigation ensued and thi s seriously del ayed XB-29 n umb er one's fligh t-rest program me. N umber on e h ad been fe rried to Boeing's Wi chi ta fac ilit y in late Decem be r, where ir was tur ned ove r to th e 58rh Bomb \'Ving for irs evaluatio n purp oses. A frer th e cras h in vesrigat ion was ov er and n umber on e was oncc mor e cleare d for fligh r the 58rh d id irs th ing. Its resting ended in the spring of 1943 a nd on I I May, num ber one was returned ro Boeing-Se att le ro rejoi n Boeing's test program mc The first fligh t of th e rh ird XB-29 (4 118335 ) was delayed some wha t due to th e crash investigat ion of n umb er two. But ir fin all y made its first fligh t on 29 May 1943 with Co lonel Leonard 'Jake' H ar mon , a B29 flight test office r fro m Wri gh t Field, at the helm. Hi s co- pilot was Lt C o lonel A hram O lson .

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after on ly abou t a mont h and a half of testing, th e seco nd XB-29 a nd its e nt ire crew were lost , on 18 Feb ruary 1943. It seems that a fuel leak in the left wing's Ieading-cdge area, sparked by a backfire from one of the cngin es, set I he wing on fire. T hc firc co uld not he ext inguished and Eddic A llen elected to make an e mc rgency landing at Boeing Field. A s the XB-29 was descc nd ing from rhc nort h end of the field, a large part of its left \\.ing lead ing edge burned off. Evcn worse, th e en tire \\'ing and part of th e fuselage were on fire. By thi s time rhe plan e was on ly about 250fr above the ground, roo low for th e crew to co nside r ba iling our. T he aircraft crashed in to rh e Frve Meat Pack ing Company plant, some 3 or 4 mi les nort h of Boei ng Ficld. It was a horrific eve nt, killin g all eleven of the XB29's crew, ninet een Frye employees, a Seattle fireman , and twelve othc r person s were either killed or seriously injured .

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XB -29-1 on 23 September 1942. two days after its first flight. Peter M. Bowers

SU I'E R BO ~ I BE R

Wit h XB-29 number one behind them, flight-test crewmembers pose et Boeing Field on 1 November 1943after their return from • two-month flight -test programme in Wichita. Shown left to righ t are: third , Everett Denton [pow erplant engi neer); fourth, d Ma rtin l eo-pilot); fifth, Noah D. 'N.D.' Show alt er (Boei ng chief of fli ght-test and co- pil ot); si xth, Robert Robbins (aircraft commander]: seventh, H. Washburn (radio operator); tenth, Don Whitw orth (flight-test enqineerl; and eleventh, Ben Head (fli ght engineer). The others are unknown. Robert M. Robbins

Specification - XB-29 Weights:

Empty 66,1OOlb (29,990kgl; load ed 105,0001b (47,600kgl

Engines:

Four WrightAeronautical R-3350-13/-17 Cyclone 18 air-cooled rad ial

Dimensions:

Length 98ft 2 in 129.9ml; wingspan 141ft 3in (43.1 m): wingarea 1.736sqIt (16 1.27sqrn]; height 27ft 9in(8,45ml

Performance:

Maximum speed 370mph l590km/ hl; cruising speed 250mph (400km/hl; service cei ling 32,1 DOl t (9.785m); maximum range 5,850 miles 19,415kml; range with maximum bomb load 16,0001b (7,300kg) 4,100 miles16,600kml

ABOVE: Bob Robbins, w ho later became chief test pilot on the XB-47 Stratojet programme,

is shown at the controls of XB-29-1. Robert M. Robbins Bob Robbins poses by XB-29-1 THE FLYING GUINEA PIG, in November 1944. Robert M. Robbins

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SU I'E R B O ~ I B E R

THIS PAGE

Boeing experimental flight-test pilot group in about August 1944. Seated left to right are Fornaflio. Michael. N.D. Showalter. Merrill and Robert Robbins. Standing left to right are Robert T. 'Bob' Lamson. Ed Martin. Scott Osler. Code and Fraser. Robert M. Robbins

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XB -29-1 after its gun turrets were installed . Peter M. Bowers

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eorroa : XB-29-1 was a big aircraft, this attested to by its size compared to the men shown around her. Peter M. Bowers OPPOSITE PAGE

A nice view of XB-29-2(41-0031. which was lost on 18 February 1943. Peter M. Bowers

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MIDDLE: XB-29-3(41-18335) is prepared for its first flight on 29 May 1943. Peter M. Bowers

aorrua ; XB -29 No.1 in profile. Peter M. Bowers

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S UPER B O ~ I B E R

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SU I'E R IlO ~ I IlE R

Eddie Allen and the 8·29 By Raben M. Robbins, Boeing Experimental Test Pilot on XB-29Number One The Twentieth Air Force and the B-29s it used to bomb Japan shortened the war by months, perhapsyears, and saved, it has been estimated, a million or more UScasualties by ending the war before a planned invasion of the heavily defended Japanese homeland wasundertaken - an invasion that was scheduled to begin on 1 November 1945, less than three months afterJapan capitu lated. That invasion would undoubtedly have taken place had theB-29 programme been delayed or had it andthebombing of Japan not been pushed as fastas humanlypossible, in spite of the cost in livesand the very difficult odds, cho ices and problems that were encountered. Throug hout thechroniclethat follows, I believe that you will be struck bythenumber of close calls that theB-29 programme itselfhad - events thatcould have very easily terminated ormortally compromised theprogrammeor thecapabilitiesof theB-29, had it not beenfortheoutstandingcourage, foresightandabilities of a relatively few peopie - both militaryand civilian. Two of thevery tough choices theymade were to put the B-29 into production even before the engineering was completed and to commit themto combat before developmental testing could getthem fullydebugged , This story about the early development of the XB-29 and particularly about a very important man inthat earlydevelopment - the famousexperimenta l test pilotandBoeingDirector of Flight and Research, Edmund T. Allen, who losthislife trying tomake the B-29 combat ready as quickly as possible. Without Eddie Allen the B-29 programme might never have succeeded. One B-29-40-BW (42-24579) flown by the 40th Bomb Group(Very Heavv] was named THEEDDIE ALLEN in honour of Eddie. The unsurpassed excellence and ability that Eddie Allen applied to helping make theB-29 the awesome giant thatit became can best beappreciatedbya look at Eddie's aeronautical career. Before the USA entered WorldWar One, Eddie Allenworked for three yea rsafter his father died to support his family, He thenfinishedone year at the University of Illinois. In 1917, when he was 21, theUSA entered World Wa r One. Eddie enlisted in the US Army Air Service, learned to fly, became a flight instructor and taught advanced aerobatics. He was sent to the Britishflight test centre in England to learn Britishaircraft flight-testing techniques. Before the armistice in November 191 B he returned to the Army's flight test centre at McCook Field to apply his flight experience and overseas observations. After the armisticehe became the first test pilot for the National Advisory Committee forAeronautics- forerunner of todav's NASA. In 1919 Eddie returned to the University of Illinois for a year, studied aeronautical engineering fortwoyearsat MITand topped that off byentering glidercompetitions in England andFrance inagliderhebuilt whileat MIT. From 1923to 1925 hedidfreelance test piloting and became a civilian test pilot at McCook Field. From July 1925to mid1927, Eddie flew rebuilt World War One de Havillands asanairmail pilot for the Post OfficeDepartment overthe treacherousRocky Mountainroutesbetween Cheyenneand Salt Lake City- sometimes under extremelyadverse conditions. Starting on1 September 1927 when the Post OfficeDepartment got out of the flying business, EddiejoinedBoeing Air Transport. flyingBoeing Model 40Amailplanesasan airmail pilot on their new Chicago to San Franciscorun. Over the next fiveyears Eddie began to do more and moretest flying, particularlyfor the Boeing Airplane Company, an affiiiilte of theBoeing Air Transport whichlaterbecame United Air Lines. By 1932 Eddie Allen was a recognized, established, highly respected, independent test pilotand consulting aeronautical engineer. In the years that followed his accomplishments became legendary - from landingaNorthrop Betawithjammedaileron controlsoutof a barrel roll, to developingthe first-evereffectivecru ise control techniques based on some 200 hoursof flighttesting on the Douglas DC-2, to being a widely published author,mostly on test flying but a few just plain old good flying stories - but all with a serious message. He worked for most if not all of the major aircraft manutacturers at one time or another, and for Eastern Airlines and Pan American Airvvays. For at least some insurance companies, Eddie Allen's blessing ona new aircraft was a prerequisiteto them insuring it. If Eddie was to make the first flight and do theinitial testing ona new design, theinsurance premiums would besubstantially lower- and themanufacturer couldhavegreat confidence thathiscreationwouldcomebackinone piece. Overtheyears Eddiemadefirst flightson overthirty differentnew modelsof aircraft. These included the Boeing Model 83 in 1928, the forerunner of the famous US NavyF4Bs and USArmy Air Corps P-12s; the Douglas DC-2 in 1934; the Sikorsky S-43 in 1936;theBoeing XB-15 in 1937; the Boeing B-17B, C, 0, E, and Ffrom 1939 to 1942; the BoeingXPBB-l and XB-29 in 1942-43; andthe Lockheed Model 049 Constellation on 9 January 1943, justthirty-ninedays before his death in thecrashof XB-29 number

Famed test pilot EdmundT. 'Eddie' Allen at the controls of a 8-17 Flying Fortress. Boeing Historical Archives

two. That Eddie Allen should betaken bythe US ArmyAir Corps from his vital job at Boeing to make thefirst flight of the Lockheed Constellation is a further testimonial to the high esteem with which he wasregarded. Between 31 December 1938 and 20January 1939EddieAllen, still asa freelance test pilot. test-flew the 33-passenger Boeing B-307 Stratoliner. Two months later, on 18 March1939, theB-307 crashed,on its nineteenth test flightkilling all onboard. Boeing Chief Test Pilot Julius Barrwas in thepilot's seat. An engineer fora prospective airline customer was in the co-pilot's seat. That engineer had been pressing Boeing hard to find outwhatwould happen if theaircraft wasstalled with the number one and two engines throttled and the number three and four engines at take-off power. Boeing refused to demonstrate such a dang erous, unrealistic condition but did agree to approa ch theconditioncautiously. Onecan only speculate as to justwhat went onin the cockpit and whatreally causedthe stall, spin, partial recovery, break-upand crash that occurred. Eddie returned to Seattle to testify at the 3 April 1939 Civil Aeronautics Administration(CM ) AirSafety Board hearing on thecrash. Hewasthere asanexpert witness,a highly respectedtest pilot and themanwho had made the first fifteenof the test flights prior to theaccident. While in Seattle for theCM hearings, Eddie had a conversation with Bob Minshall, BoeingVice President and General Manager. Eddie told Minshall that calling in a test pilot to fly a new design after the aircraft wasbuilt wasno longer a proper approach, Eddie felt that the real need in the aviation communitywas for exhaustive aeronauti cal research, both on the ground in laboratori es and wind tunnels, and in flight with sophisticated instrumentationand equipment and specialized flight crews. Ground and flight research needed to be carefu lly coordinated to complement each other. The results should becombined with theexpertise of the specialized flight crewsand engineering test pilots and be applied duringthe design of anynewaircraft. Eddie felt that Boeing wasin a uniquepositionto doit. Boeing had thebigaircraft needed to carry all the instrumentation,equipment andspecialized flightcrews. It alsohad theneed - its real future was in bigaircraft. where it already hadan enviable background. Minshall liked the concept andso didClaire Egtvedt, Boeing's President. The grim rea lity of the recent Stratoliner accident added emphasis to Eddie's ideas, On 26 April 1939 Edmund 1. Allen became Boeing's first and only Director of Aerodvnamicsand Flight Research - a position that he held for almost four critical years. It was a fortunate, far- reaching event forBoeingand theUSA. The timing wasfortuitous, His beneficial impact on the B-17, B-29 and even today's jet fleets would ultimately touchthe lives of literally millions of people - most of whom never knew his name or realizedhis contributions. Thisisnoexaggeration when one considersthehugeB-17 fleetsthatbombedGermany and themassiveB-29raidsonJapan, and the lives thatweresaved and touched bytheir partsinbringingWorldWarTwo toan earlierend. Modernworldwide aerodynamic and

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production whichwasdesigned under thephilosophyandintheenvironmentthatEddie first proposed to BobMinshall that April 1939 day in Minshall's Seattle office. Admittedly,the B-29shad their problems; however, it isnoteworthy thattheaerodynamicson the thousands of B-29s that were built remained essentially unchanged from those of the first XB-29 onits first flight. The B-29crews of the TwentiethAir Force whomanaged tocontrol and gettheir sometimesbadly damaged B-29s fromover Japanto safe landingsowetheirsuccessestoasubstantial degreeto thework, philosophiesandcontributions of Eddie Allen. Needless to say there were manyother people, civilian and military, whoalsoplayed vital roles in the B-29programme; space here does not allow for adequate recognitiontheydeserve. TheModelB-341Superbomber configuration breakthrough came just intime. TheUS Army Air Corps began showing real interest in the autumn of 1939 as a result of the shock of Hitler's 1 September 1939invasionof Poland and the - coincidentally simultaneous- completion of a special Air Board study of hemisphere defence that emphasized the need for a flexible, long-range bomberfleet. Support fora Superbomber spreadrapidly. On5February1940Boeing wasoneof several aircraft manufacturerstoreceive fromtheArmyan invitationtobidahigh-altitude, high-speed bombardment aircraft with a requirement for a 5,333-m ile(8,583kml range witha2,OOOlb1900kg)bomb load. Amonth later Boeingproposed theModel B-341 with a gross weight of 85,OOOIb(38,600kglto meet the requirement. Four 2,OOOhp Pratt & Whitney engines would be used. The wing loading wou ld be a whopping 641b per squarefoot (31.2kg per square metre) - double what had previously been considered acceptablebythe experts. Eddie Allenhadconvinced the doubters that with avery big, properly designed wing flap they could get away with it. The fact that Eddie's aerodynamicsgroupwould have todevelop the flap, thatEddie would fly the aircraft andthat he was confident of success won the day. In addition, extreme measures would be required toreduce dragasmuchaspossible. Amongmanyotherthings, flush rivetsand butt joints would berequired andthat would add to the manufacturingproblems. But confidence was high that the B-341 would be a good aircraft. Several agonizing weeks passed with no word on the Superbombercompetition.The Air Corpsannouncedthatnoneof theproposalswere acceptable.Therequirementshad changed asa resu lt of lessons being learnedin Europe. The Superbombermust have more armament. powered gun turrets, armour plate, self-sealing fuel tanks, higher cabin pressures, a 16,OOOIb(7,250kgl bomb load for shorter flights - and no decrease in performance! A revised proposal was required in thirty days.

flight research, which is such a vital part of todavs multifaceted aerospaceindustries, including moderncommercial jet transports, has its roots in and evolves from the ideas that Eddie Allen brought to Boeing in April 1939 and implemented shortly thereafter. InApril 1939Boeing wasmanythings. It wasalready a superb designerof thebigaircraft Eddiehad referred to suchastheXB-15and B-17 bombers, the B-314 PanAmClippers andtheB-307Stratoliner.lt hadonlyaso-soproductionreputation, particularlywith the Army whoseB-17Bs were behind schedule. The B-314deliveries were well underway and the second B-307 Stratoliner was nearing flight-test stage. Boeing was losing money, was in deepfinancial trouble and was struggling to survive. It was a company with people who were courageous, full of vision, imagination, integrity, determination and a dedication to design aircraft that were superior and right. Boeing designs were innovativebut. at the same time, conservative. Boeingwould not pursue a poororeven a mediocre design even thoughit might appear to be the politically desirable course. Inlate 1938Boeinghad started thinkingabout a Superbomber- anaircraft forwhich, at that time, there was no established militaryrequirement andno mon ey - also, an aircraft that no-nne knew how to build. The Army's Oliver Echols and Bob Olds talked about an bomber with a 5,OOO-mile rangecapable of hitting an enemy aircraft carrier when it was still at least two days offshore. The B-17 could strike a carrier that was only oneday out - too close for comfort. Thekey toa successful Superbomber would be to get the dragwell down. Many preliminarydesign studieswere run on numerous configurations, including such ideas as newflat liquid-cooled enginesburied inthewing. Some were tempting but nonewould really makea good aircraft. so the studies werecontinued in an attempt to findan idea that would give the necessarybreakthrough. Eddie Allen's reputation, now combined with Boeing'scommitment toa serious, fulltimescientific aerodynamicand flight research programme, was a strong attraction for some of the best brains in the country. Noticeable among them was George Schairer whowantedtoworkfor EddieatBoeing .SchairerwasMIT-educated, hadbeenanaerodynamicist at Consolidatedand would leave his mark on Boeing aircraft fordecades to come. His first jobforEddiewasto puta newStratolinermodel Eddiehadbuilt into the wind tunnel totryto finda wayof improving theB·307sothat even if it werevery badly mistreated a repeat of the 18 March 1938 accident ltheloss of the prototype) could be avoided. A famous Boeing trademark, the dorsal fin runningfrom the fuselage to the vertical stabilizer, was Georg e's answer. It went on all Stratoliners and B-17s after the B-17 0. It greatly reduced the possibility of stalling the vertical tail even under very extreme yaw conditionsand made the B-17E/F/ Gmodels much safer and more stable bombingpla tforms. The somewhat shortened dorsal fin used ontheB-29provided similar benefits for the flight crews of the Twentieth Air Force. Eddienow had GeorgeSchairerapply his talents to the struggling Superbomberdrag problem,to whicha satisfactory answer had still not been found in the many configurationsthat had been considered. It was Schairer whoproposed, promoted anddeveloped the solution. It lay in abandoningthe previously conventional approach in favour of concentrating first on developing a wing with the lowest possible drag. Schairer's view was that the wing is typically a big drag item on an airplane andtherefore provides thegreatest potential fordrag reduction. Theresult was, forthefirst time, a thin, very high-aspect ratio (that is, long andnarrow] wingwith a very highwing loading (a small wingfor theweight it carriedI. The aerofoil sectionwasalsocritical. George was familiar with the - at that time- controversial Davis wing, whichwasto be employed by theConsolidatedB-24. When efforts to obtain permissionto use the Davi s patents dragged on, Boeing decided to develop its own wing, whichGeorge Schairer did. The Boeing '117' wing was the result. Very large high-lift wing flaps, also developed by Schairer, were added to permittake-offsand landings inreasonable distanceswith the smallest possible wing. The fuselage, nacelles, fairings, equipment and so on were now designed so that they added a minimum of drag. By August 1939 there fina lly was a Superbomber configuration that Boeing coul d be proudtopropose totheUS ArmyAir Corps. It wascalledtheModel B-341. lt wouldlater growinto theModel B-345 and eventually become the B-29. Thewind-tunnel work, the resea rch and development done by Eddie Allen, George Schairerand their peoplehad finally paid off. Later, as the detail design progressed, Eddie and George applied the samepainstaking 'try, try, tryaga in' philosophy and effort todevelopinga flight-control system and other details that needed attention. The B-29 was the first (and onlv] aircraft that Eddie Allen could partibipate in and watch evolve from concept through initial flight testing and into large-scale planned

Back to the Drawing Board! The Boeing Model B-341 became the Model B-345. The gross weight went from 85,0001b 138,600kg) to 11 2,OOOIb (51 ,OOOkgl. and later to a maxim um overload design gross weight of 120,OOOlb (54,400kgl. The wingspan increased from 124ft 137.7m) to 141ft (42.9m). More power was requiredand the new 2.200hp Wright R-3350 engines would have to be used instead of the2,OOOhp Pratt & Whitney. The Wright was an undeveloped engine and there were serious reservations about whether it would be a good engine. Boeing was very uncomfortable about the Model B-345- about being pushed too far into unexplored areas. To make things evenworse, therewasnow serioustalkabout ordering large productionquantitiesbefore an experimental prototypecould be built. The risks were becomingveryhigh. Boeing came very close to proposing a smaller aircraft with which theywould be more comfortable, but whichwould notbewhatthe Air Corps said was required. On the other hand, the war wasspreadingrapidly in Europe and threatened to spread much further.The expanded Superbomber requirements of the Air Corps might very well prove necessary even thought the technological risks were very high. After careful soul searching with the war in mind, Boeing uncharacteristically decided to submi t the Model B-345 with a strongdeterminationtodoeverythingpossible tomakeit successful. The Model B-345 proposal was submitted on 11 May 1940. Withinweeks the Air Corps told Boeingthey were issuing a contract for engineering, wind tunnel and a mock-up of the Model B345, whichwould be theB-29. Furthermore, productioncontractsforperhaps200B·29s would be awarded long before an experimental prototype could be flown. Clearly the Air Corps had joined Boeingin a desperate gamble on the success of the Model B-345 design. After Paris fell on 14 June 1940 Congress was asked for moneyfor 990 B-29s. The antehad just been raised! continued overleaf

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Eddie Allen and the 8-29 continued On 6September 1940 a formal contract for two XB-29s was released. Engineering studies,whichhadstartedwithonlyafew peopleinlate1938, hadnow grown intoafull-scale productiondesigneffort,whichwouldrequire1,433,026engineeringman-hoursbeforethe first XB-29 would fly. Eddie Allen and George Shairer were keptbusy with literally hundreds ofwind tunnel and flight research investigations to reduce drag and toproduce the aerodynamicand flight test data needed to move the design forward asrapidly as possible.APT-19experimental wing flight-test programmeandthreespeciallyconfiguredB-17s conductedflight tests of many differentconfigurations of developmental items for the B29 such as propellers, cowling, turbosuperchargers, empennage, rudder, elevators, aileronsand flaps.Thesetestshelped to find the best configurations and to optimize such thingsascontrol forces andcontrol balance, and to reduce the technicalrisks. There wereto be two serious 'wing loading crises' long before the XB-29 ever got off the ground. The first was when a new Air Corps 'plane X' with only a 531b per square foot (25.8kgper squaremetreI wing load ingwas a 'dog' to fly and in addition would not get above 28,000lt (8,500ml. The Air Corps intently questioned Boeing about the wing loading ontheB-29. Thesecond and even moreseriouscrisis waswhenarespectedaircraft manufacturer'sengineersreviewed Boeing data andtold the Air Corpsthat Boeing was very wrong in its predicted B-29performance. They said that the B-29would be 40mphslower,wouldhave a5,000lt lowerceilingandwouldhave 1,000mileslessrange than Boeing had predicted. In the face of such criticism, it took real courage and confidence on the part of Boeing andAir Corps principals involved not to increase the B-29 wing area to substantially reduce the wing loading - a step that Boeingfirmly maintained would be catastrophic for performance and, by then, to production schedules. Aga in it was Eddie Allenand George Shairer whosework was beingchallenged and who needed to defend their positions if they really had confidence in their predictions. The price for being wrongeither way would have been catastrophic to the B-29 successes of theTwentieth Air Force. They had the courage of their convictions and commanded sufficient respect to convince their inquisitors that they wereright and to continue the rapidly expanding B-29 programmewithout change. Again a catastrophewas averted. It is interesting to note that in combat the B-29s were frequently successfully flownat a gross weight of 140,000lb (63,500kgl ! While the many B-29problems were beingaddressed, Eddie Allen had had another extremely important task to accomplish. That was to build the kind of flight-research operation that he hadoutlined to Bob Minshall in his officein early April 1939. At that time no one rea lized how crucial it wouldbe to the all-out war effort that wastocome. Inthe following three years Eddie built a sophisticated Boeing flight research capabilitythatwassecond tonone. Hisbasicpurposewastosafely, economicallyandquickly obtain and disseminate accurate, quantitative flight-test data. This would help find, develop and prove the best possible configurations fromthe perhaps hundreds of candidates.Thedatawouldbeused to determ inethesafetyof thearticlebeingtested,the degree to which it met its guarantees and requirements, its adequacy for the purpose intended, areas needing improvement, waysof improving the existingarticleormaking the next design as good as possible, and finally,thebest wayof operating the equipment in service. To accomplish these goals he hired the best people he could get with asclose to the qualifications he wanted, and trained and developed them into thevery skilful and expert team that was required to accomplish his vision. Most of the flight crewmembers and a high proportion of the flight-test department ground personnel were engineers. Each had weeks of formal, structured classroom training tailored to specific assignments. Therewas 'hands on' trainingin the altitudechamber and in the appropriateaircraft with test and safety equipment.Therewas periodic recurringtrainingasnecessarytomaintain thehighest possible skill level tominimize personnel risks and to obtain high quality data. There were three completely separate flight-test groups at Boeing with entirely different people reporting through different organizational lines. One was Production Flight Test, whichwas responsibleforflying everynewproduction aircraft to make sure there were no manufacturingor qualitycontrol problems, and to make any necessary adjustments before turning the aircraft over to the customer for acceptance. Another was the Customer FlightAcceptance Group. Inthe caseof B-17s andB-29s, they were Air Corps officers whoflewand accepted the aircraft forthe Army. The thirdwas the ResearchFlight Test Department. which was Eddie Allen'screation and is referred to throughoutthis discussion. It conducted engineering, experimental and researchflight-testing. Inthe purest sense, these were really three different kinds of flight-testing that wereall conducted in Eddie Allen's department. For themost part

all three were done by the same people using the same methods, although it was recognized that certain tests in any of thecategories might potentially require specialized or exceptional ski lls and this warranted selective pickingof specific flight-crew members. First flights on new models of aircraft fell in this category. Because of the similarities in methods andcrews and the fact that someflights might involve engineering, experimental andresearchtesting, thethreetermsareoften used interchangeablywith something less than precise regard for the differences. Eddie Allen's Flight Research Department wasunderAIReed, Chief of Flight Test and Chief Test Pilot. It was organized into functional groups such as: pilots and co-pilots; the other specialized flight-crew members, for the most part flight test engineers; the instrumentation group, which was responsible for obtainingor designing and making, calibrating, installing, servicingandmaintaining thevast amountsof standardand specialized instrumentationandphotographic equipment required to measure andrecord the many variablesthat needed to be measured; theanalysis groupwho transcribed, corrected with calibration data, plotted or tabulatedthe corrected data, analysed the results and prepared the final reports for distribution; the liaison grou p, whoworked with the mecha nics and shopsto make surethat the aircraft configuration and instrumentationwere in accordancewith requirements established by theProject Flight Test Engineer in charge of each test aircraft; a flight equipment group to service, store and maintain itemssuchasparachutes, oxygenmasks, bailout andwalk-arou ndoxygenbottles,andso on; and an administrative support group. Prior to each flight the aircraft was prepared to conform to the veryspecific written test and configuration requirements. A verydetailed, specific Planof Test setting forth each test condition wasprepared for each test flight, given to each of sometenflight crew members and then gone over in detail in the pre-flight conference so everyone knew exactly whatto expect and what was expected of him in flight. During normal flight the basic flight crewperformed their duties in the conventional manner. During the flight-test phases the Project Flight Test Engineer would be slightly aft of and between the pilot andco-pilot toprovide the best possiblecommunication andawarenessbetweenthose threepeople and, inthecaseof theB-29, theflight engineer as well. A normal flight test crew onB-17sand B-29sconsisted of about ten people. The additional people mannedthespecial instrumentationandequipment involved inthetest.All hadinterphonecontact. Atypical instrumentationloadmight includetwo photo recorders with forty or fifty instruments and a camera in each; two or three manometer boards to record forty or fifty pressures; one or two potentiometers to record fifty to 100temperatures;aBrown recorder that couldbe selectively set forcontinuous recording of any one of many different potentially critical temperatures; and perhaps an oscillograph to record strain gauge or vibrationdata on structural demonstration or flutter flight tests. Large bundles of wires or tubing connected each instrument to the appropriate transmitters on propellers, engines, nacelles, wings, control surfaces and so on. Manual and photographic recordingof the data was routine. Frequencyof recordingdepended upontherequirementsof the test condition thatwasset up. For instance, automatic recordingonce a second for perhaps three minutes during a stabilized performance condition was common - and produceda lot of performance and cooling data to be analysed. The Project FlightTest Engineer coordinated the activitiesof the entirecrew, kept a master log of events and set the appropriate recordingfrequency of all cameras from hismaster control. At every recordingstation therewasacoordination lightandacoordinationcounter that clicked overonce a second that provided precise coordination of all manual and photographic data from before take-off to after landing. Typically, one pilot wou ld concentrate entirely on flying the aircraft to precisely stabilize and maintain the planned flight condition. The otherpilot would set up the engine power, set cowl or wing-flappositions,maybeoperate special equipment suchasanenginewaterinjection system andmonitor everythinggoing on inside and outside the aircraft, to be able to anticipate and react immediately to cope with any emergency. Inthe XB-29 the flight engineer helpedparticularly with the powerplant-related tasks. Immediately after every flight there was a highly structured but quite informal postflightconference that wasrecordedverbatimbyacourt-typestenotypist.Theconference wasattended by the entire flight crew andanykey ground personnel who hada direct interest in the flight. These could include: design project and staff engineers who had requested specific test conditions and who might have to design the corrections or request additional tests based onproblems encountered andthe data obtained; technical and management representatives from outside suppliers whose components were

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being tested. such as engines, propellers. carbu rettors, accessories. brakes and arrnament; flight-test instrumentation engineerswho wanted toknow how their instrumentation worked and what they needed to dobeforethe next flight; the data analysis supervisorwhose people would have to take the vast amounts of manual and recorded data. and sort out what should be processed; the shop foreman and quality control supervisor whowanted toknow of anyaircraft problemsandany special actions needed fromthem for thenext flight; customer representatives, usuallyat least an Air Corps qualitycontrol supervisor; and for particularly important flights perhaps high-level company and customer management. A post-flight conference might have as few asa dozenor asmany asfortyormore people. It might last for only five minutesor aslong asacouple of hours. TheProject FlightTest Engineer or perhaps the Project Test Pilot was chairman. The short items were usually disposed of first. so most of the people could leave andget backtotheir work. The testconditions that wererun were each reviewed using thePlan of Test as the agenda. Any unusual events were noted. Any clarifyingquestions were asked andanswered whilecircumstances werestill clearly remembered. Plans forthe next flight weretentatively made beforethe conference adjourned. Before theirdaywasover thestenotypistswouldhavetranscribed theirverbatimrecordingof thepost-flightconference sothatit couldbedistributed thenext morningtoall those withaneed toknow.TheProject Flight Test Engineer wouldmakeevery efforttocomplete and distribute his 'Report of Test' on the following day aswell. This was a written summary of thetest-flight conditionsrun along withhislog sheet. The systemwas not allowed to getbogged down. Flight-testdatapromptlygot to thosewho needed it. Eddie Allen said 'Flight Testing is a Sound Business' and wrote a paper proving it. It is also an expensive business. usually involving heavily instrumented aircraft that would hehard. expensive and time-consumingto replace. Sometimes they are one of akind.Withthehighlyorganized, structuredapproach thatEddiedeveloped. risks. costs and time were minimizedwhile results and accuracywere maximized. Eddie'sdrive tomake aircraft assafeaspossible extended tothespecial needsof militaryaircraft. He and Boeing workedparticularly hard todesign andbuild combat damage-tolerant aircraft. It allowed many B-17and B-29 crews to getto safety in spite of extreme combat damage. WhenPearl Harborwas hit on7 December 1941. Eddie Allen had hisorganizationset upas described. It was operatingsmoothly and hewas in the process of expanding it. Including Eddie. there were only four pilots at that time doing engineering flight-testing at Boeing. In early January 1942I startedworking for Eddie alongwith sixother new co-pilots and twicethat manynew flight engineers. Weweremoved quickly through school and the formal training programme. and acquired B-17 experience with the production acceptance crews. Most of our engineering flight-test efforts in 1942 were spent trying to find out howto make crews safer and allow them to operate more efficiently while unpressurizedat altitudesto anda littleabove 35,000ft111 .000ml. BetweenApril and the end of 1942 I flew a numberof times with Eddie ashisco-pilot on the B-1 7 and XPBB-1 twin-engineflyingboat. When I first met Eddie in January 1942 I was surprised. Although I had no preconceived ideas. I did not expect the world-renowned test pilot to be of soslight a build and so unassuming . He weighed about 1451b and was about 5ft 8in tall. In those moments he fit better my image of a naturally friendly. soft-spoken. mild-mannered midwesternfarmer. It was hardthen to visualize him so skilfully controlling the sometimes huge. sometimes'balky' aircraft he had tested. As I gottoknowEddie better in the subsequent fourteen months. I came to havevery great respect, admiration and affection for him. I have never heard anyone say an unkind word about Eddie Allen. On the contrary. there have been many very complimentarywordsused to describe Eddie. Theyinclude: calm. competent. skilful, precise. earnest. ingenious. courageous, intensely curious. dedicated. sincere. pleasant. congenial. gentlemanly, retiring. friendly. unassuming, generous - and the list goes on and I'll betthere is at least onestory or actof Eddie's to fit each word. Nowonderhis people wereso dedicated to him. Inspiteofhisgreat personal ability. helet me. hisco-pilot. domost of the flyingwhen I waswith him. Hewasa kindbut precise teacher. I learned a lot from himin flight and ontheground,Hemademe feel thathehad great faith in me. I believehewasthesame with most of us, It made one determined to do everything possible to justify that faith and confidence. Although he ran a tight ship with highly structured procedures. I don't ever remember feeling resentment or rebellion against the discipline - perhaps

because it seemed soright.sological and ever so proper. He wasa great team leader anda tremendous inspirationto us. Eddie was a conservativetest pilot.not prone to take chances. He understood his limitations and those of the equipment hewas testing. He didnot like the then-common Hollywood depiction of a test pilot as a brash. wild. flamboyant daredevil. He felt keenly responsible forprotecting thehuge investmentthat an experimental aircraft and itscrew represented. He saidthat hewasafraidto takerisks! Hefelt thatfear is healthy. whereas panicisdebilitating.He stayed cool under pressure. This. then.wasthemanandtheorganization he had built. whichwasto begin testing of thefirst XB-29 in September 1942. There had been many tough decisions made and significant risks taken in the short three yearssincethe Model B-341concept had sparked real hope for a Superbomber. It wasonlytwovery compressedyearssincethecontract fortwoXB-29shadbeensigned. Now. after investing more than 1.400.000 engineering man-hours in the XB-29. flight testing was about to begin. flight testing that would prove whether Eddie Allen and George Shairer had been right in their many decisions. including defending a 691b per square foot wing loading; whether the Air Corps had been right in building two new plants.in starting B-29production by Boeing. Bell and Martin in four plants in Wichita. Renton. Marietta and Omaha. andin already ordering764 B-29s before the first XB-29 ever flew; andwhether thethousandsof other decisionsthat had been madewere right. Everyone had been undertremendous pressu res and timehad not allowed asmuch pre-flight development testing as most would have liked. For instance. the engines. which Eddiewas about to flywith. had been cleared fora servicelife of only thirty-five hours! The need forflight-test answers was enormous. The pressure wasreally on Eddie Allen and he kept his cool in spite of it all. Eddie estimated that with an all-out effort it should take five months and200 flying hours to do a reasonable jobof shaking down theXB-29. determiningits capabilities andgetting theminimum performance andoperating data theAir Corpsneededto start training andplace the forthcoming productionaircraft in service. Taxi testsand a couple of very short hops were madeby Eddie onthe relatively short 5.200ft (1.600ml runway at BoeingField in Seattle in the first part of September 1942. Althoughtherewere some systemproblems. Eddie felt that meaningful testing in flight could be conducted while solutionsto these probl ems were beingworkedon. On 21 September 1942 thefirstXB-29flew forthe first time. with AIReed as Eddie's co-pilot. Eddieclimbed to 6,00Oft and checked lateral, directional and longitudinal stability andcontrol. He checked controllability and general performancewith the number one engine throttled. Power-off stalls were checked. Control response. forces and effectiveness werenoted. Everythingthat should be checked on a first flightwas satisfactorilyaccomplishedinthe1Xhr flight.It wasapretty uneventful flight and first indicationswerecertainlyfavourable. But Eddieand theothersknew therewasagreat deal of work ahead. Therewere tobeveryfewmore uneventful flights. Thetroublesstartedaddingup. By 28 Oecember Eddie hadbeen able to make only twenty-three flights in twenty-seven hours of flying. There had been sixteen engine changes, twenty-two carburettor changesandnineteenexhaust systemrevisionsinthose threemonths. Inaddition there werepropeller governingandfeathering difficulties.runaway engines that oversped to 3.600rpm and a host of lesser problems. Thelongest flight was2hours 19minutes. the average only1hour10minutes.It wasalmost impossibletoget muchmeaningful quantitative data when flights were that short - particularly when much of the time was spent fighting the problems and gettingback to thefield. One of thefew bright spots wasthat theaerodynamics of theaircraft seemed tobejust what Eddieand Georgehad worked sohardto achieve -later testing would confirmthat earlyassessment. Performance and handling qual ities were excellent. No significant aerodynamic changes were ever made. except for researchwork onthe rudder which resultedin being able to simplify and improve the aircraft byeliminating the rudder boost. Eddieand George were vindicated. Theflighton Oecember28was intended to check theservice cei lingandset performance data. The number oneenginefailedat 6.800ft (2.000m) andthe flight was terminatedafter twenty-sixminutes. Groundinspection of thenumber twoengineshowed metal chips in the sump - it. too. was about to fail. That was the last time Eddie Allen or AI Reed would fly the number one XB-29 as subsequent events kept the aircraft groundedfor more,thanseven months, until August. continued overleaf

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SUPERBOMBER

Eddie Allen and the 8-29 continued

enginenumberone and enginenumberthreewas closeto failure, too. Those three35hour engines eachhadless than three hours' total ground and flight time. Because of engine shortages, two of the threeengines had to be replaced with engines cannibalized from thenumber oneXB-29, which was laid up forsomemodifications. Inaddition, the fire in number four hadbeensoseverethat thenumber fourenginenacelle had to be replaced with a number four nacelle also canniba lized from the number oneXB-29. At least the numbertwo XB-29 now had fourso-called 'unlimited' engines. Unfortunately, engine/nacel le fires similar to the number fourfirecontinued to occasionally haunt prod uctionB-29s and caused at least nineteen serious B-29 accidents between February 1943 andSeptember 1944. While Boeing and Wright tried hard to findand correct the cause or causes, there wasa natural tend ency for each to blame the other. It was fifteen months before there was positive proof that the R-3350 was susceptible to induction system fires, which could very rapidly get out of hand and become uncontrollablemagnesiumfireswhichthen destroyed evidenceof thefire'sorigin. That proof came on24 March1944 when I hadan inductionsystem fireonthenumber four engine duringa routine test flight on the number one XB-29. I was fortunate enough to get the enginefeathered and the fire out, before it broke outof the blower section or the intake pipes andbecame an external fire. The partially burnedmagnesium impeller and interiorof the blowercasewere irrefutable evidence. In the face of that evidence Wright developed the fuel injection systemtoeliminate thepotential for induction systemfires. It wasalmost amonth beforethenumber twoXB-29flew again, on 29January1943. Inthenext threeweeksemphasiswason engine, propeller, governing andperformance testing . Catastrophic engine failures eased up, but that was aboutall. Duringdescent for landing on 2 February there was a strong odour of ga soline emanating from the bomb-bay into the ca bin. A thorough inspection uncovered nothing conclusive. On a flight on 17 February therewasa badfuel leakoverthe wing fromthe numberfour fuel filler cap; theleaking ca p was fixed. By 17 February1943 thenumbertwo XB-29had made eight flights totalling 7hours27 minutes- an average of onlyfifty-six minutes per flight.In thefivemonthssince the first XB-29 flighton21September, therehad been onlythirty-one flights, totalling34hours27 minutes - a long way from what Eddiehad estimated in September could be done. And with an overall average flight time of only 1 hour7 minutes, the amount of meaningful test data wasprettysparse.Ashard aseveryonewasworking to solve theproblems,the answers were coming painfully slowly. As Eddie andhis Proj ect Flight Test Engineer left the aircraft that afternoon andwalked across the ramp to the post-flight conference, Eddie expressed tohimthegrave reservationshehadaboutcontinuingflight testinguntil atleast themore seriousoftheXB-29problemscouldbefixed. Unfortunately, thefastest, and maybe the only, wayto fix some of them was to try out the variousfixes in flight -

XB·29·1 with Eddie Allen at the controls, in preparation for its firstllight on 21 September 1942. Peter M. Bowers

There isan interesting personal sidelight to that 28 December flight. Six days before, on 22December, I flew with Eddie as his co-pilot onthe 62,OOOIbXPBB-1 twin-engine flyingboat.It turned outtobethelasttime Eddieflew theXPBB-1and alsothelast time I ever flew with Eddie. The purposeof the flightwasto complete a few tests prior to flying a final demonstration for the Navy in a few days. Eddie let me fly the aircraft, including the required power-off landing, which calledfor cutting the ignitionon both engines at 1,OOOft. The high-drag boat came down like a brick - it wasthefirst time I had ever done that! Eddie just sat there and watched, Fortunately it wasa good landing in spite of the extremely steep glide path. I had no inkling that that would be my checkout flight (and I doubt that Eddie didl until the morning of 28 December, when Eddiecame tomy deskandverycasuallyaskedmeto flythefinaldemonstrationforthe Navythat day on the XPBB-1 because heand AI Reed neededto fly the XB-29. I managed, in my amazement, to stammer somethinglike 'I'd beglad to'. The demonstration went well and I have always been extreme ly grateful to Eddie for giving me that opportunity and for placingthatmuch trust and confidence in me. Incidentally, he let me have thefun of making the delivery flight to the Sand Point Naval AirStation two weeks later. On 30 Decemberthenumbertwo XB-29(41-0031 was ready forits initial flight. It, too, hadengines that werecleared foronly thirty-fivehours inpositionsone, three and four. It wasto be a thorough functional check of theaircraft andits extensiveinstrumentation. The weather was marginal. The functional check proceeded normally until the number four propeller would not feather andgoverning was erratic. Eddie elected to discontinue the flight and immediately headed hack to BoeingField, at whichtime he was advised thatthe weatherwas deteriorating rapid ly. Aboutsixminutes out, the numberfour engine ca ught fire,the propeller over-sped to 3,500rpm, the propellerwould not feather, and smoke, sparksand flame were com ing from the exhausts. Shutting off thefuel and usingthe fire extinquisherswere ineffective. The fire continued to get worse. About two minutes out, the fire was burning fiercely in the accessorycompartment. Flames were pouring from the nacelle access door and from the intercooler exit area. Heavysmoke andlongfingers of flame were trailingoff thewing. Inthemeantimeheavy smokewaspouring fromthebomb-bay into the cabin, making it increa singly difficult to see or breathe. Eddie landed downwind, choking and partially blinded. The intense fire was put out by fire equipment on the ground. Eddie later receivedthe Air Medal for his skill and braveryduring that harrowing 32-minute flight. Groundinspection showed more trouble. A firehad just started in

34

SUPERIlOMIlE R

the 'try, try, tryagain' approach that had been sosuccessfully used byEddie andGeorge Schairer over the years. But now Eddie faced a rea l dilemma. The B-29 was potentially a fine aircraft. It was urgently needed in the Pacific. It was committed to production - 1,600 B-29s were now on order at four separate plants. Flight test was way behind its expected schedule and the data was badly needed to prove the aircraft. quickly find and correct the problems, minimize production disruptions, anddevelop training and operatingprocedures and manuals. But it was currently a dangerous aircraft. Major improvements were badly needed. Temporary groundingwould bethe norma l, prude ntthing to do. But thesewerenot normal times. Thesooner the B-29 could be usedin combat. the sooner thewar would end and the sooner thecasualties and carnage wou ld stop. Eddie concluded that hemust continue flight-testing asrapidly aspossible. Hisentirecrew alsohadtoknowthe risks - and to a man they stayed with him. The primaryobjectives of the 18February 1943 flight were to measure climb and level flight performance andget enginecoolingdatawithfourand twoenginesoperating.Maximum altitude wou ldbelimitedto 25,OOOft becauseof the excess ivetroublethathad been encountered with low engineoil pressuresabove that altitude. Theeffectiveness of fixes forsome of the past problems would also be evaluated. Take-off would be at the normal design gross weight of 105,OOOIb with full fuel tanks - 5,410 US gallons of gasoline. Eight minutes after the 12.09pmtake-off to the south, while climbingthrough 5,OOOft with rated [i.e., by the manufacturer] power, a fire was reported in the number one engine. Mixture andfuel to numberone were cutoff, the propeller was feathered, the cowl flaps were closed, a CO 2 fire extinguisher bottle was discharged and a descent and return to Boeing Field was started. Since the fire appeared to have been put out and everythingseemed undercontrol, Eddie electedto fly a normal landing pattern and land fromthe north on runway1311 28magnetic)to the south-south-east into the 5mph windrather than making a downwind landingon the 5,200ft runway with a heavyaircraft. At 12.24pm the rad io operator routinely reported altitude at 1,500ft at a point 4 milesnorth-east of the field. They wereonthe downwind leg, headed north-north-west andstarting a left turn onto base leg. No onesuspected the drasticchangethat would takeplace in the next two minutes. At 12.25they had just finished turning onto base leg, had just crossed the heavily populated west shore of Lake Washington about 5 miles north-north-east of the field, were at about 1,200ft altitude and were heading south-west. approachingthe commercial and industrial south side of downtown Seattle. At thatpoint groundwitnesses heard an explosion that sounded like a loud backfire and a piece of metal fell from the aircraft. At about that time the radio operator, whocould see into the forward bomb-bay and thewingcentre-section front spar, was overheard by the Boeing tower on an open microphone to say 'Allen, better get this thing down in a hurry. The wingspar is burningbadly.' He told BoeingRad io on a different frequency'Have fire equipment ready. Am cominginwith a wingon fire.' About a mile down the flight path from the explosion, burned parts of a de-icer valve, hose clampsand instrumentation tubing were later found; they had come from an areanormally inside the wing leading edge, ahead of the front spar and just outboard of the number two nacelle, near the number two fuel tank filler neck,which was rubber like the self-sealing fuel cell. The aircraft now turned south onan obliquefinal approach in a desperate effort to reach Boeing Field, just 4 miles away. Eddiewasabout 250ft high and ground witnesses later reported thatpartof the wing leading edge between the numberoneand numbertwo engines wasmissing . In the nextmiletheflight engineer's data sheet was found and three of the forward compartment crewmembers jumped from the aircraft - too low for their parachutes to open. At 12.26pm, only three miles from Boeing Field, the number two XB-29 crashed into the Frye Meat Packing Plant. killingpilots Eddie Allen, Bob Dansfield, and the other six crewmemberson board. The crashand resultingfire killed another twenty people onthe ground anddestroyed much of the aircraft and the plant. There wasclear evidence that fire and dense smoke had gone through the bomb-bay into the cockpit in the last moments before impact; burns onthe bodies and clothing of the three crewmemberswhobailed outjust before impact was a part of that evidence. Eddie Allen and his crew died in theserviceof their country the best way they knewhow. In one minute the fire had gone from undetectabl e to catastrophic. At 12.26pm onthe eighteenth dayof February 1943, the saga of Eddie Allen ended. Not so, however, his legacy, which hascontinued to this day to benefit his fellowmen, for whom he always showed such great respect. The scientific flight-testing methods, which Eddie Allenhad developed, cont inued to serve his country well throughout the

war. And they have continued to this day to evolve, improve and keep pace with technology, and to serve man- just as Eddie Allen would have wanted. Theflight-test team that Eddie had assembled andtrained was decimated,devastated and demoralized. Someof its members would probably never completely get over his loss - but they did put the pieces backtogether and continued to 'fightthe battles' and get the answersas Eddie wouldexpect themto. On 23Apri l 1946, three years after Eddie Allen's death, hewasposthumously awarded the Air Medal - an honour rarely bestowed uponacivilian- by directionof thePresident of the United States. Themedal waspresented to Florence Allen Howard, Eddie's widow, byMajor Gen eral Benjamin T. Chidlaw, Deputy Commander for Engineeringfor the Air Material Command, at Wright Fi eld, duringceremoniesat the Boeing Plant 2 in Seattle. At Mrs Howard's request, General Chidlaw pinned the medal on Turney Allen, the six-year-old daughter of the late pilot. The Citation reads: To Mr Edmund 1. Allen, Civilian Test Pilot, for his meritorious achievementin aerial flight on 30 December 1942. On this occasion while piloting an Army Air Force XB-29 typeaircraft underextremely unfavourable flyingconditions, an uncontrollable firedeveloped in thenumberfour engine. In spite of the fact that he would have been justified inabandoning the airplaneundersuch conditions, Mr Allenelected to remain at thecontrols and attempt to safely land it. Asa result of his skill anddaring invaluabletest dataand a prototype airplanewere saved,the loss ofwhichwouldhave immeasurablyretardedtheentireB-29Programat acrucial timein its development.

It is signed by President HarrySTruman. Inhis presentationremarks,Gen Chidlawsaid: In thecourse of a great war suchas wehave only recentlyconcluded, thereare agreat many unsung heroes - menwholabourand work in relativeobscurity while others garner the laurels of combat accomplishments. Ofcourse, themenwhoflew the planes in combat andmet theenemyon his own ground deserve theplaudits, which have been accordedthem. But in the air war therewereother menwithout whose work and sacrificeit would not have been possible toget intocombat the planes that finally wonthewar.Especially thiswastrue inthe caseof the aircraft test pilots - the men who tooktheplanes in their experimental stages, tested theirpotentialities, ironedout theirdefects and brought inthe reportsthat made it possible to fashionthese airplanes into formidable weapons ofwar. Theirs was the contribution of a scientific objectivity combinedwith the daring andfearlessness of the pioneer, and the contribution wasa magnificentone. Theyhave earned the admiration and therespect of the men whoflew theplanes that grew out of their efforts and accomplishments and, as a matter of fact. theywerereallyapartof thegreat Air Force teamthat bombed theenemytodefeat.

Eddie Allenwas outstanding among these men.

RobertM. Robbinslearned toflyin 1934at the local airport inhishome townofBloomsburg, Pennsylvania whenhewas 18 years old. He graduatedfrom the Massachusetts Institute of technologyin 1938 withBSDegree inAeronautical Engineering. From 1938 to 1941he worked for Pan American World Airways, where he earned his Aircraft and Aircraft Engine Mechanic Licensesandbecame a SeniorFlight Engineer on the Boeing B-314 flying boats on trans-Atlantic flights. He made some twenty-six trans-Atlantic crossings during approximately 1,000 flyinghours. In January 1942 Mr RobbinsjoinedtheBoeingAirplane Company in Seattle, Washingtonas an Engineering/Experimental Test Pilot. In this capacity he flew as Project Pilot on theB-17FlyingFortress, the XPBB-1Sea Ranger. XB-29Superfortress andXB47 Stratojet. Except forthefirst fewmonths of theXB-29flighttestprogramme, he didmost of the flying during World War Two on the number oneXB-29, whichwas dubbed THE FLYING GUINEA PIG. He became only the second Boeing Experimental Test Pilot andAircraft Commander onXB-29number oneafter EddieAllen. From 21October 1943 to the end of World War Two, Mr Robbins had been the Project Test Pilot andAircraft Commanderon everyflight of XB-29numberone- 312 flights totalling 458 hours in twenty-twomonths. In July 1948Mr Robbinsretiredfromprofessional flight testing tobecome Assistant Project Engineer at the beginningof the B-47Bproductionprogramme. He moved onin numerous management positions on the B-47, B-52 and KC-135 programmes. He retired from Boeingon 1January 1979 after thirty-sevenyears of serviceat the age of sixty-two. He currentlyresides at Ormond Beach. Florida with his wife Ann.

35

SU I' E R Il O ~ I Il E R

The Ser vice Test YB-29

YB-29-1 (41 -36954) nears completion prior to its 26June 1943 first flig ht. Peter M. Bowers

Specifications - YB-29 Powerplant:

Four Wright Aeronautical R-3350-21 Cyclone 18 radial engines

Weights:

Empty 81 ,620lb (37,020kg); loaded 120.5001b 154,660kgl

Dimensions:

Length 98ft 2in 129.9m); wingspan 141ft 3in (43.1m); wingarea 1.736sq ft (16 1.27sq m); height 27ft 9in(8.45m)

Performance:

Maximum speed 365mph (590km/ h);cruisingspeed 250mph 1400km/h); service ceiling33.500ft IlO,200m); maximum range 5.600 miles 19.000km); maximum bomb load 20,OOOlb (9,OOOkg j

The first flig ht of XB-29-3 with the top of 14.410ft (4.392m) Mount Rainier in the background. Peter M. Bowers

36

The US A AC or de red fourteen YB-29 se rvice test a irc raft (4 1-3695 4 to 4 1-36967 ) a t t he sa me tim e th a t it or de red its first bat ch of 25 0 pro d uc tio n 8 -29s. These airc raft were manu factured in th e I hen -new gov ern me nt-o wne d plant in \V ich ita , Kan sas, called Plant 2. Plant 1 was th e for mer S tear man Ai rcra ft factory, whi ch th e Boeing A irplane C o mpan y h ad previously bo ugh t. A fte r Pla nt 1 fin ishe d th e 10 ,346 th and last Kavdc r prim ar y trai n er fo r th e US A rmy and US Na vy, it buil t subassemblies for B-29s. The YB-29s wer e o utwa rd ly ve ry sim ila r to th e XB-29s , bu t wer e built to near-p ro du ct io n sta ndard with most of th e plan ned mi litary syste ms on board . Th ey also featured the five gun- tur re t emplace me n ts and th e th ree gun -sigh ting blist ers. T h ey were pow er ed by t he so me wh at improved R-335 0-2 1 engine , but st ill h ad th e threebladed propel lers that wer e ori gin ally used by t he th ree XB-29s. A irc raft 41 -36954 was fin ished o n 15 A pril 194 3 and ro lled off th e Plan t 2 product ion line . Bur it did no t fly un til 26 Ju n e - mor e th an two mo nt hs lat er - beca use of th e XB-29 cras h in vest iga tion . A s dedi cated se rvice test aircraft, th e YB-29s wer e for th e most pan used for B29 test programm es and tra ini ng aids. T h e first YB-29 was lat er to become th e on ly X8 -39 , described in detai l in C h apte r 11.

S

~\\

J

P ERB O~lB ER

/

,

-/

I

/ "1

First five YB-29s at Boeing-Wichita Plant 2 prior to getting their olive drab and neutral grey camouflage paint schemes. Peter M. Bowers

Close-up view of the leh outboard engine's leh turbosupercharger on YB -29-1 as it was photographed on 29 July 1943. Peter M. Bowers

37

One of the fourteen YB -29s undergoing pre-flight at Wichita. USAF

S U P E R B O ~I B E R

O ne of th e ot he r YB-29s ac tua lly made it int o omba t dur ing th e Supc rforr's initi al dep loyment to the C h ina- Burma- Ind ia th eatre ' of operations. A ll of the YB-29s were pa int ed in overall o live drab with neutral grey und ersides.

Th e 8-29 Pilo t Airc raft

A pair of earlv production B-29-1-BW s in flight over Kansas in late 1943. David W. Menard

Bell and Martin B-29 Pilot Aircraft Produclion B-29-I-BA' B-29-I-MO:

42-6222 42-6229

42-6224 42-6230

42-6233 42-6231

42-6235 42-6232

42-6243 42-6237

The first XB-29 sits derel ict in a fie ld. around 1950. Neith er it nor XB-29-3 w as preserved. Robert M. Robbins

38

In the case of the 13-29 th e term 'pilot a ircraft' refers to five Bell-bu ilt 13-29- I -BA and five Martin -b uilt B-29- 1-M O patt ern aircraft that were built with to o ling pro vided by th e Boeing A irplane Compan y. T h ey were essen tially h and -bu ilt, strict adherence to Boe ing spec ifications bein g a prereq uisit e. O nce these pi lot sh ips were bu ilt, th orough ly inspected for critical to lerances and so on , then successfully testflown , eac h firm ea rn ed th e 'green light' to proceed with th ei r respecti ve 13-29 produ ct ion programmes. These ten 13-29 pilot a ircraft arc ofte n overloo ked in to ta l 13-29 prod uction figures.

CHAPTER THREE

Production O n 6 September 194 1 the U SA AC approved an ini t ial co n tract for the pro duc tion of 250 B-29s, to be built by Boeing ar W ich ita , Kan sas (240), Bell at A tlanta, Ge orgia (5 ) and Martin at O ma ha, Ne braska (5) . Th is n car-u npreced ented move caused qu ite a st ir for a number of reasons, wh ich in part arc as fo llows: th e US A was not yet a t war; no ex ample of the 8 -29 had yet flown ; and th ere were serious do ubts as to wh ether such an ad vanced heavy bomber wou ld ac tually perfo rm as advert ised. In fac t it wou ld be more than a year befor e the first X8-29 took win g, some twe nty -one mon ths befo re the first YB-29 flew. N everthel ess, work on the X8 -29s in cattle proceeded. In the meantime , with add itio na l ord ers fort hco m ing, Boe ing, Bell and Mart in prepared th eir respec tive factories for 8 -29 produ ction in Rento n , \Vich ira, A tlanta and O maha. S inc e the U SA was nor yet at war th e USA AC h ad walked on rathe r shaky ground when ordering its init ial batch of ten pilot sh ips and 240 produc tion aircraft. or sinc e it had placed first orde rs for I 4 ort h A merican B-25 Mitchell and 20 t Mart in B-26 Marauder mediu m bo mbers ha d it gambled on 'pape r ae roplanes' that had not yet flown . But all of th is doubt d id not matt er any mor e after the Japan ese att ack on Pearl H arb or on 7 December 194 1. In facr, as it turned our , U AAC leaders found themsel ves receiving hi gh praise fur wh at tu rn ed o ut to be incredible foresight. In all, Boei ng wou ld gu on to huild 2,744 prod uct ion B-29s and B-29As; Bell huilt 668 an d Ma rti n bu ilt 53 1. Boeing also bu ilt thre e XB-29s and fo urt een Y8 29s; Be ll and Marrin built five B-29 pi lot sh ips each , making a grand to ta l of 3 ,9 70 .

Boeing-Sea ttle W ithout building yet another factory building at Boein g's Sea ttle Plant 2 facility th ere simply was nor enough space to creat e addition al product ion lines for th e B-29, d ue to

Boein g's ongoi ng heavy B- 17 produ ction at that facility. T h us Boeing-Seat tle built just the th ree XB-29-80 s in a cordoned-o ff area of th e Plant 2 B-17 factory. Moreover, du e to the B-29's h igh security status, Boe ing's W ichita facility was considered more suitable because of its more sec ure location in th e USA mid-west. A ll thr ee XB-29-BOs were fabricated in major sections at Boeing's south Sea tt le Plant I facility, then barged upstream on the Duwamish River to Plan t 2 for final assemb ly and flight-test.

Boeing-Wichita O n 6 September 194 1 the Boe ing Ai rp lan e Company received approved USAA F co ntract AC 196 73 for the manufactu re of 230 B-29- 1, 8 -29 -5, 8 -29 - 10 , B-29- 15 and B29 -ZO-BW a ircraft at its W ichi ta, Kansas, facility. O f these, fourteen wou ld be service test YB-29s and 213 wo uld be production B-29s. In addi t ion, it had to man ufactur e an d de liver B-29 too ling to both Bell and Mart in so that they co uld build their B-29I-BA and B-29- 1-MO pilo t sh ips. O n 3 1 Jan uary 194 2, on amended contrac t A C 19673 , ano ther 500 pro d uct ion B-29s were o rdered from Boeing-W ichi ta . Th e co nt ract was again ame n ded on 13 Jun e 1944 for the prod uction of 500 add ition al B-29s. T hen it was amended aga in on 30 Ju ne 1944 for 200 more. O n 13 Januar y 1945 the same ca nt ract was amended for the last t ime with an order for 180 more 8 -29-B\Vs. ot counting the fourteen YB29s a irplane s, thi s brought the tot al of W ich ita -produ ced B-29s to 1,630. Boeing-\Vich ita Plan t 2 went on to bui ld a tota l of fourteen service test Y8 -29s and 1,630 production B-29s. T he first co mbatready 8 -29-BW, a B-29-I -BW (4 2-6222), was accepted by th e USAA F on 3 March 1944. The last W ichita -built Superfortrcss, a B-29-I OO-BW (45-2 1872 ) came off the product ion line on 26 September 1944 and was deliv ered to th e US A A F on 10 Oc toher. But gett ing 8 -29 production and deli veries off th e ground ar Boein g-\Vich ira was

39

mor e than a challenge. In fact , it was a battle - the Barrie of Kan sas.

The Batt le o f Kan s as W ith YB-29 fligh t-test act ivities con rin uing and Plant 2 up and running, Boein g had moved head long int o B-29-BW pro ducti on by m id- 194 3. However, fewer th an 100 produ ction B-29-BWs h ad been built at Wi chita Plan t 2 by ea rly Jan uar y 194 4. \Vorse, du e to a lack of gove rn me nt furni shed eq uipment (GFE) and o ther mater ia ls, on ly sixtee n of th ese were flyable. Worse yet, on IS Jan uary 1944, an assessme nt by 20th A ir Force headqu arters had co ncl uded th at not a sing le B-29 in the inve nt ory was ready fo r comba t. The U AAF co mmander, G ene ral Hap A rn o ld, was un aware of thi s situation wh en he ar rived at Smok y H ill AAF in Kansas ( 0 sec what he thou gh t wou ld be th e first ove rseas dep art ure of co mba tready B-29s of th e 20th A ir Force's 58th Bom b Wing (Very Heavy). To h is urp risc, and disgust. he found that no B-29s were ready for th e ir first combat deployment s. T he pro blem was that th e ea rly pro d uct ion B-29-BW aircraft were be ing used for crew train ing, so they needed extens ive modi ficat ions to ac h ieve combat readiness. Moreov er. there was a serious sho rt age uf mech an ics and eq uip ment to affec t these. Gene ral Arno ld - th e 8 -29's ch ief adv ocate - was more than livid. He immed iately rook steps ro cor rec t th e situat ion. He imm edi arely orde red hi gh -prior ity modifications, wh ich num bered mor e th an fifty per aircraft and encompassed n ume rous items ran ging from the co nt in uing eng ine prob lem s to the co mplicat ed installat ion of th e new and soph ist icarcd computerized cent ra l fire co n tro l (C FC) system. He placed h is aide . General B.E. Meyer, in charge o f th e mod ificat ion programme, a crash programme to make B-29-BWs co mhat read y, whi ch becam e kn own as the Bart le of Kan sas and whi ch began on 10 March 1944.

PRODUCTI ON

Boeing-Wichita Plant 2. Peter M. Bowers

Earlier, th e 100t h product ion B-29-BW was OlH of th e factory by I Jan uary 1944 . G ene ral A rn old a rrived at Plan t 2 to see how th e 175th S uperfort was co ming alon g (th is was the min im um number of aircraft needed to eq uip th e first B-29 bom b group). H e fou nd its already att ac he d fuselage sect ions in final assembly and it was nea rly ready to recei ve its wing and empen nage assemblies. 'T h is is the pla ne I want ,' said A rno ld, ' I want it befor e th e first of March. ' The 175th Boein g-Wi chi ta Su pe rfort - now nam ed THE G E ERAL H . H . A R O LD S PEC IA L - rolled out on 28 February 194 4. So by thi s time th er e were 175 co mplete d B-29- BWs to deal with . The man y new, and in some cases untried , syste ms on th e B-29 cha llenge d th e military airframe and powerplan r mech an ics and techn icians inv olv ed in the pro gramme. T h erefore, when th ey ran into di fficu lt ies Boe ing supplied some of its mech ani cs and technicians from th e Plant 2 assembly line to assist th em. T h is move inevitably furt he r slowed produ cti on . Then

th e mid -western US A winter weather go t worse and it bec ame ex tre me ly co ld OlH side wh ere the mech ani cs and tech n icians were for ced to work, sinc e Plant I was busy turn in g out Kaydcr training aircraft and th e few h an ger'S that wer e at th e BoeingW ich ita fac ility were all already full with o th er a ircraft. It was so co ld th at the work ers had to dr ess in h igh -al titude fligh t suits and wear gloves. \Vorse, they could on ly work about twenty min utes a t a tim e befo re th ey n eed ed warm-up breaks in h eat ed tents. T h ese h ard-pressed personnel work ed in aro und the -clock e igh t- hour sh ifts, six days per week un de r th ese h orri ble co ndi t ions . T h e Bat tle of Kan sas raged on for some th irtyfive days, end ing for th e most in mid -Apri l 1944. BUl th e long and ago n izing ba ttle h ad finally been won . Fo llowing co n trac tor flight s th e modified B-29-BW s were acce pted by th e USAAF and flown to Smo ky Hi ll AAF for crew assign men ts. It was on 26 March 1944 th at th e first flight s of combat- ready B-29-BW s

40

began to depart Smo ky Hill. Thc first flight out was led by th e co mma nde r of 58 BW (H) , Colonel Leon ard 'Jake' H an n on , who had made the first fligh t on XB-29 nu mber thr ee. The last of th e 58 BW 's B-29s depart ed on IS A pril 1944.

Bell-Atlanta (Marietta) T h e Bell A ircraft Corporat ion of Buffalo, cw York, was busy building P-39 A iraco bra fighters when rh e U AA F ordered its first bat ch of 250 B-29s fro m Boeing. But wh en it was decid ed to grea tly sup pleme nt th e initi al B-29 producti on o rde r, th e USA A F looked to othe r man ufactur ers to help out. With its P-39 produ ction begin n ing to wind down as more advanced figh te rs such as th e P-38, P-47 and P-5 1 becam e ava ilable, Bcll would ha ve adeq uate fac tory space - especially in its bra nd new Plant 6 fac ility, which was being readied in A tlan ta (Mariett a), Georgia . Bell's new fight er, th e P-63

PRODUCT IO N

Kingcobra, was going to be built in Buffalo, so the USAA F gave Bell a se ries of productio n co nt racts to build B-29s in Georgia. As previously relat ed, on 6 Septe mber 194 1 Bell received approved USAA F co ntract AC 19673 to build five 13-29 pilot sh ips from too ling supplied by Boeing (U SAAC serial n umbers 4 2-6222, 42-6224, 42-6233, 42 -6235 and 42-6243 ). T hen on 19 July 1944 USA A F co ntr ac t AC 27730 was approved for th e produ cti on of 400 13-29BAs and B-29B -BA . T his was an increase of ISO aircraft over th e original 250- plane orde r allowed for in th e lett er-of-in tent con tract Bell had received in early 1943. Then on 19 July 1944 in amended co nt ract A 27730, Bell received notice that it wou ld produce anot he r 268 B-29s and B-29Bs. T he first Bell-built 13-29 (a pilot sh ip ) was to be deliver ed in Se pte mbe r 1943 . T he first exa mple was not com plet ed until late October h owe ver, and it mad e it first fligh t on 4 Novembe r 194 3 . 1 o t count ing the five pilo t sh ips, Bell went on to build 357 product ion B-29 -BA s and 3 11 product ion B-29B -BA s; 66 total. The last of thes e, a 13-29 13, was deli ver ed on 19 Jan uar y 194 5.

Number 38 of fifty producti on B-29+BWs. 42-6242 on the ground w ith a USAAF guard. Peter M. Bowers

Mart in-Oma ha O n 6 Se pte mbe r 194 1 th e G len n L. Mart in Company in Baltimore, Maryland received US A A F con trac t AC 1967 3 for the con struct ion of five B-29-I -MO pilot sh ips using Boe ing-provided tooling (USAAC serial n umbe rs 4 2-6229/-6232 and 42623 7). T hen on 30 Ju n e 1944 th e co mpa n y recei ved co nt rac t AC 117 for th e in itial pro duct ion of 199 B-29s. T his amount was upped to 299 in th e amended co nt rac t AC 117, and then th e amount was furt her incr eased on am ended con tract AC 117, by 232 aircraft. Ma rtin h ad planned to bu ild its 13-33 S uper Marau der four -eng in e mediu m-cl ass (in o the r word s heav y-cl ass) bombers at its O maha , ebraska , fac ility, bu t aft er th e 1313 produc tion programme was termi n at ed in favour of 13-29 and 13-3 2 prod uct ion , it used its O maha pla nt for its B-29 manu facturing pro gram me . In all, n ot co unt ing th e five p ilot sh ips, Martin pro d uce d 531 pro ducti on B-29MO s, in clud ing th e six ty-five ilvc rplarc B-29 s (d escr ibed in C h apte r 6) . T h e first Mart in -O maha 13-29 pi lot sh ip flew in O ctober 1943 and th e last one built left the facto ry on 19Ju ly 1945.

This in -flight view of 42-6242 clearl y shows the Boeing 117 w ing design . which provided the lift so important to the success of the Superfort . Peter M. Bowers

Boe ing-Re nton O n 19 Sep te mbe r 1942 - two days befor e XB-29 n um ber on e h ad flown - th e Boeing A irplane C ompa ny rece ived appro ved cont ract AC 19673 for th e man ufacture of 300 prod uct ion B-29As. Th is contract was amended on 30 Ju ne 1944 for th e manu facture of an add it io na l 8 19 B-29As, bringin g th e tota l to 1, 119 a irpla ne s. Boein g's brand-n ew Rent on, \Vash ington , plant was owne d by the U A N av y and was gear ing up to produce fifty-seven

47

PBB-I Sea Ran ger tw in -engi ne sea-based pa tro l bombe rs in mid - 1942. H owever, it was about th is time th at the USN 's patrol bo mb er req uirem ent s cha nge d sufficien tly to warr ant ca nc ellat ion of th e Se a Ran ge r pro d uct ion con trac t, so th e USN traded th e use of Boeing's Plant 3 facility at Ren ton to th e USAAC, in exchange for its use of North A me rican's Kan sas C ity product ion facilit y, that was produ cing B-25s and the US 's PBJ land-based pat rol bom bers. T h us, Boeing was a uthor ized to prod uce the new ly-or dered B-29A -BN airplanes at

PROD UCT I ON

fl&~;T4!~/U STAif

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IV AK

FI"AIIC, CIMMITTEE u.s . TREA'SUKY OfP ·T.

TOP: A B-29A-5-BN (42-93844)

is illustrated on this War Bonds Drive Certificate. Peter M. Bowers

A brand new B-29-86-BW (44-87704) leads a flock of other factory-fresh Superforts to their air base prior to being ferried to operations in the Pacific. ABOVE:

Peter M. Bowers

8 -29 Production Designation XB-29-BO YB-29-BW B-29-1-BA B-29-1-MO B-29-BA B-29B-BA B-29-MO B-29A-BN B-29-BW

Number

3 14

5 5 357 311 536 1,1 19 1,630

Location Seattle. Washington Wichita. Kansas Atlanta, Georgia Omaha. Nebraska Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta, Georgia Omaha. Nebraska Renton, Washington Wichita. Kansas

Total: 3.980

42

Comment

pilot ships pilot ships

Renton. T h e US N still owne d Plant 3, however, and that is why B-29A airplanes had th e BN ( Boeing/N avy) suffix. T h e first B-29A (4 2-93824) rolled off the assemb ly line on 2 1 December 1943 and made its first fligh t on 30 Dece mbe r. Boeing-Ren ton p rod uced 1, 1ZZ B-29As. The last produc tion S upe rfortre ss, a B29A -75- BN (44 -623 28) , came off th e Renton produ cti on lin e o n 28 May 1946 and was del ivered to th e U SAAF twel ve days lat e r, on 10 June.

PRODUCT I ON

ABOVE: Three

Renton-built B-29As are about to cross the Cedar River. after which they we re parked on the flight line. Peter M. Bowers

.-.

B-29A-10-BN42-93888 being towe d across the Cedar River. Peter M. Bowers

BELOW:

II

LEFT: B-29-55-BW 42-24881 in the background flies in close formation with an unidentified Superior!. Peter M. Bowers

A rare shot of Bell-built B-29s.

RIGHr.

USAF

43

PROD e T I ON

TOP: The first Renton-built B-29A-1-BN (42-93824) is about to be barged across

ABOVE: The same B-29A arrives on the west side of the Cedar River. It made its first flight two days later. on 30 December. Pater M. Bowers

the Cedar River on 28 December 1943. Peter M. Bowers

44

PROD UCT IO ;,\

Specifications - B-29- BA. B-29-BW and B-29-MO Powerplant:

Four Wright Aeronautical R-3350-23 Cyclone 18radial engines

Weights:

Empty 80.000lb (36.000kgl; loaded 133.5001b (60.600kgl

Dimensions:

Length 99ft 130.1m); wingspan 141ft 3in(43.1m); wingarea 1,736sqIt (l61.27sqm); height 27ft 9in {8 45ml

Perlormance:

Maximum speed 370mph (590km/h); cruising speed 250mph {400km/hl; service ceiling 32.1DOlt (9.800m); maximum bomb load 20.000lb (9.000kg) lor a distance 011.500 miles (2,400km)

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Specification - B-29A-BN Powerplant:

FourWright Aeronautical R-3350-57 Cyclone 18rad ial engines

Weights:

Empty 86.500lb (39.000kg); loaded 140.000lb{63.500kgl

Dimensions:

Length 991t (30.1rn]: wingspan 142ft 3in 143.4m); wingarea 1.800sq ft (167.2sq m); height 27 ft 9in (8.45m)

Performance :

Maximum speed 375mph (600km/h); cruisi ng speed 250mph (400km/h); serviceceiling 33.0001t (10.000m); maximum bomb load 20.000lb (9.000kgl lor a distance 01 1.500 miles (2.400kml

Female w orker prepareswiring harnesses to be installed in Martin-built B-29s. The Gl enn L. Martin Aviation Museumvia Stan Piet

Spec ification - B-29B-BA Powerplant:

Four Wright Aeronautical R-3350-51 Cyclone 18 radial engines

Weights:

Empty 79.5001b (36.000kg); loaded 137.500lb {62,400kgl

Dimensions:

Length 991t (30.1 m); wingspan 141ft 3in(43. 1m); wingarea 1.736sq ft (161.27sq ml;height27ft 9in {8.45ml

Performance:

Maximumspeed 380mph (610km/hl; cruisingspeed 260mph (420km/h); serviceceiling 33.000lt (lO.OOOm); maximum bomb load 20.0001b (9.000kgl

This B-29-1-BW (42-6237) w as one of several Superforts that w ent to the MartinOmaha plant to serve as pilot ships. The Glenn L. Marti" Aviation Museum via Stan Piet

This in-flight view of B-29A-30-BN 42-94106 ill ustrates the extraordinarily clean Art Deco lines of World War Two's most advanced bomber. USAF

45

I' RODUCTI ON

ABOVE: This

is the first Martin-built B-29-1-MO (42-652D2) as it appeared on 1D October 1944. The Glenn L. Martin Aviation Museum via Stan Piet

BElOW: This is a compos ite image of Martin-Omaha factory workers take n on 4 November 1944with a completed B-29 in their midst. The Glenn L. MartinAviation Museumvia Stan Piet

46

PRODUCTI ON

A Martin-built B-29-25-MO on the ramp.

The Glenn L. Martin Aviation Museumvia Stan Piet

BELOW: 42-65267 is one of fifty production B-29-25M Os at M artin's Middle River facility in Baltimore, Ma ryl and. on 14 December 1944. The Glenn L. Martin

Aviation Museum via Stan Piet Bon OM: Another view of 42-65267 surrounded by empl oyees. The Glenn L. Martin Aviation Mu seum via

Stan Piet

47

PRODUCT IO N

48

PROD UCTI ON

OPPOSITE PAGE TOP: The Martin-Omaha production line on 11 April

1945. The Glenn L. Martin AviationMuseum via StanPiet INSET MIDDLE: The 1.000thproduction Boeing-Wich ita-

bui lt B-29. USAF BOTTOM: M artin B-29s being assembled for Combat

Eagle on 11 April 1945. The Glenn L. Martin Aviation MuseumviaStan Piet

THIS PAGE TOP: Riveters putti ng the fin ishi ng touches to

Mart in-built tail -gunner compartments on 5 June 1944. The Glenn L. Martin Aviation Museumvia Stan Piet BOTTOM: Being held at the fin al assembly doors on 11 April 1945is the 532nd M arti n-built B-29. It w as the 34th B-29-40-MO (44-27359) built. but since production w as stopped at 531 air craft, it w as not received by the USAAF. Thus only thirty-three B-29-40-MOs wer e deliv ered. TheGl enn L. Martin Aviation MuseumviaStanPiet

49

PRODUCT IO N

TOP: The last production B-29-MO. on 19 July 1945. The Glenn L Martin Aviation Museum via Stan Piet ABOVE:

Forward fuselage assembly on 5 June 1945. The Gle nn L Martin Aviation Museum via Stan Piet

RIGHT. A

B-29 being towed. USAF

50

CHAPTER FOUR

Structures and Systems T he Boe ing B-29 Supc rforrrcss was a maste rpiece of aerona ut ical and propu lsive syste m engine ering. It was very large and very heavy for its day, easy on th e eye and incred ibly advanced , wh ile featuring an auto pilot , co mpute rized fire-con tro l system, radar-enh an ced all-weat her bo mb ing capabilitv, pressur ized crew acco mmodation , tricycle landing gear, self-sca ling fuel ta nks , an d man y ot he r innovat ion s. It had bee n co nce ived so me two years before th e U A en tered \Vorld \Var Two by peop le wh o had the foresigh t to know that such a plane would be needed. A t first it was simply described as bei n g a bigger and be tte r B- 17 Flying Fortress - a SU/Jer Fort ress, one migh t say - bu t it was far more than that. To manu facture and field such an adva nce d bomber as th e B-29 at such a heel ie tim e created o ne of the most in tense ind ustri al und ert ak ings of the war, seco nd on ly to the creation of th e ato m ic bomb, of wh ieh the Supe rfort itself beca me an int egral parr . A ll of thi s woul d ha ve been for noth ing, however, if key Pacific islands had not been secured for B-29 operations - at an inc red ible loss of life. T he B-29 Supcrfortress was rep lete with bo th co mmo n and uncommon structures and syste ms, wh ich in pa rt arc as fo llows.

Accom moda t io n Accommodati on was mad e for a nor mal c rew of six o r an a lte rnative crew of up to twe lve. T he n o rma l six-person crew con sisted of pi lo t, co -pilot, bo mbard ier, flight enginee r, naviga to r and rad io opera to r. The six ex tra crew memb ers were thr ee o r fo ur targe t-sight in g men to fire th e remotely-o perated d efensive guns , a radar o pe rat or and a ta il-gunn er. These crew mem bers were hou sed in three pressur ized sect io ns: the n ose sect ion , the rear fuselage sec tio n (ju st aft of th e rear bo mb bay) and th e ta il-gu n ner' s co mpa rt men t. T he pilot , co -p ilo t , bo mba rd ier, radi o ope rator, fligh t en ginee r and na vigato r wer e housed in th e forw ard nose sect ion

Looking forward out of a 8 -29 cockpit. also called the 'greenh ouse' because of all the glass . showing both pilot's (left) and co-pilot's controls. USAF

TOP:

BOTTOM: Section 41. the forward fuselage compartment or nose se ction. which housed the pilot. co-pilot. bombardier. flight engineer. radar operato r. radio operator and navigator. USAF

51

ST RUCTURES A:\ D SYSTE \ IS

The flight engineer's sta tion in B-29A-1 -BN number one (42-93824) on 15 December 1943.fifteen days before its first flight. Peter M. Bowers

The navigator's station in the first Renton-built B-29A. Peter M. Bowe rs

The navigator and radar operator stations. Peter M. Bowers

Flight eng ineer station . USAF

52

STRUCTU RES AND

SYSTE ~ IS

wh ile the sigh t ing personnel wer e housed in the rear fuse lage sect ion . A pressuri zed tun nel 34in (0. 6m ) in di ame ter, just abo ve th e ta ndem bo mb-bays, co n nec ted the for ward and rear co mpart ments . T he ta il-gun ne r, by co nt rast , was for ced to rema in in hi s compar tmen t. , ;. ..... J9 -4';' . ' "

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A r mame nt T he B-29 was heavily armed, with four remo tel y con tro lled , power-operat ed gun turret s (IWO dor sal, two ventra l), eac h housing two Model M-2 .50-ca libre mach ine-guns. A fifth gun tur ret in the tail housed a Mod el M-3 20111m can non with a .50-ca libre machi ne-gun on eithe r side. T he re were norm ally 500 rounds of ammuni t ion for eac h mach ine-gun (b ut sometim es as man y as 1,000 round s pe r gun were carried ) and 110 rounds for th e can non . In many cases during \'(1or ld War Two th e can non was rem oved, leaving just the two machine-guns in th e rail position; sometim es a third mach ine-gun mount ed in its place. Lat e-p roduction B-29As had four machi ne guns in th e forward dorsal turrer. T he upper rea r tur ret 's lower limit of fire was hor izon ta l. The upper forward turret's lower limit of fire was 2Y1 degrees below th e hori zontal. The forward and rea r lo wer turrets' upper lim it of fire was 5 degrees above hori zont al. The ta il tur ret's rear lim its of fire were 30 deg rees abo ve and below th e hor izont al ce nt rel ine and 30 deg rees right and left of the ve rt ica l cen trel ine (wit h in th ese limit s a pyramid-shaped area of fire was formed ). Th e four upp er and lower gun turrets were eac h supplicd wit h 1,000 round s of amm un it ion (500 rounds per gun ). A not her 1,000 rounds were supplied when I he four-gun upper forwa rd ru rret appeared (2 ,000 total , 500 pe r gun ). T he re were thr ee sigh ting stat ions in the rear compart me nt : one on either side of the fuselage and one atop th e fuselage on centrel ine just aft of th e rear dorsa l turret. T here was a fourth sight ing station at th e bomba rdier's position . The rea r compartment ho used the General Electric C ent ral Fire C ont rol (C FC ) syste m. T he bo mbardie r was respon sible for the forward lower turr et . The cent re gun ne r was responsible for th e two dorsal turrets and the left an d righ t waist-gun ners were responsible for the aft, ventral turret , having bot h primary and seco nda ry control of th at tu rret. In add ition to th e G E C FC syste m used on most of th e B-29 and B-29A airc raft,

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BELOW: The Central Fire Control (CFC) compartment. The CFC comp artment was manned by three crewmen - left. right and centr e spotte rs/gunners. USAF

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3 11 Bell-bui lt B-29B airplanes were modi fied to emp loy an ad va nced A /A PG - IS B a irborn e rada r-di rec ted fire co nt rol system ca lled A irbo rne Radar Gu n S igh ti ng System , whi ch locked on to approac h ing fighters and auto ma t ica lly fired wh atever gun fs) were requi red. Most B-29s, however, were fitted with th e A /A PQ -13 rada r bombardm ent syste m for ' t h rough th e clo uds' bombing. Othe r B-29s ca me eq uipped with the specia l A N/APQ-7 Eagle radar bo mbardme n t system, wh ich feat ured a large wing carried und erneat h th e Supe rfor ts - thu s, Eagle . Two of the C FC sigh t ing stat ions - port and sta rboard in th e rear co mpart ment -

53

had 'h lisrcr'vtvp c Plexiglas wind ows. These had a ter rihie tenden cy to blow out at alt itude, caus ing sudden decompression . \'(1orse, crew mem bers would be blown out as well if th ey were not securely st rap ped in with hi gh-qu al ity safety belts. U nfort unatel y thi s occ urred far too often , with tragic results. T he re has been no docu mcnrcd repo rt abo ut th e top sigh ting station 's blister win dow blowing out. A rmo ur plating and 'flak curta ins' were employed for crew prot ecti on . In the Korean \'(1ar, afte r the nigh t-time bombardment mission s had begun , each machi ne-gun had on ly 100 rounds of ammun it ion . T he 20mm ca n non were not

STRUCTURES AND

emp loyed in Korea, all h aving been removed afte r \'(Io rld War Two. T h e S upcrfort h ad two bomb-bays mounted in tande m between th e forward and rear crew compart me n ts, one fo rward and one aft of the win g cen tre sec t ion . T h e hombs wou ld be ejec ted in a forw ard -to -aft sequence from the two bomb -ba ys to maintain a prope r ce n tre of gravity. Each hom b-bay was fin ed with six bom b rack s, three for ward and th ree aft. A typ ica l bomb load was co mprised of fon y SOOlb, twenty per bay. U p ro 20 ,000 1b (9,000k g) of bo mbs co uld be ca rried . T h e B-29's bomb-bays could acco mmodate the following bomb loads: eigh ty IOOlb, fifty-six 3001b, fon y SOOlb, twelv e 1,000Ib, twelve 1,600Ib, eigh t 2,0001b or fo ur 4,000 Ib. The Silvcrplare B-29 co uld carry up to two IO,OOOlb-ciass ato mic bom bs. Some B-29s were fitt ed with exte rna l bomb racks underneath th eir inner wing sections, between the fuselage and the inboard engine nacel les. These were for th e ca rriage of very large bombs such as four 4,0001b bombs, two on either ex terna l bom b rack , or others such as the British I2,0001b Tall Boy. Moreover, some B-29s had both of th eir bomb-bays mod ified to accept a sing le British n ,OOOlb G rand Slam. In Worl d War Two the B-29 used two types of bo mb sigh t . T h e first of th ese was the fam ed ordcn Model D-S. The sec ond was th e A fA PQ- 7 Eagle radar sigh t, which featured a large l Sft-s pa n (S A m) wing moun ted be ne ath th e fusela ge, an d was employed for bom bing at n ight and through h eav y cloud co ve r. The Mk- I or lillie Boy ato mic bom b was 120in (3.0 4Sm ) long, 2Sin (0.7m) in d iameter and weigh ed S,9001b (4,000kg). It h ad a yield of IS-1 6 kiloto ns and was a gun -type heavy urani um bomb. Five were built. The Mk-3 or Fat Man ato mic bomb was 12 in (3.25m ) lon g, 60in ( l.5 m) in diam eter and weighed 1O,3001b(4,700kg). It was a plu mnium imp losion bomb with a yield of 1 --49 kilotons. 120 were built. T he cancel led Thin Man was approxima tely 17ft (5. ISm) long and 2ft (0.6m) in diam et er. Since it was ca nc elled prior to dep loymen t, its pro jected weigh t and yield are unkn own .

Fuselage T he B-29 fuselage was of all-me tal. semimonocoq ue design , with stressed skin , extruded longerons and formed circumfercntials of 24ST alumin ium alloy. \'(Iith

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ABOVE: B-29 acce ss doors. windows and panels. Peter M. Bowers Coll ection OPPOSITE PAGE TOP: The escape routes for B-29 crewmembers in case of an emergency. Peter M. Bowers

aorroe: The shaded

are as on th is inboard profile show where B-29 crewmembers were housed and where they moved about w ith in the air craft. Peter M. Bowers

minor exceptions, on ly flush rivet s were used to att ach th e skin ro th e fuselage structur e. There were thr ee pressurized compartmen ts: one in th e nose, one aft of th e rear bomb-bay and one in th e ex treme mil. T h e p ilot , co- pilo t , figh t engine e r, radi o o perato r, navigator and bom bardi er we re sta tione d in th e fo rwa rd co mpa rt ment and were pro vided th ree ex its . T h eir nor mal entry and exit was th rou gh th e nose land in g gea r wh eel-well, by mea ns of a hat ch in th e floor beside th e fligh t engineer's stat ion ; thi s hat ch could also be used as an e me rge ncy ex it. The pressure bulkh ead (stat ion li S) door prov ided an e mergency exit th rough th e bomb-bay. Lastl y, th e fligh t e nginee r's remova ble window could be used as a n e me rge ncy ex it , but on ly wh ile on th e gro und or in water. The rear pressuri zed co mpa rt me nt was located im med iatel y aft of th e rea r bomb bay. and was con ne cted to th e forwa rd co mpa rt ment by a pressur ized tun nel ,

54

whi ch allowed cre w me mbers ac cess to e ith er co m pa rtme n t d uri n g hi gh -al ti tude fligh t. Exit fro m th e rear compa rt me n t was thro ugh eithe r th e pressure bu lkhe ad (stati on 646 ) door, offering eme rgen cy ex it th rou gh the aft bomb-b ay, or th rou gh th e pressure bu lkh ead (st ati on S34 ) door, wh ich ga ve e me rge nc y exi t [() th e rea r un pressuri zed co mpa rtme n t. Exi t fro m th e rear un pressurized com part ment was th rou gh th e rea r entra n ce door, whi ch was bot h the nor mal a nd an e me rgency exit , or through an esca pe h at ch on th e up per left side of fuse lage , wh ich co uld be used as a n e me rge ncy ex it, but on ly whil e on th e gro un d or in water. Pressur e bulkh eads, located at statio ns 1110 and 1144 , for med a small pressur ized enc losure for th e tai l-gun ner. Entrance was ga in ed th ro ugh a door in the sta tion 1110 bu lkhead a nd e merge ncy exi t made th ro ugh a win dow at th e tail -gunner 's righ t (t hat is, th e left-h an d side of aircraft ).

STRUCT URES AND

SYS TE ~ IS

I

300

500

FW D . BOMB BAY.

REA R BOMB BAY

I G UN N ER'S

~~~~R~~PfR

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BOMB BA Y CO M PA RTMENT - --

-

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55

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600

1000

BUN KS 1\

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RADAR

co w

( SO M E AIRPLANES ) :

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REAR LO W ER TURRET

1100 TA IL

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1100 t TA IL TURRET

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STRUCTURES

A~ [) SY STE ~ I S

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aft bomb -bays. USAF

UNSHAOED AREA SHOWN

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ABOVE: B-29 bom b-b ay c ross- section , Peter M. Bow ers 4OaomIM

20.000 11>0.

RIGHr. B-29 bomb ra ck s. Peter M. Bowers

56

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42~ric~:~~ I

STR UCT RES A:\D SYS TDIS

LEFr. Rear top gun-turret detail. Peter M . Bow ers

This is the last B-29A produced at Boeing -Renton as it appeared on 20 May 1946. It clearly shows cockpit and forward top gun-turret details. Peter M . Bow ers

BELOW:

. '.~

57

,

ST RUC TU RES AN D SY STEMS

'lY.'!!.l!Il!lli llEFORE rM E orr

O~

Landing Gear

LANDING

G..f'fS OF TAil TlSt stf T AND BOTH LOWER GU'
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Primary and secondary gun-fir ing controls . USAF

The landing gear e mp loyed in th e 13-29 was of th e tricycle type, whi ch was rela ti vel y unusual at th e tim e. A s far as U bom bin g aircraft go , on ly th e 13-24, 13-25 a nd 13-26 had previ ou sly employed tricycle land ing gea r, an d h ardl y any Briti sh, G erman , Sov iet or Japanese aircraft used such a n arrange me n t. Indeed , th e 13-29 was the first h eav y-cla ss producti on bomber of any n ati on to usc tri cycle landing gear. The main landing gear was of a can tilcver type, co nsisting of two air-oil shoc k strut assemblies, on each of which were mounted two wheel s with 56in (1.4 2m) diamet er tread-type tyrcs. Retra ct ion was acco mplish ed electrica lly, and an alternative mot or was pro vided for em ergency operation of th e gear in th e even t of power or mot or failur e. T he main land ing gear wheels were eac h equipped with expand er tube type hydraulic brakes, operat ed in th e convent iona l manner from the rudder peda ls. T he nose landing gear operated imu lran eously with th e main landing gear and co ns isted of a trunnion , a co mp ression strut, two torsion links, a uni versal assembly, a retracting mech ani sm, a single air-o il shoc k strut and du al wheels eq uipped with 36 in (0 .91m) smoot h- type tvres. T h e wheel a nd ax le assembly cou ld tum through 360 de grees. Within 15 degrees of each side of th e cent re position, however, a cam-androller mech ani sm would return th e gear to the cent re position . A towing lug was provided ncar th e centre of th e ax le assembly, and th e sh ock absorber was mounted on th e sh oc k strut, to prevent wheel sh immy. A retractable tai l skid ope ra ted in co njunct ion with the landing gea r to prevent damage to th e aircraft in an abrupt take-off rota tio n or a rai l-down landi ng.

Engin es

Oneof YB-29 number 14's (41-36967)bomb-bays full of 500lb bombs. Peter M. Bowers

58

T he 13-29 was powered by four a ir-coo led IS-cylind er Wri ght R-3350 Cy clo ne I twin -row rad ial eng ines of 3,350cu in (5 4.Sltr) displacem ent, fitted with exha ustdr iven rurbos upcrcha rgers. It used a nu mber of versions of th e R-3350 with take -off power ratings ran gin g from 2,200hp ro 2,SOOhp. The basic R-335 0 e ng ine weighed 2,SOOlb (1 .270kg) when ready to insrall . Its cylinder bore was 6. 125in (l55. 5mm) and its co n nec ting rod stroke 6.30 in ( 160mm) . \V h en Boe ing powcrp lan t engineers were asked to find a n adeq uat e en gine for

STRUCTU RES AND SYST EMS

th e XB-29 in mid -194 0 , th ey looked at every high -horsepower offering th at was ava ilable or soon to be av ailable. T hey wanted an eng ine that could produ ce a maximum tak e-off rating of at least 2,000 h p, but preferred to get one rat ed at 2,200h p. They foc used on two different air-coo led rad ial eng ines - one from Pratt & W hitncy, one from Wri ght. T he contender from Pratt & Wh itn ey was th e R2800 Double Wasp, whi ch boasted of 2,000 h p and was soo n to be av ailab le. Thc onc being offered by Wr ight, th e R-3350 C yclo ne 18 , promised at least 2, 1OOhp but it was no t go ing to be imm ediately ava ilable. However, th e \Vrigh t offered a better growth pot ent ial (in term s of increased power outputs) th an th e Prat t & Whi tn ey, so th e R-3350 was selected: it wo uld power the XB-29 and an y subsequen t models, Wri ght had starte d work on its C yclone 18 engine in January 1936, and th e pro totype first ran in May 193 7. It was based on Wri gh t's l-l-cvlind er twin-ro w R-2600 radi al , but had two more cylinde rs per row, with the same bor e an d stroke. It was mad e with a th ree-sect ion forged alumin ium (lat er cast iron) cran kcase, featuring castiron cylinde r h cads and magn esium -alloy turbosupercharger casings. Downd raft carburat ion was employed by th e early R-3350 eng ine s, wh ich creat ed a ir and fuel mi xture incon sisten cies betwee n th e front and rear cylinder rows. For the most part this prob lem was elimi nat ed when a dir ect fuel -inj ecti on syste m was incor porat ed on lat er model s. To mass-p roduce th e R-3350, Wr ight built a new factory at Wood bridge, Ne w Jersey, to wor k in co nce rt with its C inc innati, O h io , facility. Wri ght's N ew Jersey and O h io factor ies ch urned out some 13,800 of these eng ines. In addi tion , th e Dodge di vision of the C h rysler C orporation in C h icago , Illin ois, produced about 18,400 more of th em . T hu s approximately 32,200 R-3350 engincs were manufactured . The R-3350 was plagued with early development problems, but man y early design flaws were addressed an d correc ted and by the end of World War Two the time between scheduled overha uls of th e R-3350 increased from about 100 to 400 hou rs. But it remains one of th e most troublesome engines to ever en ter full-scale prod uction . Still, it was used by a number of other legendary US mili tary aircraft, such as th e Douglas AD Skvraidc r, Fairch ild C- 119 Flying Boxcar, Mart in PB2M Mars an d Lockhced C- 12 1 Supcr C onstellation.

Tallboy penetrating (earthqu ake) bombs being carr ied under eith er wing on exte rna l hard points. These bombs were 21ft (6.4m) long and 3ft Bin (l .15m) in di ameter. Peter M. Bowers

TO P: Two 12.0001b (5.400kg)

22.0001b (10.000kg) Grand Slam bomb fitted to an extensively modified bomb-bay. Peter M. Bowers

ABOVE: A

59

ST RUCTURES A:"D

SYST E ~ IS

TOP: This B-29-25-BW (42-24441 ), one of fifty -25-BWs built, was used to evaluate

various gun types and gun locations. The 'plane's powered turrets we re replaced by M arti n-built manned turrets (top) and Sperry-built manned tur rets (bott om) and, in th is vi ew, two remote-control nose turrets were evaluated . Peter M. Bowers Another view of 42-24441 show ing an extended Sperry ball -type retractable bott om turret and a manned side blister gun. Peter M. Bowers

ABOVE:

LEFT: left-hand spotter/gunner sighting blister. The CFC compartment is sect ion 43. Peter M. Bowers RIGH T: A number of factory-fresh

B-29As at the Boeing-Renton plant. Note four -gun top forward turret. exclus ive to B-29As. USAF

60

STRUCT URES A:" D S Y S T E ~ IS

The fo ur 1\-33 50 e n gine s o n th e 13-29 wer e fitted wit h H am ilton -S tan dard , fourblad ed , co nsta n t-speed , fu ll-fea th e rin g pro pel le rs. Cons tan t -speed co nt ro l was maint ained with a go ve rn o r and was o pe ra ted el ec trica lly by fo ur switc hes for in cliv id ua l co nt ro l o f ea c h pro pe lle r. These switc hes wer e lo ca ted on th e a isle sta n d , for use h y th e p ilot or co -pilo r. Each R-33 50 eng ine was eq uipped with two type 13- 11 exh aust-d rive n turbosuperch arge rs mo un ted ve rt ica lly on e ith er side of the n acell e. T h ese boosted man ifo ld pressure for take-off an d provi ded in cr eased a ir pressure a t h igh a lt it ude s. Eng ine ex h a ust gases passed through the co llec to r rin g an d ta il stac k to th e n ozzle box of ea ch supercharger , expa n d ed to a t mo sphe ric pressur e th ro ugh th e tur bin e n o zzle , an d drove a b ucket wh eel a t h igh speed ; th is buck e t wh ee l in t urn drove th e im pe lle r of th e supe rc h arge r. A ra m m in g a ir in le t du c t supplied a ir to th e im pe lle r, whi ch in c reased its p ressu re and temp era ture. H ow ever, in o rde r to av o id d etona t ion a t the cnrb urc rto r, th e a ir supp lied to the ca rb urci tor passed thro ugh t h e inte rcoo le r, where th e te m peratu re was red uced .

ABOVE: The rear bomb-bay area and overhead crew tunnel. Peter M.Bowers

67

BELOW: The B-29's structure. USAF

ST RUCT URES AND SYSTH IS

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THIS PAGE ABOVE: The B-29'sstations. Peter M. Bowers

N ACHlE . O UTBOARD

urr; Exploded view of a B-29A.

El'J';IN E A N D CO WL

Peter M.Bowers

@ )STAOIlIl ER

81

OPPOSITE PAGE TOP; Fuselage and wing final assemblies. Peter M. Bowers BonOM: Female workers at work on the mid-sect ion of YB-29number one at Boeing-Wichita. USAF

(61.7 -

I

-: .

j

62

STRUC TURES AND SYS TEMS

ST RUCTU RES AN D S YSTDtS

An int ernal engin e impe ller, d rive n by th e e ngine cra n ksha ft , aga in in creased pressur e as th e fuel /a ir mix ture e n tered th e intak e man ifo ld. H igh -i nt ak e ma n ifo ld pressure resu lt ed in greater en gin e pow er output.

AUXIUAIlY

fUl SlJ'K Y TAN KS OUTBOAi{) ENGINE

POWlIlPlANl fUEL 'ANK

Rf"'l1BOMBS4Y fUEL SUPPlY TANKS

fUll 5UPPlY T.-.NICS. 1NIO.uD tNGlNl

POfI,TABU OXYGEN BOTTLES

MAJ N

OXYGlN suPl'ly (Y llf'.()(RS

Radar Sys tems AUXILIARY

IAau OXYGEN BOITlLI

ENGINE No. J Oil

SUPPLY TANt(--....,;,.'-'r~ HYDRAULIC OIL SUPPLY TANK --~k!"'::

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~

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In th e early I 940s th ere were fell' groundbased rada r syste ms and absolutel y no US mi litary a ircraft car ried airborne radar. But by th e end of World War Two , however, the re were nu mero us type s of mi lita ry aircraft tha r were equipped with airbo rn e radar syste ms. The 8 -29 used several d ifferen t rad ar syste ms th rou gh out its car eer:

AN/APQ- 13 T h is was th e most adv ance d bo mb ing radar ava ilable wh en the 8 -29 first e n te red combat in World \Var Two.

~

PORTASlE OXYG[N

SHIMMY

BOTTUS

DAMPER

TIRES

AN/A PQ. 15B This was on ly cmployc d ENGINE fIRE TIRES

E.XT I NGU ~ R

sorrus

by B-29Bs built by Bell-Atlanta.

TUll:&OSUPfRCH .IlGl Il 04l SUP9\Y TANK

THIS PAGE TOP; Fuel, hydraulic fluid and oil repleni shing diagram. Peter M. Bowers

OPPOSITE PAGE TOP: The 1,OOOth Boeing-Wichita B-29 with the 10,346th and last Kadet bipl ane primary tra iner. PeterM. Bowers

ABOVE: A unique view of B-29 sub-assemblies, using the actual segments of the aircraft. USAF

BonOMl EFT: B-29 general arrangements. USAF BonOM RIGHl: Extended tail-skid details are shown here on XB-29 number three. Peter M. Bowers

64

ST RUCT U RES AN D

Ir"r~,g

I

11-"':"·'

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65

S Y S T E ~I S

ST RU CT U RES AN D S Y ST E:VIS

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Left-hand main landing gear deta i ls. Peter M. Bowers

The left-hand main landing gear on a YB-29. Peter M. Bowers

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ENGINE CHARACTERISTICS

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Later Wright R-3350-23 engine det ail s. USAF

66

STRUCT URES AND SYSTE \ IS

A /APQ-23 This was basically an upgraded A /A PQ - 13 radar sy ste rn employed durin g Wor ld \X1ar Two. AN/A PQ -7 T hi s was used on some B-29s on ly, and becam e kn own as the Eagle radar system beca use of its large win g. T he first Supe rfort to get the Eagle radar syste m - in ea rly 1945 - was a late model B-29-60-BA (44-84066) , wh ich later dep loyed to Tin ian with th e A /A PQ- 7 syste m installed . Th e A /A PQ -7 h ad a forw ard, 60-deg ree elect rical sca n. T he ante n na was a win g abo ut Sfr wide. A N /A PQ -3 0 T hi s lat er system prov ided 360- degree scan n ing and a 3-degree beam widt h , and was kn own to be a bette r system than th e A N/A PQ -7 though its pul se widt h was about th e same. Fitt ed to B-29s in th e post-war period, the A /A PQ-30 provi ded a much bett er navigat ion ca pability tha n th e A /A PQ -7. Th e radar ope rato r's posit ion was th e same in a ll co nfigura tions .

BELOW: The B-29's tail group (empennage, section 44). USAF

ABOVE: Fin al assembly and preparation to mount one

of the thousands of R·3350 engines on yet another Boeing -Wichita-built 8·29 . Peter M. Bowers

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67

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ST RUCTURES A:\ D SYSTD IS

THIS PAGE

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TOP:

large. externally-mounted wing of the Western Electric AN/APQ-7 Eagle Mk 1 radar system on a B-29A. Peter M. Bowers

Later B-29A wing final ass emblies in October 1945. Peter M. Bowers

BOTTOM: Wing-join to section 42.

Early B-29 wing ass emblies at Boeing-Wichita on 1 October 1943. Peter M. Bowers

ABOVE:

68

Peter M. Bowers

STRUCTURES AND

69

SY S T E ~ I S

ST RU CT URES A N D SYST EMS

THISPAGE

OPPOSITE PAGE

The B-29was loaded with numerous exterior items of vast importance. Some of these critical items included access panels, cowl flaps, filler necks , vents, pitot static holes, and so on. Peter M. Bowers

TOP:

Tail Gro up (e mpennage)

3 .000 rounds of ammun it ion supp lied for the th ree mach ine gun s.

T he empe n nage was of the co n vent iona l type , includi ng a hor izont al sta bilizer, e levators, eleva tor trim ta bs, a verti ca l sta bilizer, dor sal fin, rudder. and rudder tr im ta b. It a lso co n ta ine d th e tail turret and h oused a fully pressur ized ca bin for th e ta il-gun ne r. T he th ree ta il-turret guns had \ ,000 rounds of ammun it ion per machinegun and 110 rounds of ammun it ion for th e 20mm ca n no n. W hen the 20 mm can no n was removed from lat er B-29s and replaced with a th ird mach ine-gun, the re were

The left-hand jack slipped under this B-29A-35-BN, causing it to fall and incur severe damage. as shown in this 23 March 1945photograph. Peter M. Bowers

BonOM:

Pressurized section 41 (nose section) mass production at Boeing-Wichita. Peter M. Bowers

Wing A s eng inee ring on th e Mod e l B-345 de sign prog ressed th rough 1940 and int o \ 94 1, Boeing ae rodynam icists wanted to usc, if possible, th e so-c a lled Dav is win g, de velo ped for Conso lidated by free lance aerona utical eng inee r David R. Dav is, wh ich was already bei ng used on the Consolida ted B-24 Liberator; all agreed that it

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70

would be th e best wing to use on th e forth co m ing B-29. When th e Dav is wing underwent its first win d -tu n nel evaluat ions at the C aliforn ia Inst itute of Techno logy (C aITech ), eng inee rs were ama zed to learn that its liftto -d rag efficiency far surpassed what was thou gh t possib le at the time . In fact, th e win g's effic iency exceede d ot he r co ntempor ary win g designs by abo ut 20 per ce n t. The Da vis wing was of a full cant ilever design with a long, nar row chord , feat uring an ad vance d h igh -l ift and low-d rag aerofo il design and flush riveting. It was

ST RUCTU RES AND SYST EMS

71

ST RUC T U RES A:-I I>

SYS T E ~ IS

ABOVE: Section 42 Imid -sect ion } sub- assembly

product ion at Boeing -Wichita Plant 2. Peter M. Bowers LEn: A number of Boeing -Renton B-29As in final

assembly, just prior to roll -out. Peter M. Bowers

also th e wing Conso lidat ed wanted to use o n its XB-3 2 - th e XB-29's ch ief co mpe t itor. T h us, Boeing was in a qu and ary: ho w was it go ing to be able to apply th is revo lut io nary wing to its XB-29 ? T h e answe r

was simple: it was no t go ing to be a ble to use it , and it was as simp le as t hat. A fter n um e ro us co ngressiona l debates and mil ita ry h earings, C ons o lida ted was assured th at it had t he right to keep its Davis win g

72

techno logy a nd th a t d id not h a ve to share it with its co mpet itors. Boe ing, t he refor e, came up with its 117 ac rofoil using Fow ler flaps wh ich, as it turned o ut, was a most im pressive win g design in its own righ t. The 117 acrofoil wing used by th e B-29 co ns isted of an inb oard sec t ion permanent ly a ttac he d to th e fuselage a nd two rem o va ble o ute r panel s provided with de tac h a ble t ips. Fuel co mpart me nts eq uipped wit h sel f-scaling tanks wer e an in tegra l pa rt of th e inboard wing sec tion struc ture. A ilerons pro vided with tr im ta bs were hinged to the outboa rd pan els, a nd ele ct rically operated Fo wler-type wing flaps for med t he low er surface of th e in board win g tra iling ed ge , fro m the fusela ge to the o utbo ard win g jo in t . T he lead in g edge sections we re remova ble and pro vide d acc ess to cab les, t ubi ng, wir ing and misce llan eo us o t he r eq uipmen t.

ST RUCT URES A ND S YST D IS

BELOW: The fir st Renton-built B-29A-1-BN (42-93824) nears comple tion on 15 December 1943. It made its first flight on 30 December, and was the only Renton-bu ilt B-29 to rec eive a camoufl age paint sc heme. Peter M. Bowers

The Boeing -Renton B-29A assembly line as it appeared on 20 M arch 1945. The tail group assemblies have yet to be fitted to the mid -sect ions.

ABOVE:

Peter M. Bowers

73

STRUCTURES AND SYS TE ~ IS

The last pressurized B-29A-15-BN (42-93973) nose section (section 41) is being removed from its assembly jig at Renton Plant 3 on 22 November 1944. The number of women workers is noteworthy. Peter M. Bowers

BELOW: Factory assembly procedure for B-29 production.

Peter M. Bow ers

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74

CHA PTE R FIVE

World War Two T he Boeing 13-29 upcrfortress ea rn ed its combat spurs during fourtee n months of ac tion in Worl d War Two - 5 June 1944 to 15 A ugust 1945. Th is was a relatively sho rt ti me co mpare d to ot her co mbat a ircraft. However, it arguably played one of th e most sign ifican t roles in th e final defeat of Japan, and prob ably cont ributed more to th at v ic tory th an any ot he r bomber. Product ion B-29s d id not begin to take wing unt il 10 Septe mber 1943 when the fir t Boein g-W ich ita B-29- I-BW (42-6205) made its first fligh t. T h is was just eleven

days shy of one year since the first XB-29 had made its maiden fligh t, on 2 1 eptcmber 194 2. T he first product ion Bell-A tlant a B-29-I -BA (42-6225 2 ) mad e its first flight on 10 Octo ber 194 3. The first production Marti n -Omah a B-29- I -MO (4 2-6 'i202) made its first flight on 23 O ctober 1943. The first product ion Boei ng-Rento n B-29A - l BN (4 2-93824) mad e its first flight on 30 December 194 3. O n 10 A ugust 1943, exac tly one month before the first production 13-29 took wing, US AA F C ommanding G ene ral Henry H.

'Hap' A rno ld finalized hi plans for the 58th Bomb Wing (Very Heavy) to be operating in th e C h ina -Burma- Ind ia (C lsl) theatre of operations by th e end of 1943, beginn ing with strikes aga inst the hom e islands of Japan from forward bases in India. Ge ne ral A rno ld picked Brig Gc n Kenneth B. Wo lfe to comma nd th e five bomb groups and their respective bomb squadrons, which wou ld be assigned to th e 58BW (VH). The 58 BW (VH ) h ad been activa te d so me two mo nths earlier o n I Ju ne 1943 at Mar iett a, Georg ia, near Bell's 13-29

-

ABOVE:

USAAF logo.

USAF

ABOVERIGHT. General Curtis E. LeMay. In J uly 1944 he was transferred to the Pac ific to direct the B-29 heavy bombing activities of the 20th Bomber Command in the China-Burma -Indi a theatre. He later commanded the 21st Bomber Command with its headquart ers on Guam, and still later became chief of stall of the Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific. Atthe end of World War Two he returned to the United States, piloting a B-29Superfortress on a non-stop record flight from Hokkaido, J apa n, to Chicago, Illinois.

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Peter M. Bowers

RIGH T. USNavy Fleet Admiral Chester

W. Nimitz poking his head out of the co-pilot's window on his B-29, a B-29B-35-BA(42-63650) of the 315BW, 501 BG. Peter M. Bowers

75

WORLD WAR T WO

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The pattern of air power in the Western Pacific. USAF

produc tion facility. T he headqu art ers of the 58BW moved to Smo ky H ill Army A ir Field at Sa lina , Kansas, on 15 Se pte mbe r 1943 , wh ich was close to Boe ing's Wichi ta 13-29 production plant. The five bomb groups assigne d to th e 5 B\V incl uded the 40th , 444th, 462nd , 468t h and 4 7Znd Bomb G roups (Ver y Heav y). The 47ZBG (V H) was to remain at Smo ky Hill AAF to serve as th e 58 BW's O perational Train ing U n it (OTU) , whi le the other four BG s deployed to th e C BI. It was clear from th e outse t of the 13-29 pro gramm e th at it wou ld be used in th e Pacific war. T he mai n reason for this deci sion was th at it possessed much greate r ran ge and load -carr ying ability th an eithe r th e 13- 17 or 13-24. Yet its effect ive co mba t rad ius was on ly 1,600 m iles (2,600k m) ,

th ough it could man age 2,200 m iles O ,500 km ) if pushed. S ince at th e ti me of th e B-29s first depl oyment s in ea rly 1944 th ere were n o US a ir bases yet esta blishe d that put th e home islands of j apan within the co mbat rad ius of the Supe rfort , it was decid ed to base them in Ind ia and C h ina for th eir in itial co mbat ope rations. Logisticall y, operations from th ese bases were at first a very serious prob lem, in that it wou ld be at best difficu lt to furn ish these four bomb groups with adequate supplies. T hese di fficult ies no twith stan d ing, President Roosevelt ap proved a spec ial pro ject ca lled Mal!crhom, wh ereb y C hi nabased B-29s would be used to bomb j apanese steel mills. The Supe rforts would, at first, be based in Indi a and woul d be staged th rough C he ngtu in ce nt ra l C h ina. The

76

parent organ ization of the 58BW B-29s, XX Bomber Comma nd , l Oth A ir Force, began its preparati ons in lat e 1943 , but it was not unti l ea rly A pril 1944 th at th e first B-29s began to arrive in India. Presiden t Roosevel t h ad prom ised C h ina 's G ene ra lissimo C h iang Kai-shck th at 13-29 bombers would be in India and C h ina by 3 1 j an uary 1944 to begin O peration Matt crhom. Due to th e Bat tie of Kansas (see C hapter 3 ), however, US A A F command ing Ge ne ral Hap Arno ld was forced to push back th e t'vla!!crhom schedule to 10 March 1944. For comba t mission s d uring World War Two there was a maxi mum of eleven c rcwmc mbc rs assigned to eac h 13-29. T he se included the aircra ft comma nder (com mand pi lot ), co -pilot , bombard ier,

WOR LD WAR T WO

TOP: THE ERNIE PYlE, a B-29-80-BW (44-70118), was named for the famed war

ABOVE: Another view of THE ERNIE PYlE before it was delivered to its user, the 313BW, 504BG and 458B5. Peter M. Bowers

correspondent, k illed in 1945. USAF

navi gat or, fligh t eng inee r, radio operator , radar ope rator, cent ra l fire co n trol (CFC) gun ner, left -sidc gun ner, righ t-side gun ner and ta il-gun ne r. T he bomb ardier was a lso responsib le for firing th e two guns in the forward ve ntral turre t. The C FC gun ne r was respon sible for firing the four-to-six guns in th e two dorsal turrets. The left and right -sid e gun ne rs were respon sib le for firing th e two guns in th e aft ventral turret and , if th ere were no ta il-gun ner, the can non and two guns in the ta il turret. Dur ing

hi gh alt itude bomb runs the 13-29 wou ld be depressurized in case of being hit by flak and/or figh ter gun fire , wh ich wo uld have caused sudde n deco mp ression .

Cre w Training The first prospecti ve 13-29 crews started to arrive at thei r respect ive training bases in July 1943. wh ile initi al produ cti on of Superfort s inch ed forward . They had already

77

co mpleted th ei r spec ific duty traini ng and they had now begun their jou rn eys to beco me c lc vc n- rn nn 13-29 combat crews. S inc e there were few B-29s to trai n wit h , these ea rly crews were forced to tra in with B- 17s and B-24s. T hei r trai ni ng du ties included man y hours of ground schoo l. learn ing about th e Superforrs' intricate systems. Both daytim e and night -time mission s were flown for pract ice. To simulate overwater mission s, these crews flew to C uba and othe r locat ions in th e C aribbean Sea.

WO RL D WA R T WO

A B-29-40-BW (42-24625) named LADY MARYANNA with an R-3350 engine alongside. It belonged to the 73BW, 498BG and 874BS. Note the B-29Afour-gun top-forward gun turret. Stan Piet

ABOVE:

JOLTIN' JOSIE: THE PACIFIC PIONEER was a B-29-40-BW (42-24614) of 73BW, 498BG and 873BS. She w as the first B-29to arrive in the Pacific theatre and was commanded by General Hayw ood Hansell , commander of XXI Bomber Command. Ken Rust via Stan Piet

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WORLD WAR T WO

GOIN' JESSIE of 313BW, 9BG and 5BS on Tinian never had to abort a mission , Captain John Fleming was its commander and it was a B-29-20-BA (42-63561). Stan Piet

BELDW: An unidentified B-29 Df314BW and 29BG starts its engines tor a mission , Griber viaStan Piet Collection BonOM: A BDeing-Wichita -built B-29-70-BW Superlort (44-69975) named THESPEARHEAO of 313BW,9BG and 1BS. Stan Piet

79

W ORLD WA R T W O

ABOVE: A B-29 w ith battle number Z 23 of the 73BW, 500BG, ahe r an emergency crash landing on Iwo Jima with a P-51D Mustang alongside her.

Peter M. Bowers

LEFr. A group of 73BW, 500BG 8-29s unload 500lb bombs . USAF -~

A num ber of the pilots already had mult ieng ine ex pe rie nce o n 13- 17s a nd 8 -24s. and transirion cd quickly to th e 13-29. Th e nav igat ors tun ed th eir n avi gat ionnl skills to and from th e pract ice target s. T h e fligh t eng in ee rs (a n e w cre w positi on created

becau se of th e co mp lex ity of th e 13-29 ) practised aircraft syste ms management. T he bo m bard iers lea rn ed how to use the Norden bombsigh t, droppin g ine rt bombs and bags of flour on selec ted tar gets. The gun n ers practised shoot ing at rad io-con trol led

80

d ro nes a nd lo ng ca nvas pan els th at we re tow ed beh ind a ircraft - a nu m ber of the to w planes wer e pilo ted by \'(1o me n A irforce Se rv ice Pilot s (\'(1A S Ps). T he re we re . of co urse , man y othe r important perso n nel needed to mak e up a 13-29 bomb gro up. T hese incl ude d a irfra me and powerp lanr mechani cs. arm ou rc rs, cl erks. cooks, e lec tricians . fue llers, medi cs, po lice and man y more. T h e 8 -29 co mbat cre ws wer e assign ed to overseas d uty afte r so me thr ee mo nths of tra in ing . Most of the grou n d personnel in th ese bo mb gro ups wen t to the ir bases a boa rd troopsh ips wh ile th e 8 -29 co m bat crews flew th ere in thei r ai rcraft. The first 13-29 bomb wing, the 5 8 \'(1 (V H) , had begun its train ing in July 1943 at four Kan sas ar my air fields: Smo ky I-Iill AA F (h eadq uart e rs ). Pra tt AAF. G reat Ben d

WORL D WA R T WO

AAF a nd W alker AAF. But t ra ining was mor e th an d ifficu lt withou t th e req uired n uml-cr of B-29s. ln fac t, man y 58BW (V H) crews h ad less th an twent y ho urs of 13-29 I imc whe n th ey left th e U A fo r co mhat on 10 March 1944 . O the r 13-29 homh win g c rews trained at fo ur cbraska arm y ai r fields: Fairm ont AA F, G rand Island AA F, Harvard AA F and ~v1 c Cook AA F. A t this tim e. in add it io n to hein g co m mand er of th e 5 13\'(1, Ge ne ra l Wo lfe was XX Bo mh er Com man d co m mander a nd in ch arge nf 13-29 pro curem ent and produ crio n . Thi s cha nged o n 4 A pril 1944 . h ow eve r, wh en Ge n era l A rn o ld estab lish ed th e ne w XXI Bomb er C om ma nd , 20 th Ai r Force. an d appo in te d h imself in ch arg e, repor t ing to th e [ o in t C h iefs of S taff. H e was th en in c ha rge of 13-29 allo cations.

TOP: 313BW and 9BG B-29s charge forw ard to th eir respect ive targets. The B-29 in full view car ried

radio call numbe r 55 but it s USAAF ser i al number is not vis ib le. Peter M. Bowers ABOVE: B-29s of the 39BG. 60BS tax i out for take -off from North Field on Guam. Peter M. Bowers INSET: A tr io of B-29s fly past a wav ing Seabee. USAF

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WORLD WAR T WO

DINA MIGHT of 313BW. 504BG and 29BS is about to receive a load of 500lb bombs. being sat upon by smiling troops. She was a Martin-built B-29-25-MO (42-65280)and apparently this was during a lighter moment of the war. USAF

BELOW: The remains of a 499BG. 877BS B-29 known

as T Square 1 on Saipan following an emergency crash -landing. Peter M. Bowers

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WORLD WAR TW O

THUMPER nose art detail. THUMPER was a B-29-40-BW 142-24623) assigned to 73BW. 499BG and 870BS on Saipan. SIan Piel

A 58BW. 444BG B-29 in its revetment. Stan Piel

BELOW:

Six special-purpose B-29sof 313BW. 9BG carrying much-neededsupplies to drop into prisoner of war camps. Note P W SUPPLIES on the bottom of their wings . SIan Piel BonOM:

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WOR LD WAR TWO

There were at least four B-29s named LUCKY LADY in W orld Wa r Two . This one is bel i eved to have belonged to the 58BW, 444BG and 678BS. If so, it w as a B-29-40-BW (42-24584). Stan Piet

LE FT. This is an early Superlort from the first batch of fifty production B-29-1-BWs (42-6228). Its ' Hump' missions far outweighed its bomb missions. The meaning of the strange 3VII mark ing on the nose is unclear. Schirmer via Stan Piet BELOW: 313BW, 9BG B-29s in the ir revetments.

Stan Piet

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W OR L D WAR TWO

Dep loyment to t he Far East To get ro th eir air bases in Ind ia th e B-29s o{ the 58BW flew {rom th e cast coast o{the U A to o uth A me rica a nd th en across th e Ar lamic Ocea n , refuell ing in o rrh Africa befor e GlI1tin uin g o n to Ind ia . O nce in Indi a, to get supplies to th e for ward bases in C h in a, B-29s were used as ca rgo tran sport s, flying ove r th e Himala yas, whi ch was referred to as th e ' H ump' route. The y tran sport ed ev ery th ing {rom grease to gaso line and {rom bread to ba nda ges. \Vh i1e th ese bombers were doubling as tran spo rts. c rewme mbers pa int ed h ump backed ca mels o n th eir noses instead of bo mbs, 10 sign ify th eir missions o ve r the Him alayas. So me of th ese B-29s h ad to make emer ge ncy landings in Russia when bom bing j apa n {rom the ir bases in C h ina . T hei r crews were eve nt ua lly re turn ed , hut th e aircraft were no t. Th is led to th e creation o{ Russia's B-29 co py, the Tupo lcv Tu-4 'Bull ' (described in de rai l in C ha pter Sev e n ). By 8 May 1944 th ere were 130 58BW (VI-I) 13-29 s at their bases near C a lcutt a, Ind ia. At t hi s t ime, using C h inese lab oure rs, {our 8 ,500{t ( 2,590m) runways were ci th er under co ns t ruc t ion o r near ing co mp lct ion n car C h c ng t u, C h in a. The di sran ee between th e bases in Indi a and those in C h in a was appro xima tely 1,200 m iles ( 1,900k m). T here we re, of course, th e H imalaya n mo unta in s, th e 'Hu m p', in l-c t wc c ri . The ro ute was ni c kn am ed 'th e a lum in ium tr ail ' {or the un coun ted pieces o{ a irc raft th at ne ver ma de it ove r th ese mount ains. Fina lly, o n 27 May 1944 the B-29 go t to do the missio n it was design ed {or - bo mb in g! Flying a 2, 100-m ile (3 ,400km ) round tri p {rom Ind ia, a n umber of B-29s struc k ja panese target s in Ban gkok , T ha ila nd. A ll bu t five B-29 s returned to base; {our were lost to mec ha n ica l pro blem s, o ne 10 e ne my {ire. T hen o n 15 j une 1944 the first strike o n j apan itself was made by 5813\'(1 B-29s based in C h ina . T h is Ma!ccrholl1 bombing m issio n was flown aga inst a steel m ill called the Imperial Iron and S tee l Works at Yawata on northern Kyush u Island, japan . T here were ninet y-e igh t Superforts launched o n thi s m ission bu t on ly forty-seve n of the m had actually reach ed th eir rnrger. Seven were lost on the retu rn trip and a nu mber of ot h ers had to make eme rgency lan dings whereve r they could. They had enco unt ered heav y an ti-aircraft {i re and some figh ters, whi ch {or so me reason did no t attac k.

TOP: A formation of 314BW. 29BG B-29s charging forward to their targ ets. Peter M. Bowers ABOV E: MARY ANN. a B-29-30-BW (42-244941. unloads its bombs on Haito, Formosa. on 16 October 1944. USAF

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WORL D WAR T WO

This unidentified B-29 is about to be loaded with the 500lb bombs in the foreground . USAF

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73BW. 499B G B-29s drop incendiary bombs. Peter M. Bowers

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WORLD WAR TWO

A B-29-40-BW (42-24590) of 58BW, 462BG and 770BS named CELESTIAL PRINCESS. Stan Piet

V SQUARE 50, a B-29 of 499BG, 879BS 'in the drink' on 13 Decemb er 1944. Her crew, in the three life rafts , was rescued the next day. Peter M. Bowers

ABOVE:

BELOW:

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WORLD WA R TW O

As an aside , it h ad been twenty-six months sinc e lan d -based bombers h ad h it h om e land Japa n ; th ese being th e sixteen North A me rica n 13-2513 Mitch e ll's of the Doo lit tle Raid ers, whi ch h ad , in fact been car rier-laun ch ed for th at parti cular mission . T he last 13-29 co mbat m ission flo wn from out of th e C BI, whi ch was flown aga ins t S inga por e , on the so uth ern tip of M ala ysia , ca me o n 30 M arch 194 5 . T h us 1329s flew co m bat missions from the ir bases in In d ia an d C h ina for ten months. The 58 BW (VH ) flew seven ty-two co mbat m issio ns fro m C h ina , avera ging six tee n h o urs per mission, co vering ro un d- trip di stances o f as mu ch as 3 ,200 mil es (5 , 150 k m ) an d ca rrying max imum fuel lo ad s o f 9,5 48 US ga llo ns.

Pacific Ope ra tions A s fro m 30 M arch 194 5 a ll 13-29 co m bat o pera t ions wer e flow n fro m th e ir h ard -won Pacifi c island bases on G ua m , [wo [ im a, Sa ipa n an d T in ian in th e M ari anas, so me 1,500 m iles (2,4 00km) south -east of th e main Japanese island of H onshu . (B-29 s wer e n ot based on Iwo J i rna but it was used n um erous tim es for e me rgen cy land in gs.) Eve n befor e th e last co m bat mi ssions wer e flown o ut o f C h in a th e U S A rmy, work in g in co nce rt with th e U S N avy an d Marine C or ps, h ad th e difficu lt job o f capt urin g a nd sec ur in g th ese islands, wh ich was o n ly ac h ieved at a terrib le co st of lives. T h e U S in vasion of th e M ari anas began in mid 1944. Sa ipa n fel l in Ju ly 1944 a nd both G ua m an d Tinian in A ugust. It was not unt il Oc to be r 1944 th at ope ra ble a ir bases were fin a lly read y for th e 1329s . But eve ntua lly th er e wer e five a irfie lds o n th ese three islan ds, each o ne ca pab le o f h ou sing a n e nt ire 13-29 wing with its gro ups an d sq uadrons. T h e re we re t wo win gs o n G uam, o n e win g o n Sa ipa n and tw o more o n Tin ian, Eac h base h ad as ma n y as 180 B-29s an d 12,000 personne l. The S uperfo rts began arr iv ing on 12 October wh en Brig G en H aywood S . H ansel l [ r, co m man de r o f XX I Bomber C o m man d , la nded o n Sa ipa n wit h hi s 13-29 - JOLT IN' JO SI E: THE PA C IFIC PIO N EER . O n 28 Octobe r 1944 Mariana-b ased 1329s flew th eir first co m ba t mission , aga in st th e island o f Truk in th e Bo nin island c ha in , so uth- ea st o f th e M ari anas. O n ly fourteen of th e e igh tee n B-29s bombed the target s, with limi ted succ ess. Tr uk and o the r ene my-h eld islands wer e n ow used

fo r a series of ' t ra in ing' mi ssions pri or to t h ose flo wn aga inst Japa n itsel f. Then o n 24 Nove mbe r 1944 the co mman de r of th e 73 rd Bomb Wing (VH), Brig Gc n Emm ett O ' Do n n el l, led a for ce o f III S upe rfor ts aga ins t industri a l target s in an d aro un d To kyo . Ge ne ra lly spea k in g, the result s o f th is raid wer e n ot ve ry goo d . Bad weat he r in part (en ro ut e and o ve r tar ge ts) a llow ed o n ly e igh ty-e igh t of th ese I I 1 a irpla ne s to ac t ua lly bo mb their targe ts. But it is interest in g to n ot e th at th is was th e first attac k o n Tok yo since th e Doo lit tl e raid of 18 A pr il 194 2 - so me two yea rs, seven months earl ier. S ubseq uent da ytim e p reci sion a tt ac ks ag;i~ nd ustr ia l target s th rou gh ou t th e h om e islands of Jap an , pri marily a ircraft factories and sh ipyards , were not up to ex pec tat ions . T h is was du e for th e most part to th e lack of lo ng-ra nge esc o rt figh ters, a h igh rat e of missio n abor ts, terri ble bo mbin g acc ura cy, th e slow build -up of 13-29 streng th , bad weath er and n umero us 13-29 losses a t sea. G eneral A rno ld was not h ap py an d in Jan uar y 1945 h e or dered Ge n C urt is E. LeM ay fro m Indi a to G ua m to replace Brig Gcn H ansell as com mander. S im ply put, the m an y losses of B-29s a t sea wer e du e to th e fact t hat th er e was n o place for crippled a ircraft to mak e eme rgency land in gs o the r than in th e ocean . Even with t h e o utstan d ing work of the a irsea rescu e se rv ice th er e wer e far too m an y losses. H ow ev er , afte r Iwo j irn a was captured it became an e me rge ncy la nd ing base for di sab led B-29s. M oreov er, lo n gra n ge esco rt fighter s we re subseq uen tl y based t he re. T h e in vasio n o f Iwo J im a began o n 19 Feb ruar y 1945 an d t h e bat tle raged o n for fo ur weeks , rat her th an th e thr ee or fou r d ays th at h ad bee n pr ed ic ted. To cap tu re th e isla nd so me 4 ,900 US M arin e C o rps troops wer e k illed , but by th e en d of World War Two some 2,400 S upe rfo rts h ad m ad e eme rge ncy lan d in gs o n lwo [ im a . It is est imated tha t as m an y as 25 ,000 13-29 crewmen wo uld h av e been lost a t sea , wer e it n o t for th e ca pt ure and use o f Iwo [ ima. In Februa ry 1945 , a t th e beh est o f H ead qu arter s USAA F in Washington DC , Ge ne ra l LeMay ord er ed th e start of dayt im e in cendi ary-bo m b a ttacks aga inst large Japa n ese c it ies. T h e resu lt s of th ese ph osp h o ru s bombing ra ids wer e p romising. Yet 13-29 a ircre w an d a irc raft losses rem a in ed a t un acceptable level s. T h e 13-29 was a lso d emonst rat in g a nu mb er o f ta c t ica l flaws. C lim bing to h igh

88

alt it ude req u ired a lot of fuel , wh ich signi fican tl y decr eased th e bomb load. A lso , th e 150- 300mph (250- 500km/h ) win ds in th e jet strea m mad e prec ision bombard ment impossible at hi gh a lt itude , tho ugh Jap anese fighter s co uld inter ce pt B-29s even at hi gh a lt itude . Ge ne ra l LeM ay wanted to p ut as mu c h firepowe r o n tar get as possib le , an d to do th is h e ca me up with a very co ntroversia l plan . That is, inst ead of hi gh -a lt it ude d ayt ime missio ns, h e o rdered lo w-a lt itud e ni ght-t im e attacks . M or e con ten t io us ye t, to m axim ize bomb loads, h e ordered th e remo val of a ll d efensive guns excep t for th e two .50 -ca libre ta il-mo unted mach in eguns (m ost 20 m m can no n h ad a lrea d y bee n re moved ). S ince th ese a tr ac ks wer e ma de at low a lt itud e less fuel was required, an d bo m b load s in cr eased . The first lo w-al t itu de ni ght-time in cend iary ra id was o n 9 M ar ch 1945 . Com ing in at lo w a lt itud e wi th th e ir bel lies full of incend iary bombs, 334 S uperforts h it Tok yo d uring th e n ight. M or e th an 15 .8 sq ua re m iles (4 0.9sq km ) in the cent re of Tok yo was se t ab laze, dest ro yin g abo ut o n e- fo urt h of th e c ity's b u ildings and k il ling more tha n 80,000 people. T h e fire-bomb ca mpa ign aga ins t Jap an h ad begun and four more such attacks fo llow ed in rapid succe ssion. By 20 March th e B-29 s h ad dest royed 32 squa re m iles (82.8sq km ) of struc tu res in th e indu str ia l a reas of Ko be , Nagoya, O saka an d To kyo. These n igh t-ti me raid s co ntin ued withou t mercy, an d sinc e Jap an ese a ir defences at ni ght wer e lim ited , there were few 13-29 losses. By th e en d of th e war t he B-29s h ad dropped 145 ,00 0 tons (1 3 2,0 00 me tri c to n nes) o f bombs on Jap an an d dest ro yed abo ut 10 5 sq uare m iles ( 27 1.9sq km) in the cent ra l ar eas of Japan 's six most im por ta n t in du stri a l c it ies. This to ta l d oes n o t includ e dozens of sm aller c it ies such as To yam a, 99.5 per ce nt of which was la id wast e by fire-bo mb ing a lone. By Jun e 1945 the four C lsl-bascd 13-29 gro ups h ad joined th e 20A F in th e M ari ana s. Fina lly, with mor e 13-29 units co m ing fro m th e USA, the re wer e nea rly 1,000 S upcrforts in the M ari anas at any give n time. In fac t, o n a sin gle d ay toward th e en d of th e war, as man y as 62 5 S upe rforrs wer e la un c h ed aga ins t Jap an . W hil e it was in the C Bl th e 58 th Bomb Wing (Very H eav y), XX Bo mb C o m man d flew a to ta l of 49 co m ba t missions. W h ile in th e Pacific t h e 58 BW (V H) , 73BW (VI-l), 3 13BW (V H ) , 3 14 BW (V H) and3 15 BW (VI-l),

WORLD WAR TW O

XXI Bomb C om mand flew a tota l of 25 1 co mb at missions. Marianas-based B-29s a lso flew 1,528 min e-laying m issions in 194 5, plant ing mor e than 12,000 a n t i-sh ipping m in es. It is estima ted th at th ese mines sun k a bo ut 800 ,000 tons (725,000 metric ron ncs) of en emy sh ipping .

Th e Ato mic Bomb Attacks By th e end of jul y 1945 j apan was th or ough ly beaten . However, with its 'fight to th e death , to the last person' ph ilosophy, it refused to surre nde r. Hundreds of th ou sands of its peop le h ad been killed, its ind ustr ial output was at less tha n 25 per ce n t of its normal capac ity, and its air forces a nd navy wer e for th e most par t destro yed . Yet it woul d not ca pitulate . Instead , it n ow app ear ed in evit able th at an in vasion of j apan wou ld h ave to be car ried o ur. In fact, planning for such an in vasio n had been go ing on for man y months. As plan s stoo d by j uly 1945, th e in vasion was to begin in N ove mbe r 1945. N o-on e kn ew h ow long such a horrific ve n ture wou ld have lasted - ma ny mont hs for sure , but mor e th an like ly several years. j apan 's uncomprom ising sta nce arguab ly forced th e USA to use its fina l trump card: two ato mic bombs, respectiv ely named Little Boy and Fat Man , on 6 and 9 A ugust 1945. T he first of th ese two bombs destroyed 4.7 square miles ( I2.2sq km) of Hi roshima, killing more tha n 70,000 peop le. T he seco nd bomb destro yed about one -th ird of agasaki, killing anothe r 150,000 people. (The 1329's use of the ato m bomb is fully recount ed in th e next ch aprer.) It was th e second bomb, and the threat of more to come, tha t finally con vinced the japanese govern ment th at resista nce was futile, and on 10 A ugust the govern ment decided it must surrende r. O n 2 September 1945, in Tok yo bay aboard the batt lesh ip US S Missouri, j apan forma lly surrend ered. Vj -Day had arrived and World War Two was finally over.

Pros and Cons T he re are pro s and co ns associat ed with just about eve ryth ing. W h ile th ere are un cou nt ed en th usiasts for the 13-29, it also has a n umbe r of critics. O ne of the se is W illiam R. 'Bi ll' C or ke r who offered his th ough ts in th e fo llow ing art icle , ' Prob lems Affecting th e B-29 S uperfortress', that he

present ed to the A me rica n In stitu te of Aeron aut ics and A stro na utics in 1999:

average d ura tion of less th an an hour. The n um-

W he n you ment io n th e B-29 to me it bri ngs

c hanges. T he re were eve n more ca rb ure rro rs

hack th e memor y o f th e two a to mic bom bs th at

ch an ged, and the eng ine ex ha ust syste ms h ad to

twe nt y-th ree test fligh ts we re made wit h an ber o ne XB-29 pro to type h ad six tee n en gine

agasa-

und er go modificat ions. The H am ilto n St anda rd

ki. A c tua lly, th e firebo mb raids o n Tok yo an d

propel ler pitch mech ani sms so me times fa iled to

thi s a irc raft d ro pped o n H irosh ima and

o the r c it ies wer e mor e destr ucti ve but th ey d id-

hrillg th e prope lle r blades to a fu lly fea th ered

n't p rov ide th e punc tua t ion mar ks that th ose

posit ion wh en an engine was sh ut down .

two ato m ic bombs d id

vc rse lv, if a gove rn or failed d urin g fligh t, th e

[0

ge t Japan to surrende r.

COI1 #

W h e n th e B-29 first ca me o ut, it caused qu ite a

p itch of the prop e ller blades wou ld becom e flat

se nsatio n, wi th its tre me ndo us size, its futuristi c

to th e a ir strea m an d th e en gin e wou ld lose its

appearan ce. N ow, some fifty-sev en years lat e r, I

load. S ubseq ue nt ly, 'a run away propel ler ' situa-

find th at th is h ea vy bo mb e r was mor e o f a men -

tion woul d occur, wh ere the engine revolut ion s

ace to its c re ws than the en e my.

pe r min ute in crea sed rapid ly. Excessive cent rifu-

Boe in g's Mo del 345 XB-29, the pro to type for

gal for ces wou ld ca use the sh edd ing of th e fo ur

the S upc rfort rcss, ca me in to be ing at the begin . .

prope ller blades, flin ging th em in a ll di rect ions,

ning of Se pte mbe r in 1940 wh en th e co mpa ny

with a goo d cha n ce of piercing th e a irfra me with

rec e ived an order to buil d two , th en th ree, pro -

terri b le conseq ue nce s. T h e sudde n im ba lan ces

ro rvpcs. T h e y were d esign ed to be lon g-ran ge

co uld a lso rip the en gine from its moun t.

bom bers, with a c rew o f ten, an d a ma xim um

Mea nw h ile , th e seco n d XB-29 prototype

ran ge of mor e th a n 5,00 0 mil es. T h ey wo uld

bom ber was co m p leted a nd made read y for

a lso he capable of ca rrying bomb load s of up to

fligh t-t esti ng. In its ini tial fligh t, a lmos t im me-

16,000 Ib. To mai nt ain the c rew's efficie nc y on

d iar el v afte r m ke -off a fire b roke o ut in th e outer

th ese lon g fligh ts, the y wo u ld he pr essur ized a n d

righ t e n gine . Fort un at el y it was pUI o ut, an d the

h eat ed. Self-sca ling fuel ta n ks, ar mour plat e and

B-29 lan ded safely. A mon th and a h alf lat e r, an

th e gun turre ts wer e to he factory-ins talled , a nd

in ne r e ng ine o n th e left side ca ugh r fire wh ich

n ot re trofitt ed as in th e case of ma n y o f th e B-

soon sp read ro th e fuel syste m . Th e ext reme h eat dest ro yed the ma in wing spar. A ll of the

17s a nd I)·24s. T he mo st se nsatio nal inno vation was the

c re w were killed , a nd also twen ty ot hers wh o

se rvo- con tro lled gun tu rret used to aim tw in

we re worki n g in a n earby factory th at the

fiftie s in five lo cat ion s, two ve nt ra l, two dor sal

bo mber fell int o .

a nd th e tai l. The turr e ts wer e ph ysica lly se pa-

Not h in g was go ing righ t in th e fligh t tests,

ra ted from th e gun n e rs, who a imed th e guns

wh ich was delayin g prod uct ion . Conseque n tly,

th rou gh an opt ica l sigh t in g syste m th at was

speci a l reams we re asse mb led to loca te th e prob -

stat e of the a rt for th at e ra . It was supp lied by

lem s a nd get th e m fixed . Afte r a he m ic effort , ma n y of th e hugs wer e rem o ved hy rede sign .

General Elec tric.

It was a bea ut iful, futuri stic a irc raft , with its

T h e eng in es st ill rema in ed dan ge ro us, am I

h e misph er ica l Ple xiglas nose (th e green ho use

major problem s co uld n o t he co rrec te d suc h as

effec t co uld put you to sleep ), slim c ylind rica l

re placing th e ligh tweigh t magn esium c ra n kcase

bod y an d a sweeping ve rti ca l stab ilize r an d rud -

th at e xpand ed mor e th a n the alu min ium eng in e

der , copied for the mo st part from th e B-1 7. T he

structure

fuselage was 99 ft lon g, a nd it h ad a wingspa n of

pla ced th e magn esium und er h ea vy co m pressive

14 1ft 3in, almos t 40ft mor e th a n th e B- 17.

stresses. Event ua lly, it wo uld crac k an d o il

at

opera t ing

tem peratu re,

wh ich

Empt y, it weighed in at abo ut 100 ,000Ib. W ith

wou ld begin leak o ut. Soon, rh e eng ine te mpe r-

a full load , its gross we ight was 140 ,000 1b -

ature wo u ld rise , in c reasin g th e st ress an d prop -

abo ut 20 ,00 01h ove r the or igin a l est imat es.

aga ting the c rac ks, wh ich in c reased th e rat e o f

Ther e were 3,970 B-29s bu ilt .

o il loss un ti l a gu n n e r in a side bliste r co uld sec

Four W righ t R-33 50 C yclo n e 18 2,200 h p rad i-

it strea m ing from th e eng ine . If it wasn 't sh ut

a l cngin es mad e it a po werfu l a irp lane . U n fort u-

down in t ime , the p isto ns wo uld freeze up an d it

natel y. the eng ine a nd its co mpo ne nts we re not

wou ld virt ua lly e xp lode . T he fue l fro m th e rup-

fully tested before becom in g ope ra tio na l. To

lur ed lin es wo uld ca tch fire, ign iti n g th e mag-

meet th e we igh t spec ificat ions a nd produ cti on

nesium, whi c h burn ed a t suc h h igh te mpe ra-

deadli n es, W righ t allo wed seve ral major design

tures that it wo uld dest roy th e in tegri ty of th e

flaws to pass th rough . T he po we r plants, whic h

win g str uc ture , do o m ing th e a irc raft. T h is is

co nsisted of the eng ine s. ca rburc tto rs, su pe r~

what h appe n ed to th e seco n d XB-29 prot otype.

ch arge rs, exha usts, fuel syste m , a nd th e pro pe ller

S tra ng el y, n o o ne wanted to mod ify the

go ve rnor mech an isms, a ll h ad seve re problems.

en gin e by subst itu ting a lum in ium fm the ligh t-

Proh lc ms with in th e a irc raft itself soon

wei ght magn esi um . In conjec ture, th e reason

beca me appar ent in flight -t est ing. T he first

was pm bah ly a large inc rease in we ight , a n d th e

89

WORL D WAR T WO

need fm a major d esign c ha nge , ca using dcl a vs

There wer e nf te n a bo rts on rill' tax i str ip wh en

becom e exped ie n t. T h er e h ad to be n o letup in

in produ c t ion . Instead , n n e of th e primar y tasks

the e ngine ru n -ups sho wed th at th ere were tuag'

th e bo mb ing.

gin ?1l to the side bli st er gun ne rs was to watch for

dro ps (a d rop in th e vo ltage in th e magn etos in

n il lea ks. W h en no t ified nf an n il leak . th e [l ight

the ignition system ).

wo uld 'swa llow a valve' meaning th a t a va lve

nf o ur men k illed in act io n , h ut it speed ed up the

Earl y o n . wh en the B-29 becam e op e rationa l (rom bases in C h ina , the re were an ex cessive n um ber of aborts. o pe ra tion al losses am i equ ipment fa ilures . The first B-29 mission in the war was to bo mb ra ilway ya rds near Ran gkok in T h aila nd . O ut of the 112 a irc raft assign ed , fourte en d idn't ge t off the ground , sc vc n tv-sevc n reac hed th e ta rge t area hu t o u lv fort y·eight managed to d rop th ei r bo mbs o n th e ta rge t. Five B-29 s wer e lost bec au se of equ ipme nt failu res. In th e first m ission to Tokyo. I I I B-29s rook off. Th irteen h ad to abo rt. Two a irc raft we re sh ot down . In a missio n to drop mines in to the mouth of a river, o nly e igh t nut of fou rteen a ir-

he ad wo uld break nff from a val ve stem , a nd the

e nd nf th e wa r.

c raft mad e it.

eng inee r wou ld imm cdi ntel v sh ut down th a t

Early on , when ope ra tions were from bases in

eng ine. Even in th e late 19 50s, wh en I was par -

C h ina , th e supply syste m ov e r the ' H ump'

ticipat in g in cloud dissipati on expe runc n ts from

beca me such a n ac ute probl em th a t th e h igh

the rni d- corn pa rtrne n t . the re we re a lways

co m ma nd made th e dec ision to ca ptu re the

two

crc wm c m bc rs watching th e e ng ines t h ro ugh

Mari an a Island s in th e Pacific a nd hnm b Jap an

the side bliste rs. W e d id h ave a n o ricca blc n il

fro m th e re. Sai pa n , Ti n ia n a nd Gua m, th ree

lea k o nce , The e ngin e was sh ut d own immcd i-

clos e isla nds 1,500 m iles from To kvo wer e

ntc lv, an d we ret urne d to th e base. A no ther

se lec ted and se ized. EH' n hefme the last of the

prob lem was th a t th er e was n ot eno ugh n il (low-

e ne my troop s wer e k illed, th e a rm y e ng ine e rs

ing upw ards tn co o l th e ex ha ust valves in the

and na vy Sca bces wer e busy building a ir bases.

top engine cylinder. So metimes the engine

C ap tur ing th ese three island s cos t us ove r 6 ,000

eng in e wo uld h ave to he sh ut dow n qui ckl y

When hom bin g opcrarions hegan, co n rin u-

M uc h o f th is ca n be blamed o n the pe ace-

befo re it was wreck ed . Thi s kep t th e !light cng i-

nus eng ine ch anges and inspect ion s red uced the

t ime a rt irud e o f refusin g to spen d fun ds o n th e d e velopment o f sma ll n um be rs of rrust wo rth v

nc er s o n th e ir to es. Man y lo sses a nd abo rts we re

to tal n umber of a irc raft avai lab le for m issions

ca used hI' e ng ine a nd pro pell er pro blem s in th e

against j apan. En gin es h ad to he co n t in ua lly

m ilita ry eq ui p me nt . T h e n t here was th e

ea rly d ays of its milita ry operations. To tr y t o

rep laced and o verhauled . Pisto ns, va lves , cvlin -

wart ime rush to fiel d in ad eq uatel y d eb ugged

reduce

co ntin ual e ng ine

d ers a nd cra n kcases h ad to he c h ang ed a nd

major weap o n syste ms, almos t off the dra win g

ch an ges an d ove rhau ls th a t kep t the ma int e-

ch ecked for c rac ks. Even with all of th is, ma ny

boar d . T hi s g'1\'e us a m isma tc h ed a irfr ame a nd

nance c rews husy aro und th e c loc k.

lxuul -er s had to a bo rt the ir m issions.

enuin es , In Iryin g to me et specificati o ns, the

thi s

ther e

were

A po rti on nf th e 8.8 00 h p hei n g del ive red hI'

Ab o ut 120 c rippled bom ber s d itc h ed in the

en gin e d esign er s fai led wh en th ey tried to pus h

th e fou r powerful W righ t e n gines c re pt inr o the

sea , an d about hal f o f th ei r c re ws, a ro un d 600

th e sta te of th e a rt . A co mp lete red esign was

!light structure as vihr ario ns that e vc n rua llv

men, we re p icked up hI' resc ue subm ari n es that

req uir ed , h ut the re was a war on and th er e was

loo se n ed bo lts a nd rivet s, an d fittings on

were diverted from th e ir ant i-sh ipp ing du tie s.

just n o ti me for th a t. T he R-J3 50 becam e th e

hydrau lic an d fuel lines whi ch wou ld cause

Af te r th e isla nd of lwo [ima was tak e n , wh ich

n em esis o f th e a irfra me. If th e B-29 was dcve l-

leak s. It was seve re e no ugh to ca use fuel pu mp s

was mu ch close r to Japan , ov er 2,000 cr ippled

oped befor e th e wa r, it pro bab lv wo u ld n ot

to fail, c utt ing n ff th e fue l flnw to an e n gine.

homhe rs even rual lv lan ded there . Most major

h a ve go tte n past th e XR · 29 d esign at ion . Th e

Instr um e nt s wou ld fai l. H yd ra ulic pu mp fai lures

missio ns co ns isted nf ahout 500 ho m he rs. So , if

W right e ngi ne wo uld most like ly h ave bee n

wou ld affec t the la nd in g gea r, the !lap s a nd the

we h ad n' t ta ke n

reje c ted too .

bra kes . causing rak e-o ff a nd landi n g acci de nt s.

to rep lace o ur bom be r for ce several t imes, based

I h ave often wondered wh y th e last ha tc he s of

In m y own ex pe rie nce , I h ad a ro rurv va lve

o n till' prn habili t ies nf hn w ma n y c ripp les might

B· 29 s were lin ed up in the de se rt and bulldo zed .

faste ne d to th e inside of mid-com part men t . aft

11" 0

[ im a , we wo uld h a ve had

ha ve made it hac k to the Mari an as.

of the l-om b ha y, th at I used for n pe ni n g a n d

G e ne ra l C urt is E. LeM ay, a brill iant ge ne ra l

Yo u woul d ex pec t tha t th e tir ed on es from th e Mari an as wou ld h a ve bee n the first to go . N ow,

cl osing the flo w of mon om er h yluminc gas int o

in cha rge of thi s, th e 20 th A ir Fo rce, eve n tua l-

I th ink I kno w wh at th e reasoning was. T h e n ew

strat us c lo uds [rom a tank in the hnmh-hay. O n

II' mad e th e fat eful d eci sion to cha nge th e the -

bombers we re basica lly junk un t il the y had gone

nn e !light th e va lve spra ng a leak from the

ar rc hom b in g tac tics fro m h igh -alti tud e day.

th rou gh th e series o f pro blem s an d fixes, as th e

vi hrarion nf the pressure bul kh ead , le tt ing thi s

ligh t hom bing to low -alt itud e fire-bo mbi n g at

o lde r bombers did . T h ey n eed ed better eng ine s.

no xious gas flow into the co m pa rt me n t . I had to

n ight , using new rada r l-omb sigh ts. S in ce th e

but the re we re no ne a va ilab le. T her efor e th ey

wait unt il we descended from 20,000 to 10 ,000ft

Japan ese h ad no n ight figh te rs, bom ber losses to

wer e decl a red as surpl us an d dest royed with a ven ge:ll1ce .

hefme I cn u ld np en th e h at ch tn ge t int n th e

e ne my acti on were red uced . T he Japanese c ities

hnmh. hay tn sh ut n ff th e main supp ly \'a "'e.

burn ed like torch es with tr eme ndous loss of life.

Th c two

donn ed the ir oxyge n

Rad ar ho mh in g h ad sho wn itsel f to he a great

e ng ines were th en win no weJ down to th e

masks tn a \'()id in h a ling th e fUllles. O,klly, they

succe" . Nex t, to in cr ease th e hom h Inad s, th e

re liab le o nes with th e in -the· field mo di fica ·

d id n 't switc h tn 100 pe r ce nt nxyge n . Sn th ey

gun tu rre ts thar were no lon ger ne eded we re d b ·

ti o ns. The, e wer e assigne d tn th e ne w tra tegic

we re still hreathi ng th e am hient ai r. W h en th e

pen sed with .

L'r c w lll e m l"'c rs

The

re ma ini ng ope rat iona l a irc raft a nd 1l1o st

A ir C o m ma nd . A s n e w types of ho mhe rs ca me

Ye t, th e re was no let up of hom her s lan d in g at

nff th e lin e, th e R· 29 s we re re t ired. or sent to

leak. W l' fin a lly used a different kin d nf \'a "'e.

Iwn Ji ma. In the hom b in g n f Japa n , 414 R· 29s

o the r pa rts o f the A ir For ce for special !light

O n a nn the r !light , n n a twn·w ee k sta y at

we re lost (ah out 4,00 0 men) , 147 d ue to e ne my

purpllse s such as rese arc h and dC\'l'lllpme nt.

t-la lmst rom AFR, a S AC hase in Mnnt a n a. the

actinn, a nd 26 7 fro m o pe ra t iona l losses, for a

S uch is th e n a ture o f a ir war. Br:1\'e me n ha d

h yd ra ulic syste m fm th e brak es fai led . TI ll' p ilnt

r:Hio nf O. 55. This rat io sho ws th at for e"e ry a ir-

to fight with a ircraft th a t wer e so d an gerou s to

h ad tn land th e 'plan e at th e sta rt nf the 15,00 0ft

c raft downed hI' th e e ne my almo st two wer e

fly th at at tacks hI' th e e n emy heca me a lmos t a

nonwa y, re" er se pro pell ers an d pou r n n th e

Inst op era t ion all y. If we h adn't ca p tu red Iwo

sec n nd ary issue . Tn pa raph rase Si r \Virb to n

pnwer tn keep us frolll gn ing n ff th e ot he r end .

j ima, thi s ra ti n would h a\' e heen mu ch h ighe r.

C h urch ill, ' e" er in th e hi stor y o f a ir warfare.

Fn llnwed by crash trucks, we fin a lly stnpped

T h ese Insses would h a" e ordina rily bee n un ac·

h a\'e so man y hra\' e a \' ia to rs, with faili n g a ir-

rolling afte r usin g up abn ut twn th irds nf it.

ceptable, h ut to win th e war the gene ra ls h ad to

c raft , man aged to hr ing th e ene m y to h is kn ees.'

\'a"'e was re placed , th e ne w n ne a lso sprang a

90

FIRST-PERSON ACCOUNTS

Th e Ni ght We Burned Toky o Down /31' 2ND

LT C LAUDE E. SUIi FACE, USA F

(REm )

I wou ld say th at one of my most mem orab le mission s was th e one night on 9 March 194 5 over Tok yo. Du rin g our training we were to ld th at th e B-29 was design ed to fly high er th an an y kn own enemy figh te r 'planes and th at ver y little an ti-aircraft art illery fire could accurately reach th e altitudes th at we wou ld be bom bin g from 35, 000- 40, 000 ft. T he first mission s we flew were at those altitudes with so me of th e Jap figh te rs reach ing th ose alt itudes, but th ey were not very aggressive. We d id get AAA flak at th ose alt itudes and we did receive so me battl e dam age . A bout th e 3rd or -lth of March , I noti ced some very un usua l activity go ing on with our a irplane , whi ch was that all of its ten machine-gun s and its can non were being rem oved. I also noticed th at some very unu sual types of bom bs were be ing stacked around th e aircraft h ard stands. A s well as I can rem em ber, briefing was about one o'clo ck in the afternoon as it was to be a midnight strike, with eng ine sta rt set for abo ut four o'clo ck th at afternoon. O n' my weight and balan ce figures, I was to a llow for less weight because of the ca n no n/gun and ammo removal. In add ition we'd on ly be ca rrying two gun ne rs, who were to act as scan ners instead because of th ese rem ovals. O f course th e rem ova ls allowed our 'plan e to ca rry a heavier bomb load. T hese ch an ges ca used a grea t deal of co ncern and worr y for all of us bomber crews, as you might imagin e, because we literally had no idea what o ur target was go ing to be that nigh t as no infor mation had leaked out prior to the briefin g. After all of th e crews had gotten seated in the br iefin g roo m we waited for our wing commander, C olonel Bobby Ping, to come to th e podium and an nounce our tar get for th at n igh t. O dd ly, to me an yway, th ere were newspaper report ers sitt ing up front with thei r ca me ras. That was someth ing new. With eve ryone co ming to attention upon his en try, C olonel Ping h it th e podi um, rubbing h is hands toget her. T here was dead silence. After 'A t ease' , C o lonel Pin g

said 'Well gen tlemen , our ta rget for toni ght is Tok yo, at an altitude of 7,000ft.' The instant C o lonel Ping mad e th at an nounc emen t the newspap er reporters jumped up and star ted taking pictu res of us. I suppose they were trying to cap ture wh at must have been shocked looks upon o ur faces. Sudde n ly we were going to fly a mission ove r Japan with no guns for selfdefen ce and at an unheard -of, very low alt itude. This was absol utel y incredible for an unarmed hi gh -altitude bomber, espe c ially one th e size and we igh t of a Superfort, to say th e very least. This was noth ing but suicida l, we though t. O ur 'plane was in the th ird form ati on go ing over the target and when we were about 50 mi les from Japan , th e red reflection of the burning city of Tokyo co uld be clearly seen in th e distan ce. As we made land fall, out my por tside wind ow I could see th e outlines of what ap peared to be burning buildings. We were flying th rough th ick smoke that smel led like tarpaper, wood and a cross between burning hair and other odd smells th at were sicken ing. There didn't seem to be an y [ ap 'plane s aro und but th ere was some flak bursts - way above us in most cases. I could see th e un dersides of wings in th e formation and th ey were blood red from th e reflect ion s of fires. Jim, our bo mbard ier, was havin g a prob lem finding a clear target to unl oad our bombs, which were incend iaries as I found out lat er. I heard him te ll our pilot th at he had th e Emperor's palace and grounds in h is sigh t but the airplane comma nder told h im to find an other target because th e palace was off limi ts to bombardm ent. Shortly thereafter he found a suita ble target and dropped our bombs. Ne ed less to say we made a safe return to Tinian , as did most of th e ot her 'plane s. We did lose a few B-29s on that mission, no t kn ow ing if it was to enemy action or o the r causes such as m id-air collisions. O n anot her mission on board PA SS IO N WA GON we h ad our n umb er thr ee eng ine shot out over O ita during a bomb run and, about five minutes out of Iwo [ ima, an oil line ruptured on the number one engine . A fter an emergenc y landing we had to leave her on Iwo. We were later assigned to anothe r 8 -29 (squadron nu mber48 ), which we named H ERE'S LUCKY. We later borrow ed a Superfor t from th e 509C G . It was one of th e S ilverplate B-29s

91

but I don 't recall whi ch one it was. It was really someth ing, th ough, with its improved R-3350-4 1 eng ines with a fuel-inj ecti on system and reversible-pitch props.

T hen Master Sergeant Claude E. Surface was a flight engineer assigned to the 20A F/3 13BWI/ 50513G/484BS on Tinian in the Wlestern Pacific. He arrived on Tinian on 1 January 1945 , flew his first mission on 2 1 January 1945 and his thirty-fifth and last mission on 28 July 1945 . The name of his 13-29 wm PASSIO N WlA GO N (squadron nwnber 42) . lr wasa 1329-25-13A (42-6352 4) . He related that the 9 March 1945 mission over Tokyo destroyed about 15 square miles (39sqkm) of the city. He concluded 'Of course that wasn't the only mission over Tokyo for us. Wle hit other cities roo such as Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, Yokahama and many others. I was on severalof the mining missions. 1 wm still on Tinian when the A -bombs were droPIJed. In fact the 509 BG 'l)lanes were just across the raxi stn/J from our planes.' (NO T E: 13adly damaged on a mission , PASSION WlAGON later crashed to destruction about 300ft short of Tinian 's runway, killingall of the crew. It had been on loan to the 509CG at the time.)

Pacific Ditching of HOMING BIRD BY COLONEL M ELVI N

G.

'M EL' CASH,

USA F (REm ) In Febmary 1945 , Maj G en C urtis E. LeMay; commander of the 20th A ir Force in the Marianas, ordered a /)recision bomb attack on the Nakajima A ircraft factory at Ora , Japan. The raid was scheduled for ) 0 February 1945 . 13-29s from the 73rd Bomb Wling on Saipat: and the newly arrived 3 13th 13WI on Tinian were ordered to txuticitxi te. 1st Li Melvin G. 'Mel' Cash, aircraft commander of the 13-29 named HOM ING BIRD (/3-29-50-13W1, 4 2-24824) was scheduled to fly on just his second mission to mainlandJaI)an with the 3 13 I3\'V. Cash was assigned to the 3 13BWI, 505 th Bomb G rou/J, 483rd Bomb Squadron . My second mission came on 10 Febru ary 1945. Eigh ty-four B-29s were laun ch ed th at day against th e Na kajima A ircraft plant at O ra, just north of Tokyo. I was aircraft command er of th e 13-29 we nam ed HOM ING

WO RLD WAR TWO

BIRD . Major Jul ian Dendy, from C aribbean duty with me, led th e group and C apt C armel M. Slaugh te r [ r led the h igh fligh t. Before co nt in uing th is n arrative, an explanat ion of jet streams is in order. C rews had become acqua inted with hi gh wind s at alt itude whil e in training, but nothing like th ose enc ountered over Japan d uring the win ter months. If you tried a cross-wind bomb run , the dri ft exceeded bomb-sigh t ca pa bilit ies, and if you came in fro m down wind , you were past the target before you were syn ch ron ized. T h e o the r alte rn ative was up wind , and that day we were at 32 ,000ft in a hor ren dous jet stream go ing up wind. It see med like we were bac king up when the bomb -bay door s were opene d. T hi s gave the AAA bat teri es t ime to reload and co nt in ue firing. HO M ING BIR D go t one of the roun ds thro ugh h er righ t wing. G un ne rs at first report ed th at we were on fire , then ca lled out th at we were losing fuel. A t abo ut the ve ry same [ ap figh ters sho t ou t our n umber two engine - it wo uldn't feat her du e to loss of o il. O ver th e target, hi gh fligh t leader Ca pt S laugh ter and O wen O . Barnhart in anot he r upcrto rt co llided and went down . As th e format ion de parte d the tar get area we were pick ed our as a straggler by Jap figh ters. We had reversed course after bombs away, headed cast, seeking a lower alt itude. O ur gun ners were giving the fire con tro l system a work-out and clai med three figh ters on the way out to C hos h i Po int , our ex it po int from th e Japan ese main land . Turn ing so uth , we tr ied to avo id Japan 's sma ll islands. W h ile we were over the target earlier, my co -pilot Harr v W ing suggested we head to Vlad ivostok to make an emergency lan d ing in Russia, but I want ed no part of flying upwind acro ss th e co ld Sea of Japan . \'(!e wou ld instead take our chanc es with a ni gh t d itch ing in the war mer wat ers of the Pacific Ocean. O ur rad io ope rato r, Jam es F. Haley, tr ied to esta blish radio contac t with a US avv submarine on sta tion, bu t co uld not. Ir was just as well, for it was snowing. \,(!hen our uperfort reache d a lower alt itude , it co n trolled fairly wel l with one engine d ragging and one feat h ered , so our crew mad e plan s for th e eve n tful d itch ing yet to come . Rad io contac t was estab lishe d wit h Tin ian and our int en tions were made kn own , A Supe r Dumbo, a 13-29 IS B-291 assigned to provide d itch ing support was co n tac ted and ma int ain ed course with HOM IN G BIR D. We were

tr ying to mak e it to the USS Bering Strait, a US av y vessel on stat ion so uth -cast of Iwo [ irn a , assigne d th e task of pick ing up dit ch ed 13-29 crews. A quick survey of our '29 revealed we had flak ho les in the crew compart me nt, but none of the crew h ad recei ved an y hits. \'(!e d iscussed ejecting th e empty bomb-bay fuel ta n ks to ligh ten our load , but decided aga ins t it, espec ially if a sha ckle did n't release . That wo uld have increased dra g, and besides, th e tanks wou ld pro vide some flot at ion . A t 10:15pm th at nigh t o ur fuel supply had gotten down to about five min utes, then we headed in to the wind fo r our di tching man oeuvr e. It was a fairly dark n ight, and with the experien ce I had ga ine d from ni gh t submarine run s in the C aribbean Sea, 1 kn ew th ere was always a hor izon. 1 th erefore chose not to usc our land ing light s, wh ich co uld blind us, ca using ot her pro blem s. \'(!e had placed our gear ncar the ex its, gone th rough th e briefing as to wh at eac h crewma n would do , and rad iom an Haley had let out th e trailing ant en nae to give me surface co n tac t awareness. \'(!e briefed the Supe r Dumbo and headed down . Sure enough, when HOM I G BIR D got int o her final d itch ing posit ion, we cou ld see the waves, the horizon and the swells. A s th e pro p t ips began slicing in to I he tops of the waves, I cut power and held on. T he '29 ca me to an abrupt sto p, so sudden in fact th at my head h it th e bulletproof glass over the instrum ent panel and the sliding wind ow, which 1 h ad opene d for d itching, slammed sh ut , bu t not enough to sto p wat er from co ming int o the coc kpit. It was eerie, to say the least. I re-opened the wind ow and saw that our left wing was still int act ; co- pilot W ing said the right one was, too. We th en inflat ed the life-rafts. 1 took char ge of the left one, Wi ng th e righ t one. Bom bardier \'(!illiam T. Tri vett e dove out of the fligh t engine er's wind ow and took a poun di ng from the wing due to th e cho ppy sea . T he two rafts became separated d uring the n igh t. T he crew had been un able to offload a large box of survival gear. I wanted to re-ent er th e 'plane to get it, but th e crew on my raft ta lked me out of it arid it was just as well, for o ur H O~vll j G BIRD went to the horrom of the Pacific O cea n abo ut 5:00am th e next morn ing. Prior to d itch ing I had changed course to th e east of lwo [i ma to avo id bein g strafed in th e rafts by any [ap figh ters flying out of Iwo. A s morning opene d , three Superforts from the sq uadron flew over the spo t we

92

had rad ioed we'd be at. We esta blished mirror co nt ac t with them . T he hand-cra n ked surviva l rad io wasn 't working properly, not even wi th our ta rget sh ip. th e Bering Straight. But Ti n ian h ad to ld her C apt of our posit ion and a US N avy PB4Y Privateer took up top-cov er over our rafts and stayed until about 4:00pm th at even ing. A ltho ugh our mishap had occurred just 75 miles off Tin ian, I wanted to be prepared for the worst and had set up our rations for a fo urt een -day wait. A fter all, we were in enemy waters and we co uldn't take any th ing for gran ted , Earlier in the day, wh ile sitt ing rhere in rhar raft with the sun blazing down on us, I made a vow to myself: If I get out of thi s, I'm go ing to live the best life I ca n for as lo ng as I can. T he Bering Straight ca me up on the hor izon aro und 5:00 pm an d th e crew was piped aboa rd. Here we found th at two ot he r crews from th e group h ad di tch ed as wel l. Lieut en ant Lowr y of th e 4 4 BS also had a bad ly shot -up upcrforr , He used land ing ligh ts and had h it a big swell rath er than a trough . H is 'plane broke int o th ree sections. T he nose sank immed iatel y and the other two sections filled up with water rap idly th ereafter. Lieuten an t Jack Hallo ran . also of the 484 BS. had bett er luck. He found th e Bering Straight and circ led it tw ice with his land in g ligh ts on . The sh ip gave hi m a heading, turned on its ligh ts. Jack had about the same expe rienc e as I had when th e "planc came to a stop. His side window also slammed sh ut and his crew ex perience d about the same problems as mine had wh ile evac uating th e 'plane. O ur crew was give n some hot soup and put to bed . T he next day I met the sh ip's C apt, W alter Deane In n is, wh o lat er became a Rear A d miral. It too k us ano rh cr five days to make our trip back to T in ian - slow, but a who le lor better than doing it in a life-rafr. A fte r we had retu rned to Tin ian \ \ 'C found out the ex ten t of the losses from th e 10 February raid, O f the eigh ty-four 3 13 BW B-29s laun ch ed th at day, twent y-one d id not retu rn . \,(!h ile the crew was being re-fitred, we spcn t the tim e go ing around to the othe r un its in the 3 13B\'(! ex plain ing how to dit ch a '29 , since ours had been th e most successful so far. My crew made recomm cn dnrions th at were later incorporated in th e aircraft str ucture, amclv, sho ulde r h arnesses for the pilots and braces for th e bomb-bay bu lkhead doors to keep wat er out of th e crew compartment on d itchi ng.

W OR LD WA R T W O

Abo ut a mo n th lat er I was issued a new 8 -29, wh ich I kept unti l A ugust , t rad in g it in for a new o n e with im pro ved rad ar an d fuel -inj ec ted e ng ines.

Mel Cash served 33Y1 )'ears retiring as a Colonel.

III

the USA F,

Pilots Ado re Cra mped 8-29 13Y Eli N EST P YLE - IN THE i'v I A I<1 A N A ISLANDS , EARLY

1945

Ernest T. 'Em ie' Pyle was bov» on 3 A ugust 1900 in Dana , Indiana , and became a farned \'(!orld War Two conesl)()ndent who wm killed b)' ja/Janese gunfire on 18 A /Jril 1945. He wrote mIHlCrollS com/Jassionate columns ooout \'(!orld \'(Iar Two airmen, sailors and sok!iers and was a highly tespectea journalist. He was so revered , in fact, that a B-29-80-BW (4470 118) wm named TH E E I~N I E PYLE by the Boeing Air/Jwne C omjxm y in his honour. /-lis 13-29 sror)' is m follows; T h e 8 -29 is un q uesti o na bly a wond erful aero pla n e. O uts id e o f t he famo us o ld Dou glas DC -3 wor kh o rse, I've n ever h eard pilo ts so un animou s in th ei r pra ise of
n orma lly n o way to ge t fro m fro nt to rear co mpa rt men ts. So th e manufacturer s so lved tha t by building a tun n e l in to th e 'pla ne, right a lo ng th e roo ftop . The tunnel is round, just big e no ugh to c rawl in o n yo ur h ands and kn ees, and is padde d with blue clo th . I r's so me 30 ft lo ng, and c rew members crawl back and forth thro ugh it a ll th e ti me . Major Ru ss C h eever reported th at he acco mp lished th e imp ossible th e oth er d ay by turn ing around in th e tunnel. O n m issio ns some o f th e c rew go back in th e tun nel and sleep for an hour or so, bu t a lot of them can 't stand to do th at. T h ey say they ge t cla ustro pho bia. T here used to be so me sleeping bunk s on the 13-29, but they've been taken out, and now th ere's hard ly even roo m to lie down on th e fl o or, A fe llow does get sleepy o n a fourteen-hour mission . Most of the pilot s take naps in their seat s. O ne pi lot I kn ow turn ed th e 'plane o ver to h is co- pilo t and wen t hack to th e tun nel for 'a littl e na p' and d idn 't re turn for six hours, just before they hi t the co ast of Japan. T h ey laugh ingly say he goes to sleep before he gets the wheels up. T he 13-29 is a very sta ble plane a nd h ard ly an ybo d y eve r ge ts sick even in ro ugh wea th er. T h e bo ys smo ke in th e plan e, a nd the mess h a ll gives th e m a ll a sma ll lun ch o f sand wic h es, o rang es a nd co ok ies to ca t o n th e way. O n missio n d ays a ll fl ving c rewme n , eve n those no t go ing o n th e m issio n , ge t a ll t he fried eggs th e y

want for br eak fast . T h a t's t he o n ly d ay th ey h ave fried eggs. T h e c rewmen wear th eir regular clo the s o n a mission, usua lly co vera lls. They don't like to wear h eavy Ilcccc-Iin ed clothes and a ll th at hulky gear, be cause th e co mpa rt ments ar c h ea ted . They do slip o n th eir heavy steel 'Oak vests' as th ey ap proach th e target. T he y d on 't have to wear ox ygen masks except wh en th ey're over th e targe t, for the c ab in is sea led and 'pressur ized' sim ulat ing co nstant a lt it ude of 8,OOOft. O nce in a great wh ile o ne o f t he Plex iglas ' blisters' wh ere t he gun ne rs sit will blow o ut fro m th e st ro ng pressure in side, and t hen eve rybo d y bet ter gra b hi s ox ygen mask in a h urr y. T h e c rew a lways wear the oxy gen mask ov er th e ta rge t , fo r a shel l th rou gh t he 'p lane 'd epressur izes' th e co mpartm ents in stan tl y, and th ey'd pass o ut. T h e bo ys spea k frequen tl y o f th e un be lieva ble hi gh wind s th ey h it a t hi gh a ltit udes o ve r Ja pan . It's no th ing unusual to ha ve a 150 m ph wind, and my neph ew, Jack Ba les, sa id th at o n e day hi s 'plane hi t a wind o f 250 m ph . A not he r th ing th at puzzles and amuses th e boys is th a t often they'll pick up news on th e ir rad ios, wh en still on ly ha lfway ho me, that th eir bombing m ission h as been an nounced in \X!ash ingto n . T h us the ent ire world kn ows about it, bu t they've st ill got a th ou sand m iles o f ocean to cro ss before it's fin ished . Sc ience, sh e is wonderful.

Ernie Pyle was highly respected for the brave work he did in the Pacific War. The cre w of this unidentified B-29 s howed their high regard for this lege ndary man by naming their plane ERNIE PYlE'S MILKWAGON. Stan Piet

93

WOR LD WAR TW O

B-29Units in World War Two 20th Air Force, XXI Bomb Command 58th Bomb Wing 40Bomb Group: 25,44, 45and 395Bomb Squadrons [Ihe 40BGtrained at Pratt AAF, kansas] 444Bomb Group: 676, 677. 678 and 679 Bomb Squadrons IThe 444BGtrained at Great Bend AAF, Kansas.l 462 Bomb Group: 768, 769, 770 and 771 Bomb Squadrons (The 462BGtrained at Walker AAF, Kansas.) 468 Bomb Group: 792,793, 794 and 795Bomb Squadrons (The 468BGtrained at Smoky Hill AAF, nearSalina, kansas] 472 Bomb Group: 808, 809, 810 and 811 Bomb Squadrons (The472BG trained at Smoky Hill AAF, near Salina, Kansa s.]

374 Bomb Wing 19Bomb Group: 28, 30 and 93 Bomb Squadrons IThe19BG trained at Great BendAAF, Ka nsas.] 29 Bomb Group: 6, 43 and52 Bomb Squadrons (The29BG trained at Pratt AAF) 39 Bomb Group: 60, 61 ,62 and402 Bomb Squadrons (402BS was reassigned to 502BG on 6/ 1/451 (The 39BG trained at Smoky Hill AAFI 330 Bomb Group:457, 458 and 459 Bomb Squadrons (The 330BG trained at Walker AAF.I 375Bomb Wing 16Bomb Group: 15, 16 and 17Bomb Squadrons (The 16BG trained at Fairmont AAF) 331 Bomb Group: 355, 356 and 357 Bomb Squadrons (The 331 BG trained at McCookAAFI 501 Bomb Group: 21, 41 and 405 Bomb Squadrons (The501 BG trained at Harvard AAF) 502 Bomb Group: 402,411 and 430 Bomb Squadrons (The 502BG trained at Prall AAF.)

NOTES Iii Whenbased in India and China the 40, 444, 462 and 468 BombGroups were under the command of XXBomberCommand. Iii) The472BGremained at SmokyHill AAF asOperational Training Unit. as part of 2AFTraining Command.

73rd Bomb Wing 497 Bomb Group: 869, 870 and 871 Bomb Squadrons (The497BGtrained at Pratt AAF) 498 Bomb Group: 873, 874and 87 5 Bomb Squadrons (The 498BG trained at Great BendAAFI 499 Bomb Group : 877. 878and 879 Bomb Squadrons (The499BG trained at Smoky Hill AAF) 500 Bomb Group: 881 ,882 and 883 Bomb Squadrons (The 500BG trained at Walker AAFI

Other Units 3rd Reconnaissance Squadron (F-1 3AI XXI BC, 20AF. 4th Em ergency Rescue Squadron ISB-29 SuperDurn bo] XXI BC, 20AF, 41 st Photographic Reconnaissance IF-13AI 8thAir Force, XXBomb Command 376 Bomb Wing 333 Bomb Group: 435, 460 and 507 Bomb Squadrons 346 Bomb Group: 461, 462 and463 Bomb Squadrons (The316BWwas based on Okinawa late in the warwith the reactivated XX Bomber Command, 8th Air Force andits two bombgroups neversaw action asunits; however, some lead personnel did seeaction with the313BW and58BW on Ii nian.l

373 Bomb Wing 6 Bomb Group: 24, 39 and 40 Bomb Squadrons IThe 6BG trained at GrandIsland AAF, Nebraska.) 9 Bomb Group: 1,5 and99Bomb Squadrons (The 9BG trainedat McCook AAF, Nebraska] 504 Bomb Group: 398, 421 and 680 Bomb Squadrons (The 504BG trained at Fairmont AAF, Nebraska.] 505 Bomb Group: 482, 483 and 484 Bomb Squadrons (The 505BG trained at Harvard AAF, Nebraska.] 509CG : 393 BombSquadron (The 509CG trained at Wendover AAF. Utah.]

Other Units 383 Bomb Group The383BG(540, 541,880 and 884 Bomb Squadrons) trained at Walker AAFfrom6/ 14 to 8/11/45. VJ-Day came about before the unit could deploy to the Pacific.

458Bomb Group The 458BGwasto trainat Walker AAF VJ-Day came about before the 458BGcou ld begin training.The458BG wasdisestablished beforeany squadronswereassigned to it.

B-29 Bases in World War Two Bomb Group

Combat Besets}

BombGroup

Combat Besets)

6BG 9BG 16BG 19BG 29BG 39BG 40BG 330BG 331 BG 444BG 462BG

Tinian (North Fieldl Tinian (North Fi eldl Guam(Northwest Field] Guam(North Field) Guam (North Field) Guam (North Field) Hsinching, China andTinian(West Field) Guam (North Fi eld) Guam (North Field) Hwangchan, China and Tinian(West Field) Based at Piardoba, India with advanced base of operations at Kiunglai, China, thenTinian(West Fi eld)

468BG 472BG

Pengshan, China andTinian (West Fieldl SmokyAAF, Kansas (Midwestern United States]; B-29pilot training and transition and B-29 crew training operations SaipanIIsley Fieldl SaipanIIsley Fieldl SaipanIIsley Field) SaipanIIsley Field) Guam (Northwest Fieldl Guam (Northwest Fieldl Tinian (North Field) Tinian(North Field) Tinian (North Field)

497BG 498BG 499BG 500BG 501BG 502BG 504BG 505BG 509CG

94

r

WO RL D WA R T WO

Tail Codes 6BG - Circle R 9BG - Circle X 16BG - Diamond B 19BG- BlackSquare M 29BG- BlackSquare 0 39BG- BlackSquare P 40BG- TriangleS 330BG- BlackSquare K 331BG - Diamond L 444BG - Triangle N 462BG - Triangle U 468BG - Triangle I 497BG - A Square.then A 498BG - T Square. then T 499BG - V Square. the V 500BG- Z Square. then Z 501 BG - Diamond Y 502BG- dark blue Diamond H 504BG- Circle E. then ETriangle 505BG- Circle W. thenKTriangle 509CG- Circle Rand Arrowhead in Circle

ABOVE: 314BW, 19BG B-29(42-93??71smokesto a halt during an emergency landing on Guam with the number four engine on fire. Peter M. Bowers BELOW lEfT. A gaggle of 314BW, 29BGB-29s head toward Japan from their base on Guam. Peter M. Bowers

ABOVE: T Square5411ater T 541 as seen from another73BW, 498BG Superfort. Stan Piet

urn 'Look Ma, no rudder!' This B-29of the 313BW, 504BG and24BS madeit back to its North Field,Tinian base despite the severeflak damage to its vertical stabili zer. Peter M. Bowers

continued overleaf

95

WORLD WA R TW O

~~ rI

"0:

~

• .

. 'bl;" ' l /

•

-

Ta il Codes continued

/

}- o\ \.0 \'-''NoT ~if:J T'I C K~.,.. _ LEFT: ROUNO -TRIP TICKET, also known as BLACKIEl, was a B-29-5-BW

(42-6262) w ith 24'Hump' and nine bombmissions at the time of this freezeframe. It is shown here wi th its crew from the 444BG, 678BS. Peter M. Bowers ABOVE: ENOLA GAY performsan engine run-up in August 1945. USAF BELOW: A B-29A-50-BN (44-61818) of the 313BW, 9BG. David W. Menard BELOW MIDOLE: 509CG Silverplate B-295 wi th ENOLA GAY in the forefront. USAF BOTTOM: A 501BG B-29. AW. George via David W. Menard

96

LEFT: A rare colour image of XB-29 number three (41-18335) during its first test flight on 29 May 1943. Peter M. Bowers BELOW: Two early B-29-BWs shared the skies over Kansas in the summer of 1943. Peter M. Bowers

BELOW: ENOLA GAY was commanded by Robert A. Lewis but it was flown by 509CG commander Paul W. Tibbets on the Hiroshima mission, 6 August 1945.

RobertKra use/509BWAssociation via Stan Piet BELOW RIGHT: BOCKSCAR was commanded by

Frederick C. Bock, but it was flown by Charles W. Sweeney on the Nagasaki mission, 9 August 1945.

Stan Piet BOTTOM: ENOLA GAY awaits disposition at

Oavis-Monthan AFB in Arizona. This historic machine eventually became part of the vast collection of National Air and Space Museum aircraft and spacecraft. Schirmer Collection viaStan Piet

LEfT. Close-up view

of the 509BG (formerly CG, later BW) emblem. Schirmer Collection via Stan Piet

(

A shiny new B-29 is about to be loaded with forty 500lb general purpose high-explosive bombs. Stan Piet !

BELOW:

DINA MIGHT. a B-29-25-MO (42-65280) of the 313BW, 504BG, 29BS was shot down on 26June 1945, on her twenty-fifth mission, by a Kawasaki Ki-61 Hein fighter. Seven of her crewmembers survived. Stan Piet BOTrOM :

I

/

ABOVE:

Atow-motor moves B-29-95-BW 45-21766 to its place on the flight line.

Peter M. Bowers LEFt: On 9 August1945 the 'Fat Man' atomic bombwas dropped on Nagasaki by BOCKSCAR. Richard H. Campbell

RIGHT. AYB-29and B-17 flytogetherto show the vast differences in their respective configurations. Peter M. Bowers BELOW: The GREAT ARTISTE (B-29-40-MO. 44-27353) was one of the fifteen operational Silverplate B-29s flown by the 393BS. 509CG. David W. Menard

The Circle X and white cowls of the B-29s in this formation means they were from the 313BW, 9BG.

Stan Piet

BELOW LEFT: THUMPER, a B-29-40-BW (42-24623) of the 73BW, 870BS. Stan Piet BELOW: An unidentified B-29, the numbers 3524 being the last four numbers of its USAAF serial number, was T-52 of 73BW, 498BG. Stan Piet BOTTOM LEFT: 98BG B-29s in close formation, the aircraft in the background being a B-29-55-MO (44-86400). David W. Menard BOTTOM RIGHT: 98BG B-29s in close formation.

David W. Menard

'. ABOVE: A 19BG B-29 at rest in Korea. The black underside

camouflage treatment was applied for night-time bombardment . duties. Peter M. Bowers lEFr. A couple of nose artists applving their talents to an unidentified B-29. David W. Menard BELOW: LADY MARY ANNA, a B-29-40-BW (42-24625) of the 73BW, 498BG is about to get a new R-3350 engine . This B-29 served with both the 874 and 875 Bomb Squadrons of the 498BG.

Stan Piet

ABOVE: A good view of an SB-29 taxiing. SB-29

Super Dumbo aircraft were welcome sights for crewmembers that had been forced to ditch at sea, especially after they dropped their A-3 lifeboat in which these crewmen could survive until they were rescued. Stan Piet LEFT: B-29-36-MO SOME PUNKINSN-84 (44-27296)of the 509CG was commanded by James N. Price. Robert Krause/509BW Association via Stan Piet

RIGHl: A B-29-40-MO (44-27341) named DREAMERof the 315BW, 98BG, 343BS in the Korean War. Max Nelson BElOW: A B-29-25-MO (42-65306) of the 19BG in Korea named THE OUTLAW. David W. Menard

A hose-type KB-29M (44-69710) tanker as it appeared in October1952. David W. Menard

ABOVE:

Some ofthe derelict B-29s that were parked at China Lake.California. Two ofthem (out of view). DOC and FIFI. were salvaged. rebuilt and made to fly again. AFFTC/HD via Raymond L. Puffer

BELOW:

The B-29-70-BW(44-69972) named DOC being restored in the Boeing-Wichita factory. Afterrestoration in 2003 it became onlythe second airworthy B-29 in the world. Boeing BELOW:

RIGHT:

A lovelyview of a B-29 banking to the right.

SIan Piel

RIGHr. FIFI of the Confederate Air Force (CAF) was the first and only flying B-29in the world until the advent of DOC, which w as scheduled to take wing in 2003. Boeing Media

A SAC VB-29, formerly a B-29-90-BW (44-87755), served as a VIPtransport in the early 1950s. David W. Menard

BELOW:

BELOW RIGHr. T SQUARE 54(formerly T-54) belongedto the 73BW, 498B6. It is now a restored, but non-flying, B-29-60-BW (44-69729) on permanentdisplay at the Museumof Flight in Seattle,Washington. Stan Piet BOTTOM: A USAir ForceReserves (AFRES) B-50B (47-162). The B-50w as the ultimate outgrowth of the B-29 and, in fact, almost began life as the B-29D. Stan Piet

CHAPTER SIX

Silverplate On 6 and 9 Aug ust 1945 two Si lverpl are B-29s became the world's first atomic bombers when they obliterated two c ities in j apan an d killed hundreds of thousands of its people. T he j apanese cities of H irosh ima an d Nagasaki were laid waste by special-purpose B-29s carrying ato mic bombs named , respec tively, Little Boy and Fat Man . For America it was a lon g-overdue payback for japan's 7 December 194 1 sne ak attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. For the peoples of those two cit ies in japan it was overkill in the truest sense of that word, and hell on earth. Six years ea rlier, on 2 Augu st 1939, Professor Alb ert Einstein had drafted a letter for Presiden t Franklin D. Roosevelt. Professor Einstein gave th e letter to Dr A lexande r Sachs to hand deli ver to President Roosevel t. Dr Sach s was not able to see Roosevelt until 11 October 1939 , howeve r, at which time he deliv ered th e Einste in letter and discussed th e import an ce of its co n ten ts; it was more th an int eresting. In part, Professor Einstein wrot e th at the elem ent uranium could be turned into a new and important source of energy in th e imm ediate future . He added that thi s new ph en omenon wou ld most likely lead to th e construction of bombs of a new and extremely powerful type , but that th ey might be too heavy for transportation by air. Hi s lett er to Roo sevelt caused a cha in reaction that wou ld ch an ge th e world as mankind had known it. Sudde nly the US A had th e possible mean s to create a ne w power source and a weapon of mass dest ruct ion .

Six months later th e committee gave the President its report, recommending a fastpaced prog ramme that might produce such a weapon by j uly 1944 . T he President accepted the committee's recommendat ions and th e effort was turned ove r to th e US War Depa rtment. In September 1942 the War Departmen t assigned the task of dev elop ing a nucl ear weapo n to the US A rmy Corps of Eng ineers. T h is effort was code -named th e Manhattan Project. Development of what was on ly referred to as the 'gadget' proceeded quite rapidly, but there were numerous prob lems and setbacks. But in mid-july 1945 th e 'gadget' was ready to be tested at th e Trinity proj ect site located in th e north-west secto r of th e A lamogordo Bombing Ran ge in south central New Mexico. At 5:30am on 16 july

1945 th e 'gadget ' detonated atop a 100fthigh tower. Its nuclear yield was equal to th e energy released by detonating 19 kilotons of TNT. Long before the spectacular Trinity pro ject atomic bomb test too k place it h ad already been decided that the Boeing B-29 S uperfortress wou ld deliv er ato mic bombs against the Axis powers. By the time the atom bombs were ready for use VE-Day had come and gone, and japan alone rem ained to be beaten. Yet it remained a formidabl e foe and so work continued on the world 's first ato mic bombers - th e S ilverplate B-29s. As part of th e high ly classified Manhattan Project, the USAAF was instru cted by th e US War Department to secretly mod ify a B-29 to become a protot ype aerial

The Manhattan Project and Silverplate Prior to A merica's ent ry int o World War Two the crea tion of such a weapon was not a major priority. But this all cha nged afte r j apan 's atta ck on Pearl H arbor. In mid -December 194 1 President Roosevelt appo int ed a committee to determ ine if the USA cou ld con struct a nuclear weapon .

The world's first atomic bomb was simply referred to as the 'gadget' . It resembled something more like an elec trician's nightmare than a complicated housin g for a device of mass destruction. USAF

97

SII.VERI'I.ATE

LEFT.

The Trinity test site.

BELOW LEFT. The Trinity test-site blast at 5:30amon 16July 1945. Sometimes a picture truly is 'worth a thousand words'. USAF

TRINITY TEST SITE 1945 Con to",'

---t

o

II) te rvil l

in

f~ ~(

20 < - - ' -7:7.';=;;-- - _......J

98

platform to ca rry a 'spec ia l wea po n ' ca lled Thin M a n, wh ich measur ed so me 17ft (5 . 18 m) in len gt h . Th is B-29 m od ificat ion programme was code n a me d PlI llm an under Sec ret Proj ec t MX -469 (M X mea n in g, M at eri e l, Experime nta l) . A Bo eingW ic hi ta-bui lt B-29 -5-BW (4 2-6 2 59 , th e fifth o f fifty B-29 -5-BW s) was sel ec ted for th e modi ficat ion program me. T h is a irc raft was in it iall y d elivered to t h e 58 th BW, 4 68 th BG at S mo ky H ill AA F n ear To pe ka , Kan sas, o n 30 N ovem be r 194 3. It was rcd cl iver cd to \Vrigh t A A F in Da yton , O h io , for th e modi fications in early De ce mbe r 1943, a nd by 1 Februar y 1944 th e modi ficat ions wer e co m ple te. T h e a lte rat ions to th e S ilve rpla tc pro to type we re des igne d to accom mo da te th e Thi n M an ato m ic bomb. T h e bomb-b ay doo rs were re mo ved fro m t he tw o bo m bbays an d the sta nda rd bo mb racks we re re moved. T he rada r rad oru c was remo ved fro m th e area be tween th e bo m b-bays and two n ew, long bomb-bay doors wer e in sta lled , whi ch covered th e n ew sing le bom b-ba y. To rra n spo rt rh e bo mb, t wo glide r ro w cable a ttac h -a n d- rele ase mech a n isms wer e modi fied an d in sta lled in th e bomb-bay; th ese co n nec te d to th e tw o arrachrnc nr lugs of th e T hin M an bomb . T h e first T hin M an d ro p tests wer e co n d uct ed ;J [ M uro c A rmy A ir Field (now Ed wa rds A ir Fo rce Base ) in th e Mojave Desert of Ca liforn ia in February and M arch 1944 . In o ne of th e d rop tes ts th e bo m b-bay door s suffered h eavy da mage an d th e prorotypc retu rned to \Vrigh t Field for rep a irs an d furt he r mo d ificat io ns. Ne w bo m b-bay door s and three n ew el ectri c mo to rs we re in sta lled. Ad d it iona lly, the ho mb rel ease me chan ism s were modi fied to el iminat e furt her bo mb -rel ease pro blems. The second set of T hin M an test drops at Muroc was hel d in June 1944. T hese d rop s wer e a lmos t com plete wh en th e M anhat tan Project sc ic n rists, at th eir Los Alamos ce n tre , det e rm in ed th at plut o ni um wou ld n ot work in a gun -type (cy lin d rica lly sha ped) bo m b. T h e pro blem was pr e -d eton at ion d ue to th e in abilit y to achie ve suffic ie n t ve loc ity o f a plu ton ium p ro jec t ile in a gun tub e . T h e re for e, th e T hin M a n bom b

SII.VERI'l.A TE

ABOVE: The single Silv erplat e B-29 prototype wa s formerly a B-29-5-BW (42-6259). one of fifty produced . It w as assigned Secr et Project Number MX-469 and given the code name Putlmen. It is show n at Muroc army air field (now Edwards Ai r Force Basel. some time in mid-1944. Richard H.

Campbell LEFT: The Thill Mall atomic bomb shape being test fined in the extensively modified bomb-bay of the Silverpl ate B-29 prototype in January 1944. Under the guidance of aircraft commander Major Clyde S. Shields and bombardier Captain David Semple. Thill Mall shape drop-tests at Muroc AAF were carr ied out in February and March 1944.

Richard H. Campbell

BELOW: The actual LittleBoy bomb just prior to being loaded in ENOLA GAY. Both LittleBoyand Fat Mall were carr ied in the forward bomb-bay of their mother ship s; reportedly. their near 10.0001b we ight demanded long take -oil rolls and almo st level -pitch lift-oils aft er rotation. causing lengthy climb-outs.

Richard H. Campbell

was aba ndo ned, an d instead an alte rnat ive gun -type bo mb known as Little Boy wou ld tak e its place , wh ich used uran ium as th e ac tive ma te rial. A sec o nd alte rna tive was a pluto n ium device ca lled Fat Mall. To acco mmo date the pro jected 10,0001b (4,5 00 kg) we igh t of the lillie J30)' and Fm Man bom bs, the glider to w cable attac h and- rele ase mech an isms were rep laced wit h the British Type F bomb release and Type G bom h att ac h me n t syste ms. A nd since th e Little Boy and Fa: Mall homhs were some 7ft (2. 1rn ) sho rter th an th e Th in Mall bomb, the pro d uc tion S ilve rplate B-29s ret ained the ir or iginal du al bo mb-hay arra nge me nt , but with th ese mo d ified bo mb at tac h me nts, racks and release mech ani sms. Bo mb dro p tests wit h the Little Boy a nd Fat Ma ll sh apes bega n in S epte mbe r 1944 and co nti n ued t h ro ugh lat e 1944.

... ..

------

99

SILVERI'LATE

ABOVE: The assembled

Fat Man bomb

on Tini an Island just pr ior t o being loaded on BOCKSCAR.

Ri chard H.Campbell lEIT. A Little Boy tes t shape in th e bomb-b ay of the Silv erpl at e B-29 prototype. Richard H. Campbell

U n fort unat ely, at thi s t irnc th e prot otyp e ilverplate R-29 was da maged in a land in g acc ident at Wen dover AAF. The code -na me Silvcr!Jlatc was selec ted by the USAA F for th e prior ity assign ed to the cffort to equip, organi ze, train and usc th e S uperfort's capab ility to car ry and drop th e ato m bom bs. T hc Martin-bu ilt S uperforts involved became kn own as th e Silverplate R-29s simply beca use of the priority code-na me. They were modifi ed on th e Martin-Omaha production line and the n put into service with neither ar mour p lating nor th e upper and lower gun turret . Therefore, th e three gun -sigh ting sta tions and th eir respecti ve blisters were rem oved : instead, th ese ope n ings were filled with circular alumin ium fairings. So th at some selfdefence was reta ined at th e rear, the rail rurrcts were not rem oved. A not her importan t modification was rhe insta llat ion of much impr oved fuel-inj ect ed W right R-3350-4 I engines, wh ich had higher performan ce and were more reliable with better coo ling. Moreover, new C urt iss-Electric propellers fea turing rever ible pit ch were installed to en hance brak ing capability on landing. The prim ary reason why th e Silve rplarc B-29s were stripped of th eir upper and lower

The name ENOLA GAY was the only nose art appli ed to any of the fiheen Silverplate B-29s tha t were on Tini an Island prior to 6 August 1945. It was a B-29-45-MO (44-86292).

Richard H. Campbell

100

SILVERPLATE

Vic tDr Numbe r V-82 was the radio call -sign tor ENOLA GAY and its crew was assigned the desi gnatinn 8 -9; Hobert A. Lew is was the aircraft

commander, USAF

BELOW: ENOLA GAY in its Hiroshima markings.

Peter M. Bowers BOTTOM: ENOLA GAY back at it s NDrth Field base on Tini an Iollnwi nq th e miss ion . Peter M. Bowers

70 7

S ILVERI'LATE

ABOVE: ENOLA GAY awaits her final dispo sition afte r she w as tak en out of service. Schirm er via Stan Piet LEFT: The twelve-man ENOLA GAY crew that bombed

Hi roshima on 6 August 1945. Shown left-to -ri ght in the bottom row are: elect ronic coun term easures tec hnic ian J acob Beser, we apon test office r Mo rris J eppson. navi gator Dutc h Van Kirk, bombardie r Tom Fer ebee. w eapon officer Willi am 'Deak' Parsons, ai rcraft commander Paul TIbbets and co-pi lot Robert Lewi s. Standing left-to-right in the back row are: assistant flight engine er Robert Shumard, radio operator Rich ard Nelso n, radar operator Jo seph Stiborik, fl ight engine er Wyatt Duzenbury and tail gunner George Caron. Richard H. Campbell

gun turrets, the Central Fire Cont rol syste m , the th ree gunne r positions and th e sighting blisters was that at th e beginn ing of th e S ilvcrp lare prog ramme rio-one knew exactly how much th e ato m bombs would weigh . It was (cared tha t these weapon s m ight weigh as much as 2S,OOOlb ( I I ,OOOkg) or eve n more. So to be o n the safe side S ilverplare eng ineers opted to make these 1)-29s as ligh t as possible. Mor eove r, (or delivery of th e ato m bo mbs, these 1)-29s wou ld have to fly at their maximum altitude and best possible

speed. Thus, to elim ina te the parasitic drag c reated by the gun tur rets and blisters, they were rem oved. Finally, the ligh ter weight of these 13-29s allowed for hi gh er-altitu de operation and somewhat h ighe r speed. As it turn ed ou t, the ato m bombs we ighed in the neigh bour hood of lO,OOOlb (4,SOOkg) and were ca rried exclusivel y in th e front bo mb bay, wh ich made the S ilvc rplarc 1)-29s noseheavy. In (act, in practice with Little I30y and Fat Man loaded o n ENOLA GAY and I)O CKSC A R (th e 1)-29s th at ac tua lly

102

d ro pped th e ato m bo mb s o n , respect ively, H irosh ima and Na gasak i), extra weight was moved to th e aft pressurized co mpart ment to h elp alleviate th is pro blem - crcwmc mhers included! A s previo usly ment ion ed the T hin M an was no t devel op ed beyo nd early d rop tests a t Mu roc AA F using th e prototyp e S ilve rplat e 13-29 . Thus th e S ilvc rp larc 1)-29s wou ld instead be co nfigure d to car ry th e Fat M an and Little I30)' ato m ic weapons, wh ich arc d iscussed belo w.

SILVERI'LATE

BOCKSCAR nose art was not applied until after her atom bomb mission on 9 August 1945. It was a B-29-36-MO (44-27297) with call sign Victor Number V-77; Frederick C. Bock was the aircraft commander. Richard H. Campbell

BELOW: The thirteen-man BOCKSCAR crew that bombed Nagasaki on 9 August 1945.Shown left-to-right in the bottom row are: weapon test off icer Philip Barnes. electronic countermeasures technician Jacob Beser. co-pilot Fred Illivi, bombardier Kermit Beahan . pilot Don Albury. navigator James Van Pelt. aircraft commander Charles Sweeney and weapon officer Fred Ashw orth. Standing left-to -right in the back row are: flight engi neer John Kuharek . radio operato r Abe Spitzer. assistant flight engi neer Ray Gall agher. radar operator Ed Buckley and tail-gunner AI Dehart. Richard H. Campbell

G roup (CG) . C olonel Paul W. llbbets Jr was appo int ed commander of th e 509 th G and on ly he knew th e actual mission of th e 393 rd BS. He had earlier selected Wen dover A A F in U tah for train ing because of its isolation, the need for security and th e wide open spaces available th ere for training. In May 1945 the 509C G , 393 8S left Wendo ver, flying to T ini an in th e Marian a Islands ro start bo mb ing training sor ties wh ile awa iti ng spec ial wea pon del iver ies from the USA via Douglas C -5 4 transpo rt a ircraft and a US Na vy cruiser - th e USS Indiana/Jolis. So me add itional ato m bomb co mpo ne n ts were ferried to T in ian on some of th e last S ilvcrplatc B-29s to arrive th ere . W h ile th e 509CG wait ed for its spec ial del iver ies it part ic ipat ed in fifty-one co n ven t iona l bombing so rt ies using so-ca lled 'pumpkin' bombs. T hese were Fat Man sh apes filled with 6,3001b (2,900kg) of h igh explosives. T he pum pk in bom bs weighed about IO,OOOlb (4,SOOkg) eac h. These missions were flown with th irteen S ilve rplate B-29s, as fo llows:

The Bombers are Prepared O n I I March 1944 the 393 rd Bomb Sq uadron (Very Heavy) was act ivat ed as an elem ent of the 504t h Bomb G roup (Very Heavy), 2nd A ir Force at Dalhart, Texas. A fter activation th e 5048G (Vl-I) and its bom b squadrons started traini ng operations

at Fairmont A AF in ebraska. In Se ptember 1944 the 393 BS (V l-I) was det ached from th e 504BG (VJ-I ) and mov ed to Wendover A A F, U tah. T he first S ilvcrplatc 8 29s were assigned to the 39 3 BS at W en dover in O ctober 1944. T hen on 17 December 1944 the 39 3 BS was assigne d to th e newly ac tivated 509t h C o mposite

103

20/7/45 four m ission s, ten sort ies (on e abort ) 24/7/45 th ree mission s, ten sort ies 26/7/45 two missions, ten sort ies 29/7/45 th ree missions, eigh t sort ies 8/8/45 two missions, six sor t ies (one abort ) 14/8/4 5 two m issions, seve n sort ies

SILVERI'LATE

104

SILVERPLAT E

OPPOSITE PAr.E TOP LEFT. Crew B-7 operated SOME PUNKINS, Victor Number V-84, a B-29-36-MO (44-27296 ). James N. Price was the aircraft commander. Richard H. Campbell

TOP RIGHT: Crew C-15 operated THEGREAT ARTISTE, Victor Number V-89, a B-29-40-MO (44-27353). Charles O. Albury was the aircraft commander. Richard H. Campbell

MIO OLE LEFT. UPAN' ATOM carried Victor Number V-88 and crew B-l0 operated it. It was a B-29-36-MO (44-27304) and George W. Marquardt commanded it. Richard H. Campbell

MID OLE RIGHT: Crew A-l was in charge of FULL HOUSE, Victor Number V-83.It was a B-29-36-MO (44-27298) commanded by Ralph R. Taylor. Richard H. Camp bell

BonOMLEFT. LAGGIN ' ORAGON was a B-29-50-MO (44-86347).It w as commanded by Edward M. Costello, crew ed by crew A-2 and it carried Victor Number V-95. Richard H. Campbell Bon OMRIGHT: Ralph N. Devore commanded NEXT OBJ ECTIVE,Victor Number V-86, a B-29-36-MO (44-27299). Crew A-3 operated the aircraft. Richard H. Campbell 6-16

THISPAGE LEFT. Crew A-4 operated STRANGE CARGO, commanded by Joseph E. Westover. It w as a B-29-36-MO(44-27300) wi th Victor Number V-73. Richard H. Campbell

RIGHT: TOP SECRET w as a B-29-36-MO (44-27302) commanded by Charles F. McKnight. 11 w as operated by crew B-8 and carried Victor Number V-72. Richard H. Campbell

The Ato m Born bs Arr ive A few hours afte r the successful Tr init y test on 16 Ju ly 194 5 the U S Indian ap olis (C A 35 ) departed an Fran c isco , C aliforn ia with her to p sec ret carg o - th e 'reci pe and ingred ients' for the Little Bo)' ato m ic bomb. he made Ti ni an in record time on 26 July 194 5, sailing some 5,000 mil es (8,000km) in just ten days. A fte r deli vering the Little Boy co mpo ne nts to Ti n ian she departed for G ua m where she spent one day. U nfort unate ly, on her way from G uam to Levre in th e Phili ppi nes a Japan ese submarine (I -58) san k her, with heavy loss of life , on 30 Ju ly 194 5. Rich ard H . C ampbe ll, author of They Were Called SILVERPLATE, offers a brief and simplified explanatio n of how th e ato m bom bs got to Tini an. T he mat erial for hi s explanat ion h as been excerpted from records obtained from th e arch ives at Los A lam os ariona l Labo rator y: The -235 ta rget rin gs for LiHle Boy were tran spo rted from Kirt land AAF (no w Kirtland A FR), ew Mexico to the island of Tinian on ho ard Douglas C -54 Skvm asrer ca rgo tran sport aircraft. arriving on 28 and 29 July 1945. The U 235 project ile rin gs and the basic LiHle Boy structure were trans ported fro m an Francisco to Tin ian on the c ruiser U S Indiana/wIi, . O the r LiHle Boy and Fat Man co mponent s were del ivered to Tin ian over a several-week per iod in July. A ssembly of LiHle Boy was completed on Tin ian ami was read y for use on 2 Au gust. T he inn er sphere and outer casing for the Far Man bo mb were one of th ree sets transporte d from Kirtland to Tinian in the fron t l-om b-bays

705

of thr ee ilvcrplare R-29s, departi ng Kirt land on 28 Jul y and arriving Tini an on 2 Au gust. The pluto n ium core was tran sport ed via C -54. departing Kirtl an d on 25 July and arriving Tin ian on 28 Jul y. Far Man was assembled on Tin ian and was read y for use on Au gust 194 5.

The Little Boy was a gun- type uraniu m bo mb that weighed ,9001b (4,000kg) . It was 2 in (0 .73m ) in d iameter and l 20i n (3 .04m ) long. Essent ially, Little Boy was a 10ft-long (3 m) ca n no n with a U23 5 bullet and thr ee U235 ta rget rings fitted to its mu zzle. The cha in reaction was in itiat ed by ex plosivel y forcing th e U2 35 bullet and U235 target rings together. It h ad a yield of 15- 16 kiloto ns. T he Fat Man was a pluto n ium implosion type bomb we ighing 10,3001b (4,7 00kg) . It was 60 in ( 1.52 m) in diam eter and 128 in (3 .29m ) long. It had a plu ton ium shell with an ar ray of shaped cha rges wrapp ed around it. \Vh cn th ese shaped cha rges were simultane ously fired , th e plutoniu m was violently forced in ward and compressed , start ing the ch a in reaction . It had a yield of 1 -49 k ilotons.

Th e Atom ic Bomb Attacks O n 25 Ju ly 1945 comma nd ing gene ral of the US A rmy Strat egic A ir Forces, G ene ral C arl A . 'Toocv' Spaarz received orders from the \Var Depart me nt . In part th ese orde rs specified th at the 509GG, 20th A ir Force would del iver its first 'special weapon' as soon as weather permitt ed visual bombard ment, after about 3 A ugust 1945, on

S ILVERPLATE

Crew C-14flew with NECESSARY EVIL with Victor Number V-91 , a B-29-45-MO (44-86291 I. It was commanded by Norman W. Ray. Richard H.

ABOVE LEFT:

Campbell ABOVE RIGHT: BIG STINK,

operated by crew A-5, was a B-29-40-MO (44-27354). It was commanded by Thomas J. Classen and it carried Victor Number V-90. It w as later renamed DAVE'S DREAM. Ri chard H. Campbell

Crew C-11 w as in charge of STRAIGHT FLUSH, a B-29-36-MO (44-27301) with Victor Number V-85.lt was commanded by ClaudeR. Eatherly. Ri chard H. LEfT.

Campbell

9 August 1945 Crewmembers Duringthe Nagasaki Mission, cr.ew numberC-15. the crew normally assigned to the GREAT ARTISTE, flew BOCKSCAR. Even this crewwas slightly modifiedand included three additional members (Ashworth. Barnes andBeser).

Crew number C- 75 Charles W. Sweeney,aircraft comma nder Charles D. Albury. pilot Fred J. Olivi. co-pilot James F. VanPelt. navigator KermitK. Beahan, bombardier Frederick L. Ashworth. weaponofficer Philip M. Barnes. weapontest officer JacobBeser. radar countermeasures John D. Kuharek. flight engineer Abe M. Spitzer. radio operator Edward R. Buckley, radar operator Albert T. Dehart. tail-qunner Raymond G. Gallagher, assistant engineer/scanner

LUKETHE SPOO K w as commanded by Herman S. Zahn w ith crew C-12. She w as a B-29-50-MO (44-86346) w ith Victo r Number V-94. She is show n here at Kw ajalein on 30July 1946. David W. Menard

106

S ILVERPLATE

DAVE'S DREAM (formerly BIG STINK). She is shown here in May 1948 at Dobbins AFB. Georgia. David W. Menard

one of th e these ta rge ts: H iroshi ma , Koku ra , igat a or agasaki, Furt her, add it iona l spec ia l weap ons wou ld be delivered o n th e above tar get s as soon as th ey wer e ava ilab le. Colo nel Tibbet s flew the first A ir For ce S pec ia l Bom bing Mi ssion o. 13 in hi s ilve rp late B-29 -45 -M O (44 - 6292 - rad io ca ll sign Victor 82 , ch anged to Dimples 82 for the Hi roshima mi ssion ), wh ich h e h ad na m ed E O l A GAY afte r hi s mother o n the preced ing da y. Three d ays later th an origin ally plan ned , on 6 August 194 5 at 2:45am , ENO LA GAY de part ed Tini an for Hirosh ima , j ap an. The ato m ic bomb n amed lillie 130)' was rel eased over H irosh im a at 8: 15am local t ime and th e a ircraft ret urn ed to Tin ian at 2:58 pm , 12 ho urs 13 minu tes after ta ke-o ff. Little l30y was released from an alt itude o f 3 1,500 ft (9,6000 m ) and th e radar fuze on th e bo mb h ad bee n preset to go off at an a lt itude 2,000ft (600m) abo ve th e gro und . In th e ensui ng exp losio n , so me 75,000 peop le wer e ki lled and approximately 4 ,000 st ruc tures were dest royed . T here were se ve ra l ot her S ilve rp la rc B29s assigned to th e 6 August mi ssion as well. These in clu ded: BIG ST I K (44 -27 3 54 ), o n sra n d by a t lwo [ima: FUll H O U E (44 -2729 ), m o n itorin g t h e we a th e r over agasa k i: G R EAT A RT IST E (44 -27353 ), ca rry ing data rec ordin g in stru m ents; j A BIT III (4 4 -273 03), m o n ito r in g th e we a th er over Ko kura : ECES SARY EV il (44 8629 I ) , resp o n sibl e for pho to grap hy ; an d ST RA IG H T FLU S H (44 -27 30 1) , m on ito rin g th e wea ther o ve r Hiroshima.

O n 7 Augu st 194 5 , Preside nt H arry S Truman released a sta te men t: Sixtee n h ours ago an A me rica n a irplan e dropped o ne bomb o n H irosh ima, an important Jap an ese army base. That bo m h h ad more powe r th an 20,000 to ns of T

T. It h ad more th an two rhou -

sa nd tim es th e blast power of the British G ra nd Slam l-oml-, wh ich is the largest homb eve r yet deve loped in th e h istory of wa rfare . The j ap an ese bega n th e war from the a ir at Pearl Har bo r. T h ey hav e bee n repaid ma n y folds. And th e end is no t yet. \V ith th is bo ml: we h av e now adde d a

n ew an d re vol ut ion ary inc rea se in de str uction to supp le me n t the growing power of ou r ar med forces. In th eir present form th ese bombs arc n ow in prod ucti on an d eve n mor e powerfu l form s a re in deve lopmen t. It is the a to mic bo ml»

Major C h arles 'C h uck' S wee ne y flew th e second Ai r For ce S pec ia l Bomb ing M issio n o , 16 in Cap t Fred eri ck C. ' Fred' Bock's B29-36- MO (44- 27297, rad io ca ll sign Victo r 77) tw o days ea rl ier th an first p lanned , o n 9 August 1945 . The airc raft to ok o ff fro m Ti ni an at 3 :49am . A t 12:0 2pm local t ime the Fat M an bomb exp lode d o ve r agas aki. The B-29 h ad run low o n fuel du e to a n umber of target selec t ion difficu lties ca used by the weather co nd it ions , an d was th er efore di rected to land o n O k ina wa , wh ich was m uch cl oser th an Ti ni an , The major reason it h ad run low on fuel, h o wever, was because M ajor S ween ey sta yed too long at the rendezvou s po int waiti n g for th e ph ot o 'p lan e. At I: l Opm h e lan ded at

107

O k ina wa . A fte r it was refuell ed V-77 departed O ki na wa and arrived bac k at Tin ian at 11:30p m that ni ght. o me 35,000 pe op le di ed in the agasak i ex p losion . O nce d ropped, the atom bo mbs moved for ward , meaning th ey wo uld ex p lode seve ra l mi les ahead of the rel ease point. If the B-29s h ad kept flyin g in th e sa me directi on the y wou ld h av e been too cl ose to th e exp losion s, so t h ey h ad to qui ck ly turn a way, sha rp ly banking to th e right at a 155de gree h eadi n g to the rea r to ge t a way from th e dcron at io n s as fast as possib le . O ne mi ght th in k th a t a 180 -degree turn wou ld be more suitab le bur this was n o t so , du e to th e large t urn in g radius of th e B-29s. S inc e th e S upc rfort is suc h a big a ircraft it requires at lot of sky to m ake turn s - eve n a 'tig ht' turn with a B-29 h as a rad ius o f severa l m iles. H ad th e B-29s t urn ed away at 180 d egrees, th e tu rni ng rad ius wo u ld ha ve bee n too grea t, a n d o nce th ey h ad stra igh te ne d o ut th ey wo u ld n o t h ave h ad th eir ta ils pointed toward the deton ations, but their aft right sides in stead - th is was too dangerou s. By t urn in g away at 155 degree , th e bombers pr esented th eir tail s full -on to th e nuclear ex p los ions. O n ly Vic tor 82 ( E O l A GAY) h ad a nam e a n d n ose art pri or to th e tw o atom ic mi ssions. Vic tor 77 was n amed BO C KSCA R after t h e agasn k i m issio n. (BO CKSCA R is in d eed th e co rrec t spellin g, n ot BO CK 'S C A R as suggested in so me refe ren ces. ) The re t of t h e fifteen S ilve rp lar c B-29s (exce pt for 44 -27 303 an d

S ILVERI'LATE

44- 86346 ) had th eir nam es and nose art applied on Tinian sometime aft er the Hi rosh ima and agasaki missions. The other two had thei r names and nose art applied afte r they returned to the U A . T he destru ction of th e two c ities and th e trem end ous loss of life forced Jap an to surrende r, wh ich it d id aboard the US avy bat tleship USS Missollri (1313-63) , on 2 Septe mbe r 1945 in Tokyo Bay. M ilitary plan ners had feared that Japan would - never surrender, th at instead it wou ld figh t on to th e last man . In fact , the A llied inv asion of Japan was not to begin until 1 November 1945 and th ere was no way of tel ling how successful that wou ld be. So as far as av iat ion h istor y goes, it was the

adve nt of the 13-29 and th e ato mic bomb that had worked so wel l to bring about VJDay much earlie r th an expected. T he war was fina lly over and on VJ-Day th ere were thirteen operat ional ilvcrplarc B-29s on Tini an . Two others had earlier depart ed Tini an on 9 A ugust for \Vendover to be ready to tran sport compo nents for a th ird bomb. O n 17 Octo ber 194 5 the 509C G and th e 393 13 heade d back to th e US A, mo ving to Roswell A rmy A ir Field in ew Mexico. It rem ain ed th ere until it was sent to Kwnjalcin in th e Marsh all Islands to pa rt icip ate in O perat ion Crossroads in Ju ly 1946. During th ese tests the 'A ble' atom bomb was dropped by a 13-29 and the ' Baker' bo mb was ground -de ronar-

Silverplate 8-29 Production 42-6259, B-29-5-BW' 42·65209, B-29-5-MO 42-65216, B-29-1 O-MO 42·65217, B-29-10-MO 42-65234, B-29-15-MO 42·65235, B-29·15-MO 42-65236, B-29-20-MO 42-65237, B-29-20-MO 42-65238, B·29·20-MO 42-65239, B-29-20-MO 42·65240, B-29-20-MO 42-65258, B-29-20-MO 42-65259, B-29-20-MO 42·65260, B·29-20-MO 42-65261, B-29-20-MO 42·65262, B·29·20-MO 42-65263, B-29-20-MO 42-65264, B-29·25-MO 42-65384, B-29-30-MO 42-65385, B-29-30-MO 42·65386, B·29-30-MO 42-65387, B-29-30-MO 44-27295, B-29-36-MO 44-27296, B-29-36-MO, V-84, SOMEPUNKINS 44-27297, B·29·36-MO, V-77, BOCKSCAR 44-27298, B-29-36-MO, V-83, FULLHOUSE 44-27299, B-29-36-MO, V-86, NEXT OBJECTIVE 44-27300, B-29-36-MO, V-73, STRANGE CARG O 44-27301, B-29-36-MO, V-85, STRAIGHTFLUSH 44-27302, B·29·36-MO, V-72, TOPSECRET 44-27303, B-29-36-MO, V-71 , JABITIII 44-27304, B-29-36-MO, V-88, UP AN' ATOM 44-27353, B·29-40-MO, V-89, GREATARTI STE

44-27354, B-29-40-MO, V·90, BIG STINK" 44-86291 , B-29-45-MO, V-91, NECESSARY EVIL 44-86292, B-29-45-MO, V-82, ENOLA GAY 44-86346, B-29-50-MO, V·94, LUKETHESPOOK 44-86347, B-29-50-MO, V-95, LAGGIN' DRAGON 44-86382, B-29-55-MO 44-86383, B-29-55-MO 44-86384, B-29-55-MO 44-86394, B-29-55·MO 44-86401 , B-29-55·MO 44-86430, B-29-60-MO 44-86431 , B-29-60-MO 44-86432, B-29-60-MO 44-86437, B·29-60-MO . 44-86439, B-29-60-MO 44·86440, B-29-60-MO 44-86443, B-29-60-MO 44·86444, B-29-60-MO 44-86445,B-29-60-MO 44·86447,B-29-60-MO 44-86448, B-29-60·MO 44-86451, B-29-60-MO 44·86472, B·29-60-MO 44·86473, B-29-60-MO 44·87752, B-29-90-BW' " 44·8777 1,B-29-90-BW' " 44-87774, B-29-90-BW' " 45-21707,B-29-90-BW' " 45-21736, B-29-90-BW' " 45-21739, B-29-90-BW' " 45-21818, B-29-95-BW' "

Total:65

'TheprototypeSilverplateB-29, damaged ina landing accident inDecember 1944; transferred to storageat Davis-Monthan MF, then assigned toFortWorthM F, Texas for use asan instructional aircraft; scrapped inMay 1948 " Renamed DAVE'S DREAM for test Ableof Operation Crossroads on 7/1/46(buzz number BF354) "'The last seven SilverplateB-29s wereproduced atBoeing'sWichita, Kansas facility BOCKSCAR isondisplay atthe USAir Force Museum atWright-Patterson AFBinDayton, Ohio. Currentlyinsections, ENOLA GAY will be assembledand displayed attheNational Air and Space Museumannex at WashingtonDulles Internationa l AirportinFairfax and Loudoun Counties inVirginia, which iscalled the Dulles Center. At thiswriting Dulles Centerwas scheduled toopensometimein2003.

708

ed. By th is tim e the 509 C G had acquired two more bo ml sq uadrons , the 7 15t h and the 830th , wh ich becam e operat ional afte r th e return to Roswell. Interestingly it was th e 7 15t h BS, not th e or igina l 393 rd 13 , which dropped th e re t A ble bomb of O perat ion Crossroads (the Baker test was an un derwater explosion ). After C rossroad., th e 509CG was rede ignated as th e 509t h Bo mb Group on 10 Ju ly 1946, and th e 509 BG return ed to Roswell AA F th at Au gust. W hen the 509 th Bomb Grou p (Med ium ) became the 509th Bomb Wing (Med ium ) on 17 N ove mbe r 1947 th e 509BG (M) became a subo rd ina te elem ent of th e win g. T he switc h of category from h eavy-class to medi um -class was due to the US A F's employment by th en of the much larger C on va ir B-36 Peacemaker. In early 1946 the 393 BS had twentytwo Silvcrplarc B-29s. By Ju ly 1946 the 509 BG had on ly nineteen due to thr ee losses from acc ide nt s. Two more losses were incu rred , and there were on ly seventeen S ilvc rplarc B-29s by Jan uar y 194 7. During 194 7 the 509BG (M ) received more S ilvcrplare B-29s from th e depot at McCl ell an A A F ncar ac ramcn to, Ca liforn ia, bring in g the tot al to as man y as rhirt y-rwo. By Jan uary 19 50 the 509 BG was down to two , havin g lost twent y-seven to the 9 7th Bomb G roup and h avin g lost ano ther th ree to acc ide nt s. By May 1950 all twent y-seven of th e 9 7BG S ilvc rplare B-29s had been sen t to th e O klahoma C ity depot for th eir plan ne d co n versions to TB -29 trainer aircraft and WB-29 wcat her reconnaissan ce aircraft. T he last two 509BG (M) S ilvc rplarc B-29s (44-2 1736 and 44 -8777 1) were de ployed to England for a time (st ill in thei r S ilvcrplate configuration ). O ne (44-2 1736) must have been in an acc ide n t wh ile it was there because it was salvaged at a Royal A ir Force base, RAF Marh arn, in A ugust 1950. T he other (44- 87771) was dep loyed to RAF Lakcnhcath for a time, th en reassigned to th e 9th BW at Mou nt ain Horne A FB, Idah o , in ovcmber 1951. It was dro pped from USA F in ventory in July 1956. The 509 th Bomb Wi ng (M) rem ain ed at Roswell until th e new Boe ing B-50 Ds began to ar rive in late 1950. The 509BW (M ) moved to Pease A FB, Portsmouth , ew Ham pshir e in July 1958. The 509 th has had num erous name changes over tim e and it still exists tod ay as the 509 th O perations Group of the 509 th Bomb Wing, which curren tIy operates th e No rthro p G rumman B2A Spirit stealth bomb er.

CHAPTER SEVEN

De-engineering the Superfortress The Tupolev Tu-4 'Bull' and Derivatives In Be rl in o n II Nove m be r 194 6, t h e for me r cap ita l o f th e T h ird Rei ch, a n art icle appeared in th e n ewspape r Der Kuricr sta ting t ha t th e USS R was b ui ld in g iden ti cal co p ies o f th e Bo eing 13-29 S upc rfo rrress for th e So vie t A ir Force . Der Kllrier, a n ew spape r t ha t h ad been pub lish ed an d di st ribut ed in three \X!este rn sec tor s o f Berl in , we nt o n to say th at thi s was be in g done in ,1 n um be r o f fac tor ies n ear th e ce n tra l and so ut h e rn U ra ls, in t h e Easte rn So v ie t U n io n . T h e US W ar Dep art m en t's in iti a l re p ly to t h e rep o rt in D cr Kuii er was ' impossib le' ! It was fel t that it was simp ly no t fea sib le for t h e U SS R to bu ild a war p lan e such as th e 13-29 - th en st ill th e most ad va n ced bo m ber in th e worl d . But t h e W ar Dep a rt mcn r bega n to ta k e se rio us no te afte r rep re se n ta t ive s from th e USS R be ga n to bu y co m p le te se ts o f 13-29 la n d in g gear asse mb lies fro m var io us sc ra pya rds in t h e USA. S t ill, it was widel y felt th rou gh o ut th e Wa r Depart ment th at Russia simp ly d id n ot have the technical prow ess to d up licat e th e 13-29 . T h e situa t io n fe ll in to a lull and fo r th e most part was forgot ten . But th is a ll ch an ged in a big way in A ugust 194 7. O n 3 A ugust 194 7, d uring th e A v ia t ion Day d isp lay of a irc raft flyin g over Moscow's Tushino A irpo rt , what a ppeared to be t h ree B-29s wer e see n flyin g ove r at low a lt itude . It was spec ula te d th at th ese we re th e sa me three B-29s th at ha d been inte rned in th e So v ie t U n ion in 1944 . W h a t appeared to be a fourth 13-29 soo n fo llo wed , but it was d iffe rent: it h ad win do ws ! Prev io usly n o 13-29 o n ea rt h had passe ng e r window s. O bv io usly th e USS R had in deed acco m p lish ed th e 'impossib le '. A s it tu rn ed o u t , to th e chag rin o f th e U S A , th e first three ' B-29s' see n at Tush in o were n or th e interned B-29s, but n earid en t ica l cop ies of th em prod uced by th e Tupolev a irc raft co m pa ny an d designated Tupo lev T u-4 . T h e fourt h turn ed o ut to be a tr a nsport versio n of th e cop ied bom be r,

designa te d Tu -70 . R ussia is wel l kn o wn for its ab ility to m ak e n ear -id ent ical cop ies of a irc ra ft it e nv ies - even today, t h e Tup o lev Tu- 160 'B lac kja c k' ac ts a nd loo ks ve ry m uch lik e A merica's Boeing N or th A merican 13- 113 La n ce r, eve n th ou gh it is n o t in fact a co py of th e 13- 1B. It was n o d iffe rent in 1944- 45 wh en seve ra l interned B-29s wer e de-engin eer ed an d rep rodu ced as th e Tupol cv Tu-4 .

The B-29s th at Went to Russia In early 1944 , guided by A n d re i Tupo lev, R ussia was d evel o pi n g a h eavycl ass fo ur-engine bom ber kn o wn as ANT64 or Project 64 , whi ch was a lso known as th e Type 22 , Tu-2R an d/or Tu-6 . It was to h ave a le n gt h o f95. 14ft (29m ), a w in gspan of 140Aft (4 2.8 m ) a n d be po we red by fo ur 2,200h p en gin es. It was to ca rry a bo mb load o f I I ,OOOlb (5 ,000 kg) with a m axi m um ran ge of 1,8 50 m iles (3, OOOkm) . Its to p spee d was proj ec ted to be 3 70 m ph (600k m/h) at 20 ,000ft (6 ,000 m) . A s inter est ing as this d esign was, th e re we re severa l unp lanned gifts fro m the U SA to R ussia t h a t m ad e Proj ect 64 obso le te before it go t off th e dra w in g boa rd . Wh ile th e 13-29 S upc rfo rt rcss was o perati n g o ut offor wa rd bases in C h in a aft er its co m ba t de b ut in june 1944 , severa l of th em wer e force d to m ake emergen cy lan d in gs at V lad ivos to k and else wh e re in Ru ssia afte r th e ir bombs wer e offloa de d . S in ce th e S o v iet U n ion h ad n o t decl ar ed war upon j a pa n th ese S upc rto rts we re intern ed th rou gh o ut th e rem ainder of th e war . (T h d So v iet U n io n d id n o t d ecl ar e war upo n j a pan unt il 8 A ugust 194 5 , two days after th e ato m ic bo m b ing of Hi roshi ma an d on e d ay befo re N agasak i. ) O n th e m o rn in g of29 ju ly 1944 th e 58 th Bo mb Wing launch ed ninety-six B-29 s in a ra id aga ins t th e S h o wn me ta l factory in A nsh an, M anchuri a. O ne o f t h ese B-29s,

109

whi ch became th e first S upc rfo rrrcss to be int erned , was fro m th e 77 1 Bo mb Sq uadro n o f th e 46 2 Bo mb G ro up (Ver y H eavy) o pera t ing o ut of Kiun glia, C h ina . Na med RA MP T RA M P and man n ed by a ten-m an c rew und er Capt H ow ard Jarrel l, this 8 -295-BW (42-6 25 6) was for ced to mak e an emergency landing at Vlad ivostok. Beca use of pro b lem s with th e aux ilia ry power uni t , RA MP T RA M P was th e last 8 -29 to ta ke o ff o n the I ,65 0 -m ile m ission , a nd it to o k th e c rew abo ut two h ou rs, a t a hi gh pow er sett in g and so b urn in g m or e fuel , to ca tc h up with th e rest o f th e form ati on . RAMP TRA MP mad e a n or m al bom b run an d may h av e bee n h it by a flak burst, but d am age was a t most minor . H ow e ver , wh en Jarrell sta rt ed h is descen t to cru isin g alt itu de for th e tri p back to C he n gt u , th e inbo ard right eng ine 'ra n away ' an d co u ld n o t be feat h er ed . T h e e ngi ne h ad to be sh ut do wn an d th e in c reased d rag of th e un fcarh cr cd propel ler m ad e it o bvio us th at t h e pla n e wou ld n ot be ab le to ge t ba c k to C h c ngru , du e to in suffici ent fue l. T he plane was st ill ove r Jap an ese terri tor y so th e c rew bega n d est ro ying a ll th e cl assified m a teri al on bo ard incl ud in g ope ra t ing m anua ls, ord e rs a nd in structi ons, in case th ey wer e forced down in e ne m y ter ri tory. S ma ll o bj ec ts a nd sh redded pa per m at er ia ls (flight m an ua ls, check lists , placard s, co de books, an d so o n ) wer e d umped in to t h e n ose wh eel well. In th e m eantime , Jarre ll h ead ed to war d th e Sov iet base at V lad ivostok so as to la n d th e damaged a irc ra ft in A llied territor y. A s th e bom ber ap proac hed a Sov iet a irfie ld , a sq uad ro n of figh te rs was sc ra m b led to 'escort' th e p lane . T h e Sovie t a ircraft fired n ear the 13-29 , b ut it was uncl ear wh et h er th ey wer e tryin g to hi t it or force it down . After a few min ut es of thi s, a Sov iet fight er p ilot moti oned for th e 13-29 to land . The 13-29 bega n to h ead to war d a field with a co nc re te runwa y,

DE-Ei' GI NEERI i' G T HE SUPERFORTRESS: TI l E T UPOL EV T U-4 ' BULL ' A N D DERI VATI VES

but the fight ers sta rred shoot ing again and ind icat ed th e plan e should land at th e grass figh ter str ip. A ltho ugh the grass field was too small for a B-29, Capt Jar rel l h ad no cho ice, and lined up to land . A s h e lowered th e landing gear, all the sh redded material in th e nose wheel well streamed out and fel l in to th e wat ers of Vlad ivostok Bay. The plane to uch ed down at just above stalling speed and sto pped just before run n ing off th e end of th e runw ay. Aft er land ing, C apt Jarrell order ed the c rew to sta y abo ard the B-29 whi le h e left and tri ed to co mmun icat e with the Russian pilot s, but n one spoke English . A few h ours lat e r the crew left th e B-29 an d jo in ed Jarrel l. He asked to be allowed to co nt ac t th e A me rican C onsulate in the c ity, but perm ission was den ied . T h e Russian 'A llies' inter rogated th e A me rica n crew, trying to obta in ope ratio na l deta ils a bo ut the a ircra ft and its ca pabilities. The crew refused to d ivu lge secret in formati on , a nd after th ree days of qu est ion ing with out co ntac t from th e A merican C ons ulate , th e crew refused to eve n spea k for a week . O n th e elevent h day afte r land ing, th e crew was fina lly able to speak with the Con sulate . U n fort una tely, th e cre w was nor . released to th e co nsulate and rem ain ed prisoners of the Russian s for seve n mo nths before being released along with abo ut 100 othe r US A rmy and Na vy fliers for ced to lan d in So viet territor y during th e war. The B-29 had been flown by experience d Sov iet pilot s to th e Fligh t Research Cen tre at Zh ukovsky, outside Moscow, where it was subsequen tly amo ng ot he rs in vol ved in th e DFS-346 programme, a Soviet superson ic a ircraft progra mme similar to th e US Bel l X- I project. · The Russian s kep t RAMP T RA M P in spite of A merican prot ests, and also three othe r B-29s that landed on Sov iet terri tory - two made similar emergenc y land ings in Vlad ivosto k and th e ot her crash -landed in Siberia. O ne of th ese interned S upcrforrs was a B-29-5-BW, 42-6358. It was subsequen tly used exte nsively by th e So viet A ir Force. It was sent to th e Flight Research Inst itute at Zh uko vsky for tr aining. T he large USA A F tact ical n um ber '358' still rem ain ed on th e tai l. T his a ircraft had been used to drop th e eng ineless DFS-346 from th e B-29, in a similar manner to th e launch of th e Bell XI in th e USA . T he first rocket -powered aircraft receiv ed th e designati on 346D. It was jettison ed from th e B-29 for th e first time on 30 Se pte mber 1949 from an alt itud e of 3 1,800ft (9 ,700m ).

T he second B-29 to be int ern ed was from th e 795 BS of the 468 BG opera ting out of Pcn gshan , C h ina. It was parr of a 98-plane raid on O mura on I I November 1944. It was the B-29- 15-BW (42-6365) named G EN ERA L H. H . A RNOLD SPEC IA L, wh ich had been th e last B-29 delivered in th e 'Battle of Kansas'. It also made an eme rgency landing at V ladiv ostok. The th ird B-29 to be interned was n am ed DING HO W. It was a B-29- I-BW (42-6 225 ) from the 794 BS of th e 468 BG , also o perat ing out of Pen gsh an . It h ad been parr of a I09- p lan e raid on Om ura . It, to o, made a forced lan di ng at Vlad ivosto k. There was also a B-29A - I-BN (4293829) named C A IT PAO MAT from the 395 BS of th e 40BG , wh ich had been based at Hsinch ing, C h ina. It was parr of a 36plane raid on O mura, Japan , on th e even ing of 19- 20 A ugust 1944. It crashed to destruction in S iberia shortly afte r midn igh t, after its eleven -man crew h ad successfully baled out ove r Russia. Before they jumped they dropped their to p secret Norden bom b sigh t int o the C h ina Se a. T ho ugh un clear, it is possible that C A IT PAOMAT offered up some usable bits and pieces for th e Tu-4 programme. T he aircraft was assigned to th e Tup olcv Design Bureau as a patt ern aircraft and subsequen tly the wing section was used for th e Tu-70 programm e. A ll crcwrnc mbcrs from th e four aircra ft a bove survived and all forty-fo ur were returned to the U SA v ia Iran . (Offic ially, th ey h ad 'esca ped '.)

Th e 8-4 Progr amme T h is was a 'finde rs, kee pers' situat ion of th e first degree, and th e Soviet govern men t made the most of it. W ith these 'gifts' in h and, Project 64 was ca nc elled and th e socalled B-4 progra mme was launched , B-4 meaning Bomber, four engines. Tupo lev examin ed the B-29s in min ute de ta il and co pied th em almost exac tly - a fairly remarkable enginee ring feat. A mongst man y othe r things, he had to conve rt th e US system of measurem ent to the metric system, and had to du plicat e electr ical wirin g gauges and harn ess bundles. But there were far more differen ces bet ween th e two types th an at first met the eye. These differences included alumin ium skin thi ckness of 0.03 1in to 0 .70in (0.8cm to 1.8C1n ) instead of 1/l 6in (0. I6cm) , and d ifferen ces in the coc kpit, crew sta tions, arma ment, av ion ics, propu lsion system and so on.

110

Howeve r, d ue to S ta lin 's order, copying was so strict that even ash trays were buil t in the coc kpits at the same l OC H ion as they were in th e B-29, on ly to be closed by a seal because it was forbidden for So viet crews to smo ke du ring mission s. Sta lin ordered th e programm e to dup licate th e B-29 to be given to p prior ity, sin ce it was an already-pro ven design . T h e B-4 program me (a lso kn own as Pro d uct ' P') pro ceed ed und er d irect co nt ro l of th e Soviet Po lirbu rcau . T he first B-4 was co mpleted in th e spring of 1947 a nd it mad e its first flight on 19 May 194 7. T h e type recei ved th e publ ic design at ion Tu-4 as a Tu polev pro duct. ( Dur in g 194 1, a ll Soviet aircraft h ad received a public designat ion , for insta nce Yak- I , MiG -3 and o n . T h is was a d irect take-ov er fro m the Germa n system , for exa mple M csse rsc h rn itr Me 262 , Junkers Ju 52.) T he W righ t R-3350 engines were turn ed over to Sh vc rsov, a Soviet engine designer wh o spec ialized in rad ial engine s. A rkady Sh vetsov h ad built th e AS h -S3 twin rad ial eng ine that was used on the La-5 fighter and Tu-2 bomber in great numbers. However, th e pirated R-3350s were not in fact duplicat ed , and Shvetsov ASh -73TK engine s were used instead. T h e A Sh -73T K engine was itself a clon e of an earlier \X!righ t design , wh ich had been author ized for usc ea rlier for the USS R by the USA itself. A mazingly it prod uced 2,400 h p 200h p more th an th e R-33 50 . T h e ASh 73TK h ad been developed in 1944 and was eq uipped with two TK - 19 rurbosupcrch argcrs. VZ-A3- type four-b lade pro pel lers with a d iam et er of 16ft 7in (5 . l m ) were used . The first se ries-product ion Tu-t s wer e deli vered in 1948. Defensive ar mamen t in cl uded ten Berezin U BT 12.7m m mach ineguns. S ta rt ing wit h th e '8 th Series' Tu-4 s, the turret s were armed with two new 20 mm B-20E guns. T he Tu-4 (Sth Series ) was in fact th e first Tu-4 th at was ca pable of delivering nuclear weapons. Tupo lcv went on to prod uce S47 Tu-4s by 1952, in a to tal of fifteen batch es. The last Tu-4 ( 15th Series ) were armed with two NS-23 ca n no ns in the PS-23 tu rret s, instead of th e B-20E can nc;n . T h e NS-23 was also install ed in th e MiG -I S 'Fagot'. Most Tu -4s were produ ced at S tate A ircraft Factory (G A Z) 22 in Kazan and S tate A ircraft Factory 18 in Kuibishcv. In 194 8 a th ird Tu -4 product ion plant in Moscow was under co nstr uction S ta te A ircra ft Fact or y 23 , whi ch began building Tu-4s in 1950 . (To th e best of this writ er's kn owledge th ere is no conc rete

DE-ENGI NEERING TI l E SUPERFORTR ESS: T il E T UI'OLE V T U-4 ' BUL L' AND DERIV AT I VES

Tu -4 prod uc t ion to tal that ha s been prop e rly docume nt ed . \V h ilc R ussia n sources cl ai m 4 7 bui lt o th e r so urces cla im as man y as I JOO Tu -4s bui lt. Thus, th e ac t ua l produ c t ion n um ber o f Tu -4s built re mains un cl ea r.) T he Tu -4 bega n to ent er serv ice wit h th e So v ie t A ir For ce's strateg ic bo mba rd men t sec t io n , th e /)al'na)'a A l'iatsi)'a (DA), in 19 4 . T h is ga ve t h e Air Forces o f t h e U SS R, th e Vocnno Vosdl/shni)'c Sit)' (V VS ), its first strat egic bo m bi n g capa bility. Rut it was n ot un t il mid -1 94 9 th at t h e DA ac h ieved full ope ra t ion a l ca pab ility: hy th e e n d o f I h at yea r it h ad so me 300 T u-4 s in se rv ic e. T he T u-4 was co d e -na med ' Bu ll' hy t he No rt h A tlant ic Tr ea t y O rga n iznli o n (NATO ). T h e Tu-4 was de plo yed to So v iet bases in Po land , C zec h os lo vak ia an d rh c Ge rman De mocrat ic Republ ic. In East Ge rma ny t he hig a irc raft wer e quite frequently ph otograp he d hy \Vestern inte lligenc e se rv ices. The 'e Tu-4s wer e a ll ca pab le o f ca rrying nuclear weap o ns an d were pa rr o f the 4 3 rd Ai r A rm y. Ho we ve r most Tu-4 Re gime nts wer e based in th e \Vestern So v ie t U n io n , oc c upy ing bases in Belorussia , th e U kra in e an d th e Ba lt ic Rep ub lics, T h e a irc rc ws wer e we ll trai ned for the ir m issio n s, as we ll as for a ir-to -a ir refue lling, co n side ra bly en h an c ing t h e ir opera t iona l rang e o ver W est e rn Europe . Durin g th e crisis in H un gar y in au tu m n 1952 , a Tu-4 Regim ent of rh e 43rd A ir A rm y based at l3orispo l, near Kie v in th e U kra ine was a le rted on 30 October 19 52 for future ope rat io ns ove r H ungar y, The Tu-4s lo ok off fro m l3orispol o n 3 ovcmhe r 19 52 at II :40p m loca l rim e. T h eir tar ge t was Bud apest, th e ca pita l of H un gary. T h e Tu-4s we re hri efed to bo m h a I h car re in th e Pest di str ic t of th e capita l wh e re th e h eadqu ar te rs of t h e insurgent forces un der th e co m ma nd of Pal M a lcrc r wer e supposed 10 he . The l-o m b-b avs co n ta in ed wit h two FA R-500 an d e igh t FAB -250 bom bs, making a to ta l bomb lo ad of 6 ,600 lh D ,OOOkg ) for each Tu -4. T he form at io n h ead ed so ut h wa rd to wa rd Ro man ia , h av in g ch ose n th e capital, Buchar est, as a t urning point for th e fina l bomb ru n aga inst Budapest. O ve r Plo icsri, a reca ll o rde r was rece ived hy t he lead bo mb er a nd th e fleet retu rn ed to base withou t d rop ping its dead ly load ov er Bud apest ; th e m ission h ad been canc e lled because th e ad va n ce of the So vie t A rmy in th e H ungar ian capita l was m uch q uick er th an est imated hy I h e Sov ie ts, a nd homh in g Buda pest wit h Tu-4s

wo uld br in g the threa t of ki llin g So v iet 01di crs with 'friend ly' l-om bs. O n e of t h e Tu -4s th a t h ad part ic ipated in th e Budapest ra id is n ow o n exh ibit in Monin o. It is th e Tu -4 ( e ria l umbe r 2 0 503 ), whi ch h ad been del iver ed in M ar ch 19 5 2. It perfor med a tota l o f 2,004 land ings an d a fligh l durati o n o f 1,54 0 h ours. 'R ed 0 I ' mad e its last flight o n 7 O ctober 19 5 wh e n th e 'Bu ll' tou ch ed down at M o n in o , Some Tu-4 airp lan es were given to the Aviatsi)'a Vocnno-Morskovo Flora (AV M F, o r ava l Air Force ) to serve as lo ng-ran ge

pat ro l bomber aircra ft. O ne Tu-4 with the c ivil registrat ion SS R-9 2648 was assigne d to the Poi)'amaja Aviazija (Po lar A viation) and flew supply m issions to an A rct ic stat ion used as a sec re t base du ring th e Kor ean W ar. The Tu -4 was a lso used o n fligh t-refue lling t ria ls wit h M iG - 15bis figh te rs. T h e evalua t ion program me lasted fro m 24 eptcm ber 19 54 unt il 2 March 1955, at t he Fligh t Researc h Inst itute at Zhukovsky. T he progra mm e inv o lved ten fights with a spec ially mod ified Mi G - 15bi s t ha t was refuel led by a Tu-4 (seria l n umber 184 084 8 ) ' Red 4 1.'

358 2

B-29-15-BW 42-6358 during tr ail s w ith the Sovie t Flight Research Institute at Zhukovsky . Part of the orig in al USAAF Bomb Group mark ings rem ained, though a small red star had been added on the fin . Hans-Heiri Stapler

42-6358 at Zhukovsky. At the extreme left of its tail a Tupolev Tu-2 bomber is vis ible. The mission markings on the nose still rema ined on the Superfortress, even after the Soviets took possess ion of the bomber. Hans-Heiri Stapl er

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DE-ENGINEERING T il E SUI'E RFORT RESS: T ilE T UI' OL EV T U-4 ' BUL L' AN D DERI VAT I V ES

Sov iet Tu-4 Derivat ives Tu-4 - C on ven t ion al bo mb er. Tu-4A - N ucle ar bomber. Tu-4D - Tra n spo rt for twenty-eigh t pam tro op ers. Tu-4K - KS-I air-to -surface missile lau n ch er. Tu-4LL - Engin e test -bed . Tu-4T - Troop tran sport . T u-70 - Civ ilian passenge r a irl iner; was to carry se ven ty-two passen gers. T u -7S - A rmed militar y transport ; on e pro tot ype bu ilt at S ta te A ircr aft Fact or y 22 at Kazan with three gun turret s. Th e pro to type first flew on 2 1 January 1950 , the factory tests being fini shed in May 1950 . It could carry a wide ra nge of cargo, in cl ud ing six to seve n G A Z-67 auto mo biles or 120 so ld iers. Th e so le Tu -75 was destr oyed in Oc to be r 1954 d uring an ac c iden t.

A view 0142-8358 at Zhukovsky. Hans-Heiri Stapler

Specifications - Tupolev Tu-4 Powerplant:

Four Shvetsov ASh-73TK air-cooledrad ial engines

Weights:

Empty 77.161 Ib135.270kg); loaded 145.5001b (66.000kg )

Dimensions:

Length99.041t(30.19m); wingspan 141.31t(43.08m); wingarea 1,740.52sqIt (1 61.7sq m)

Perlormance:

Maximu mspeed 347mph 1558km/ h!; service ceiling 36.7 501t111.200m!; maximum range 3.170 miles15.100km); maximum bomb load 17.600lb (8.000kg)

Armament:

Ten 12.7mm. 20mm or 23mm guns

O n 29 A ugust 1949 Ru ssia ex ploded its first atomic homh. C ode-n amed Joe No . I (also JO E 1) in th e U SA (j oe forj osef S ra lin ), this sent sh oc k waves th rou ghou t Washington DC. S udde n ly, with its growing fleet of ope rat ional Tu -4s, and with its new n ucl ear capab ilitv, Russia had becom e a serious threat. T h e nucl ear-capabl e ' Bull's were design ated Tu -4A . It was we ll known th at Tu -4s did not h ave th e ran ge to make round tr ips from th e U SS R to the USA and back, bu t since th ey co uld now car ry atomic weapons, one -way trips were not on ly feasible, but cont emplate d. Mor eover, from western a ir bases with in th e U SS R, Euro pea n ta rget s co uld easily be hi t. Thi s realit y mot ivated th e U n ite d S tat es, U n ited Kin gdom , C ana da . Fra nce and othe rs to in iti at e elab or at e a nd expen sive air-defence syste ms, whi ch includ ed the de velopm ent an d manu factu re of adva nced int e rcep tor a ircraft, earlv warn in g radar syste ms and a m ultitude of surface -to -a ir missiles.

Indeed, th en , Russia's all-out effor t to creat e what becam e the world's second strategic nucl ear bom ber, th e Tu-4 ' Bull' (tho ugh some will argue th at th e RAF's Avro lin coln was th e world's second nuclear bomber ), was not on ly a major und ert akin g but a sign ificant card in th e nu clear poker game th at became kn own as th e C old War. The Tu -4 rem ain ed th e Sov iet U n ion 's prim ar y long-range bom ber until about 1955, when it was ph ased out in favou r of n ewer types.

Known Tu-4 Survivors O ne Tu -4 ' Bull' (Serial N umbe r 280503 ) 'Red 0 1' is locat ed at th e Russian A ir For ce Mu seum in Monino, out side Moscow. Two Tu-4s arc located at th e C h ine se A ir For ce Museum near Be ijing; these form er Tu -4 aircraft we re modifi ed by th e C h ine se wit h turb op rop engin es and served as a irborn e ea rly warning aircraft.

712

T u-SO - Pro je cted fo llow-on to th e Tu-4 , a lso code-n ame d ' Bu ll' by NAT O . It was
DE-ENGIN EERI NG TI l E SUPERFORTR ESS: TI l E T UPOLE V TU -4 ·BU I. L· A" D DERI VAT I V ES

LEFTAND BElOW: 42-8358 during trials with the rocket-

pow ered experimental air vehicle known as DFS

346 placed unde r the st arboa rd win g. Hans-Heiri Stapler Bon OM: The DFS 346 had been developed in Germany dur ing World W ar Two and had been taken as war booty by the Soviet Union where the type w as rebuilt for tests . The DFS 346 was only carried by thi s B-29 (42-8358). Hans-Hem Stapl er

113

D E- E;-.I G I N EERI NG TI l E SUI'ER FO RTRESS : T HE T U I'OLE V T U-4 ' BU L L ' A ;-.I D D ERI VAT I V ES

For DFS346 trial s the tail turret of this B-29 wa s removed and replaced by a conical fairing to help el imin ate boat tail drag, Hans-Heir! Stapler

BELOW: The crew of a Tu-4 'Bull' 2806303 'Red 28' being brief ed for a mis si on. In contrast to the origin al B-29 a number of antennae had been added to the nose section of the Tu-4, The fir st two digits of the serial number had formed the tactical number of thi s particul ar bomber, Hans-Heiri Stapler

Peoples Liberation Army Air Force Tu-4 Bulls Russia deliv ered ten Tu-4 'Hull's to the Peoples Liberat ion A rmy A ir Force (PLAAF) in Peking, C h ina , in February 1953 and th e -lrh Independent Regiment was form ed to

operate them . Russia went on to provid e three more Tu-4s in subsequen t years, wh ich th e 4th IR also received, The fin ten Tu-4s were on ly based at Pekin g for about a month being transferred in March 1953 to Sh ihch iachu ang Tokuotsun . T hey were moved back to Peking a year later, in March 1954.

114

The Tu-4s received hy th e 4th IR were considered to he medium-class bombers and crew train ing revolved pr imar ily around lon g-range night bombing sort ies th rough lat e 1954. C h inese A ir Force Tu -4 crews became instru ment flight rule (I FR) proficien t by 1956. in medium-altitude homhin g

DE-ENG INEE RING T ilE SUPERFORTRESS: T HE T UPOL EV T U-4 ' BUL L' A ND DERI VAT I VES

ABOVE: ATu-4 being prepared on a s now-covered airfield somewhere in the Soviet llnion. Hans-Heiri Stapler RIGHl: Line up oflr esh ly produce d Tu-4 Bulls at the Tupolev plant. The Soviets had also applied the se ria l number on the tai l in blac k digits, as the USAAF had done with their B-29s. The aircraft nearest the camera (220404) is the fourth aircralt of the fourth batch, the second aircraft (220504) the filth aircraft in the fourth batch. The prefix 22 stands for the fac tory, in this case State Aircrah Fac tory 22 located at Kazan. Hans-Heir; Stapler

ABOVE: Two MiG-15bis 'Fagot' fighters being refuelled by a Tu-4 (only one is visible in this photograph, the other being out of s hot to the lelt). Hans-H eiri Stapler

ATu-4(2805002) being overhauled at an unknown mainte nance facil ity in Russ ia_The rear armament consisted of two NS-23 23mm ca nnon. Hans-H eiriStapler

LEFT:

775

DE-E:\IGINEERI:>I G T il E S PERFORTRESS: T ilE TU POI.EV TU-4 ' II U: AND DERIVATIVES

TOP lEFT: This

MiG -15bis was one of the ai rcraft modified with a boom for in-flight refuelling by a Tu-4 'Bull'. Hans-Heiri Stapler

TOP RIGHT: The

MiG -15bis ' Red 342' refuelled by a Tu-4. The picture wa s taken from the 'Bull'. Hans-Heiri Stapler

ABOVE: The fusel age of th e Tu-10 'Cart' after being

rolled out from the hangar at the Tupolev plant. In the background is the Amer ican built B-29 (42-8358). It seems that the wings and engines of this particular B-29 were used for the Tu-10. Hans-Heiri Stapler

Roll-out of the Tu-10 with the w ings adopted from the B-29 Superfortress. Of interest is the logo 'Tu-12' on the nose of the aircraft. This would have been the service designation had the typ e entered Aeroflot service, Hans-Heiri Stapler

776

DE-EI'GINEERING TIl E SUPERFO RTRESS: T il E T UPOLEV T U-4 ' BUL L' AN D DERI VATI VES

The Tupolev Tu-70prototype shortly after its roll-out. The aircraft made its maiden flight on 27 November 1946; interestingly. this was six months ahea d of the Tu -4, The engines. propellers and the entire wing had been pirated from the 8 -29 Supert ort ress . Hans-Heiri Stapfer

11 7

DE-ENGIN EERING T HE SUPERFORT RESS: T il E T UPOL EV T U-4 ' BUL L' AN D DERI VAT IV ES

The Tu-75 was desi gned as a large troop carr ie r for self-propelled guns, vehicl es or sol di ers, It w as base d on the Tu-70 airliner and could ca rry up to 120 fully equipped soldiers, The only Tu-75 was lost in October 1954 during an accide nt. This is possib l y the only photo of the Tu-75 to exist. Hans-Heiri Stapl er

BELOW: The Tu-80 prototype w as based on Tupol ev's

experie nce in develop in g the Tu-4 'Bull' and made its mai den flig ht on 1 December 1949 powered by four ASh-73TKFN engin es. This photo wa s taken during 1950 at the Flight Research Institute L11 at Zhukovsky. Hans-Heiri Stapl er

The first prototype of the Tupolev Tu-85 'Bar ge' during it s evaluation trials; it fir st flew on 9 January 1951.It was powered by 3,300hp VD-4K 28-cyl in der radial engin es. Hans-Heiri Stapl er

778

DE-ENGI NEERI NG T HE SUPERFO RTRESS: TI l E T UPOL EV T U-4 ' BUL L' AND DERI VAT I VES

The second prototype of the Tu-85 was modified to benefit from the experience gained with the flight-testing of the first prototype. This aircrah had a whopping empty weight of 122.135Ib (55.400kg). The seco nd Tu-85 fir st flew on 28 J une 1951.It had an ast onishing range of 7,468 mil es (12.018km), enabling the Sovie t Union to deliver nucl ear weapo ns over th e United States . Hans-Heir! Stapler

fl ights. In add it io n to norma l fligh t-train ing du t ies th e C h in ese Tu -4s per formed o the r du ti es such as ae ria l surveys, a ir d efence exe rc ises rin d spec ia l weap ons programmes. Wit h it s Tu -4 s in h and , th e 4 t h IR mo ved to W uk ung in February 19 55 ,

wh er e it rem a in ed until 19 7 1. T h en in m id -I nl t h e 4 t h IR , rema in in g at W uk ung, se nt its ' Bu ll 's to Nansh u i A irfie ld. T h e PL A AF 'B u ll's we re re m o ved from co m ba t d u ty in t h e mid -1 9 70s. O n e exa m p le was co n ve rt ed to A irbo rne Ea rly

119

W arning (A EW ) co n figur a t io n an d received a lar ge p ylon -m o unt ed di sc for AE\V rad a r d ut ies . A s m a n y as fiftee n Tu 4 'B oll's wer e in t h e PL A AF 4th IR in ventory, bu t th e ac t ua l n umbe r re m a in s un cl ea r.

DE-E:-J GI:-J EERI NG TIlE SUI'E RFO RTRESS : TIl E TU I'OLEV TU-4 ' BULL' AND DERIVAT IVES

PLAAF Airborne Early Warn ing (AEW ) airplane der ived from Tu-4 'Bull' . PLAAF

BELOW: PLAAF Tu-4. PLAAF BELOW MIDDLE: Tu-85 inboard profile.

Chuck Irw in Collection BODDM: Head-on view of a Tu-4.

Hans-Heiri St apl er

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120

--

CHAPTE R EIGHT

Strategic Air Command So me six mon th s afte r World War Two, U SA A F heav y- and ve ry heavy-c lass bom ber a ircraft from all the bomber co mma nds were assigne d to a single comma nd ca lled th e Strategic A ir C ommand (SAC ); light - and med ium-cla ss bo mbe rs went to the Tact ica l A ir C ommand (TA C) . T h us, begin n ing in late March 1946 a large num ber of surv iving Wor ld War Two B-29s were assigned to SA C.

T he Strategic A ir Command was esta blished as a major USAAF command on 2 1 March 1946 under the guidance of Ge ne ral G eorge C . Ken ney. First headquartered at Bolling Fie ld , Wa sh ingto n DC , the newly formed SAC on ly had about 600 aircraft ava ilable, includ ing num erous B-29s - some of them factory fresh , h av in g never seen co mba t. SA C Headquart ers moved to O ffutt A ir Force Base at O ma ha, Ne braska,

in No vembe r 1948, where it rem ained unt il SAC was disestab lished and absorbed by A ir C ombat Command in Jun e 1992. G ene ral C urt is E. LeMay becam e its sec ond command er, in Septe mber 194 8 . When SA C was given the responsibility of using the atomic bomb in time of war on I May 1946 it on ly had on e un it - the S09CG , discussed in detail in C h apter 6 capable of delivering ato mic weapon s, with

ABOVE: The famed logo empl oyed by the Strategic Ai r

Command (SAC). USAF RIG HT: A super cl ean B-29A-45-B N (44-617331poses

•

with its inspec tion -ready eleven -man crew, probably in ear ly 1954. David W. Menard

This B-29-60-BW (0-469739) w as stationed at Edw ards AFB, Califo rni a where it w as used for vari ous special weapon test evalu atio ns conduc ted the re. The 0 preceding '469739' meant that it had been i n serv ice for more than 10 years. Its origi nal serial number w as 44-69739. Stan Piet

12 1

ST RAT EGIC A I R COM M A N D

LEFT AND BELOW: Two views of the

PACUSAN DREAMBOAT showing both its four- and three -bladed propeller configurations . This B-29B-60-BA (44-84061l. after the paddle -type three -bladed propellers were installed. was redesignated YB-29J. It was the personal B-29 of General William Irvine.

Peter M.Bowers and Stan Piet

ABOVE: The famous Norde n bomb sight. USAF LEFT: A USAFai rframe and powerpl ant (A& PI mechanic perfo rms R-3350 engi ne maintenance on the ramp. USAF

its spec ial fleet of sixty-five Silverplarc I)-

29s. The S09C G was based at Roswell Arm y Air Field in cw Mexico at th at time. O n 18 Se ptember 1947 the U n ited States A ir Force (U SAF) was esta blishe d as a who le and separat e mil itar y service. Eight days larcr, on 26 Septembe r G enera l Carl

A . 'Tooev ' Spaarz was swo rn in as rh e fir r C h ief of taff of the A F. Shor tly afte r the U SAF was bo rn there were nu me rous de partu res from U AAF doct rine. O nc such cha nge of important not e was th at a Bom b Grou p (BG ) became a Bomb W ing (BW) , alt hough for some reason a few

122

B\'(Is were st ill be ing referred to as BG s unti l afte r the Korean \'(Iar - one exa mple being the 19th Bomb Gro up. A no the r was th at an A rmy Ai r Ficld (AAF) became an A ir Force Base (A FB). Four bo mb wings that were equ ipped with B-29s - the 22ml, 92 nd, 98th and

ST RATEG IC A I R COM M AN D

Strategi c Air Command B-29 Bomb Wings Bomb Wing

Year(s)

2BW 5BW 7BW 19BW 22BW 28BW 40BW 43BW 448W 58BW 68BW 90BW 91BW 92BW 93BW 97BW 98BW

1947 and 1948 1949and 1950 1946 and 1947 1948,1949,1950, 1951 and1952 1948, 1949,1950, 1951 and 1952 1946, 1947 and 1948 1946, 1952 and 1953 1946and 1947 1950, 1951, 1952 and 1953 1946 1952 1951 , 1952 and 1953 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951and 1952 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1950 1946, 1947 and 1948 1946, 1947,1948 and 1949 1947, 1948,1949, 1950, 1951,1952 and 1953 19521possibly 1951 as weill 1946,1947,1949, 1950,1951and 1952 1951 and 1952 1951 1949 1946, 1947, 1948,1 949, 1950,1951,1952 and 1953 1951 1952 and 1953 1952 1951 and 1952 1946 1946 1946 1946 1946 and 1947

106BW 301BW 303BW 305BW 306BW 307BW 308BW 310BW 320BW 376BW 444BW 448BW 485BW 498BW 509BW

TOP: A B-29bombardier at his station with the Norden bomb sight. Griber via Stan Piet MIDDLE: A Bell-built B-29-15·BA (42·63418) with radio call-sign '418' on its nose landing gear doors, The removal of its upper and lower gun turrets is noteworthy. Stan Piet BOTTOM: A pair of Iactorv-fresh B-29-35-BWs(42·24554 in the background, and 42-24558) head oil to wa r. Both of these Superlorts eventually wound up with SAC's 2BG in the late 1940s. AFFTC/HOvia Ray Puller and H. Wood

123

STRATEG IC AIR COMMAND

Non-stop Around-the-World Flight by Patrick Stinson Here is the history of the first around-the-world non-stop refuelling mission, accomplished by KB-29Msof the 43rd and 509th Air RefuellingSquadrons. Thesuccess of thenon-stopglobe-circlingmission dependedupon theproficiencyof the recently created 43rd Air Refuelling Squadron (ARSI. This unit was activated on paper as part of General Order Number 33 issued byHQ SAC on 12July 1948, and assigned to the43rd BombardmentWingat Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. At the same time the 509th ARSlikewise came into being aspart of the509th Bombardment Wing at Roswell Army Air Fieldin New Mexico, which was renamed Wa lker AFB before the end of theyear. WithSAC representativeCapt Lyle Freedobservingtheworkat Boeing'sWichitaPlant 2,thefirstKB-29Msbeganarriving in thefieldlate in 1948.The509thARS wasmanned fasterand thereforegot a slight jump in actual trainingoperations. Infact, astheyear 1949 beganMajorDonald G. Foster, the DeputyCommander and acting COof the43rd ARS, had only two officers and five airmen permanently assigned to his unit. Asignificant milestone waspassedinearlyDecember that greatly boostedconfidence inthebasictechniqueof in-flight refuelling.A43rdBGaircraftcommandedby LtColonel Michael N.w. McCoy flew a non-stop 9.870-mile (1 5.880kml course that included an undetected pass overPearl Harbor on7 December. His B-50 madesuccessful refuelling contactswith509thtankers400miles(644kml west of SanDiegoandover SanNicholas Island. A tanker from the 43rd also rendezvoused with the bomber over Bylas, Arizona. The staffing problems of the 43rd ARS had improved considerably by the time Lt Colonel WilliamC. SipestookcommandofthesquadroninJanuary, but still not enough to meet the demands of scattered deployment around the globe in support of a nonstopworld flight. Additional aircrews were drawn fromother squadronsinthewingfor special temporaryduty (TOY).Theycame fromnotonly the63rdand 64th Bombardment Squadrons, butalso the20th,49thand 96thSquadronsofthe2nd BombardmentGroup. With flight crews thrown together from somanydifferent units, theJanuarytraining exercises took on added importance. Technical experts were present from BoeingWichita, aswell asWalker AFB, tohelp withthe familiarizationbriefingsand LtForrest M. Jewell, theco-pilot for Colonel McCoy's earlierflight, shared hisfirst-hand experiences from that mission. After the preliminaryorientationwas over LtJewell and his crew from the64th BS began flying practicemissions aboard a B-50 named GLOBAL QUEEN . One of his flight engineerswas LUCKY LADYworld flight veteran T/ Sgt. David E. Davis. Thenext milestone fortrainingoperationswas passedon 17January when aKB-29M piloted by Lt Francis H. Dolan, on TOYfrom 64th BS. carried outa successful fuel transfer. The manoeuvres for accomplishing that task required precise flying skills. To an observer on the ground the routine may have looked like an intricate aerial ballet. Lt. ChesterK. Ballengee, 49th BS, was one of the pilots taki ng part in subsequent practice flights over the Arizona desertand he explained the procedure as follows:

On 16 February1949,Colonel Sipes boarded tanker KB-29M(44-877771, pilotedby Lt Ballengee. At thesame timethe pilotof KB-29M (45-21 7781, 1stLt Sheldon A. Classon, welcomed aboard his tankeran observer from HQ7thBombardmentWing. Capt John p. Glocker, who was escortedby Major lR. Christian, 43rd ARS Staff. Major VincentP. HannleyandCapt GeorgeM. Lockhartfrom43rdARSclimbedaboard KB-29M (44-877791with 1st Lt Harold W Salisbury fromHQ 43rd BombardmentGroup. 1st Lt Colin C. Hamilton, one of the toppilotsin thewing, ledthe 96th BSflight crew. The special passengertransported bytanker KB-29M (44-87782) was MajorLouis A. Gazzanicoofthe21 02nd Weather Group, Mitchel Field, NewYork. Thepilotof this KB29M was 1st Lt George W Hagan. on TOY from49th BS. His co-pilot. 1st Lt WarrenC. Kohlman. was one of the few pilots already ontherefuelling squadron'sfull-time roster. Once everyone wassettled and the crews had run their pre-flightchecks, all four aircraft in this formation took off from Davis-Monthan AFBand headed west for HickamAFB in Hawaii. Not longafterwardsa64th BS aircrewhadtanker KB-29M 145-217131onitswaywith Colonel Blanchard aboard. Flying alongside it towards Hawaii was a C-54 (46-250). a 1st Strategic Support Unit ca rgo plane. These two aircraft were now assigned to DetachmentThree and. to avoid congestion, landed at John Rodgers Field. adjacent to Hickam. Fromtheretheystaged through Kwajalein and Guamto reach ClarkAFBin the Philippines by the 21st. The bulk of Detachment Three, led byLt Colonel Boyd B. White. CO64th BS. departedfrom Davis-Monthanon the 17th and proceededalongthe same route ColonelBlanchard had followed. KB-29M tankers (45-21704, 45-2 1705.45-2171 6 and 45-21731) also reached Clark bythe 21st. With one exceptiontheyweremanned by64th BS personnel. Aircraft 45-21 704andcrew. however.werefrom the509th Bombardment Wing, based atWalker AFB (formerly Roswell M F) outside of Roswell. New Mexico. The final two 'planes in Detachment Four alsoleft Arizona on the 17th. They included a cargo 'plane in which Colonel James C. Seiser, CO 43rd Bombardment Wing, hitched a ride, and a KB-29M piloted by 1st LtCharles F. Nedball, 96th BS. Whileall theseaircraft wereheaded westan equal number comprisingDetachments Oneand Two were headedeast. staging through MacD ili AFB, Florida. Colonel Kingsbury's tankers deployed at Lagens. Those under Colonel Bailey, including a KB-29M flownbyLt W Sontagfromthe 509th, pushed on for Saudi Arabiaandeventually landed at Dhahran. The eastward-moving detachments were also in place by the 21 st. Taking offfromDavis-MonthanAFB on22February, five B-5OsflewtowardsFortWorth. Texas. They landed at Carswell AFB. Texas, which was the starting point for the stillsecret around the world flight. Preparations for the mission were almost completed. GLOBAL QUEEN majesticallyclimbed skywardonthe25thandheadedeast. Tomaintain secrecy theflightplanfiled with thetowergave no destinationbeyond Lagens. Lt Jewell did not expect to land there,but intended to fly on towards Dhahran afterrefuelling contacts overthe Azores. That second leg of the journey would be made under a flight plan filed byoneof thetankers, operating out of Lagens. which would later land back at the base using GLOBAL QUEEN's tail number for identification. In any radio communication along the Lagens-Dhahran route the B-50 would respond with that tanker's tail number. OverSaudi Arabia following the next refuelling another switch of tail numbers and declareddestinations wou ld take place. This was thepattern to befollowed for each of the five separate legs of the global flight. Darkness fell overtheAtlanticasthelonebomber continuedeastwardunderacanopy of stars. Pegasus, thewinged horse. had notyet set in the west. Overhead, the constellationOrion dominatedthewintersky. The tranquil scenewasshattered when number two engineca ught fire. Flickering tongues of flame chased away all thoughts of refuell ing. With onepropeller feathered GLOBALQUEEN relucta ntly. but without argument, landedat LagensAFBunderits own tail number indawn's early light. Not realizinganattempt tomake aviationhistory had been thwarted bythismalfunction, outside observers paid only passing attention to the crippled B-50 making an emergency approach thatmorning. Crash trucks sprintedabout with their sirenswailing andthere weremomentsof tension until a safe landingwas attained.but on thesurface nothing much out of the ordinary had happened. Detachment Oneflight crews. briefed about themissiononlyafter Colonel Kingsbury had received word of the bomber's departure from Carswell, went back to thewaiting game. They were.of co urse, notallowed to discuss what they nowknew with any of the regular base personnel at Lagens. Meanwhile. the majority of the tanker crews coo lingtheir heels at theother three support bases still had no idea what was up. Not

Thetankeraircraft approached thebomber.alsocalled thereceiver aircraft. fromthe rear on the left side, trailing a weighted steel cable. The receiver now traileda steel cable with a wind sock. pullingit straight outbehind the bomber. The tankerclosedto approximately10 feet behindthebomber with thecockpit about evenwiththe topof thebomber'svertical tail. The tankerpilotusedright rudder toskid to the right across thecablebehind thebomber. Theendof the weightedcabledangledbelow thereceiver's line and engaged it with a grapnel. Thetanker pilotthenpulled upand forward on the rightsideof the bomber. Therefuelling operatoronthe tankerreeledinthecable, bringing inthe end of thereceiver'sline and attachedit to thefuel transfer hose, whichwas made of canvas. Hethenreeled out the hose as a crewman aboardthe receiver useda winch to haul in his cable. bringing the hose with it, After the hose was secured to thebomber's refuelling receptac le, valves wereopenedand fuel transfer wasstarted. Nopumpswereused. It wasstrictly gravityflow. The tanker pilot triedto get as highabove the bomber ashe safely could to increase the rateof transfer. Duringtrainingoperationsa lot of hosescollapsedand were dropped onthe desert west of Tucsonwhen pilotsexceeded thelength of the hose. whichwasabout 200fl.

After the 43rdARSandits borrowed aircrews had logged a sufficient number of practiceruns, it was time fordeployment overseas. Colonel WC. Kingsbury commanded aircraft assigned to TaskDetachment Number Onein theAzores. Detachment Two headed for Dhahran. Saudi Arabia, under the command of Colonel D.E. Bailey. Flying westward, Colonel WH. Blancha rd led Detachment Three to the Philippines. while Colonel Sipes took Detachment Four to Hawaii.

124

STRAT EGIC A I R COM MAN D

until thebomber had actuallystartedon thenext leg of itsglobe-circling journey would the crews in the next designated refuelling area be briefedon missionspecifics. Twenty-four hoursafterthe first bomber had raceddowntherunwayat Carswell AFB, B-50A(46-0101stood ready foritsturnat bat. CaptJamesG. Gallagher, theaircraft commander, needed only to becleared for take-off. The sky around FortWorthon the 26th was overcast and threatening. Everyone aboard rea lized'Lady Luck' would have to be riding with themif a weather cancellation was to be avoided. A guarded sense of optimism pervaded the cockpit of LU CKY LADY II, though, The elementswerenot about tostopher. 1st LtArthur M. Neal andhisco-pilot. Capt James H. Morris, knew their 'plane was ready. While this B-50 was not the one he normally flew, Gallagher felt very comfortable in its left seat. Theextent of hisflight experiencewasquiteimpressive. He had been oneof theoriginal members of the 677th Bomb Squadron and had completed a global combat tou r with the444th BombGroup during WorldWar Two. Whenthe 58th BombWing moved to West Field on Tinian in 1945, Lt Neal happened to be stationed at North Field with the504thBomb Group of the313th BombWing. Theknowledgethat LtNealwas more thanreadytospell himwhenever neededenhancedCapt Gallagher's confidence insuccess as LUCKYLADYII awaited clearance. It was in fact Neal's piloting skills that had lead to his transferto the63rd BSjust before its stint in Alaska. Instead of the eight or nine that operated a B-50 under normal condit ions, LUCKY LADY II was set for the long, demanding flight aheadwith an expanded crew of fourteen, formed by mergingthecrewsof Capt Gallagher and LtNeal.Since everyone from both crewscould not go, experiencewasthedecidingfactor. Oneplaceaboardwent to anofficer fromHQSAC, Capt DavidB.Parmelee, whohadparticipatedintheearlyplanning for theglobe-circling mission. Whencleared for take-off, Gallagher eased the 'plane into the air and ordered the landinggear retracted. Thesecondattempt atthenon-stoparound theworldflight was undervvay. AsLUCKYLADY IIdisappeared intothedistance, waitingondeckwas LONG RANG ER, piloted by 1st LtWallace F. VanDyke of the 65th BS. The men assigned to that thirdB-50 followed progress reportswith mixed emotions. Certainlysuccess forthe 'planein the air was hoped for, but still ... it wou ldbe niceto get a crack at the mission. Another 'plane from GLOBAL QUEEN's squadron waited behind LONG RANGER. Lt Patrick B. Lewis brought up the rear in B-50A (46-043) with a crew fromthe same squadron as LUCKYLADY II. Becauseof the cloudcover the first 850 miles(1 ,370km)of thetriphadtobe flown at 5,000ft (1 ,525m) which was half the desired cruising altitude. As a result fuel consumption in thedenser air was a bit higher than the mission planners had countedon. Eastof the Mississippiit wasfinally possibletoclimbto 1O,OOOft, as intended fromthe start. Oneof the flight engineers, though, noticed after they levelledoff that avalveon number two fuel tank was not functioning exactly right. The problem didn't appear too serious.Just somethingtokeepaneyeon. Someof thecrew might havewonderedthen if that was the way GLOBAL QUEEN's troubleshad started. Meanwhile the navigator hadto keep a close watch on wind conditions. Almost 200 miles(320km) beyondtheeast coast shoreline, as the'planeenteredlateafternoontwilight, a weak weather front closed in. To avoidfuel-depleting head winds LUCKY LADY IIsoaredto 20,000ft anddecided to maintainthataltitudeuntil nearing Lagensandthe first refuelling rendezvous. Backdownto 1O,OOOft shortlyafter local dawn on 27February, only onetrywasneeded to securethe fuel line from the first KB-29M. Everything went without a hitch. An hour and a half later, when the B-50hooked up with anothertanker, it wasonthe second attempt, but once the hose was fastened the transfer ran smoothly. In two and a half hoursof precisionflying almost10,000USgallonsofpreciousfuel hadbeenpoured into tanks that had held less than 2,600 USgallonsbefore refue lling operationswith the tankers out of Lagenscommenced. Underan assumed identity and with the other radio operator taking over so final contact with Lagens Tower would be in a different voice, theDhahranlegofthejourneybegannineteenhoursaftertake-off fromCarswell, which was by then 4,000 nautical miles astern. Th eweather over NorthAfricawasrou ghandturbulent asthe bomber bouncedalong between 10,000-1 3,000ft. Thebooster pump fornumber twofueltankbrokedownand a set of propeller de-icers failed. Still Capt Gallagher and crew were able to fly on throughanother night cycle. Arriving in the Dhahran area two hours after themorning sun on the28th, heavycloudcover wasencounteredat 1O,OOOft. Breaking through this at 9,000ft, thetankerswerefinally sighted. Good contactwiththe first of twoKB-29Ms

125

was madeontheinitial passandthis refuellingsessionstarted off smoothly. Just after hookingupwiththesecondtanker, however, aseveresandstormtypica l of Arabian winterssuddenlyengulfed both'planes. Theswirlingcloud of fine, powder-likedust kicked upbythewind reached higher than 13,000ft. WithunderstatementtheCOof theLUCKY LADYIIfelt thesecond refuelling was 'hairy'. Lt Neal concurred: 'It wasa rough flight.' Capt Gallagher then declared 'Willie Sontag from Roswell really did a good job ... Believe that was a first. Refuelling on instruments.' Lt Bonner. manning the radar station aboard the B-50, agreed the tanker pilot'flew a perfect job or wemight still bethere'. Full refuelling had been accomplished undertrying conditions. Now, following another swap of tail numbers a climb backto 10,000ft wasexecutedandacourseheadingset forClark AFB in thePhilippines. Not farintothis leg the autopilot stopped working. That meant that for the remainder of the flight Gallagher, Neal or Morris would have to constantly fly the 'plane, instead of letting it go on its own everynow and then. Theywatched the sunset on the 28th somewhere over India. In the very early morning hours of 1 March they wereover South-east Asia, possibly flying over Hue andDa Nang, hiddeninthedarknessbelow.They greetedthesun's returnover theSouthChina Sea . When their B-50 reached the vicinity of the Philippines local lighting conditions indicated it was mid-morning. The bomber madetwo completecircles over Clark Field while five tankers fell into position around it. Flying across Luzon towards the Pacific Ocean, the entireformation then set out in the general direction of Hawaii. Contact with the first KB-29M was flawless and fuel started flowing at a rate of 88 USgallons per minute, increasing slightly later on, Since the leg ahead wouldbe the longest of thetrip,theywantedto hold the refuellingconnectionswiththe Clark-based tankers longer than the earlier contacts. For almost sixty-four minutes LUCKY LADY II and KB-29M tanker45-21713maintained closeformation.Then suddenly, withonlyfive or six minutes more beforethe line would be released aftertransferring 6AOO-US gallons,the 'planes pulledapart beforeanyonewas ready. Perhapsairturbulencewas the cause of this minor mishap. The system had beendesigned fora clean breakaway in suchcircumstances, but the intended 'weak link' held firm. KB-29M tanker 45-2171 3, which had almost completed its taskanyway, lost a refuelling nozzle with little impact on the global mission. It returned immediately to Clark for inspection. Ofmore concernwas the B-50's broken winch chain.Without additional fuel from a second tanker, LU CKY LADY II could not reach Hawaii and until, or if, replacing the chain was successfully done, this fuel could not be taken aboard. Working frantically, CaptParmelee discovered theextrachainsaboardwere6inchestoolong and would have to be cut to fit properly. The bomber also happened to be carrying a whole new winch. He decided it would be faster to replace the whole assembly, and with a lot of help from Sergeants M. Davis andTraugh proceeded todo so. While they worked KB-29M tanker 45-21716 was forced to head back dueto a turbo failure. That left three KB-29Ms in thevicinity. Lt Colonel Michael NW McCoy, theRefuelling Control Officer, riding aboard KB-29M tanker 45-21 731, signalled that KB-29M tanker 4521705 would make the next contact whenever it occu rred . For two hours Capt WilliamG. Fuller's 'planewaited patiently until refuelling operationscould at last be continued, As the loose formation of aircraft continued to cruise north-eastward, dusk began to approa ch. There was little Fuller or his co-pilot, Capt WilliamW. Taylor, coulddoabout the situation. Aboardasan observer, Lt Colonel Jack S. Hunt, fromthe 18th Fighter Group stationed at Clark, may havediscussedthe possible necessity of the B-50 landing at his unit's home field if the damage was not repairable intheair. Ofcourse nobodywantedthisto happen. Thetanker'screw, which also included 1st Lt WilliamS. Roegles, 1st Lt Robert C. McCormick, 1st Lt Edwin W. Ryan, S/Sgt Arthur W. Stear, S/Sgt Andrew J. Brooks and S/Sgt Fred L. Shepherd, all rooted hard for their 43rd Bomb Groupbuddies to fix the problem. Tostay inthewaningdaylight as longas possible, Capt Gallagher reversedcourse 180 degrees and the attending 'planes followed suit. At last given the green light, Capt Fuller'sKB-29M(45-21705)madeperfect contact andremainedlinkedforalmost anhour and ten minutes, transferring close to 7,000 USgallons of fuel while the linked pair of aircraft flew back towards thePhilippines. The exhausting job completed, the elated crews cheered each otheras thetwo 'planesparted company. Once again LUCKYLADY II executed a smart 180-degree turn, heading alone for the distant Hawaiian Islands,

continued overleaf

ST RATE GIC A I R

C O ~ l M AN [)

Non-stopAround-the-World Flight continued Thenext-to-last episodeof night flyingonthisglobalmissionoccurred over theWestern Pacific. During the darkness the International Date Line was crossed, producing a doubled 1st of March. Capt Gallagher's B-50A began showing signs of strain from the length of the epic journey. Eight hours from Hawaiian airspace, a probl em cropped up with risingenginetemperature. Flight engineershad to periodically go to manual operationof theoil coolerstokeepthe readingswithinnormal limits.Then, fourhoursshort of Hawaii, number four engine started backfiring sporadically. Neither problem was considered a showstopper and the last of the scheduled in-flight refue lling contacts took place asplanned in mid-morningof the encore 1st of March. As soon as Colonel Sipes received word that refuelling over the Philippines was underway, he called a briefing for DetachmentFour flight crews. At lastthey were let in on the secret aboutthe B-50trying to flyall the wayaround the world without stopping once. They learned thenthat it was headedtheir wayand they were expected to perform the last scheduled refuelling of the mission. Lt Classon was instructed to fly KB-29M tanker 45-2 1778 west from Honolulu to a predetermined point overthe Pacific Ocean and orbit there. Lt Ballengee, whohad once beenhis co-pilot, wasto be his wingman, pilotingKB-29M tanker 44-87777. Colonel Sipes decidedto have two other KB-29M tankers, Lt Hamilton's 44-87779 and Lt Hagan's 44-87782, orbit the Johnston Island area, several hundredmiles fartherout. It wastheJohnstonIslandpair that intercepted Capt Gallagher's 'plane that morning. Lt Hamiltonand hiscrewflawlesslyled off the final refuelling session forthemission . Afterthey were finishedLt Hagan and hiscrew moved infortheir run. Contact withthe B-50wasmissed onthefirst attempt. but everythingworkedperfectlyonthenext pa ss. Overall it was the easiest full transfer encounter since Lagens. As LUCKY LADYII flew oninto the home stretch she passed bythe other tanker pair. Lt Ball engee got a good look at her and noted a number of black streaks frompossible oil leaks. Next land sightedbythe crew of the lone B-50 would be the California coast. Two hours' flying timebeyond Hawaii it was noted that the carburettorvapour eliminator to thenumber four enginewas stuck open and asa result fuel consumptionwasupby50 USgallonsperhourmore thandesired. If thecondition didnot worsenand strong head windswereavoided, the threat of a forced ditching at sea was not yet a major worry. The journey's toll on engine performance continued to mount. Nagging incidents of backfiring previously confined to number fourenginespread to number two as well. A full fivehoursshort of thewest coast it wasdecided tomanually enrich the fuelmixture fed themin aneffort to smooth out the rough running. It worked. With one moreprocedure added to the list of tasksrequired of hiscrew tokeepLUCKY LADY IIairborne, Capt Gallagher coaxedhis'planehomeward.Acouplehourslatertheintercoolerflaptonumberthree engineworked loose. With the spirit expressed in the still popular WorldWar Two song 'Comin' In on a Wing and a Prayer' the aircraftand crew pressed onward.

30 7th - were assign ed to S AC durin g th e Kor ean War. O ne bomb gro up (lat er bomb wing), th e 19th , also served with B-29s in Kor ea. Th e latt e r uni t was assigne d to th e 20 th A ir Force wh ile th e form er units were assigne d to th e Far East A ir Force ( FEA F). It rem ains unclear as to wh y th e 19 BG was not ren am ed 19 BW at th e tim e, In early 1948, ninet y-two low-t ime B-29s wer e sen t to th e n ew ly reop en ed BoeingWi chita p lant to und er go co n ve rsio n to hose-type tank er aircraft; th ese were subsequen tly design at ed KB-29M .

End of the Road By th e end of 1949 SAC had sixty-two RB29s and RB-29As - formerly F- 13s and F13As - which had been fully updat ed with

Bathed in golden hues of a glorioussunrise, the beautiful California shoreline greeted thereturnof the global flight to airspace over thecontinental United States on 2 March. Asaprecautionarymeasure, three extra KB-29Msweredispatched fromDavis-Monthan toescort theB-50into Carswell and standby foran imprompturefuellingif needed. Near Tucson thetankerspickedup LUCKY LADY II inthedistance lookingabit like acomet. As thebright silveryspeck with a faintsmokytail grew larger, these tanker crewmen could alsoseethatthetired 'planewasstainedinplacesbyoil streaks. Encouragedbytheaudi ence, the proud aircraft covered the remainingdistance without incident on the remainder of the fuel load received near JohnstonIsland. At 9:31 am Fort Worth time,wheels thathad left therunwayat Carswell AFB 94hours10minutes earlier touched downthere once again. Thus a globe-girdling lapof 23.452 miles 137,734km) was completed. Capt Gallagher andhiscrew emerged fromtheir trusty aircraft. posing forpress photographersasAirSecretaryStuart Symington, GeneralVandenberg and GeneralLeMay congratulated them on a jobwell done. On that festive day in Texason 2 March 1949, members of theelite 43rd Bomb Wing savoured the success that teamwork had made possible. From bases around the world the KB-29Mswere recall edto their home field inArizona. GLOBAL QUEEN wasreturning fromthe Azoresand wouldsoon rejoinLONG RANGER and the two other backu p B-50s that had waitedat Carswell. LU CKY LADYII, however, was due for a thorough examination by Strategic Air Com mand specialists interested in determining whateffects onengine parts long-duration flightoperations had. A few days later, while Gallagher, Neal. Morris and the others continued with debriefings, a flightcrew underLtLewiswasordered to fly thenow-famous bomber to Tinker AFB foranothercomplete physical. Theinitial highspirits of the occasion were later subdued som ewhat by tragicnews from thePhilippines. Capt Fuller's'planewouldnotbe returninghome. Onthewayback to Clark following the delayed refue lling contact his KB-29M encountered deteriorating weather. Descending toosoon through thickclouds over Rizal Province, the tanker struck the summit of a mountain about 12 miles (19kml east of the nearest hamlet at Loobacand58miles193km)shortof theClarkAFBdestination. No survivorswerefound at the crash site when it was discovered on 15 March. The USAir Force, though, was notabout to let an unfortunate accid entrain on its parade as had happened in the Gulf of Adenthe previoussummer. In the mishap report filedwith the Safety andInspection Office, NortonAFB, aircraft 45-21705 was listed as a TB-29ona routine training missiontoobscure thefactit hadanything to dowiththein-flight refuellingof LUCKYLADY II. Their roles equa lly anonymousat the time, all the other KB-29Ms of the 43rdARS returned safely hometoDavis-MonthanAFB between4and 12March 1949. It hadbeen a job well doneandnoone appreciated better the magnitude of the accomplishment than thecrew of LUCKY LADYII, whowereamong thevery few tohavea complete picture of thefirst non-stop around-the-world flight.

th e most mod ern ph ot ographi c reconnaissance equipment and elect roni c warfare systems. By th e end of 195 1 SAC had 116 KB29P flying boom -type tank er aircraft to go along with its ninet y-two hose-type KG29Ms, bringing the tota l of KB-29s to 208 . The hose-t ype refuell ing syste m was considered to have numerou s d isad vantages, especia lly th e length y time requ ired to hook-up, slow fuel transfer rates and th e limited airspeed imposed by th e flailing hoses th em selves. Boeing th erefore devel oped an aerodynami cally co nt rolled swivelling and telescoping arm ca lled th e flying boom , which is still preferred today by th e US A F for aerial refuelling man oeuvres. In late 1952 SAC had a grand tot al of 4 17 B-29s. These tot a ls above do n ot include the TB-29s used for ta rge t-towing duties and for pilot tr aining and tr an sition, V B-29s

126

used for V IP transportat ion or the WB -29s used for weather reconnaissan ce. They sh ow th e largest numbe r of B-29s, KB-29s and R B-29s eve r employed by S AC, but by th e mid - 19 50s th e in creasin g ava ilab iliry of B-36s, B-47s and B-50s made a longer career for th e S uperfort un likel y. The Boeing 13-50, the refin ed 13-29 , first becam e o pera tion al in la te 1948 with th e 43rd BW at Davis-Monthan A FB, A rizon a; at th e t ime th e 43 BW ha d th irt y-four B-50A s, With th e arrival of th e garga n tuan Con va ir 13-36 Peacem aker in th e ea rly 1950s th e 13-29 was dem oted to become a med ium -cl ass bo m ber, since th e 13-36 was so very mu ch larger and ca rr ied a mu ch h eavier payload ; B-36s first e n te red service in June 1948 with th e 7th BW at Carswe ll AFB, Texas. The Boeing 13-4713 S rrarojc t first bec ame ope rat iona l in th e a utum n of

ST RATEG IC A I R

1952 on a lim ited basis with the 305th and 306th Bomb W ings at MacD ill AF B, Flor ida ; by Feb ruar y 1953 th ere were seven tyeigh t operat ional B-47s assign ed to th ese two wings.

CO ~l ~ IAN ()

So with th ree new bombe rs available to it and anot he r two on the near hor izon - the Boei ng B-52 Srraroforrress and C onvair B58 Hustler - SAC opted to ret ire its fleet of war-weary B-29s, beginn ing in late 1953 and

early 1954 . O n 4 N ove mbe r 1954 the last operat iona l B-29 , a B-29A assigne d to the 307 th BW at Kadcna A ir Base on O kin awa, was retired to th e U SAF reclamation and storage facility at Dav is-Mo nt han AFB .

A B-29-60-BA (44-840881 with 'buzz' number BF-088. Buzz numbers were applied to USAF aircraft for a ti me so th at when and if one 01them ever 'buzzed' resi denti al areas they could be easily identified by i rat e telephone callers. David W. Menard

BELOW; This B-29A-75-BN (44-62310; buzz number BF-310) of 15AF.28BG has the stre amlined l orw ard-top gun turret. David W. Menard

e

•

_.. . .- ---= _.-

This 2BG B-29A-75-BN (44-623251 was photographed at RAF l ak enheath in the summer 011948. A number 01SAC B-29s were deployed to bases in England to support the Berlin Airlift. David W. Menard

12 7

STRA T EG IC A I R

C O ~ I ~ IA:-i D

A left-hand gunner/spotter at his station with in a CFS compartment. Stan Piet

BElOW: This B-29-96-BW (45-21793) was litted with a cosmic ray detector and was used in the Cosmic Ray Research programme 01 the late 1940s. USA F

728

CHAPTER NINE

Washington As the Cold \Var grew eve n mor e frigid in the late 194 0s and ea rly 1950s , commanders of t he Brit ish Royal Air Force Bo mber C o mma nd decided th at t hey needed to field a more ca pable h ea vy bo mb e r t h a n the y the n had, to nc r as a n add it ional n uclear

det errent to th e USSR , wh ich had exploded its first ato m ic bo mb o n 29 A ugust 194 9 - a device with a yield of a bo ut 20 ki loto ns codc- namcd joe J. S ince the Sov iets had 'the bom b' and wer e within st riking di stan ce of th e U K th an ks to t heir B-29 loo ka likc, t he

TOP: A W ashington before it received its squadron markings. W ith USAF serial number

44-61599still visible. it is easily recognized to be a B-29A-35-BN . Philip Jarrett ABOVE: Three No. 15 Squadron Washingtons - KO-A. KO-B and KO-F- flying in formation in 1950. Philip Jarrett

129

T upo lev Tu -4 ' Bu ll', th e acq uisit io n of a cr ed ible det err ent wa imp e rati ve. A t th e tim e of th e j oe J detonat ion in th e summe r of 194 9, the Avro Type 694 Linco ln B.2 was the on ly RA F heavy bomb er th at was capable of reach ing strategic targets in Russia. It was essent ially an improved ve rsion of th e Av ro Lan caster tha t had served with distinction d urin g Word War Two. T he Linco ln B.2 was powered by four I,750hp Packard -built Merlin 68 , 68A or 300 inl ine V- 12 e ng in es . It co uld ca rry a ma x im um bomb load of 14,000 1b (6,350k g) for a d istance of 2,640 mil es (4 ,22 5km ) ; with a ligh ter bo m b load it co uld fly a maximum di stan ce of 3 ,75 0 mil es (6.000km ). It h ad a maximum speed of 295mph (475k m/h) and a c ruising speed of 23 mph (383k m/h), and its serv ice ce iling was 22,OOOft (6,7 00 m) . 1t was 79ft 3 .5in (24. 15m) lo ng, spa n ne d 120ft Oin (36 .57 m) a nd had a wing a rea of 1,421sq ft (l 3 2sq m ). It weigh ed 44,14 81b (20,02 1kg) e mpty a nd 82.0001b (37.200 kg) loaded. T h e RA F kn e w, of co urse , abo ut t h e ca pa bilit ics of the B-29 Supc rforrrcss. It also kne w tha t the U SAF was begin n ing to replace th em with B-36s and B-50s. and th at th ey wer e cl ose to be in g ph ased o ut. Yet , wi t h its h igh -al t itu de pr essuri zed flying ca pab ility it offe red a vast im pro ve me n t o ver th e Lincoln . T h us, under th e US M ilita ry A id Programme (M AP), RAF Bomber C o mma nd began acce pt in g a to ta l of eigh ty-seven seco nd- hand Supcrfo rts, mostly B-29A s, on 22 March 1950. In RA F service they were officially designat ed Boeing W ash ington B. I, th ough the y were gene rally kn o wn to RA F person nel simply as B-29s. inc RA F bomb sq uadrons - 15. 35 (t he \Vash ingto n Con version U n it or \VC U ), 44 . 57, 90 , 115, 149 . 19 2 and 20 7 - received eigh t Washi ngton B. ls eac h by 25 May 195 1. The remain ing fifte en \Vash ingto ns were used for pilo t train ing and tran sitio n . and used for spares. Two \Vash ingto n S . Is went to the Royal A ustralian A ir Force (RAA F) in A ustralia (see belo w). T he B. I sq uad rons were locat ed at RA F Con ingsby. RA F Marham and RA F Wat ton .

WASHI NGTO N

Sgt It C. 'C olin' Wi lliams is a World War Two veteran an d later served as a navigator on Wash ingtons, first in 35 Squadro n (the \X!ash ington C on version U n it ) at RA F Marharn in Se pte mbe r 1952, then 15 Squadron at RA F Con ingsby until Ap ril 1953. During hi s tim e on \X!ashingtons he served aboard W F334, W F34 3, WF499, W F497, \X!F505, WF 507, WF552, WF 554 and WF559 . He recalls: Afte r Wo rld W ar Two , Bo m ber C om ma nd slid into a d ull, co mforta ble ru t , repeat in g wh a t h ad gon e before - d ro pping prac tice bombs on tar -

Close-up view of KO-F of No. 15 Squadron . Philip Jarrett

ge ts in T h e \Vash , sim u la ted blin d -bombi ng runs on th e C owley W orks at Ox ford , c rossco unt ry runs o ut to withi n te n m iles of th e Iro n C urta in , down it for a h un dred mil es and back

sto p effort was co m mo n p lace . I won de r now how

was th e RA F's first pressur ized a irc raft. It was

h om e aga in , occa sio nal mo nt h sruys in th e

I d id it! Ad d to whi ch , you couldn' t imagin e a

co nseq ue n tl y q uiet a nd at a ni ce, eve n temp e r-

C ana l Zo n e to ma in tain a prese nce th er e. No t

wor se work ing envi ron me n t. The La ncaster and

ature inside . Yo u cou ld ac tua lly ta lk to o ne

much of int e rest the re .

Lin coln wer e c ra mped , deafen ing n oisy, o ften

ano t her with o ut reco urse to th e in te rcom. not

freezin g co ld , and a n yth ing but sta b le.

h a ve to wea r a c um berso me oxyge n mask.

Bac k in those days of Dead Rec koni ng n avigat ion, and wit h elec tron ics in its infa ncy, my

A fte r so me yea rs o f that , th e B-29 Was h ing to n

wh ich in th e Lan caste r d rip ped co n de nsa t ion

flying t imes we re unr em itt ing ha rd labo ur, two

was like parad ise. The n a vigati o n a l re mit was

co nstan tl y o n to your c h art s. It was ligh t an d

h ou rs of preparat ion befo re rake -off, n on -stop

mu ch the sa me, n o ad va nc e th ere, but wh at a

roo my, like work in g in yo ur livi n g room after a

effo rt whi le we we re a irborne . Te n h ou rs o f n on-

c h an ge in wor ki n g co nd it io ns. The Wa sh ingt on

lon g spel l in a d ungeon . In m y yea rs of flyin g, ir was the best a irc raft I eve r flew in . It flew h igh er and faster th a n La ncasre rs a n d l. incolns, but th is was o f little acco unt in na viga tio n te rms, O ne wo uld suppose th at all th is wou ld imp rove my per for ma n ce , but we always go t what was req uire d o ut of my n a vigat ion , a nd in th e e nd it was just so mu ch less wea rin g

Oil

me .

After World W a r Two , the RAF di sconti nued the ra nk of bo mb ai rncr , '1I1d too k to h avin g two na vigators, in th e face of th e d em an ds of n ell' am i be tt e r a irbo rne radar. T h er e was a n av-plo rre r a nd a na v-rada r. I was al ways a n av-p lo ucr. In the Lin co ln we sa t side- by-side an d the nnv-radar, wh o

S:lI

near est the front , di d the bo m h a im ing.

He d id the rad ar bomb in g a n ywa y, so it was co nvcn ienr . In th e Wa shi n gto n , th e n av -ruda r wa s in th e rea r co m pa rt me nt wit h h is b lin d bo mbing equ ipment , so it was co nve ni en t for me to

ca rry o ut the live ho mh ing . A ga in , wh at a differen ce, but some reservations. In th e Lin coln and Lancas te r, th e on ly auto matica lly set bo mhi ng param et er s were th e altitude . speed and co urse, th e rest be ing set ma n ually. \Vhil e th is was n ot cond ucive to goo d accurac y - inside IOOyd was exc e llent a nd a hit luck y - it diel affm d a degree of flexib ility d urin g the bombi ng run . T he No rden bomb sigh t fill c'd in th e W ash ington was fully aut om atic: th e a ltitude, co urse and speed set in , th e d efini tion of th e a ircraft's track and co rrec t bo mh re lease po in t bein g ca lcula ted by Dop pler effect d uring th e run -up to th e tar get. Du rin g the bo m bing run , RAFWashington crewmembers pose by an aircraft they flew in. RAFWashingtons usually carri ed a crew of ten or eleven. not sixte en as shown here. Philip Jarrett

130

the bornh-aim cr flew th e a irc raft , via the autop ilot, hI' turni ng the ho mhsigh t. It was extre mel y

WA SHINGTON

acc un uc , a nd cvcntu.illv I co uld gua ra ntee drop ping a lxunb imi de th e IOOyd magic c ircle. A ll ve ry co m me ndable, bu t n o ma noeuvreflex ib ility d ur in g a 5-mile st ra igh t-a nd -leve l ru n -in , a nd I woul d n 't like

10

h ave tried it wit h

a n y rada r-p red icted tlak a rou n d' So the \Vashingto n was a bea ut iful a ircraft fly, a nd

III

10

Ill' a nd wor k in. I don 't have much

kno wledge o n th e gun n e ry side , except reme mber it was auto mate d. and

OUf

10

gun ne rs

we re imp ressed . I do see from my logh, x,k, howeye r, th at o n 9 June 1950 , we spe n t ten hours in a Lin co ln sea rc h ing th e

or th Sea for surv ivors

o f an A me rican 11-29 tha I had sho l ilself down . T( X l

muc h autom at io n ca n he a da ngerous th ing !

T h e Wash ington 13. 1 serve d th e RA F wel l and by lat e 1954 , ot he r th an th e o nes that crashed or we re sc rapped in th e U K, most of them had been ret urn ed to th e US A . T here were some stragglers th at rem ai n ed in th e U K (or spec ia l duties unt il 195 8.

RAF Washingt on Operat ions 'Strike Hard , Strike Sure ' T he Berlin A irlift in 1948 and the Korean \Var beginning in 1950 sent out a loud a nd clear message that there woul d not be any rea l peace in the wo rld. In the meantime, in 1949 , RA F Bomb e r C ommand began to replace its \Vorl d \Var Two- era Lancasrer s with Lin co lns. But it really needed a bett er bomber wh ile it waited (or th e je t-p owered bom bers then under developme n t. So in early 1950 person nel (ro m 115 Squadro n were sen t to the US A to tra in on th e Boei ng B-29s, wh ich woul d se rve until British -built jet bom bers en te red service. Bei ng th e first RA F sq uadro n to get 1329s, 115 Sq uadro n first bro ugh t th eir first (our Boeing Wash ingt ons int o th e U K beginning in March 1950 , arr iving at RA F Marh am wh ich was to be th eir first base .

ABOVE: WF545 on the fl ight

line wit h other Washington bombers. This Washington (code WP-D) was formerly a B-29A-65-BN (44-621531. Philip Jarrett

131

115 Sq uadro n wor ked up to operatio na l strcngrh and pa rt ic ipared in n umero us airdefence exerc ises. In 1951 and 1952 l IS Squadron was at th e forefront of RA F Bom ber C ommand and was ac tive in all types of exe rcises, deploying to Malta to devel o p, among o th er thi ngs, operati onal radar-bom bin g techn iques. In 1953 , 115 Sq uadro n earned the La urence Minot Bombing Trophy (or its bombing expe rt ise. Ir d id n ot begin to convert to its English Electric Can be rra jet bombers until 1954. Bomber C om mand \Vash ington 13. 1 operations were (or th e most pa rt based upon h eavy bomb ing train ing man oeu vres of th e most se rious kind - th at is, dai ly preparat ions (or th e possibil ity o( a Wor ld Wa r T h ree. T hese were cent red on th e mu lti -e ngin e pilot ing skills, bom b-a iming, fligh t engine e r traini ng. co n ven tiona l and nu clear bombardmen t sce na rios, gun nery perfection and na vigation al ab ilities, not

BELOW:

No. 15Squadron's KO -A and KO -F in 1950.

Philip Jarrett

WAS II I:"GT OI\'

KO -A (WF448) of No. 15 Squ adron flies a lone . around 1950. PhilipJ arrett

A Washi ngton of No. 15 Squadron. Philip J arrett

BELOW:

JL

to mcnt io n top no tc h airfra me a nd e ng ine ma in tena n ce by h igh ly sk illed gro undc rews. W ith t he W ash ingto n 13. 1, th e RA F h ad a ded icat ed stra tegic nu clear bomber capable of reaching any give n ta rge t in th e worl d from its man y a ir base aro und the wor ld. The W C U was for med in March 1950 . Eigh t-week co nve rsion co urses wer e h eld for th e sq uadro ns to be based at Marh am a nd C o n ings by. A s previo usly menti on ed , the first to beco me ope ra tiona l was 115 Sq uadro n , in mid - 1950 , fo llo wed by Nos 149, 90 , 15,44, 20 7 a nd 35 Sq uadrons , of wh ich the latt er was formed I cprernbe r 19 51 fro m th e W C a nd beca me t h e W ash ington Tra ining Sq ua d ro n (WT S ). Nos 149 , 15 a nd 44 Sq ua d ro ns mo ved to C o n ings by whi le 115, 90 , 20 7 a nd 35 staye d at Marham . Marh a rn-based \Vash ingto ns too k part in Exerci e EIIl/)(~ror betwee n 7 and 15 Octobe r 1950 . USAF 93 rd Bo mb Group B-50s also took pa rt in the exe rcise. In July 1952 90 Sq uadro n \Vash ingto ns won th e RA F Bo mber Command bo mbing co mpe tition . T he main part of th e co mpetition co ns isted of four sepa rate cross-co unt ry n igh t fligh ts a nd visua l bo mbing on a range, with points awarded for acc uracy and navigatio n skills. T h is led to the win n ing of th e Lauren ce

Minot Boml ing Trophy, awa rded to 9 Squad ron by Marsh al of the RA F S ir Jo h n S lesso r on 14 Octobe r 195 2. Jo h n Rob ert ' Bob' ole was an elec t rica l fitt e r assigned to 149 Sq uadro n a t RA f Con ingsby. \Vh i!e Corpora l C o le was the re he work ed o n n um e rous \Vash ingto ns , but primaril y o n WF498/LS-G, a 1329A-40 -B forme rly 44 -6 168 , wh ich h e refer s to as 'h is' 'pla ne. He relat ed :

O ur new aircraft flew in fro m the U n ited States and after we had com pleted th e acceptan ce tes ting we formed o ur sq uad ro n , N, >. 149, a nd with o ur e igh t B-29s mo ved up to RAF Con ingsby in Lincol nsh ire. Life with

149

Squ adron was in teres tin g . C Oll ingshy was rvp i-

cal Linco ln sh ire. Flat all the W'ly to th e North Se a , and often beset by rain or sno w-lade n clo uds swee pinu in from (h e coas t. Our nearest little village was called Ne w York and the' nearest big to wn was Hosron - rea lly! The H-29 was

A fte r passing .out fro m the RAF Train ing

a big, co mplex (for those da ys) ae ro plane and

Sc ho o l at Hal ton in Au gust 1950 I rem ov ed the

my , bys we re spe n t o ut o n the !ligh t line, doi ng

Ap prentice wh eel

pr c-Ili uh r in spe ct io ns and m in o r tr ou bl esh oot -

fro m my uniform ar m.

removed th e yellow ) win g hat ban d, a nd

in g. A di fferent crew did any major ,ervici ng

beca me a Se nior Airc rnfrsma n . a wo rking se r-

back in the han gar, bu t o n th e !light lin e we h ad

vice ma n . Then it was t ime to report for dut y at

'ou r own' aeropl a ne .

RA F Marh am, in No rfolk. Th is was bomb e r

O n occasio n it was necessary to fly o n ai r tests.

co unt ry, with big A mer ica n a ir bases like

Anythi ng requiring full c lcc tricnl load , and exe r-

Swnffluu » and Lnken heatb . and RAF airfields

cises like pa rallel ing th e e igh t alte rnators had to

suc h as Watton . Marh .un hou sed a B-29 Su pe r-

be do ne in the air. and for th is I wo uld just go up

(ortrc« co n versio n uni t, to train RAF air- and

as supernumerary c rew, co mple te wi th fl ight suit

ground crews on these ai rcraft, whi ch were to be

and parach ute o n regular train ing m issions.

ca lled '\Vash ingron s' by th e RAE Conseq uent -

These co uld last anyt h ing from th ree or four

II' Mar h.uu was a m ixed RAF/USAF base.

hours III' to - well. Illy lo ngest !ligh t was nin e

O n Saturday n igh ts we wo uld go to the da nce

an d a half hours. T h is. I rcrucml-cr, was a ni gh t-

ha lls at King's Lyn n or W isbech , wh ich were

tim e co mbined n a\'igat i<1I1{h unh in g exe rc ise

always cro wded with Amer ican and Briti sh air-

with a fliuht plan that led us "I' to the nort h of

me n , T hese we re a lways a lo t of fun, and

co tlan d , down lh e

WCSl

coas t to Lands End ,

althoug h occasiona lly a fight would break o ut

alon g th e south coas t ~nd th en " I' to the bom l»

we stayed o n pretty good te rms with th e 'Yan ks'.

ing ran ge near h ) th e \Vnsh .

732

WASIl INGTO N

In Se pte m ber 19 5 1 I was to ld to joi n a n a ircraft ta king parr in the Bartle of Britain Da y flypast o ver Lo nd on . l lo wc ve r, lo w cloud co n d itio ns o ve r Lo nd o n caused th e fly-past to he 'scra tched ', so ins te ad we were d ive rted lip to \'(fest Frcu gh , in Sco tla nd , an d in st ruc ted to land at t he RAF a irfield t h ere to hc pa rt o f th c 's ta tic d isp lay ' for th e o pe n day. T h is we d id , land ing desp ite th e run way hc ing no m in all y 600 yd too sh o rt, an d 'sto od hI" th e ai rc raft to e xp la in it to visitors. W e n ear ly b urnt o ut rh e brakes whe n landi ng o n th ei r sho rt run way! S mo ke was po ur in g fro m t hcm by t he t ime we st o pp ed . A t th e end of t he day, rh e skippe r ga t he red us toge t h er for a pre -rake -off hrie fing an d wa rned us th a t we sho uld be prepa red for a ro ug h ta ke-off. At t h e ver y end of t h e run way h e ran a ll four eng ine s up to full powe r be fo re rc lca sin g t he brakes, an d yes, we s tag~e red in to th e ai r, sec lu ing ly inc hes over th e per ime ter fen ce . It was q ui te ex c it ing . For a youn g man in his early twe nti es it was a grea t life . T h ere was a grca t deal of ca ma rade rie a mo ng st th e lads in t h e sq uad ro n . o n e of wh o m was my o id ro o mm a te fro m H a lto n , H arry Rickwoo d . W c ha d o ur sha re o f 'c ha rac ter s'. in cl ud -

Bob Cole himse lf by his bird during a li ghter moment. Bob Cole Collection

ing one ai rma n , so m ewh at o lder th an most of us, wh o h ad a n e ve r-en d in g supp ly of ou t rugco usly tall rules a bo u t h is ex plo its in life . h aving t h e ab ility to h yp not ise peo ple . A t th e e nd o f 19 5 1 my promo t io n to Jun ior Tec h n ici an carn e in , an d I a lso went hack to Marh a m to ra ke a t rade test boa rd for C or por a l Technici an . T h e new RA I' Tech n ician ran ks we re in tr odu ced in 19 5 1 (stri pe s wer e wo rn upside do wn) an d prese n ted a p ro b lem , in t ha t fin ite period s of severa l yea rs ha d to spent in eac h gradc befor e one co uld be q uali fied to mo ve up to t he n e xt ran k, afte r a tra de test ho ard . ( Evc n rually, af tcr I h ad Icft the se rvice ,

WW355. for merly B-29A-70-BN (44-622391. w as deli vered t o the RAF on 12 Jul y 1950.

th e tec hni ci an ra n ks wer e a ban do nc d .) So

Philip J arrett

-

.. J

This W ashington. formerl y B-29A-45-BN 44·61787. i s j ust rot ating for lift-off. Peter M. Bowers

133

WASHI NGTON

altho ugh I passed the board ther e wo uld be a

Con ingsby, a spare engine was loaded in to the

C o tes, a mi serab le, desolat e ho le o n th e no rth

lon g delay befor e the prom o tion co uld be pro -

bo mb -bay of anot he r 'k ite', and we were flown

co ast o f Lin co lnshir e , to th e south o f G rimsby.

mu lgat ed . A few mo n th s lat er, however, I d id get

down to Luqa to do th e eng ine change (after

No sq uad ron th ere , just a bu nch of N issan huts

promot ed to C o rpor al, a regula r ran k with the

being inocula ted against seemingly every d isease

and lo ts of RA F pol ice and u nsmili ng no n-co m-

str ipes up the righ t way. T h is had a d rawback in

kno wn to man ). Because of some prob lem with

mission ed o fficers.

that I got tran sferred fro m 149 Sq uadron to the

th e spare engine anot he r o ne was flown down,

sta tio n tech ni ca l wing back in the han gar, where

whic h resulted in us being th ere for twelv e days.

we carried o ut mo re se rious serv ici ng on aircraft

O n several occasions so me of the perman ent staff

from all th ree sq uad rons at the airfield .

at Luqa rook us visitors down to Valona , wh ich at

In

February

1952, wh ile sti ll with

th e

th at t ime was a major Royal Na vy base. T here was

Sq uad ron , I h ad my first tri p o utside of th e U K.

an area of Valerrn known as 'the G ut' , an area of

Several of o ur aircra ft had flown do wn to the

narro w alleys full of bars, wh ich housed a wo rld I

C anal Zone , in Egypt, to rake part in exe rcises and

d idn 't know even existed. It was defin itely no

one of th em ('my' aircraft ) develop ed an engine

place fo r anyo ne's maid en aunt .

fault on th e way back and made an eme rgency

Back at C o n ings by the goo d life co nt in ued

land ing at RA F Luqa, o n the island of Malta. A

unti l th e end of th e summe r. Fate ste pped in and

groundcrew, incl uding myself, was round ed up at

in Oc tober I was posted to a place called N or th

RAF Bomber C ommand lost several Washington s and a n um ber of th eir crewmen due to crashes . O ne such m ish ap came ab out at 5:55pm on 5 January 1953 when a 15 Sq uad ron Washington (W F553) crashed at C laxby, killin g five of its ten- man crew. O ne mem ber of the crew, Sgt/A ir G un ner Wi lliam R, ' Billy' Karr, received th e Q ueen 's Commendat ion for Bravery because of his ac tions in the afte rma th of th e crash , Through a newspaper cl ipping

Operation Home Run - Returning WF513 to the USAF At the beginningof 1954RAFBomber Command brought the Canberraintoservice and the Washingtons that hadplugged the gap betweentheLincolnand the Canberra was returnedto the United Statesunder thecodenameHome Ru n. This is a brief recollection.some forty-sevenyears and some monthson, of one such repatriation.

On again at 0023 hours - yes, that's twenty-three minutes past midnight - we're boundfor the Azores, which is a very long wayover water and I hoped I could remember my dinghydrill. 8hours 10 minuteslaterwe landed at Lages Field and wewereled to a parking bay by a truck with a big sign on theback which read 'SIGA ME'and my schoolboySpanish had come in useful at last, for I knew what that meant. So did the Capt it seems, because he followed the truck. At 1251 hours the next day we were off again, over moreand moreocean, arriving9 hours 20minutes later in Bermuda. Thank goodness deep vein thrombosis hadn't been invented yet! I can't rememberwhen it waswe lost anengine. I think it must have been just before Bermuda. Well, not literally lost it, that wou ld havebeen careless, but it stopped running. Thiswasnot unusual forWashingtonssowedidn't takemuch notice. Aswewere comingin to land I was doing my scanning bit when to my amazement I spied a B-17 withadirtygreat lifeboathanging fromitsbomb-bay creepingupfrom astern, oringunner-speakat 6 o'clock. Appa rently the skipper had told the tower whenon hisapproach that it would be a three-engine landing, andthey alerted the US CoastGuard in case we ditched. Very comforting, mind you, since that was before I knew anything about the so-called Bermuda Triangle. At 0251 hours the next day we were off again over even more ocean andon to the USA. At onepoint oneof the navigatorssaid'there's theMississippi' and lookingdown fromabout 20,OOOft, I am sure I saw a paddleboat.I tooka photobutyoucan't tell what sort of boatit was. At last, after a short trip of 3 hours 50 minutes we landed at theUS Air Force base near Dover, Delaware. We spent a few days there, aswe were to take another Washington on to Tucson, Arizona. I think WF51 3 was too tired to continue. Not us, though. Some of us hitched a ride to Philadelphia, Pennsylva nia, and spent our time doing whatwe always did, sampling the local ale. We went to a nightclub and hearda singer nobody had heard of calledDeanMartin. When I thinkthat we were in the place where the USA was born with the Liberty Bell andthe Declaration of Independence just around the corner.Oh well, I was only nineteen. At 1830hourson24 February we headed forDavis-MonthanAir Force Basenear Tucson, a ten-hour flight in WF559. I can't remember the time differences but it was still dark when we landed andwe taxiedfor whatseemed ag es pa st parked aircraft. Next morningwe looked out on a truly amazingscene. For as far as the eye could see, therewere rows of aircraft parked inthedesert. It wasimpossible tocount how manybut I have thememory ofhundreds of B-29 tail finsglinting in thehot sun. We went down to formally handWF559backto theUSAF. Within afew minutesthegunsand other bit sand pieceshadbeenremoved, all ofthePlexiglashadbeen cocoonedwithwhat I suppose was fibreglass and she was up on jacks. Years later I saw a small paragraph in a newspaper that said the last of the B-29s fromthe Arizonadesert had been used asa missile target. Viabuses, commercial airlinersandtrains,thetripback to Englandandmy home was uneventful. My part of Operation Home Runwascomplete.

I was a National ServiceAir Gunner serving in 207 Squadron based at RAFMarham in Norfolk. National Service Air Gunners werecalled W idgets' byother aircrew trades, I guess that was becausewe didnot havemuch to doand there were four of us in each crew. When it was, as it alwaysseemed to be, cold,thecrywouldgoup 'Throw another Widget on the fire!' There beingnothing to shoot at, we wereexpendable. The Washington only required one gunner to doanything useful, other than to keep a look out, as the cockpit was a very long wayin front of the tail and turns would otherwise have been blind. Theuseful bit oneof us had todo was to start the APU(auxiliarypower unit], that was a powergenerator run by a Ford petrol engine. We cal led it, amongother things 'the putt putt' because that was what it sounded like when startingthe beast on the ground when all elsewas quiet. It was a different story before landing, with the cacophonyof the four engines. Anyway, back totheplot.At 1520hourson 15February1954 WF513 roared down the runway with a crew of eight on board, en route for the wild west of America where most Washingtons where put out to grass. Oh yes those of you with an arithmetical bentmay havenoticed that two pilots, two navigators, anengineer,a signallerand one gunner add up to seven. The eighth member was a wing commander whowas 'bumming' a ride, and as he was in thecentre section with me I hadto behave. No crafty drags thought I, until he offered me one! I forgot to say that we stopped being 'gunners' whenweclimbedaboard a Washington, as webecame CFC (Central FireControl] system centre, left and right scanners and tail gunner. My wing commander was left scanner, although he spent most of the time upthe sharp end. We headed north to Prestwick, Scotland, thatwas the jumping-off point fortracking to North America. This bit wasuneventful. We had experienced some minor pre-flight radio problem and when I went out to WF513 later, because I had forgotten something or other, I found the radio technicianwas fiddlingabout with the equipment. I was up front sittingin theCapt's seat, pretendingto be a pilot, when the technician called me todoa radio test to the tower on channel two.Theonly radiocommunication that I had donewas on intercom and thatwas limited to 'putt putt on the line, sir', 'clear right, sir' and the occasionalacronym for 'send help its terrible' when something unnerving happened. Anyway, I punched the channel two button and with great aplomb called 'Prestwick Tower, Prestwick Tower, this is Royal Air Force 513 for radio check,how do you read?' Back they came in a flash 'Royal AirForce 513, readi ngyou loud and clear.' The onlyproblem was, I laterfou ndout, I had forgotten to say that it was a ground test and they are probably still doing a search for themissingWashington.

John Forster

134

WASHINGTON

and Billy Kart 's log book , hi s neph ew David Karr provides thi s acco unt : As it happened , after a four-plus-hour radar exercise flight , WI' 553 was return ing to RAF Co ningsby. W h ile WI' 553 was ou t on her mission RAF Con ingsby had gotten severe ly fogged -in . W h en the Wash ingto n return ed to base, it wasn't on ly foggy but it was dark. T he pilot, I'll Lr F: A . Rust, made several go-around man oeuvr es in his att emp t to brin g her in . A serio us landing attempt was made after the th ird go-around, but the airplane had gOll en roo lo w, too fast to make th e runway and went in . My uncle was all right and he tried in vain to get the d ying out of the airplane . It was later ruled th at \VF553 sho uld have been di ver ted to anot her air base, rhar the crash and loss of life co uld have been avoided.

T h c Bocin g \Vashi ngtons served RAF Bomber C ommand ve ry well indeed and, th ough bascd prima rily in G rea t Britain , thcy also served at bases thro ugho ut th e British Empi re including A ustralia, C yprus, Ind ia, Malt a a nd N ew Zealand .

An unidentified Washington at RAF Coningsby. Bob Col eCollection

\

Royal Aus tralian Air Force Was hingtons Two Wash ingtons - W W 353 (44-62049) and WW354 (44 -6 1963 ) - were delivered to the Royal A ustra lian A ir Force (RAAF) , wh ich assigne d th em bot h to A ircraft Research and Dcvclop mcnr Unit (ARDU ) Tria ls Fligh ts 23 and 11, respect ively,As part of Au stralia's Wc apo ns Research Estab lish ment (W RE) , ARDU received th eir Washingtons in Se ptembe r and December 19 52. US A ir Force seria l numb er 44 -62049 (formerly a B-29A -60 -BN ) was delivered to th e RA F on 14 A ugust 1951 and rece ived RAF serial WW3 53. It was del ivered to Scor tish Av iat ion Ltd on 25 A ugust [95 l , and th en it was issued to rh e Mini st ry of S upply (M oS) on 25 Ju ly 1952 for tri als. A ftc r its dut y with th e RA AF it was retu rn ed to MoS on 25 Septe mbe r 1954, and it was scrapped 23 Septe mbe r 195 7. T hough issued RA A F serial A 76- 1, it ne ver wore it. USA F se rial 44-6 1963 (former ly a B29A -55- BN ) was deli vered to S A L for mai n ten ance and sto rage on 25 A ugust 195 1 and rece ived RA F serial WW354, [t was delivered to MoS on 20 May [95 2 for trials , A ftc r its se rvice in A ustra lia it returned to the U K on 25 Se pte mbe r 1956 and was scra pped on 9 Octobe r 1957. It wor e RA A F se rial A 76 -2.

Other RAF Coningsby Washingtons, Bob Cole Collection

Specification - Washington B.l (based on B-29A specifications) Powerplant:

Four Wright Cyclone 18R-3350-23 radial engines

Weights:

Empty 74, 5001b 133,560kg); loaded 120,0001b (54,400kg)

Dimensions:

Length 99ft Din 130 17m); wingspan 141ft 3in 143m); wing area 1.736sqft (16127sqm); height 27ft 9in18,45mj

Performance:

Maximum speed 357mph (575km/h); cruising speed 342mph (550km/hl; serviceceiling 33,600ft(10.240ml; maximum range 3.250 miles (5.230km); maximum bomb load 20,0001b19,000kg! for 1,000 miles (1 ,600kmj

NB. All butthreeB.l aeroplanes were Boeing-Renton·built B-29As.

135

WAS II INGTON

RoVal Air Force Washington 8.1s RAF Serial Number

Type

USAF Serial Number

Code

Squadron(s)

WF434 WF435 WF436 WF437 WF43B WF439 WF440 WF441 WF442

B-29A-35-BN B-29A-40-BN B-25A-45-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-40-BN B-29A-40-BN B-29A-20-BN B-29A-45-BN B-29A-25-MO

44-61599 44-61678 44-61792 44-696BO 44-27342 44-61634 42-93976 44-61714 42-65274

FB-K FB-L FB-M FB-N FB-O FB-P FB-Q

scrapped in UK8/8/57 scrapped in UKB/B/57 scrapped in UK B/ B/57 35Sqn and 207Sqn

KO-J

115Sqn thenWP-P 90Sqn

WF443 WF444 WF445 WF446 WF447 WF44B WF490 WF491 WF492 WF493 WF494 WF495 WF496 WF497 WF49B WF499

B-29A-50-BN B-29A-25-BN B-29A-60-BN B-29A-35-BN B-29A-65-BN B-29A-45-BN B-29A-60-BN B-29A-65-BN B-29A-50-BN B-29A-40-BN B-29A-65-BN B-29A-65-BN B-29A-40-BN B-29A-60-BN B-29A-40-BN B-29A-50-BN

44-618B3 42-94052 44-62062 44-615B4 44-621 59 44-61743 44-62074 44-6219B 44-61B95 44-61642 44-62155 44-62 12B 44-61695 44-62012 44-61 6BB 44-61BB9

KO-D KO-C KO-F KO-B KO-G KO-A OJOJ-T OJ-U OJ-W OJ-X OJFB-N LS-A LSLS-B

115Sqn thenWP-A 90Sqn 115Sqn 11 5Sqn 115Sqn 11 5Sqn 11 5Sqn 149Sqnthen35Sqn 149Sqn then 90Sqn 149Sqn then 90Sqn 149Sqn 149Sqn 149Sqnthen115Sqn

WF500 WF501 WF502 WF503 WF504 WF505 WF506 WF507 WF50B WF509 WF510 WF511 WF512 WF51 3 WF514 WF545 WF546 WF547 WF548 WF549 WF550 WF551 WF552 WF553 WF554 WF555 WF556 WF557 WF55B WF559 WF560 WF561 WF562

B-29A-60-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-50-BN B-29A-70-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-35-BN B-29A-70-BN B-29A-45-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-35-BN B-29A-60-BN B-29A-60-BN B-29A-70-BN B-29A-65-BN B-29A-60-BN B-29A-70-BN B-29A-65-BN B-29A-60-BN B-29A-60-BN B-29A-60-BN B-29A-75-BN B-29A-60-BN B-29A-65-BN B-29A-70-BN B-29A-60-BN B-29A-65-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-60-BN B-29A-50-BN B-29A-60-BN B-29A-70-BN

44-62043 44-619B2 44-61B94 44-62231 44-6193B 44-62001 44-615B5 44-62234 44-6172B 44-62003 44-62005 44-61 559 44-62016 44-62037 44-62280 44-62 153 44-621 01 44-6232B 44-62154 44-62013 44-62032 44-62050 44-62326 44-62031 44-62129 44-62254 44-62101 44-62177 44-6197B 44-62014 44-61B9B 44-62019 44-62256

WP-C WP-N WP-O WP-B LS-C LS-D LSLS-

KO-Y WP-D

KO-Z WP-M

H

FB-L

149Sqn then 15Sqn 149Sqn then 35Sqn 149Sqn then 15Sqn then 115Sqn (recoded B) 149Sqn then 90Sqn 149Sqn then 90Sqn 90Sqn 90Sqn 15Sqn 15Sqn 15Sqn 15Sqn 44Sqn then 90Sqn 44Sqn then 115Sqn 44Sqn 44Sqn 44Sqn 44Sqn then 115Sqn 115Sqn 57Sqn then90Sqn 149Sqn 149Sqn 115Sqn 90Sqn then 207Sqn 57Sqn then 90Sqn 57Sqn then 90Sqn 57Sqn then 15Sqn then 115Sqn 57Sqn then 15Sqn 207Sqn then 57Sqnthen 90Sqn 57Sqn 57Sqn then 35Sqn then 90Sqn 57Sqn then 115Sqn 207Sqn then57Sqn then 90Sqn 207Sqn then35Sqn then 11 5Sqn 44Sqn then 115Sqn 207Sqn then 44Sqn then 15Sqn 57Sqn then 115Sqn(recoded Kl

136

Comments

returned to USA 22/7/53 returned to USA16/3/ 54 returned to USA 31/3/54 returned to USA 22/3/54 scrapped in UK 17/4/5B first 8.1 delivered to RAF; delivered B/6/50; returnedto USA 7/7/53 return ed to USA 22/7/53 return ed to USA 25/B/53 returned to USA 7/7/54 return ed to USA 2B/7/53 returned to USA 17/1 1/53 returned to USA 17/11 / 53 returned to USA 20/10/ 53 returned to USA 25/B/53 returned to USA 11/B/53 returned to USA 20/ 10/53 retu rned to USA1B/B/53 crashed in UK27/1/54 returned to USA22/3/54 returned to USA 3/11/53 returned to USA 22/7/53 returned to USA 22/2/54 returned to USA 7/7/53 returnedto USA 11/B/53 crashed in UK B/ l /53 returnedto USA 2B/7/53 returnedto USA 11/B/53 returnedto USA 3/ 11 /53 returnedto USA 4/ 1/ 54 returnedto USA 1B/8/53 returnedto USA 22/1/54;to USAAFWB-29 returned to USA 22/ 1/ 54 returnedto USA 2B/7/ 53 returnedto USA 1B/B/53 returned to USA 1B/8/ 53 returnedto USA 15/ 2/ 54 returned to USA 25/B/53 returnedto USA 3/26/54 retu rnedto USA 22/7/53 returned to USA 20/10/53 returnedto USA 2B/7/ 53 returned to USA 19/1/54 returned to USA 17/11 /53 returned to USA 4/1/54 returnedto USA 22/2/ 54 crashed 5/1/53;scrapped 2/2/ 53 returnedto USA 16/3/ 54 crashed 29/9/51; scrapped 3/1/52 returnedto USA 4/1/54 returned to USA 25/B/53 returnedto USA 5/ 1/54 returned to USA 5/ 1/54 returned to USA 19/1/ 54 returned to USA 1/12/ 53 returned to USA 7/7/53

WASIl INGTO N

RAF Serial Number

Type

USAFSerial Number

WF563 WF564 WF565 WF566 WF567 WF568 WF569 WF570 WF57 1 WF572 WF573 WF574 WW342 WW343 WW344 WW345

B-29A-55-BN B-29A-7o-BN B-29A-7o-BN

44-62006 44-62259 44-62243

B-29A-7o-BN B-29A-7o-BN B-29A-6o-BN B-29A-7o-BN B-29A-7o-BN B-29A-7o-BN B-29A-6o-BN B-29A-7o-BN B-29A-7o-BN B-29A-7o-BN B-29A-6o-BN B-29A-6o-BN

44-62256 44-62265 44-62105 44-62241 44-62257 44-62266 44-62030 44-62244 44-62242 44-62235 44-62046 44-62049

WW346 WW347 WW348 WW349 WW350 WW351 WW352 WW353

B-29A-55-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-6o-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-65-BN B-29A-7o-BN B-29A-7o-BN B-29A-55-BN

44-61937 44-61983 44-62058 44-61968 44-62227 44-62258 44-62255 44-61963

WW354

B-29A-55-BN

44-61963

WW355 WZ966 WZ967 WZ968

B-29A-7o-BN B-29A-7o-BN B-29A-7o-BN B-29A-7o-BN

44-62239 44-62283 44-62282 44-62296

Code

Squadron{s)

Comments

EM-B

57Sqnthen 90Sqn 207Sqn 207Sqn

returned to USA 25/2/ 54 returned to USA 17/ 2/54 returned to USA 15/2/ 54 no other information returned to USA 16/3/ 54 returnedto USA 15/1/ 54 returned to USA 15/2/ 54 crashed14/ 12/52; scrapped 8/ 1/53 returned to USA 11 /8/ 53 returned to USA 15/1/54 returnedto USA 15/ 1/ 54 returned to USA 17/ 11/ 53 returned to USA 3/11/ 53 returned to USA 7{l/53 returned to USA 22/2/54 transferred to Vickers Armstrong for weaponstrials 20/ 5/ 52; returned to USA 27/2/54 scrapped 7/4/58 returned to USA 16/ 3/ 54 returnedto USA 5/1/ 54 destroyed in UKduring taxiing accident 29{l/55 returnedto USA 22/2/54 returned to USA 15/ 1/54 returnedto USA 25/2/54 deliveredto RAF14/8/51; delivered to RAAFin Australia 23/ 9/52 (RAAF serial number A76-1); returnedto UK25/9/ 54; scrapped 23/9/57 delivered to RAF 25/8/51; deliveredto RAAF11 / 12/ 52 (RAAF serial numberA76-2); returned to UK25/9/56; scrapped 9/ 10/57 delivered to RAF 12{l/50; scrapped 17/4/54 scrapped 17/4/ 58 scrapped 17/4/ 58 scrapped 17/4/ 58

EW-W EM-V FB-M FB-Q FB-N FB-S FB-

S S

a T

207Sqn 207Sqn 207Sqn 35Sqn 35Sqn 35Sqn 34Sqn 207Sqn 35Sqn 35Sqn 35Sqn 35Sqn then1925qn(recoded D) 90Sqn then 35Sqn 35Sqn 35Sqn 35Sqn 207Sqn

55then1925qn (recoded A) 56 then1925qn (recoded B) 57 then1925qn (recoded C)

Total: 87

An Avro lincoln named THOR _Althoughthe B-29. like the lincoln. was based on early 1940s technology. it was far and away morecapable as a heavy bomber. RAF

73 7

WAS H I NGTO N

ABOVE: These are believed to be

pers onnel from No. 44 Squadron. Bob Cole Collection

LEfT. An RAAF W ashin gto n.

RAAF BELOW: A RAAF 8 -29 W ashington

in di srep air aw aits its fin al fate . RAAF

138

CHAPTE R T EN

Korean War A t the end of Wa rid War Two 5,092 B-29s on order at the time were canc el led , th ough the B-29s o n the assembly lines and major preassembly pieces such as nose sections and wings th at were already on th e too ling jigs were a llowed to be completed. O n 10 june 1946 th e last prod uct ion Supcrfort , a B-29A -75-BN (44-623 28), was del ivered to th e USAA F by BoeingRen to n. Thus, not count ing th e three pro to type XB-29s and fourteen service test YB-29s, th e U SAA F received 3 ,953 B-29s, B-29As and B-29Bs, not 9,0 45 as had been planned . As wit h man y ot he r Wor ld War Two combat a ircraft types n umerous B-29s went int o storage , but un like man y of those othe rs, they were pu t in to flyabl e storage and were not released to the c ivilian market as surplus. T hey were top-of-the -line co mbat a ircraft and rio-one kn ew when they would be needed again . As it turned out th ey woul d be needed far soone r th an anyone suspec ted. O n 25 june 1950 Nort h Korea (th e Democrat ic People's Republic of Korea ) in vaded So uth Korea (the Repub lic of Korea) . Two days later th e U n ited Na t ions Sec ur ity C o unc il vo ted as to whether assista nce to South Korea would be give n. The resul t of th at vote was un animou s assista nce wou ld be give n. U S President Harry S Truman ordered Gene ral Douglas MacA rth ur, th en co mma nder of the US occupation forces in j apan , 10 send co mbat un its to the thea tre . In turn , Gene ral MacArrhur dir ect ed Lr G en G eorge E. Srrarcmcycr to att ack orrh Korean forces bet ween the 38 th Parallel, whi ch d ivided N ort h and South Korea, and the front lines. Lt Gcn Srra rcrncycr was commander-in -chi ef of th e Far Eastern A ir Force (FEA F) at th e t ime. The 19t h Bomb Gro up (M ed ium) had twent y-two B-29s dep loyed to A nde rson Field on G ua m at th e t ime. Srrnrcmcycr ordered the 19 BG (M ) to redep loy to Kadcn a air base at O kinawa, j ap an , to start bombing op erati on s aga ins t No rt h Korean strategic targets such as supply roads, wh ich began on 28 j un e 1950. O n 29 j une ,

Afte r World War Two and before and during the Korean Wa r. the USAF Air Training Command (ATC) acquire d numerous TB-29s for B-29 pilot tr ain ing and tr ansi tion . This TB-29 (formerly a B-29-40-BW , 42-24638) has been str ipped of all armamen t. USAF

A Lock heed F-80 Shooting Star escort peels oil. l eaving thi s 92BG B-29A-20-BN (42-94009) to go it alone . USAF

milit ar y a ircraft, a irfield han gers and run ways at Kimp o airfield beca me auth ori zed Nor th Korean targe ts as well - Kimp o was in So uth Korea but had been tak en over by North Korean forces, th us it was bombed. It was on 15 A ugust 194 5 th at th e 13-29

139

had flown its last co mbat mission of World War Two. Four years, ten months and th irteen days later th e B-29 went to war far th e second t ime. A real war th at was at first called a 'police act ion', but ulti mat ely th e Korean War.

KOR EA N IVAR

Nice back-to-front view of a 98BW B-29-40-MO(44-27341) named DREAMER.

ABOVE:

M ax Nelson LEFT: It got very cold more than enough times during the Korean War. Here a 98BG, 91SRSRB -29A-50-BN (formerly B-29A-50-BN, 44-618171 named AH SO (with lots of other Osl stands tall in the s now.

Lt Col M ike M oHitt via David W. M enard BElOW LEFT: This Superfort named ' NIPP 011I ESE' was a B-29-55-BW(42-24917)that once served with the 314BW. 29BG and 6BS in World War Two. Still s porting the very same nose art, it also served with the 98BG in the Korean War.

Griber via David W. M enard

W hen the Korean \Var brok e out USA F SAC had 1,787 B-29, B-29A and 8 -29B bombers, 208 KB-29M hose ran kers and KB-29P flying-boom ran ke rs, 74 8 -29tvIR hose receivers, 162 RB-29A pho togra ph ic reconnaissan ce air craft and a number of TB-29s, \lB-29s and WB -29s, whi ch were e it her in stor age o r ope rat io n a l with five bomb win gs, one bomb gro up and o ne stra tegic reconn aissan ce sq uad ro n - th e 9 1st S RS (formerl y 3 1 S RG ), assigned to th e 19BG (M) . In early Ju ly 19 50 two B-29 bom b win gs, the 22 nel and 9 2nd , were d ispatc hed from the U SA. For B-29 bombing operat ions a spec ia l FEAF Bom bardment C o mmand (BC ) was esta blished on 8 July 1950, co mmand ed by Maj Gcn Emm ett O' Do nn ell Jr. In lat e July Genera l MacArt h ur ordered Maj G cn O 'Do n nell to sta rt int erd icti on raids aga ins t key target s in N o rt h Kor ea

74 0

KOREA N WAR

ABOVE: A

B-29-40-BW (42-24584) unloads its bombs over North Korea i n early

1951. Peter M. Bowers RIGHT: An ordnance man services the top forward gun turret on this B-29-70-BW

(44-69999) of the 19BG named SURE THING at Kadena Air Base i n J apan in 1952. David W. Menard

Crewmen prep are for a bombing mission in the Korean War. They are readying a B-29A -45-BN (44-61727) of the 98BG appropriately named SO TIRED. Lt Colonel Mike Moffitt via David W. Menard

clos e to th e 38 th Par allel to int errupt the procession o f supp lies t h at wer e feed ing Nor th Kor ean forces in So uth Korea. Lat er in Jul y th e 98 th BW (M ) a nd 30 7th BW (M) arr ive d in Japan fro m the USA to become part of the FEAF Be. T h e 19 BG (M) , n BW (M ), 30 7BW (tv! ) and 9 lS RS (form erly 3 1SRG ) o perated from th e islan d of O k ina wa , wh ile th e 92 BW (M) and 98 BW (M) o pe ra ted fro m bases in Ja pan .

S hort ly afte rward, 19 BG (M) , n BW (M ), 92 BW (M), 98 BW (M) and 30 7BW (M ) S upe rforts began flyin g deep int erd iction missions against strateg ic target s in No rth Korea, including bridges, marsh alling yards, roads and railw ay routes. O n 8 August 1950, new ly appo inted FEAF BC co m mande r Lt G en G eorge E. S traremeye r ord ered now FEAF BC vice commande r Maj G e n O 'Don ne ll to att ack

141

wit h two wings of B-29s eve ry th ird day in a n all-o ut maximum effort to dest roy stra teg ic tar get s. Th is had to be done with hi gh -explosive bo mbs rather tha n incend iar ies, crea t ing addit iona l sort ies. For th e B-29s in the Kor ean War, thi s led to th e ach ieve ment of mor e so rt ies flown and bom b to n nage drop ped than th e B-29s in World War Two . T h ese five B-29 bomb units baffled FEAF planners' ex pecta tions as wel l, in th at th ey beca me so ade pt at radar bom b ing th at weath er did not sign ifican tly ham per th eir efforts. O ne of FEAF BC's first heavy-saturat ion or ca rpe t- bo mb ing missions came on 16 A ugust 1950 wh en Maj Gen O'Don ne ll himself led a flight of ninet y-e ight S upe rforts o n a mission aga inst a large area of terra in near \X!aegwa n in No rt h Kor ea. S ubsequent raid s pou nd ecl militar y ta rgets in and aro und the c ities of C hongjin , Hungn am, Pyon gyan g, Rashin (soon removed from the target list due to its closeness to S iberia) and Wons an in No rth Korea. A large number of these at tacks were to ta ke out tac tica l target s such as supply dump s, tank s, tro ops, tru cks and an tiaircraft art illery batteries. The B-29 was not a ligh t-att ack aircraft such as th e Douglas A D Skyraidc r; th erefore, it was not ve ry well suited for these tact ica l ope rations. As more suita ble ta ct ical aircraft typ es arrived in th eatre, S uperforts were clear ed for pure strategic bomb ardment ope rations.

KOR EA ", WA R

HOMOGENIZED ETHYL. a KB-29M (44-69710) of the 98BW. Detachment4. After the Korean War it was assigned to the 43BW. 43ARS. Stan Piet

ABOVE:

A B-29A-50-BN (44-61951) namedUR L:L ASSof an unknown unit. Lt Col M ike Moffitt via David W. M enard

LEn:

.'JJA II

A III

('rJlIt I

BELOW: THE OUTLAW at Kadena Air Base. Japan in 1950. It was a B-29-25-MO (42-65306) of the 19BG. 28BS. David W.M enard

142

KO K EA N IVAK

NO SWEAT. a B-29-80-BW (44-87618) of the 19BG. 28BS. wings its way to a target over North Korea in late 1950. David W. Menard

NO SWEAT nose art. SIan Piat

Another view of NO SWEAT w ith CREAM OFTHECROP (44-61657. a B-29A-40-BN) in the backgro und. CREAM OF THECROP belonged to the 30BS of the 19BG. David W. Menard

58-29 Super Dumbo Th e M ilita ry A ir Tran spo rt S e rv ice (MAT S ) was esta blishe d o n I June 1948. It was c rea ted by co nso lidat ing th e A ir Transport C o mmand (AT C) and the Na val A ir Tr anspo rt Service (N AT S ) under th e co n tro l of the ne wly cre at ed US A ir Force o n 18 Se ptember 194 7. W ithin MAT S was the Ai r Resc ue Service (A RS ) and in the Kor ean \Var its fleet of rescue aircraft incl uded th e S B-29 Supe r Dumbo . (M AT S was d isesta blished o n I Ja n uar y 1966 and was rep laced by the Mi litar y A irlift Command, now A ir Mob ility Corn ma nd .)

In th e Kor ean War S B-29 S uper Dumb os were o n han d to effect sea rescues of dow ned B-29 crews. Flight ' D' of t he 11t h A ir Rescue Sq uad ro n (ARS) of th e A ir Rescu e Serv ice MAT S was o n h a nd with o ne of its 5 B-29 air c raft o n 26 February 19 52 wh en a 54t h S RS WB-29 got in to se rio us tro ub le. T he co mple te tr an script of that ac tio n is gi yen in t he bo x (see p. 144 ). T he Korean War ended on 27 Ju ly 1953. In th e 1,127 days of th is wa r th e o ne group and fo ur wings of B-29s flew mo re t han 2 1,000 so rt ies - an ave rage of 18.6 sor ties per day. S uperfo rts dropped almo st 167,000 to n s of bo mb s. Bo mb to nn age for t h e

143

S upc rfo rt s ave raged IS,9001b (7 ,200k g) per sor t ie. T h ro ugh out th e 3-year, 33-day ord eal, with new cl uster ing techniq ues whereb y 192 IOOlb bombs co uld be carr ied ra ther th an 144 ea rlie r in the war, bo mb to nn age had stead ily inc reased . Dur in g t he Korean Wa r thi rt y-four S upe rfo rts were lost in co mbat - sixteen to fighte rs, fo ur to flak a nd fo urteen to var io us mish aps suc h as eng in e fai lures. But th e losses were less th an o ne a ircraft per 1,000 sor t ies flown . S upe rfo rt gun n e rs cla im ed t h irt y-fo ur C o mm un ist figh ters - co nfirme d , sixtee n M iG - I5s; proba b le, seve n tee n M iG - ISs; da maged , eleve n M iG - ISs.

KOREAN WAR

Transcript of Fit '0', 11th Air Rescue Squadron (ARS) Mission Report On The loss of a 54th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (SRS) WB-29A-40-BN (44-61640) on26February 1952 FLIGHT '0', 11TH AIR RESCUE SQUADRON, AIR RESCUE SERVICE MATS, APO 334, (RCS: ARS-F2) a. Mission Number: 11-0-14-26 February 1952. b. Typeof Mission: Escort, Search and Rescue. c. Objective or Flight Plan: AF1640/WB-29/ Krueger/Andersen/IFR18500/ Andersen/ 210/Standard Icao/0730K/14- 15/ 18- 00/3-2/ 1st Lt. d.Date of Suspension: 2 March 1952. e. Source and Ti me of Initial Alert: Guam Control by telephone to Flight '0' Operations Officer 26 February 1952; 11 31K. f. Time and dateof Initial Action by Air Rescue Service: SB-29 AF6303was airborne at 11 44K, 26 February 1952. g. Brief Resumeof Action Taken: At 1131 KGuam Control advisedthat AF1640, WB-29, pilotKrueger, had lost propeller control on number one engine due to anoil leak and was unable to feather thatengine. Th eWB-29departedAndersen, Fox track,destinetion Andersen, departure time 0730K, 18 hours fuel, ground speed 210, position at 11 30K23°5N, 135°4E, altitude 18,500escort was notrequested(this position approximately 800 nautical milesfromGuarn l. TheAircraft Commanderwas aborting his rnission and returningto Guam. The SB-29was airborne at 1144K and proceeded out on a heading of 315degrees climbing to 11,000feet.Additional information was relayed to the rescu e aircraft that the WB-29 was descending to 10,000. Initial HF contact between aircraft was made at 1225Kand the distressed aircraft was advised to place into operation their emergency IFF, VHFto 137.88and to tune their radio compass to 536kcstoaffect intercept. Positionreport at thistime resultedinarecalculatedground speed of approximately 155 which appeared abnormally slow. At l300Kall communications failed with the WB-29and the Rescu e Aircraft continued on its initial heading until 1342K, fourteen minutes past origina l estimated time of intercept, and turned around to parallel the inbound trackof 141 degrees. At 1403KVHFcontact was again established and it was determinedby the utilization of the ARN 8 that the distressed aircra ft was still behind therescueaircraft. The SB-29 turned 180 degrees and intercept was made head on with the distressed aircraft at 141 7K at an altitudeof 9,000 feet.The SB-29 flew formation escort foraperiodofonehour andthirty-ei ght minutes. Information received forLieutenantKrueger, Aircraft Commander of thedistressedaircraft, shows that shortly after aborting his mission, due to an oil leak, he had triedto feather number one engine without success. Later the propeller obtained an excessive ly highRPM of 3800 and he subsequently shut it down, butthe propeller continued to windmill at 2430 RPM. He reported novibration but expressed concernabout landingat Andersenduetotheexcessivedragand low airspeed. Heeventua llycouldmaintain 9,500 feet but could only indicate 155 MPH. At 1551 K the co-pilot notified the escorting aircraft that there was a red ring just behind the propeller of number one engine and that bits of metal were flaking off and sparks were coming out of the nacelle. At 1555Kposition 15°33N 142°48Enumber one engine was seen to burst into flames, explodeand fall off the aircra ft. The aircraft went into a gradual left turn with the bank becoming steeper until it entered the topof the cloud deck in a tight spiral. An undetermined number of parach utes were sighted. The Rescue Aircra ft dove after the plunging WB-29and after breaking out under the overcast discovered a larg e oil slickandsaw two parachutescollapsingon thesea.A preliminarysearchwas made of the area and a target of two men in Mae West live preservers was used for the A-3 lifeboat. Release wasmadeat 1607Kand theboat hit sufficiently close toonesurvivor that hecrawledovertheco llapsed boat parachutetosafety (estimate thissurvivorwas in the water elevenminutes]. Little debris was noted in thearea and the SB-29 kept vigilanceover theareauntildark.At 1603KasecondSB-29 wasairborne for threehours at the scene of the disaster and identified part of the debris as survivors. Due to mechanical difficulties the second SB-29had to feather number two engine and in an effort to effect additional support dropped the second A-3 lifeboat and returned to Guam. At 1655K, SC-47 arrived and due to the slower airspeed made a thorough low altitude search in the area . TheSC-47crew identifiedthreesurvivors in theoriginal A3 lifeboat and one man in a one mandingy approximately a mile distant. The SC-47 crew dropped two life-rafts to this fourth man. At 1746KthethirdSB-29 was airborne to relievetheescort aircraft and to remainforall night vigilance. At 0142K 27 February thethirdSB-29 sighteda red flareand droppedanadditional A-3Iifeboat. ThethirdSB29reported they were unable to pick upsurvivors on radar and that when their flare supplywasexhaustedthey wouldbe unableto keepsurvivors in sight.A B-29from the

54th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron was launched to relieve the third SB-29 and with flaresremained inthedisaster area untildaylight andvectored the surfacevessel USSTombigee(Barge 11)to the A-3 lifeboat. At 0600KBarge 11 recovered the first A3 lifeboat with three survivors aboard and reported all uninjured. At approximately 011 5K the following message was received from COMARIANAS 'TOCO 19TH BOMB WING I AM CONTROL OF THESAR INCIDENT IN PR OGRESS COORDINATE RESCUE WITH MY RESCUE COORDINATION CENTER. ' TheCO 19th Bomb Wing sent the following answer: 'REURAD DTG26/1329Z FEB 25 STATI NGCOMARIN CONTR OL SAR INCIDENTINPROGRESS AN DDIRGTHISHQ TO CO ORDINATE EFFORTSWITH COMAR RESCOORDINATION CENTER, THISHQ INRECOFNO DIRSCONTRARY TOPRESFEAF INSTRSMAINTGCONTROLOFSARINCIDENTUNTIL FURTHERADVISED BY 19THBM WGHIGHER HQ. COMPLETE COORDI NATIONWITH AN DASSTFR YO UR RESCOORDINATION CENTER HAS BEEN IN PROGRESS SI NCE START OFINCIDENT.' At 0530K 27 Februaryseven crewsassembled intherescuecontrolcentrebriefing room forinstructions on theday's mission. Thecrews andaircraft were furnished by the54th Strategic ReconnaissanceSquadron, AndersenBase Flight,theTactica l Organi zationattachedto thisbase, and twoRescueaircraft. Oneadditional aircraft, aPBM from NASAg anaparticipated in the search, but was briefed by RCCGuam(Navy). The areasearched was from 15°N to 16°50N between 141°00E to 143°00E and from 15°00N to 16°lON between 143°00Eto 143°30E. Atotal of76 hourswere flown bythese aircraft and 100 percentcoverage of the area was affected. Throughout theday numerous objects and debris, apparently from the disaster,were located and pickedupby Barge 11, and at 1438K the barge picked up the fourth survivor in a one man dinghy; position 15°09N 142°42E. An additional Rescue aircraft was airborne and orbited the area providing night coverage. At dawn 28 Februaryseven aircraft were dispatched to the area and searched from 14°45N to 16°15N between141 °35Eand 143°05E. Thearea of probabilitywasdetermined bywind anddrift vectorsobtained byWeather Central. TwoadditionaI surfacevessels joined in the search. Afterrepeatedattempts to obtain information from the four survivors as to the probability of additional crew members successfully abandoning the aircraft, the following messag e was received at 1715K; 'SURVIVORS INTERVIEWED . FIRST THREE MEN BAILED OUT OF TAIL SECTION SECOND TWO MEN BAILED OUT OF MIDSHIP SECTION RUPTURED BY THROWN PROPELLER FIRST MAN TO LEAVE PLANE STATES SUBSEQUENTLY OBSERVED ONLY THREEPARACHUTES. THIRDTOLEAVE PLANE DEFI NITELYSAW SECOND LEAVEBUT IS DOU8TFUL THAT HE CLEARED SPI NNING TAIL ASSY. SECOND MAN PR OBABLY EQUIPPED WITH LIFEJAC KET PARACHUTEAND ONE MAN LI FE-RAFT. THIRD MAN STATES DOUBTFUL FOURTH MAN IN TAIL SECTION GOT CLEAR. ALL SURVIVORS AGREEEXTREMELYIMPROBABLEFOUR MEN INFORWARD SECTIONGOT CLEAR.' The aircraft returningthat dayhad negative reports, but again anSB-29 flew night surveillanceinthearea.At 0430K 29Februarysixcrewswereassembled intheFlight '0' operations briefing room for instructions on the day's mission. These crews again consisted of personnel of the 54th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, the Tactical Organizationassigned thisbaseandcrewmembersof Flight '0.' Thearea searchedwas from 14°40N and 16°00N between 142°lOEand 143°lOE. All crews briefedwere airborne by 0645K. At 0810K one SA-16from Flight 'B', 2nd ARS, which had landed at Andersen Air Force Base for refuelling and had been held for possible rescue assistance, was dispatchedto attempt to affect transferof the foursurvivorsfrom Barge 11 for interrogation by Mission Commander at Andersen Air Force Base. At the time of takeoff Barge 11reported: 'Conditionsoptimumfortransfer of survivo rs.' Shortlybefore the SA-16 arrivedat the sceneof thedisaster Barge 11 reportedthat seaplane landing was 'not advisable' because of sea conditions. The plane com mander concurred and the SA-16 returned to Andersen AirForce Base and landedat 1306K. At 1615Kthe Iollowing was received from Barge 11; 'EVALUATION PROBABILITY OFPROBABLESURVIVORS BASED ON INTERVIEW OF SURVIVORS, SITUATION AT SCENE, EXTENT OF SERCH AN D LOG IE [sic]: FOUR MEN FORWAR D WH EN PLANE EXPLODED AN D CRASH ED XSURVIVAL CONSIDERED IMPOSSIBLE XSECONDMAN TOLEAVEPLANE PARACHUTE NOT NOTED INAIRBYFIRSTMAN TOLEAVE PLANE XDID NOTETH REE OTHER PARACHUTES X TAIL ASSEMBLY SCRUTINIZED IN PASSING BY ONE X ONE SURVIVORFROM FORWARD XNO BODYORPARACHUTEATIACHED XCONCLUSION X SECOND MAN POSSIBLY STUNNED BY SPINNING TAIL ASSEMBLY X SURVIVAL CONSIDERED IMPROBABLE ORIGINALLY X NOW CONSIDERED IMPOSSIBLE IN VIEW TIME ELEMENT X FOURTH MAN IN TAIL SECTI ON X PARACHUTE POPPED

744

KO REA N WA R

PREMATURELY WHILEIN PLANEX INFORMED THIRD MAN HEWOULD ATIEMPT TO OBTAIN SPAREPARACHUTEAND DIRECTED TH IRD MAN TO JUMPX IMMEDIATELY THEREAFTER PLANE EXPLOD ED AND CRASHED XCONSI DERSURVIVAL IMPOSSIBLE XALL SURVIVORS CO NCUR IN FO RE GOI NGEVALUATION XSIGNED ON SCENE COMMANDER.' At 2010K Barge 11 spotted a small oil slick position 15°55N and 143°03E with a flat brownishwhite object three feet by six feet in size. Object was discovered to be gelatinous in nature and a portionwasrecovered for analyzation. Noothersightingsoroccurrences(sic)of consequence tookplace this day. At 0700K 2 March oneSB· 29crewand one SC-47 crew, both of Flight '0', were briefedas tile searchingaircraft for the day. Area to be searched was from 14°45N to 15°45N between 139°40Eand 140 040E from 15°00N to 15°50N between 14004 0E and 141°35E from 14°10N to 15°50Nbetween 141 °35Eto 142°15E. SC-47 landed at 1547K, SB·29landed at 1958K and both reportednosightingsof anykind after 100percentcoverageof their assigned areas. At 1900K this day the rescue incident involving WB-29AF 1640 was suspended after exhaustion of all leadsandthorough search of all areas of probabi lity with continued negative results. All facilities weredealertedat this time. h. Location of Crash: 15°33'N 142°48'E i. MissionResults: (1)Names of Survivors: Judge, Michael AO 866 660, Capt Erickson, Edward N. AO2 221 699, 2nd Lt Johnson, Kenneth D. AF14325859, Sgt Deese, James L. AF 19 360 767, PFC 12)Names of Missing: Krueger. Walter AO 2 066 242, 1st Lt Gendusa, Vincent P. AO 944 068, 2nd Lt Shaw, Robert J. AO 2 221 699, 2nd Lt

Leach, Frank P. AF36 112171 , M/ Sgt Toland, Francis AF13378416, Cpl Parker, Donald E. AF 14 333 737, Sgt (31 Names of Deceased: Unknown j. Method of Rescue: Boatdrop andsurface vessel. k. Resume of Rescue: At 0600K Barge 11 reported recovery of airborne lifeboat A-3-522 with three (3) survivors on board, position 15°23N 142°36E. At 1438K information was received that the fourth survivorhadbeen pickedupina one-man dinghy by Barge 11at position15°29N 142°42E. All survivorsarereportedto beingood physical and mental health. Bargecontinuedsearch, with the four survivors aboard. until dusk, 2 March52at which time the missionwas suspended andthe Barge returned to Guam. Barge 11 dock at Apra Harbor at approximately 0815K 3 March 52. I. Cost Analysis: 11) Sorties andhours flown: la) Flight 'D' 11 ARS SB-29 10Sorties97hours SC-47 6 Sorties46hours Ib)AssistingARSFlight 'B' 2 ARS SA-1 6 1 Sortie 5 hours (c) Other Agencies 18Sorties 197 hours (21 Vehicle mileage: Jeep 200 milesWeapons carrier 300 miles, cletrac 20miles (31 Officer ManHours: 1027 (4)Airman Man Hours: 6327 (5)TOY funds expended: None (6)AFForm s 1034 and 15: None (7) Telephoneexpenditures: None (8) GasolineCredit card expenditures: None

A FEAF 98BG B-29A-20-BN (42-94000) namedTIGER 1Il show ing twenty-one bomb missions so far. Noteworthy is its use of atom bomb mushroom clouds to denote those missions. Lt Gol Mi ke Mo ffitt photo via David W. M enard

145

KOREA N WA R

A lone B-29-45-BA (44-839471 from an unknown unit wings its way over North Korea . Some aircraft commanders did not apply names and noseart to their aircraft - they just saluted and got on with their jobs. Stan Piel

ABOVE:

lEFT: A B-29-35-MO 144-27263) of the 22BG named MISSION INN. AFFTC/HO via Ray Puffer

Colel Warrior 8 -29 Units of the Korean War Command

Bomb Group/Wing

Detachment

Group or Squadron

FEAF BC FEAF BC FEAF BC FEAF BC

19BG(M) 19BG (M) 19BG(M) 19BG(MI

28BS IMI 30BSIMI 91SRGIVLR) 93BSIMI

based at Kadena Air Force Base. Okinawa basedat KadenaAFB. Okinawa basedat Ya kota, Japan; formerly 31 SRG IVLR) based at KadenaAFB. Okinawa

FEAF BC FEAF BC FEAF BC FEAF BC

22BW (MI 22BW (MI 22BW (M) 22BW (M)

2BS{MI 19B5IM) 33BS1M) 408BSIMI

based at Kadena AFB. Okinawa same same same

FEAF BC FEAF BC FEAF BC

92BW(M) 92BW(M) 92BW (MI

325BS (M) 326BS (M) 327BS(M)

based at Yokota.Japan same same

FEAF BC FEAF BC FEAF BC FEAFBC

98BW (M) 98BW (MI 98BW(M) 98BW (MI

343BSIM) 344BSIM) 345BS(M) Detachment-4

based at Yokota. Japan same same same

FEAF BC FEAFBC FEAFBC FEAF BC

307BW(M) 307BWI M) 307BW IM) 307BWI M)

370BS(MI 371BS(M) 372BS (M) 424BS(M)

based at Kadena AFB. Okinawa same same same

146

At least e igh t ve rsions of th e S upc rfort were used during th e Kor ea n \'(1ar. These in cluded B-Z9s. B-Z9As, B-Z9Bs. KB-Z9s, R B-Z9s. S B-Z9s. V B-Z9s and W B-Z9s. But since th e Kor ean War was ov er - with o ut a n o ffic ial tr uce between No rt h and South Korea eve r bein g imp lem ented - th e B-Z9 once mor e becam e a C o ld \'(1ar war rior. at least for a short time: by the tim e th e Kor ean War ended, on Z7 July 1953 . th ere were n um ero us B-36s. B-45 s, B-4 7s and B50s in opcrat ion with SA C.

Korean War 8-29 Operat ion s 19th Bombardm ent Group (Medium) Immedi at ely afte r th e com mun ist inv asion of So uth Korea. the 19th BG (M ) moved from G uam to Ok ina wa. In it ially und er the ope ra tiona l con trol of ZOth Air Force, after 8 July 1950 it was attache d to FEAF Bo mb er C ommand ( Provision aI). The first B-Z9 un it in th e war. the gro up atta cked

KO REA N WA R

or th Kor ean stor age tanks, marsh alling yards and armour on 2 June. In the first two mont hs it flew more th an 600 sorties, suppo rt ing U n ited ations ground forc es hy bombing ene my troops, veh icles, and such co mm un ica tions po int s as th e H an R iver bridges. In th e nort h , its target s incl uded an o il refiner y and port fac ilit ies at \Vonsan , a railroad br idge at Pvon yan g and an airfield at Yonpo . Afte r U N gro und forces pushed th e co m mun ists out of So uth Kor ea, th e 19th BG turn ed to str ateg ic ob ject ives in o rrh Korea, incl ud ing indu strial and hyd roel ectr ic fac ilitics. It a lso cont in ued to atta ck bridges, marsh allin g yards, supp ly cen tres, art illery and tro op positi ons, bar racks, port fac ilities and airfields. It in activat ed on I June 1953 .

19th Bombardment Wing (Medium) O n I June 1953, th e 19th BW moved 'on pape r' fro m Ande rsen A 13, G uam, to O kin awa, absorb ing th e personnel and equipment of th e 19th BG . U n til th e end of th e war, th e wing exe rc ised co nt ro l o ver th e tacti cal squadro ns , whi ch ma int ained th e 13-29 interd iction programme and pro vided some cl ose ai r suppo rt for U N gro und forc es. In the course of the war, th e 19 th Gro up and 19th Wing flew almos t 6 50 co mba t missions .

Combat Components: 28 th BS (M ), 30t h BS (M ) and 93 rd BS ( M) . SWLiol1.l : Kaden a A B, O kina wa. Comma nders: C o lone l Ha rvey C . Dorn ey.

Co mlJat C omponents: 28 th BS (l'vI ), 30 th BS (l'vI ) and 93rd BS (M) .

Cam/>aign Streamers: Korea, summer 1953.

SWtiol1.l : Ande rsen AFB , G uam, to 5 July 1950; and Kaden a AB , O kina wa, 5 Jul y 19 50 to I Ju n e 1953.

Decorations: Rep ublic of Kor ea Presiden t ial n it C itat ion for period I June 1953 to Z7 July 1953.

Comma ndcrs: C o lonel Th eod or e Q. Graff to 26 Se pte mber 19 50; C o lonel Pa yne Jen nings Jr fro m 26 Se pte mber 19 50 ; Colon el Don ald O. Tower from 29 March 19 51 ; Co lon el Ad am K. Breck enr idge fro m 26 Ju ly 195 I ; Colone l Juli an M. Blcycr fro m 6 February 1952; Colone l Will ard \V S mith fro m 8 July 1952; and Colonel H ar vey C. Dorn ey, 24 December 1952 to I june 19 53 .

22nd Bombardm ent Group (Medium)

Cam/)(lign Strcamers: UN Defensive; U N O ffensive ; CCF In te rvent ion ; First U N C oun te roffensive; C C F S pring O ffens ive; UN Summe r- Fall O ffensive; Seco nd Kor ean \Vinter ; Kor ea, S um me r- Fall 19 52; T h ird Kor ean \Vinter ; and Korea, S um me r 1953 .

Decorations: Distinguish ed n it C itat ion for ac t ions 28 Jun e to 15 Septembe r 19 50 ; and Republ ic of Kor ea President ial U n it C ita t ion for period 7 Ju ly 1950 to I Jun e 1953 .

Detached from th e 22 m l BW, th e 22 nd BG deployed it B-Z9s in ea rly Jul y 1950 fro m March A FB, C a liforn ia, to O kina wa, wh er e it ca me unde r control of FEAF Bom ber Comma nd ( Prov ision al) . O n 13 July, th e gro up flew its first m ission aga ins t th e marsh all in g yards and o il refin er y at \Vonsan , No rt h Korea. By 2 I Oc tober, it h ad car ried o ut fifty-seven missions aga ins t th e enemy, at tackin g br idges, facto ries, industri al target s, troop con cen trations, a irfie lds, mar sh alling yards, commu n icati on s ce n tres a nd port fac ilities. During four mon ths of co m ba t, th e 22 nd BG flew 335 so rt ies with on ly fou rt een a borts a nd d ropped over 6 ,500 to ns of bombs. It red ep loyed to th e U n ited S ta tes in lat e Oc to be r and November 19 50 .

Combat C om/)()nents: 2nd B (M ), 19th BS (M ) and 33rd BS ( M ). Stat ions : Kadcna AB, O kina wa.

U niLIJadge: A zure, within th e square of th e cons te lla tion of Pegasus, a winged 'word , po int to base, a ll O r. MotLo : IN A LiS V I CI M US - O n W ings We Conquer. Approved for the 19th G roup on 19 O cto ber 1936 a nd for th e 19t h Wing on 9 May 19 52.

C omma nders: Colone l James V. Edm und son . C ampaign Streamers: U N Defe nsive; UN O ffens ive.

Decorcuions: None .

74 7

Unit IJadge: A zure , a co ugar's left gamb e rased palcwise claws to base or ar med G ules. MotLo : DUC EMU S - We Lead . A pprov ed on 19 Jun e 1941 .

92nd Bombardm ent Group (Medium) In ea rly July 1950, 92nd BG B-29s arrived from the U n ited Sta tes at Yokot a A B,Japan . By the tim e the ent ire group co mpleted its deployment on 13 July, its aircraft had already flown a leaflet mission to Seo ul and a co mbat mission against the \Vonsan marsha lling yards in North Korea. U nde r con tro l of th e FEAF Bombcr C ommand (P rovisional) unti l 20 October, th e 92 nd bombed factor ies, refineries, iron works, hydroelectric plant s, airfields, bridges, tu nnel s, troop conce n trations, barracks, marsh alling yards, road ju nctions, rail lines, supply dum ps, docks, veh icles and ot he r straregi and int e rd iction ta rget. The 92 nd BG retu rned to Spokane A FB, Wash ingto n in late tober and ove mber 1950. C ombnr Components: 325 th B (M ), 3 26th BS (M ) a nd 3Z7 th BS (M). SW Liol1S:

Yok ota AB, Japan .

C omma ndcrs: Colonel Cla ude E. Putnam Jr. C mn/>aign Streamers: UN Defen sive; U O ffens ive.

Decovouons: No ne . UniL badgc: A zure, a pterod act yl (pr crnn odo n ) vo lant , in ben d or, Iangued G ules, eyed Vert. MOLLo: HIGH ER ST RO G ER FAST ER. A pproved on 9 March 1943.

98th Bombardment Group (Medium) The first B-29s and crews of th e 98 th BG , det ach ed from the 98 th BW in Spokane AFB , \Vash ingto n , arrived at Yokot a AB, Japan , on 5 A ugust 1950. Two days late r they flew aga inst marsh allin g yards at Pyongyang, North Kor ea. T h e 98 th BG engage d primarily in in te rd iction of e ne my com mun icat ions cent res but also .upported UN ground forces. Int erdiction target s included marsh all ing yards, o il ce n tres, ra il facilities, bridges, roads, troop co nce n trations, a irfields and mil itar y installati ons.

K OR E A N WA R

A ltho ugh not forma lly in acti vat ed un til Ju ne 1952, group h eadqu art ers became an unm anned un it on 1 A pril 195 1, wh en cont rol of tactical operations passed to th e 98th BW.

Combat Co m/)()nems: 343rd BS (M), 344th BS (M) and 345th BS (M) .

C ommanders: Colon el David Wade fro m 1 Ap ril 195 1; Co lon el Edwin F. Harding [r from c. 15 Septe m ber 1951 ; C o lonel Lewis A. C urt is from No vem ber 195 1; C o lonel W int on R. C lose fro m May 1952; C o lonel C ha rles B. Westover from 26 Oc tobe r 1952; Colonel Edga r S. Davis fro m 17 [unc 1953 ; and C olonel G eorge L. Rob inson from 6 Jul y 1953 .

Stations: Yokota A B, Japan . C ommande1'.l: C o lonel Rich ard H . Ca rmich ael.

Cam/Xl ign Streamers: U N Defen sive; UN O ffensivc ; CCF Int e rven t io n; First UN Coun tcroffcns ivc. Decorat ions: Repu blic of Kor ea Presiden tial U n it C ita tion for the peri od 7 A ugust 1950 to 3 1 March 195 1. Unit badges: Azu re, a bend inden ted between a dext er mai led h and co up led at th e wrist , in bcnd , grasping a drop bomb and an o live wrea th , a ll O r. Mot to: FO RCE FOR FR EEDOM . A ppro ved for 98 th G ro up on 29 July 194 2. Not forma lly approved for the 98 th Wi ng unti l 1956.

98tll Bombardment Wing (Medium) O n I A pril 19 51, th e 98th BW de ployed 'o n pa pe r' with o ut per son nel or equipmen t to Yokota A FB, Jap an , wh ere it assumed the tacti cal ro le of th e 98th BG . Int e rd iction of ene my co mmun icat ions, support of U N ground forces a nd pro pagand a leaflet dro ps co ns tituted th e wing's missions. In Jan uary 1952, to avo id daylight intercep tion by e ne my figh te rs, th e 98 th BW began to n igh t m issions almost ex clusively. In th e spring , its B-29s att acked railway insta llations and a irfields, th en in th e summer ind ustri al targets. T he win g's last bombing mission , flown on 25 July 1953, was fo llowed on the last day of th e war with a prop agan da lcaflcr drop .

ny

Combat C omponents: 98 th BG (M), assigned but not opera tional, I Ap ril 195 1 to 16 j une 1952; the 343rd BS (M) , 344th BS (M ) and 345th BS (M) were all at tached from I A pril 195 1 to 15 Jun e 1952 and assigned fro m 16 June 1952. Sta tions: Yokot a A B, Japan .

Cam/Jaign Streamers: First U N Coun reroffensivc: CCF Spring O ffcns ivc ; U N S ummer-Fall O ffensive ; Second Kor ean Win ter; Kor ea, S umme r- Fall 1952; Thi rd Kor ea n W inter; a nd Kor ea, S umme r 1953. Decora tions : Dist inguished U n it C itat ion for ac t ions I Dece mbe r 1952 to 30 A pril 1953; and Rep ublic of Ko rea Presiden t ia l U n it C itation for th e peri od I A pril 1951 to 27 Jul y 1953.

307tll Bombardment Group (Medium) O n I A ugust 1950, the 30 7th BG dep loyed with its B-29s from Mac Dill AF B, Florid a, to Kaden a A B, O kina wa. O ne week lat er th e Supcrfortresscs we n t int o act ion ove r Kor ea. From A ugust to Se pte mbe r th ey att ac ked strat egic objec t ives in No rt h Korea, such as th e enemy's rran sporr at ion syste m and industr ial faci litics. Follo wing a campaign in November 1950 aga inst br idges over the Yalu R iver into Man ch uria, the B-29s struck in rcrdiction rargets, incl ud ing commun icat ions and supply cent res, and supported U N ground forces by h itt ing gun emplace men ts and troop concc n rrat ion s. ot officially in act ivru cd unti l Jun e 1952, th e 307 th G ro up becam e an unmanned organ izat ion on 10 February 1951 , rep laced by th e 30 7th BW.

C ombat Components: 3 70th BS (M ), 37 1st BS (M ) and 3 72m l BS (M) . Stat ions: Kade na A B, O kinawa. C ommanders: C o lonel Jo h n A . H ilge r.

Cam/Xl ign Streamers: U N Defensive; UN Offensive : CCF In terve n t ion ; and First UN Counte roffens ive. Decorations : Repu blic of Korea Prcsidcn ti al U n it Ci tation for peri od Au gust 1950 to 9 Feb ruary 1951 . Unit badge: A zure , a fo ur-pet a lled dogwood bloom slipped O r. A pprov ed for the

748

307 th Gro up on 2 1 December 1942 and for th e 30 7th W ing on 23 December 1952.

307tll Bom bardment Wing (Medium) T h e 30 7th B\V' moved without person nel or equipme n t to Kadcna A B, O kinawa, on 10 February 195 I and absorbed the resour ces of the 307th BG . For the next few months th e wing's bombers parti cipat ed in FEA F's bridge-bust ing campaign, nying numerous missions against key spans. T he 30 7th BW also h elped UN ground forces blunt a communi st spring offcnsivc. O n 23 May, it particip ated in a tremendous n ight -time close air support effort, sh redd ing ene my position s along th e en tire battlefront with radaraimed fragment at ion bombs. U n til the end of the war, it cont in ued at tacks against ind ustr ial targets, bridges, troop concent rations, airfields, supply dumps, rail yards, enemy front linc position s and lines of commun icati on s. By late 1952, th e 307 th BW usually flew nigh t shoran missions, with enemy airfields and dams as primar y ta rgets. As th e truce talks neared co nclusion in July 1953, th e wing helped spoil an enemy ground offensive, earn ing a Distinguished U n it C itation. By the end of hostilities, the 307th BW and 307th BG combined had flown over 5,800 combat missions. C ombat C omponents: 30 7th BG (M ), assigne d but not ope rat iona l 10 Fe bruar y 1951 to 16J un e 1952; the 3 70 th BS ( M ), 3 7 1st BS ( M) a nd 3 72 m l BS (M) wer e attac hed from 10 Febru ar y 1951 to 15 June 1952 and assigned fro m 16 Jun c 19 52. Stat ions: Kad cna A B, O kinawa. C ommanders: C olonel John A . H ilger from 10 Feb ruary 1951 ; Colone l John M. Reyno lds from 15 March 195 1; Colone l W illiam H. Hanson fro m 20 A ugust 195 J; C o lonel Joh n C. Jennison Jr from 4 Febru ary 1952; Brig Gcn Raymond L. W inn from 8 May 1952; Colone l C harles S . O verstreet from c. I Oc tober 1952; and C o lone l A ust in J. Russell from 29 Decembe r 1952.

C am/Jaign Streamers: First U N Count eroffensive; CC F S prin g O ffe nsive; U N S ummer-Fail Offens ive; Sec ond Kor ean W in ter : Kor ea, Sum mer- Fall 1952; T h ird Kor ean winter; a nd Kor ea, S ummer 1953. Decora tions: Distinguished U n it C ita tion for ac tions I I to 27 July 1953; and Repub lic of Korea Presiden tial U n it C ita tion.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

8-29 Derivatives, Variants and Spin-offs T he Boein g Ai rplane Company, Bell Aircraft C orpora tion and G len n L. Mart in Company worked in conce rt to produce 3,953 producti on 13-29 Supcrfortress aircraft betw een Septe mber 1943 and May 1946. Boeing had built seve ntee n others - th ree protot ype XB-29s and fourteen service test YB-29s. In add ition to these seven teen , Boeing built 2,759 B-29s and B-29As, Bell

8-29 Derivatives and Variants

B-29-BW, B-29-BA and B-29-M O

During \Vor ld Wa r Two, and in th e co urse of several post-war vea rs, Boeing pro posed n ume rous fo llow-on versions of its h igh ly respected B-29 S upe rforrrcss. W h ile a n umber of these offe rings were not accepted , a n um be r of o the r one s we re . Most imp orta n tly, th ese in cluded th e KB-29M

Boe ing-Wi chi ta, Bell-Atlanta and MartinO ma h a built 2, 3 1 B-29-BWs, B-29-BA s and B-29 B-BAs, and B-29-MO s - respectively 1,627 , 66 8 and 536 exa mples. In add ition to th e fourtee n service test YB-29BW s, Boein g-W ich ita buil t 1,613 prod uction B-29-BWs in twe n ty-e igh t producti on blocks nu mb e ring from one to 100. In addi tion to five pi lot -sh ip B-29-BA s, BellA tla nta built 663 producti on B-29 -BA s a nd B-29B -BAs in seve ntee n prod ucti on blocks n umb ering from one to sixty-five. A nd in add it ion to five p ilot - "h ip B-29Ma s, Marti n -O mah a prod uced 5 I B-29Ma s in sixtee n pro duction blocks ran gin g from one to sixty. (The te n B-29-BA/-M pilot sh ips were full-scale devel op ment aircraft that served as guide assemb lies for subsequent full-sca le prod uction B-29s.) B-29-B W: The 1,627 produ ct ion B-29 BWs were all po wered by th e Wri gh t R3350-23 e ng ine . T h e first exa mp le made its first n igh t at \X!ich ita on 14 Septe mbe r 1943. From block 55-BW a nd on , th e 20m m can non was replaced by a th ird .50 ca libre mach in e-gun . W ichit a pro d uct ion reach ed its zen ith in Ju ly 1945, B-29-BW s wer e being built at a rat e of 4.2 per day. T he last B-29 -BW was del ivered to the USAAF on 10 Oc to be r 194 5. B-29 -B A : T he 357 B-29-BAs were powe red by th e Wrigh t R-3350 -23 eng ine. These were built with the S upc rforts full co mp leme nt of ten mac hine-gu ns and a sing le 20 mm ca n no n. From bloc k -5 and on , the tail-mo unted 20m m ca n no n was rem ov ed a nd rep laced by a th ird mach in egun . B- 29-MO: Th e B-29-MO s we re power ed hy the Wr igh t R-3350-23 eng ine . Th ese wer e nearl y identi cal to th e B-29 -B\X!s and B-29-BA s. From block 25- MO and on , th e 20 m m ca n no n was replaced with a th ird ma chine-gun . H owever, th e sixty-five spec ially bui lt S ilvc rplarc B-29-MO ato mic bomb ers were man ufactured with out th e upper and lower gun turre ts, C FC sysrcm and 20 mm can no n.

A very fine in-flight study of a B-29-45-BW (42-24688) somew here over Kansas in early 1944. Boeing-Wichita-built B-29s were the first Superforts to see combat in World War Two. USAF

built 668 B-29s and B-29Bs and Mart in built 536 B-29s, includin g the spec ial sixty-five S ilvcrplarc 13-29 atom ic bombers. T hu s the grand to ta l of B-29s built was 3,970. S uccessful ai rcra ft designs o fte n lead to th e develop ment of spec ia lized de rivat ivcs, im port ant varian ts and o utg ro wth sp in-offs. The Boei n g 13-29 S upc rfortress was indeed a successfu l de sign an d it ge ne ra te d man y.

a nd KB-29P aerial refuelli ng ta nk e rs wh ich filled that ro le unti l th e ad vent of th e Boeing KC -9 7 tan ker/cargo aircraft in the mid 1950s. A nother important version of th e S uperfor t was th e B-29 M R, whi ch served as bot h a receiver and ran ker. But the most sign ifica nt of th ese adva nc ed designs was Boeing's proposed B-29D, whi ch ultima tely appeared as th e 13-50 , a major devel op men t of th e 13-29.

749

B-2'1 DERIVATI VES. VARIANTS AND SPIN-nF l'S

A rare shot of a B-29B-40-BA (42-83872) showing its clean lines sans upper/lower gun turrets. The only problem is that it is marked with serial number 42-83872, a non-existent serial number ; it should read 44-83872. USAF

BELOW: A B-29-40-MO (44-86270) featuring wing-t ip pods, possibly fuel tanks. The aircraft's purpose remains a mystery . Peter M. Bowers

B-2.9A-BN Boein g-Ren ton built 1, 122 product ion B29 A -BN aircraft in sixteen production blocks nu mbering from one to sevent y-five.

T hey were powered by th e Wr ight R-335057 engine . Th e first B-29A mad e its first n igh t at Renton on 30 Dece mb er 1943 . From block 20-BN and on , the 20 mm can n on was rep laced by a th ird mach ine-gun .

The last B-29A was del ivered to rhe U SAA F S tr ateg ic A ir C om mand on 10 Ju n e 1946 . The B-29A was built with a different wing cent re section . That is, it was a twopiece assembly bolt ed together at its cen treline. It was insta lled as a sing le uni t, wh ich passed all the way th rough th e fuselage to support th e engine nacell es. T his increased the S upcrfort 's wing span to 142ft 3 in (43.37m) bu t red uced the fuel ca pac ity by 260 US ga llons (2 16.4 Imp gallo ns/ 984Itr ). Moreover, th e B-29A was the on ly Supe rfort to feat ure four mach ine-guns in its uppe r forward gun turret. Some B-29A s had a st rca rn lin cd forward top tu rret.

B-2.9B-BA T h e 3 11 B-29 B-BAs were powered by th e W righ t R-3350-51 engine. Essent ially these were stripped-down S upcrforts that were manufactur ed with out th e upper and lower gun turrets, but which ret ain ed th e tai l tur ret minu s th e 20mm can no n (a th ird machine-gun too k its place) . T he B-29 B was essen tially a night -time bomber using the advanced A N/A PG - IS radar syste m for both bom bin g a nd ta il gun a iming/firing.

A factory -fre sh B-29A-l -BN (42-93837) on a manufacturer's test flight near the Cascade mountain range in Washington State. Peter M. Bowers

750

B- 29 DER IV AT IV ES. VA RIAN TS A ND SPIN -OFFS

B-29A-75-BN (44-62310) with the strea mlined forwa rd top gun turret installed. Peter M. Bowers

\Vith th e absen ce of th e four upper and lower gun tu rrets and th e Cen tra l Fire Contro l (CFC) syste m, th e B-29B 's a ltitu de, range an d speed increased substan tially.

e.z»: T h e B-29C was a proposed fo llow -o n to th e B-29A hut with improved and mor e re liable fuel- in jec ted Wrigh t R-3350-4 1 eng ines with reversible propell ers, very sim ila r to th ose used o n th e S ilve rp lare B29s. Lik e th e 13-29A it was to he built in Ren to n , bu t sinc e th ere was no o th er di fferences o the r th an t he engine/p rope ller ch a nge , th e proposed B-29C pro d uct ion pro gramme was n ot procee ded wit h .

B-29D As ori gin ally offered to th e U S A A F, Boe ing 's pro posed B-29 D was a sign ifica n t

improvement over its B-29, B-29A and 529 B predecessors. It featured nume rou s adva n cemen ts over th e S upe rfo rt , wh ich incl uded a mu ch more po we rful 3 ,500h p Pratt & Whi tn ey R-4360 cngine. Esscn ria lly, a B-29A -5-B (42-93845) se rved as the 13-29 D prototype when it was delivered to Pratt & \Vhitney for the inst a llation a nd eva luation o f its new R-4360 eng ine. T h is un iq ue machine was de sign at ed XB-4 4 (de scribed in deta il o n page 164 ). T he B-29D was subseq ue n tl y ordered into prod uc tio n a nd it was to he b uilt a t th e Boeing-Re nto n pl ant . But righ t afte r VJ- Day, since th ere was no im med iat e need and it h ad no t yet e n te red produ c t ion , th e B-29 D progra mme was canc el led. The US A A F had or de red 200 13-29 Ds but none o f the m were eve r built. After th e war, h owe ver, wit h t he esta blish me nt o f th e USA A F's S tra tegic A ir C o mma nd and th e n eed for mo re mod ern st ra teg ic

B-29Fsat Ladd Field. Alaska. around 1947-48 . Peter M. Bowers

151

bombers, th e B-29D programme was resusc ita ted in th e form of the 13-50 program me me tcxplaincd lat er in tex t ).

B-29F The B-29F de signa tion was g ive n to six spec ia lly prepared B-29s bu ilt at BocingWi c hita th at se rve d with th e SA F A laskan Comma nd, Pac ific Air Force ( PACAF) at Eicl son AFB, so me 26 miles (4 2km) fro m Fairban ks, Alaska . Afte r th ese specia lly winte rized B-29s co m ple ted t he ir d ut ies at Eielson th ey were re turn ed to t h e USA and brough t ba ck up to 13-29 BW sta nda rd for norma l o pe ra tio ns .

BIKB-29K T he de signat ion B-29 K (a lso KB-29K ) was temporari ly applied to wh at becam e the KB-29 M series o f h ose-type ae rial ranke r

1l· 29 DERIVAT IVES. VA RIANTS AND SPIN· OFFS

aircraft (described on page 153 ). The one B-29K (fo rmerly a B-29-BW ) th at had been crea ted , after it was used to test th e h ose-t ype ae rial refuelling system, was lat er used ex cl usively as a ca rgo transport . B-29L

T he B-29L design ation was to be applied to mod ified B-29 receiver/tan ker aircraft using the Brit ish-develop ed hose-t ype inflight refue lling syste m. T he 'L' suffix was d ropped and rep laced wit h 'M ' th en 'MR' (see be low). B-29M and B-29MR

KB-29P with the boom operator in place . Boom operat ors were nicknamed 'Clancy: leadi ng to th e old American adage 'Clancy lowered the boom'. Peter M. Bowers

For merly kno wn as th e B-29M , the B-29MR served as both receiver and tank er aircraft. Boeing built sevent y-four B-29MRs at its Wichita facility in the late 1940s. The B29MR (th e suffix R for receiver) aircra ft had a 2,300 US gallon (1,9 15 Imp gallon/ 8,7051tr) fuel tank in the aft bomb-bay. Th is feat ure, of course, reduced th e bomb loads that were carried by th e B-29 MR aircraft. Yet with a full load of fuel, th ese bombers co uld still carry 10,0001 b (4,500kg) of bo mbs: nu clear ones, in the ir forward bombbay and for very long d ista nces indeed . T he aft-facing hose receptacl e was of a conesha ped configurntion ; it was located on the lower right side of th e fuselage, just below th e hor izont al railplan cs. F-13/ -13A

..

The F-13A named THE BELLE OF BIKIN I was forme rl y a B-29A-50-BN . It w as photograp hed on Kw aj al ein on 30 Jul y 1946 for Operatio n Crossro ads. David W. Menard

152

The Boeing B-29 Supc rforrrcss was the first large and heavy a ircraft to be used for the all-important photograp h ic recon nai ssance and ma pping mission in World War Two. Dur ing Wor ld \Xlar Two, U S photograph ic reconnaissance and ma pp ing a ircraft carried th e F for Reconna issan cePh otographi c prefix. Th us, the 8 -29s and B-29A s tha t were mod ified to serve in thi s ca pac ity were designated F- 13 and F- 13A . T he need for a very lon g-range photoreconna issan ce aircraft becam e crit ica l when the USA started its strikes against the ho me islands of Japan in 1944. A nd since th e B-29 was the longest-range aircraft in US AA F in ven tor y it was a natural cho ice for th at important mission . T he refore a relat ivel y large n um ber of \Xli chi ta built 8 -29s and Rent on-bu ilt 8 -29As were modified at Boeing's modificat ion ce n tr e at Den ver, C olorado for such duty. The W righ t R-3350-23 engine powered th e W ich ita 8 -29-8 W s, wh ile the R-3350-

B-29 DERIVATI VES. VARIA:-iTS AND S PIN-OFf'S

5 7 e ng ine power ed the Rento n B-29A B s. The to p speed for both types was in excess o f 330m ph. Fo r th e most pa rt t h e F- I3 /- I3 A s wer e eq uipped with six side- a n d bell y-m ou nted cameras. T h ese wer e co m prised of th ree K17Bs, o ne K- 18 an d t wo K-22 cameras. A mod ified B-3 Drifrm ctcr W
F-13. F-13NRB-29. RB-29A Squadrons (partial) Squadron

Dates

1st SRS (Photographic)

10/10/48 to 3/31/50

1st PRS(Very Heavy)Iredesignated 1st Reconnaissance Squadron IVe ryLong Range, Photographic-Radar Countermeasures) on 10/4/45 and1st Reconnaissance Squadron IVLR, Photographic) on 11 / 13/45)

11/10/44to 3/10/47

3rd PRS(VH) (redesignated3rd RSIVLR, Photographic- RCMI on9/ 19/45 and 3rd RS(VLR. Photographic) on1/ 16/46)

5/19/44to 3/ 15/47

5th SRS (photographic)

5/1/49 to 3/31 /50

9thRS(VLR, Photographic)

6/20/46 to 10/19/47

16th PS

1/47 to 12/16/47

23rd RS(VLR, Photographicl (redesignated23rd SRS IPhotographic) on 6/16/491

10/20/47 to 11/ 13/50

24th Combat MappingSquadron

1/46 to 6/15/46

31st RS(VLR, Photographicl (redesignated 31 st RS (VLR, Photo, RCM ) on 12/23/47 and 31 st SRS IPhotographic)on6/16/491

10/ 20/47 to 11/ 15/50

38th SRS (Medium, Photographic)

11/1/50 to 12/51

46th RS (VLR, Photographic - Weather) (redesignated46th RS IVLR, Photographic)on 10/23/46)

11/15/45 to 10/13/47

£B-2.9

72nd RS (VLR, Photographic)

10/13/47to 12/48

O ne B-29 -96-BW (45 -2 1800) was modi fied to car ry a loft and laun ch th e Bell X- I rocke t-po we red a ircra ft. It was redesign at ed EB-29 and on 14 O ctober 194 7 it laun ch ed C apt C harles E. 'C hu ck' Yeager in th e nu mber one Bell X- IA (46- 0 62 ), ni ck n amed G LA MOROUS G LE N IS afte r h is wife , and for th e first t ime in h istory
77th SRS (Photographic)

4/ 1/ 50to 7/15/ 50

91 st SRS (Medium - Photographic)

7/6/50 to 12/19/54

99th SRS (photographic)

5/1/49to 3/31/50

129th SRS (Medium. Photographic) (redesignated 129th SRS IMedium) on 6/16/52)

8/ 1/51to 10/15/52

£B-2.9A In th e ea rly I950s th e USA F in vesti gated th e possibi lity of rag-a- long escort figh te rs to defend its strategic bombers withi n ene my airspace, T h e idea was to rend ezvo us a pa ir of figh te rs with a bom ber right afte r ta ke -off and attach th em to it with th e ir win g-t ips, so th ey co uld ride a long during th e bomber's missio n . O nce in ene my a irspace th e friend ly fighters - h aving started th ei r now id lin g e ngin es - were to detach fro m th eir carr ier bomber an d fend off h ost ilc fight er s if 'ju mp ed' . T h ere we re seve ra l programmes that in vestigated th is and sim ilar concepts. O ne such o pe rat ion ca lled Ti/) Tow used a modi fied B-29A -60 -B (44-6 20 93 ) an d two mod ified Rep ubl ic F-84 D-I -RE Th un d er jc r fight ers under Proje ct MX - I0 18 . These th ree a irc raft , redesign ated EB-29A a nd EF-84D respec t ivel y, pe rformed a

PRS- Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron PS- Photographic Squadron RS- ReconnaissanceSquadron SRS - StrategicReconnaissance Squadron

nu m ber of succ essful flight tests in O pe rat ion Ti/) Tow. But unfo rt un a tel y o n 24 Ap ril 19 53 o ne o f th e EF-8 4 D a irc raft un exp ected ly brok e away from the righ t win g-ti p of th e EB-29A , ca usin g it to ente r into a lo n g, spi ra lling fla t spin fro m whi ch it d id n ot reco ver. A ll t hr ee a ircraft c rash ed into Pecon ic B
£B-2.9B MONSTRO A n EB-29 B named M O N STRO was crea ted from one modi fied B-29 B-6 5- BA (44 84 111) to serve as an a irbo rne ca rrier and la unch vehicle for th e Mc Do nne ll XF-8 5 Goblin in th e par a ire fighter programme, under Project MX -4 72 . As plan n ed, if th e tests were successfu l, operat io na l F-85 Goblins wou ld be ca rried on tr apeze -like asse m blies within th e aft bo mb -bays o f B-3 6

153

Peace makcr bombers from rake -off to landin g. S in ce th ere wer e n o B-36s ye t ava ilable , the EB-29B was used in th e test fligh ts. Two XF-8 5s wer e built for use in th e pa ras ite fight er programme an d on 23 August 1948 a t Mu roc AA F a rat h er sh a ky but succes sful in -flight b unc h . fligh t and recov ery W
KB-2.9M The desig na t ion KB-29M was assigned to ninety-tw o B-29As an d B-29Bs th at were co nverte d to ae rial tankers at Boeing's \Vichita Plant. The co n ve rsion in vol ved

1l-29 DER I VAT I V ES. VAR IA NT S A N D SPIN -O!' FS

THIS PAGE ABOVE: An F-13A-35-BN named SWEET'N LOLA (44-615781of the 16th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron at Kwajalein . It served with the 509BG during the Bikin i atomic bomb tests i n 1946. Peter M. Bowers

u rr; THE ANGELLIC PIG,an F-13A-55-BN (44-61991) at Kwajalein on 30July 1946. David W.Menard BelOW: An F-13A-55-BN (44-61 9601 named MARY LOU at Kwajalein on 30July 1946. DavidW.Menard OPPOSITE PAGE

A dramatic close-up view of the cockpit greenhouse on an RB-29A (45-21773; formerly a B-29-95-BW, it later became a F-13A). Peter M. Bowers

TOP:

The only EB-29B (45-21800; formerly a B-29-96-BWI with a Bell X-1 tucked up within her belly, It was on 14 October 1947 that this EB-29B dropped X-1 number one, and flown by Captain Chuck Yeager, it became the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound. Peter M. Bowers BOTTOM:

154

1l-29 DERI VAT IV ES. VAR I A :\'T S A :\' lJ SPIN -OFFS

755

11 -29 DERIVATIVES. VARIANTS AND SPIN-OFFS

This EB-29A 144-62093; formerly a B-29A-60-BN) was modified to carry a pair of Republic EF-84D Thunderjet fighters in the Operation Tip Tow experiments. In practice. two F-84s would rendezvous with a B-29 mother 'plane and attach themselves to her. Once this was done they would ride along until they were needed to fend off enemy fighters. after which they were to re-attach for the trip home. EF-84D (48-641) is on the left wing tip while EF-84D (48-661) rides on the right. Peter M. Bowers

BELOW:

The EB-29B named

MONSTRO is about to retri eve a McDonnell XF-85 Goblin near Edwards AFB. Formerly a B-29-60-BA (44-841111. MONSTRO successfully completed a number of la unches and recoveries of the Goblin parasite fighter. Peter M. Bowers

removing all gun tur rets and hom hing equipmen t. A 2,300 US gallon ( I,900 Imp gallon/S,7051tr) jctri sonab lc fuel tank was install ed in each bomb- bay. Fuel lin es were rou ted to a 200ft (60 m ) hose on a d rum that was reeled out of I hc ran ker by a steel cab le from the receiver B-29 or B-50. The met hod of hook-up is explained in the sto ry below. T h e fuel transferred to th e receiver in itially went int o a 2,500 US gallon (2,100 Imp gallon/9,4 63lt r) fuel ta nk in th eir afl bombbays. Se venty- four B-29s were co nverted to receivers and designated B-29MRs. T h e first two squadrons to get the KB29M were the 43rd Ai r Refuell ing Squadro n (A RS) at Dav is-Mon rh an AFB. A rizona and th e 509th A ir Refuelling Squadron based at Walkcr (forme rly Roswell) AFB , cw Mexico . T h cy were ac riva rcd on 19 July 1948 and at th at time th ese two air rcfuclling un its (t he first in the USA F) were

756

B-29 DERIVAT IVES_VARIANTS AND SPIN-OFFS

KB-29M Production (partial) Serial Number

Unit

Comment

Serial Number

44-27268 44-27280 44-27282 44-27325 44-27329 44-27330 44-27333 44-27338 44-27340 44-27349 44-69681 44-69685 44-69699 44-69704 44-697 09 44-6971 0 44-69729 44-69731 44-69782 44-69798 44-69806 44-69807 44-69809 44-6981 5 44-69841 44-69853 44-69860 44-69875 44-69951 44-69953 44-69957

421ARS 421ARS

ex B-29-35-MO ex B-29-35-MO ex B-29-35-MO ex B-29-35-MO ex B-29-40-MO ex B-29-40-MO ex B-29-40-MO ex B-29-40-MO ex B-29-40-MO ex B-29-40-MO ex B-29-55-BW ex B-29-55-BW ex B-29-55-BW ex B-29-55-BW ex B-29-60-BW ex B-29-60-BW ex B-29-60-BW ex B-29-60-BW ex B-29-60-BW ex B-29-60-BW ex B-29-65-BW ex B-29-65-BW ex B-29-65-BW ex B-29-65-BW ex B-29-65-BW ex B-29-65-BW ex B-29-65-BW ex B-29-65-BW ex B-29-70-BW exB-29-70-BW exB-29-70-BW

44-69958 44-69960 44-69962 44-69981 44-70019 44-70024 44-70044 44-70047 44-70081 44-70144 44-841 44 44-86270 44-86277 44-86389 44-86418 44-86420 44-87601 44-87610 44-87611 44-87622 44-87680 44-87725 44-87742 44-87747 44-87758 44-87770 44-87776 44-87777 44-87778 44-87779 44-87780

421ARS

43ARS 55ARS

Unit

421ARS

43ARS 43ARS 2ARS 43ARS 43ARS 43ARS 509ARS 43ARS 509ARS

Comment

SerialNumber

Unit

exB-29-70-BW ex B-29-70-BW ex B-29-70-BW ex B-29-70-BW ex B-29-75-BW ex B-29-75-BW ex B-29-75-BW ex B-29-75-BW ex B-29-75-BW ex B-29-80-BW ex B-29-75-BA ex B-29-40-MO ex B-29-45-MO exB-29-55-MO ex B-29-55-MO ex B-29-55-MO ex B-29-80-BW ex B-29-80-BW ex B-29-80-BW ex B-29-BO-BW ex B-29-85-BW ex B-29-86-BW ex B-29-90-BW ex B-29-90-BW ex B-29-90-BW ex B-29-90-BW ex B-29-90-BW ex B-29-90-BW ex B-29-90-BW exB-29-90-BW exB-29-90-BW

44-87781 44-87782 44-87783 45-21 693 45-21695 45-21696 45-21697 45-21699 45-21693 45-21700 45-21701 45-21 702 45-21702 45-21 703 45-21 704 45-21 705 45-21706 45-21713 45-21716 45-21731 45-21734 45-21738 45-2174 1 45-21 764 45-21765 45-21769 45-21778 45-21785 45-21788 45-21792 45-21864 45-21865

exB-29 90BW 43ARS ex B-29·90-BW exB-29·90-BW 2ARS ex B-29-90-BW 509ARS ex B-29-90-BW 509ARS ex B-29-90-BW ex B-29-90-BW 509ARS ex B-29-90-BW ex B-29-90-BW 43ARS 43ARS ex B-29-90-BW 509ARS ex B-29-90-BW 509ARS ex B-29-90-BW 43ARS ex B-29-90-BW 43ARS ex B-29-90-BW 509ARS ex B-29-90-BW ex B-29-90-BW 43ARS 43ARS ex B-29-90-BW 43ARS ex B-29-90-BW 43ARS ex B-29-90-BW 43ARS ex B-29-90-BW Oetachment 43 ex B-29-90-BW' ex B-29-90-BW 43ARS ex B-29-90-BW 43ARS ex B-29-90-BW 509ARS ex B-29-90-BW ex B-29-90-BW 43ARS 43ARS ex B-29-90-BW exB-29-90-BW 509ARS 509ARS ex B-29-90-BW ex B-29-90-BW 509ARS 509ARS ex B-29-90-BW 509ARS ex B-29-90-BW

Comm nt

ARS: Air Refuelling Squadron *Modified with three droguehoses as YKB-29T

o n ly made up of sta ff members: th ey d id not recei ve th ei r a ircraft unt il 1949 . The crews tha t [lew th e 'plan es were fro m sister bom b gro ups - th e 43BG and 509 BG . By mid 1950 th ese sq uad ro ns were fully manned and tr a in ed .

KB-29P Flying Boom Tan /?er T hc h osc rcfuc lling syste m used by th e prev io usly d iscussed KB-29M -ae roplanes turned o ur to be cxrrc mclv c um berso me and di fficu lt to use in service. T hc tim e

A 421ARS KB -29M on the ramp at Fairchild AFB. Wash ington. duringthe mid1950s. Peler M. Bowers

757

n eed ed (o r ran ker and recei ver to mak e co nt ac t was usua lly qu ite long, th e rate of fuel transfer was slow, and the ae rody namic dra g imp osed by th c hoses lim ited a irspeed. Boe ing wen t to work on th e prob lem and ca me up wit h the 't1 ying boom ' technique

B- 29 DERI VATIV ES, VA RI A NT S A N D SPI N-OFFS

KB-29PProduction (partial) Serial Number

A KB-29P (44·86383; formerly a B-29-50-MO I refuels an F-86to demonstr ate the typ e of recepta cle now in standard use within the USAF. AFFTC/HOvia Ray Puffer

42-65389 44-27346 44-27348 44-27353 44-69672 44-69674 44-69687 44-69693 44-69700 44-69702 44-697 16 44-69761 44-69797 44-6981 9 44-69821 44-69822 44-69823 44-69826 44-69828 44-69837 44-69846 44-69847 44-69858 44-69878 44-69904 44-6991 4 44-69915 44-83937 44-84071 44-841 89

Unit

509ARS 420ARS

420ARS

27ARS

509ARS 509ARS

Comment ex B-29-35-MO exB-29-40-MO ex B-29-40-MO ex B-29-40-MO ex B-29-55-BW ex B-29-55-BW ex B-29-55-BW ex B-29-55-BW ex B-29-55-BW ex B-29-55-BW ex B-29-60-BW exB-29-60-BW exB-29-60-BW ex B-29-65-BW exB-29-65-BW exB-29-65-BW exB-29-65-BW exB-29-65-BW ex B-29-65-BW ex B-29-65-BW ex B-29-65-BW ex B-29-65-BW ex B-29-65-BW ex B-29-65-BW ex B-29-65-BW ex B-29-70-BW exB-29-70-BW ex B-29B-45-BA ex B-29B-60-BA ex B-29-75-BA

of aerial refuelling whi ch is st ill in use to day, T h e actual de vel op ment of th e flyin g boom aerial refuel ling syste m turn ed out to me a mon umenta l un dertaking, but once it was perfected it prov ed to be hi gh Iy succ essful. The design ation KB-29P was assigne d to 1\ 6 mod ified B-29s tha t were co nv erte d to flying boom aerial refuelling tank ers in ·1950- 5 1, T h ese were crea ted at Boeing's Ren ton, Wash ingt on Plant 3 fac ility, T h e KB-29P was th e world's first operat ion al flying boom ae rial refuelling tanker, preced ing th e USA F fleets of Boein g KB-50s, KC- 97s and KC-135s, and lat er th e McDonnell Douglas (n ow Boeing) KC -l Os - all equipped by th e flying boom syste m, S ince th e adve n t of th e KB-29 , Flying Boom opera tors a rc st ill kn own as 'Clancy,' wh ich is derived from a classic A merica n ba llad, 'C lan cy Lowered th e Boom',

ELEVA TION lIl.AIT

SWITCH O PERATES

".

The PACUSAN DREAMBOAT

SWit CH O PERATE S

T h e PA C U S A N DR EAMBO AT was a spec ia lly mod ified B-29B -60-B N (4 4 8406 \ ) co m ma n de d by th en Co lon e l

The 'fl ying boom', Pater M. Bowers

158

1l-29 DERIV AT IV ES. VA RIA NT S AN D SPIN · OFFS

ABOVE: General Bill Irv ine 's personal B-29B -60-BA (44-84061). which he

named PACUSAN DREAMBOAT. Fitted with specia l fuel -in jected R-3350CA-2 engines it was used to set eighteen world records for distance and speed in 1945 and 1946. David W. Menard

C lar en ce S. Irvin e whil e h e was based at A ndr ews Field (lat er A ndrews A ir Force Base), Maryland. near Washington DC. This partic ular B-29B was fitt ed with fuel inject ed R-33 50-CA -2 en gin es housed in 'And y G ump ' n acel les. It was a lso stripped of all of its ar ma me n t and h ad large-cap acity fuel ta nks install ed in its two bom bhays. It wa in th is con figurat ion th at C olon el (later Gene ral) Irvin e planned and established eigh tee n wcighr -ro -alr itude and weight -t o-speed records in lat e 1945 and early 1946. Hi s first record in

BELOW: Formerly a B-29-95-BW (45-21787), then a P2B-1S (BuNo 840291. FERTILE MYRTLE launched th is Douglas 0 -558-2 Skyrocket with NACA te st pilot A. Scott Crossfield to achi eve a record speed of Mach 2.005, w hi ch was then the fastest speed ever attained by a manned air vehicle. AFFTC/HO via Ray Puffer

o vcmbe r 194 5, from G uam to Wash ington DC, was set at a d istance of 7,9 16 miles ( 12,737km ). A nor h er recor d, Los A ngele s to Ne w Yor k C ity. was esta blishe d at 5 hou rs 27 min ut es. S till anot he r mor e famo us record - flyin g non-stop 9 ,500 m iles (15 ,300km ) fro m Honolu lu. H awaii to C a iro . Egyp t during 4-6 O ctober 194 6 - was acco mp lished in 39 hours 36 min utes. The PAC U A DREA MBOAT was lat er fitted with spec ial padd le-type threebladed propellers and was red esign at ed a YB-29J.

159

P2B-lS/ -2S O n 14 March 194 7 th e U S N avy bough t four low-t ime B-29s to serve as long-range sea rch and destr oy an ti-shi pp ing patrol bo mbe r aircraft. Two of th ese wer e designat ed P2B-I S . th e o the r two P2B-2S. O ne P2B- l S (US N av y Bureau umber 840 29 ) was lat er modi fied for use by A CA (now ASA) for the ae rial launch ings of the Do uglas D-55 -2 S kyroc ke t. Th is P2B-I S, n icknam ed FERT ILE MYRTLE. was form erly a B-29-95 -BW

1l-29 DER IV AT I V ES_VA RIANTS AN I> SPIN -OFFS

(45-21787). It was used on 20 ove mbe r 195 3 when NAC A t est pilot A . SCOll Cross field raced to Mach 2.00 5 to becom e th e first person to fly at twice th e speed of sound. FERTLE MYRTL E was saved and is located at the In ternat ional Sport Av iation Museum in Lak eland, Florid a.

Op era tion Bans hee In 1947 , an operat ion ca lled Banshee was put in place whereby specia l-purpose B-29s wou ld be filled with various loads of h igh explosives and n uclear weapon s, for oneway radio-co n trolled flight s in to ene my territory for pre-planned detonat ion upon arriving at ce rta in strateg ic targets. T h is was a feasibility study under USAAF A ir Materiel C ommand Project MX-76 7. A similar programme - O pe ration A/Jhrodile - was ac tua llv imp lem ent ed in World War Two, using Boe ing B- 17s and Consolidated B-24s redesign ated BQ-7 and BQ-8, respectively. (T he prefix 'B' stood for

Bo mber, 'Q ' stoo d for Drone .) T hese aircraft were flown to th e northern bord er of German y where th eir crews baled out to be picked up in the English C ha n nel. Just before the crews baled out an escor t ing 'mo the r 'plane' would tak e over the co ntrols via radi o co n trol and fly th e BQ aircraft 10 its pre-design at ed target. T he moth er 'p lan e guided th e BQ aircraft to a po int with in 152n m (282km) of th e ta rget where two ot her mother ai rcra ft took over. T hese a ircraft, using th eir S HO RA ( 1-IO rt RA gc) radar syste ms, prec isely guided th e BQ aircraft to the targets. O ne C onso lidated BQ - .Toadcd with 2 1, 170lb (9 ,600kg) of Torpcx explosive , mysteriously and prcmature ly ex ploded on 12 A ugust 1944 , killing Joseph P. 'Joe' Kennedy [ r, th e lat e Presiden t John E Kenned y's o ldes t bro ther. Kennedy's plan e was intend ed to have h it an un derground V-2 rocke t fac ility. In Operation Banshee, B-29s were to be used just like the BQ-7s and BQ -8s had

ABOVE: FERTILE MYRTlE lax is w ith the Bell X-1A prior to its historic Mach 2.44number fli ght w ith USAF Major Chuck Yeager at the controls. With this fli ght. Yeage r regained his status as the fastest man ali ve. AFFTC/HO via Ray Pu ffer

RIGH T: The FERTILE

MYRTLE logo. AFFT C/HOvia Ray Puffer

US Navy P2B-l Sand P2B·2S Inventory Designation

Bureau Number

Comment

1'28-15 1'28-15

84028. forme rly 45-21 789 84029. forme rly 45-21787

1'28-25 1'28-25

84030. formerly 45-21 791 84031, formerly 44-87766

8-29-95-8W 8-29-95-8W - FERTILE MYRTLE mother ship; Douglas 0-558-2 5kyrocket launch plane 8-29-95-8W 8-29-90-8W

760

been . T hey were to ca rry a maximu m h igh exp losive load of 10,000 to 12,0001 b (4 ,500-5,400kg) and their one-way mission ran ge was to be 3 ,742 n m (6,930km). A t least one B-29 was mod ified to BQ sta ndard under O peration Banshee and was del ivered ro the US A F in Februar y 1948, but how man y ot hers were created rem a ins uncl ear.

QB-29 In the mid - to late - 1950s there were a n umber of new and advanced fighters and fight er in terceptors employed by th e US A F's A ir Defen ce Comma nd (ADC ) and Tact ical A ir C omma n d (TA C) . A nu mber of previ ou sly moth balled S uperfo rts were resuscit at ed and con ve rte d to serve as radi o-con trolled Q B-29 target dr on es for air-to -air gun ne ry, m issile and rocket -firing evaluat ions. A fter their mod ificati on to QB-29 sta nda rd at Davi sMont han A FB, A rizona , they were ferr ied to Eglin AFB in Florida. O nc e th ey were

B-29 DERI VAT IVES. VARIANTS AND SPIN-OF FS

there th ey were used for airbo rne target practice by ADC and TA C weapon s train ing un its. For the most pa rt these new figh tcrs and int erceptors were scrambled ou t of Eglin to in tercep t and th en dest roy the alread y airborn e and now inco ming Q B-29s th at approac he d from the cas t, nort h-east and south-c ast, O nce they in tercepted the Q B-29s, wh ich were act ing the part of enemy bombers, th ese figh ters an d in tercep tors pro ceeded to shoot them down . RB-2.9/ -2.9A

Begin n ing in 194 8 the surv iv ing F- 13 and F- 13A ai rcraft wer e redesignated '1\13' for (P ho tograph ic ) Rccon naissancc 130m her or RB-29 and R B-29A . In add it ion to th e new 'ea vesd ropping' elect ron ic listen ing equipmen t and elect ron ic coun te rmeas ure (EC M ) systems, th ese RB-29s con tinne d to ca rry the phot ograph ic ca me ras emp loyed by F-13s. Some of th ese ca meras, however, were improved and updated versions of th eir predecessors. O ne j ap an-based RB-29 crew in the Korcan \Var is recall ed in the box. SB-29 'Sup er Dutnbo '

T he S B-29 'Su per Du mho' was one of the most important an d un iq ue versio ns of the Su pcrforr. T hcy were ded ica ted searc h and rescue aircraft for aircrcws in both Wo rld War Two and th e Kor ean \Var. T hese sixteen spec ially buil t S B-29s carried a large EDO Model A -3 lifeboat in thei r mod ified bomb -hays. T he acron ym EDO stands for Earl D. O sborn , th e well-known British man ufacturer of floats for sea plane s, Early in Wor ld Wa r Two , the British govern ment h ad assigned the EDO C o mpany the task of crearing a large un sink able lifeboat, co mplete with surv iva l gear. T he EDO firm went to work and created its Model A -3 , wh ich was acc epted for production . T hese were first used by Royal Ai r Force bombers, wh ich car ried them on long over-water co mba t mission s ro rescu e aircrcws th at had safely baled out o f th e ir str icke n a ircraft or h ad made success ful belly land ings at sea. O nc e it was reicased from its ca rrier a ircraft th e relativel y heavy A -3 lifeboat wou ld drop int o the wat er unde r four parach utes. The U K-based USA A F also used thi s sysrem, first with mod ified B-17 s, de signa ted 1'- 171-1 and n amed 'Dumbo', th en with modifi ed B-29s in th e Pacific , design ated S B-29 and n am ed 'Super Dumbo ',

Recollections of an RB-29 Ctew in Japan: Alone With The Enemy From a copy of a Pacific Starsand Stripes article, published on30December 1950, The article was about the 31stand91st Recon Squadrons andwas in a Sunday supplement of theStars andStripes, The storyis provided courtesy of William F. (Bifl) Welch, crewmember on Lt EarleAmbrose 's crew. It is the story of the highly secret mission of a littleknown groupof men and airplaneswithin theUS Far East Air Forces thatcan now be told, It is a story of dangerous, unescorted, lonely, single-'plane flights deep within enemy territory bycrews of the31st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, located at an airbase in Japan, During the dark days in July 1950, whenworld attention was focused on the United Nations' va liant fight against numerically superior Communist forces in the shrinking Pusan perimeter, interest was momentarily divertedtoa report originatinginthe far northalongthe Manchurian boundary line. The enemy reported Am erican 'planes flying in that area , Were thesebombersready toattack? What were they doing in that sector, when all the fighting was goingon hundreds of milesto thesouth? What the enemy didnot know then can betoldnow, The 'planes, loneRB-29 Superfortresses flyinghigh and deep into enemy territory, were operating on reconnaissance missions as members of the 31st Strateg ic Reconna issance Squadron. (The squadron was later redesignated the91st SRS,1 Starting four days after the North Korean Communistsplunged across the38th Parallel. a 'planefromthe 31 st went aloftand headed west and north from anair base in Japan, Daily thereafter, these 'planes went deep into enemy territoryonphotographic, reconnaissance and surveillance sorties, Daily they reported to higher ground and air headquarters the disposition of enemy troops and supplies, movements of enemy forces, weatherconditions, sea traveland other intelligence information,whichassistedUnitedNationscommanders to virtually forecast the enemy's every step, Since the start of hostilities, crews of the 31st have flown more than 250 sorties, stacking up more than 2,800 com bat hours, Their missions have been among the longest of the war, with fifteen- and sixteen-hour flights not uncommon, Nearly all of them averaged ten to twelve hours flyingtime, Duringmost of the time the RB-29 crews have been subject to enemy fire and some have been attacked by enemy fighter 'planes, On9 November, atailgunner, Cpl Harry J, Lavene of St Louis, Mo. shot down a MiG-15 whena flight of enemy jetsattackedhis RB-29, He thus became one of thefirst airmen to score on the prized MiGs, He was later decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross, After the first FEAF Bomber Command attacks on Wonsan, low-hanging clouds hindered photographic efforts for several days, Finally a 31st Superfortress flown by Lt Earle Ambrose of Greenville, SC, roared down to 1,500ft andskimmed over thecityto make pictures, drawingenemy firefrom thecityandnearbyhills, On 27 August, Lt Earl Myersof Grand Island, Nebraska, andhiscrewspottedninety tanks in one area a few

161

miles west of Hamhung, Fighters and light bombers roared in to bring the concentrationunder attack; photographstaken thenext day revealed amajor partofthe tank force destroyed, Flash reports from crews of the 31 st played an important partin helping stem the flow of troops and supplies from acro ssthe border into Korea in September. On 16 September, Major Robert T. Ray of Little Rock, Arkansa s, and his crew spotted 200 vehic les moving to the battlefront. Air support was moved in quicklyaftertheflash report tostrafe, bomb, androcket thevehicles, It was a lone RB-29 from the31 st. flown by Lt Robert T. Ebey of Topeka, Kansas, that took the first photographs of Sinuiju, a Korean cityon the banks of the Ya lu River and twin city on the Manchurian border. A flash report from Ebey on 1 November disclosed the presence of more than 50enemy airplanes on the field there, A few hours later, flight after flight of Lockheed F-80 Shooting Stars and North America n F-51 Mustangs of theFi fth Air Forceraked the fieldwith rockets and,50-calibremachine-gun bullets and left the enemy air concentration broken and burning, Still another RB-29from the31st, piloted by Lt David L Muller of NewYork City, hovered low over theCommunist stronghold of Kanggye on 5 November, while high above, other B-29s from FEAF Bomber Command rained thousands of fire bombs on the supply centre and communicationshub, The following day, 'before and after'photos of Kanggye were spread over the desks of intelligence and operationsofficers atFEAFBomber Command and FEAF foranalysis of damage inflicted, The same thing happenedearly inthewarbefore and after strategic strikes on the Wonsan oil refinery, the Kanan munitions and chernical complex, the Seoul bridges, important marshallingyards and more recently in the fire-bombing of eighteen resupply centres in far North Korea near the internat ional border, and the Shinuiju bridge com plex, In all these cases the 31st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron crews photographed thetargetspriortomissionsandafter bombs were dropped, The squadron was in the Far East theatre - at Okinawa - when the war brokeout. It was in action four days later. It hasbeen functioningever since,under the command of Lt Colonel Edward D, Edwards of Altadena, California, and with a cloak of necessary secrecy wrapped around it. Reconnaissance made it possible to destroy military targets with fire bombs, and leave untouched homes and hospitals in thesame general area, The industrial area a' Konan was obliterated, while workmen's houses nearby were left untouched, Suchprecision bombing ismade possible byaccurate reconnaissance furnished by the 31 st - until now an anonymous air element engaging in extremely dangerous operations high in the air over enemy territory. The combat-proved RB-29s andRB-29As soldiered on until theywerefinally replaced byRB-36s, RB-45s, RB47s, RB-50s and RB-52s in the mid- to late-1950s,

1l- 29 D ERIV AT IV ES. VAR IA NTS A ND SPI N-OFFS

A fine study of an 5B-29 in flight. formerly a B-29-80-BW (44-70119). Peter M. Bowers

BELOW: A 5B-29 on Rogers Dry Lake with an A-3 lifeboat at Edwards AFB. This 5B-29 was once a B -29-70-BN (44-622121. AFFTC/HOvia Ray Puffer INSET: An 5B -29 (44-61671) drops an A -3 lifeboat.

Peter M. Bowers BonOM: The A-3 lifeboat w ith its detachable ground-handling wheels. Its outward-canted wings were used for aerodynam ic stab ility dur ing airdrops. Peter M. Bowers

162

B - ~
The EDO Mod el A -3 Ii{ehoat co uld carry up to fourtee n per sons and it was 30 {t (9. 15m ) lo ng wit h a ran ge of 500 m iles (800km ). To make room {or the A -3 , which covered th e length o{ both bomb-bavs, on the S B-29, the A lfA PQ- 13 searc h rada r system was moved forward {rom its norm al position bct wccu the two bomb -hays to just art o{ the forward vent ral gun tu rret . TB-29, TB-29A and TB-29B The designati on T B-29 was app lied to large n umbe rs o{ former B-29s, B-29As

DERI VATI V ES. VAR I A :" T S A:"D SPI:" -OFF S

and B-29Bs. The T B-29 was primarily used in th e trai ni ng 0{ B-29 pilo ts, bom bard iers, gun ne rs and fligh t enginee rs. Th ese Trai n er-Bomber 29s work ed with both th e A ir Defence C o mma nd and S trategic A ir Comma nd. In th e case of th ose th at wor ked with the A DC, a nu m ber of T B-29s we re spec ially mod ified {or th e purpose o{ calibrating radar sta tions and ana lysing their detect ion capability to track host ile air craft . O ne suc h ADC TB-29 (a T8-29-60-BA , 44 840 76 ) was assigne d to th e 4 754 th Radar Evaluat ion Fligh t (REF) at Hamil to n A FB,

Ca liforn ia, in 1946; it scrv 'd II A not he r was TB-29-75-B'\' ( that ope rate d ,11 G ri({js A FB, with 4 7 13th REVRO N (E June 1959 . In a seconda ry role some T B-2l) -rv I as row-rarger aircraft {or fighl er un u I II prac t ise high -altitude gun ne ry. Th . (arlo: I reel ed o ut some 200 {t (60m) beh ind rhe B29 , on a cable {rom a spoo l that was att ac hed to a sp ind le mounted undcm cath th e former ta il-turret posit ion; th e tai l turrets wer e rem ov ed {rom I he tow-tar ge t TB29s. Tow -ta rget TB-29s operated wit h th e A laskan Ai r Comma nd. 9t h A ir Force in the US A and th e 12th A ir Force in Europ e. Some T B-29s we re emp loyed by th e A rm y, provi d ing pra ctice targe ts {or surface-t o-a ir missile systems such as th e Douglas SA M- A- ? N ike-A jax and A M-25 j ike-He rcu les gro und-base d int er ce ptor m issiles. A n ADC rada r evaluation TB-29- I5MO (42-6523 4 ) had th e d istincti on of be ing th e last S upcrforrrcss in service, when on 2 1Jun e 1960 it was offic iallv retired in a ceremo ny at Hamilton AFB . Ca liforn ia. VB-29

TB-29s were all -important to the training and transit ion of B-29 pilots, co-pilots and crew members. While it remains uncle ar exactly how many TB-29s were in service there w ere undoubt edly quite a few . This TB-29 was orig in ally built as a B-29-55-MO (44-86385). Peter M. Bowers

In th e US A F a ircraft designati on system the prefix 'V' sta nds {or Very Impo rtan t Person ( V IP). T h us th e VB-29 was a V IP tr an sport . At least one V B-29 (44-84033 ) was crea ted {rom a B-29 B-55-BA, bUI it rem ain s unclear as to ac tua lly how man y VB -29s the re were. WB-29

It is not cle ar how many B-29s w ere conv erted to serve as VB-29 VIP transports . Here a VB-29 (44-87755; former ly a B-29-90-BW ) is shown in its USAF SAC markings. David W. Menard

163

T h e WB -29 was a {ully co mb at -ca pable wenth er reconna issa nce bo mb er. Fro m ea rly 1946 th e USA F Ai r Weath er Se rvice (AW S) ope rated ma ny W B-29s, primari ly {o r weather reco nn aissan ce, bu t with their offens ive syste ms intac t. That is, th eir five gun turret s were rem ov ed and {aired over, but th ei r hombin g ca pability was ret ain ed. A n astrodo me to ok th e place o{ th e top for ward gun turret. (D uring th e Ko rean \Var a large nu mb er of WB-29s h ad their gun turret s reinsta lled ; some just had th e ir ta il turret rcinsrall ed .) From 26 Ju ne 1948 to 30 Se pte mber 1949 a large nu mb er o{WB-29s flew out of England in support of th e Berlin A irlifr. O n a regula r hasis these W8-29s flew {rom RAF air bases in th e U K out over th e North Sea 10 mon itor weather situations that migh t be present 24-48 hour s lat er in th e air corridor

1l-2Y DER IVATIVES. VARIA:"TS A:" D SI'I:"· OFFS

/ ABO VE: The XB-29G was formerly a B-29-55-BA

(44-84043) that was used to test Gener al Electric turbo jet engines such as the J47 and J73 by lowerin g them i nto the air strea m from its spec ial trapeze assemb ly mounted with in its modi fi ed bomb-b ays. David W. Menard RIGHT: The

XB-39 (41-36954; formerly the number one YB-29) w as baile d to All ison for in-fl i ght evalu at ion of it s massive 24-cylind er V-3420 engine. The XB-39 was named SPIRIT OFLINCOLN. Peter M. Bowers

hcrwc cn \Vest Germa ny and Berlin where cargo aircraft would he flying. During 1949 and 1950 a n um ber o( W B29s were used to detect Soviet n uclear bomb rad iat ion (a llout. T h ese h ad red A rcti c mar kin gs and a special device ca lled 'bug ca tc h e r' in place o( the upper rear gun turr et , whi ch sampled the part iculates in th e air. As a noteworth y aside , wh ile it was co n du cti ng a spec ial research fligh t to study electric ity in th e air ov er the Paci fic Ocean a USA F AWl S WB -29 reach ed an alt itude o( 48 ,562(t (I 4,80 2m ). wh ich is un deni a bly th e h igh est eve r recorded flight of a S upc rfortress. XB -29E T h ere is very little documented h isto ry on th e sing le XB-29E , oth er th an tha t it was used to fligh t-test various fire-con tro l and radar systems; it was forme rly a B-29-45 B\V, its USA F se ria l nu m ber unk nown. XB-29G T h e so le XB-29G was forme rly a B-29B55-BA (44-84043) . It was modi fied by Gene ral Elec tric and served as a flyin g tu rbojet eng ine rest- bed. T he turbojet eng ines were filled to a trapeze-like assembly in th e

'plane 's mod ified bomb-hay. O nce airborne and cruising, the jet eng ine wou ld he lowered inr o th e slipstr eam (or its test run s. A fte r testing, the jet engine would he raised back up int o th e homb -hay to get it out o( th e way (or land ing. XB-29H T h e single XB-29 H was a B-29A built at Boeing-Ren to n th at was used (or the spec ial insta llation and test ing of adva nced a rmame n t syste ms.

XB -44 The lone XB-44 (42 -93845 ) was forme rly one of twenty B-29A -I -BN ae roplanes . It was sent to Pratt & W h itney, who fitt ed it with (our 28-cylinde r 3,500 hp R-4360 (uurrow \Vasp Major rad ial engines housed in redesigned nacel les. The XB-44. th en , actually served (or th e most part as the proto type (or th e B-29D, wh ich ultimat ely became the B-50 . (Since the XB-44 was created hy P& W some referen ces refer to it as being the Pratt & W h itney XB-44, hut it is officially listed as the Boeing XB-44.)

XB-39 T h e A llison eng ine d ivision of th e G ene ral Moto rs Corpor at ion acq uired YB-29 num be r one (4 1-36954 ) to install its new 2,600h p liq uid -coo led V-3420 in line 24cylinde r e ngine (or fligh t-test eva luations. A fter bein g rc-cn gincd, t h is aeroplane was redesign ed XB-39 and bore th e n am e PIRI T O F LIN C OL N. W ith th e (our V3420 eng ine s running at full power at 35, 00 0ft ( 11,000 m), th e XB-39 atta ine d a maximum speed of 405111ph (652km{h) . W h ile so me 35 mph (56km{h) (aste r th an o perat iona l B-29s, th e in cr ease in speed was not enough to warr ant a n ew breed of B-29s po wered by V-3 420 engi nes , so no such a irc raft were built.

764

The Tall Tai l and 'A ndy GUlTlP ' B-29 O ne B-29 -35-BW (42-245 28) was spec iallv fitted with 'A ndy G ump' eng ine nace lles and a ta ll vert ical ta il. Th e taller vert ical tai l was to im prove d irecti on al stability (or the pro posed B-29D at h igh speed a nd alti tude. T h e 'And y G ump' e ng ine n acelle - so na med (or its sma ll ch in, remin iscent of the ch in le 's And y G ump car toon strip ch ara cte r - was slated for insta llat ion on lure-mode l B-29As with th e R-4360 Wasp Major e ngine. T he A ndy G ump eng ine nacell e con figuration was never ap plied to any prod uction B-29, apart (rom some lat e-p roduction B-29As. It was employed , h owever, on the

11 -29 DER IVATIVES. VARIANTS AND SPIN-OFF S

The unique XB -44 (42-93845; formerly a B-29A-l -BN) wa s an engine test-bed for the Pratt & Whitney R·4360 engine. If built. this is what the B-290 would have looked like. Peter M. Bowers

ABOVE:

six Boeing service re st YC -97 transpo rt aircraft, as well as th e lon g-range, spec iallymod ified B-29B-60 - BA (44- 406 1) nam ed the PAC USA DREAMBOAT, whi ch set a nu mbe r of world record s (see page 15 ). Post -war service test YB-29Js wer e also fitt ed with the A nd y Gu mp nacelles. U ltimat ely the prop osed B-29D becam e the product ion B-50A , wh ich had th e

BELOW: This

B-29-35-BW (42-24528) was specially modified with a tall tail and 'Andy Gump' engine nacelles to serve as both the prototype for the B·290 (with the additional vertical tail area) and the s ubs equent B-5OA (with R-3350 engines ).which evolved from the proposed but unbuilt B-290. Peter M. Bowers

taller vert ica l tail, A ndy Gu mp engine nacel les and R-4360 Wasp Major eng ine . T h us, in essence , rhi s B-29 served in pa rt as th e pro to type B-50A.

YB-291 The YB-29J ae roplanes were fitt ed with fuel-injected Wri gh t R-3350-C A -2 eng ines

165

a nd th e rev ised 'A ndy G um p' eng in e nace lles. T hi s co mbina tion was to be used on late-model B-29As, and th e YB-29Js served as serv ice test ae ro planes for it. At least five YB-29Js were crea ted, but thi s rem ains uncl ear. It is kn own, however, that two exa mples (44-86398 and 44 - 6402) were co n verte d to serv e as YKB-29J service rest a irc raft for the fort h co ming KB-

B-29 DERIVATIVES. VARIA:"TS AND SP IN-OF FS

June 1946 Boeing had , in the int er im, tooled to produce its C/KC -97 aircra ft th ere, so th e B-50A prod uction line was set up at Boeing's Seattle Pla nt 2 fac ility instead ; th us the new a ircraft wer e event ua lly designa ted th e B-50A -BO .

YB-29J Production (partial) Serial Number 44-27349. ex B-29-40-MO 44-62027. ex B-29A-60-BN 44-84061. ex B-29B-60-BA 44-86398. ex B-29-55-MO 44-86402. ex B·29·55-MO

Comment YB·29J to YKB-29J to YKB·29M YB-29J only YB-29J to TB·29B- lormerly the PACUSAN DREAMBOAT YB-29J to YKB-29J YB-29J to YKB-29J

71le

29 P ta nke r ai rcraft program me; at least two more served as RB-29J ph otographi c recon na issance a ircra ft.

>'KB-29T ne YKB-29T was created fro m a KB29M (45-2 1734, for merly a B-29-90-BW ). It was co n ve rte d in England to use th e RAF's thr ee-h ose ae rial refuell ing syste m, with whi ch it co uld refuel three fighter aeroplanes at th e same time. Two of th e three hoses reeled out fro m win g-tip tanks whil e th e third reel ed out from the rail sec t ion . T h is thr ee-h ose syste m was later used on KB-50 ae roplanes. T he last Bell-A t lan ra bu ilt B-29 was deli vered in Janu ary 1945 (B-29-6 5-BA , 44 84 104 ) and th e last Bell-A tlan ta B-29B was delive red in Se pte m ber 1945 (B-29B 65-BA , 44- 4 156 ). The last Martin O ma ha B-29 was deli ver ed in Se pte mbe r 1945 ( B-29-60-M O , 44 - 64 73) . The last Boein g-\'V'ichi ta 13-29 was deli vered in Oc to ber 1945 (B-29-100-BW, 45 -21 872 ) and th e last Boein g-Rento n B-29A was del ivered on l Oj unc 194 6 (B-29A -75 -BN, 44-623 28) .

8-29 Spin-Offs A lmost imm edi atel y afte r VJ-Day on 2 cprcmbcr 194 5 the re were numerous ca nc el lat ions and redu cti ons in military aircraft procurem ent and produ ct ion progra m mes. It was no differ ent for Boe ing and its B-29 S upe rforrress, still in pro d uct ion at hoth its Wi chita and Ren ton plants. By this tim e both Bell an d Martin h ad co mp lete d th eir respect ive 13-29 man ufacturi ng pro gram mes. In all, afte r all of the 13-29 produ ction ca nce lla tions were made, Boe ing, Bell a nd Martin delive red a tot al of 3,970 S upe rforts out of9 ,0 52 B-29s th at had been or de red prior to VJ- Day; thu s 5,08 2 B-29s were ca nc el led. During th e war yea rs Boe ing h ad co nt in ued to devel op and impr ove its B-29

and a co nt rac t for 200 produ cti on B-29Ds h ad ac tua lly been signe d in Ju ly 1945 , but thi s was ca nc elled in late Se pte mbe r 1945 du e to th e war's end. In th e post-war years th e AAF set about mothballing low -time and scrapping h igh -time neet s of \'V'orl d Wa r Two bombers, incl udi ng man y war-weary B29s. Th en on 2 I March 1946 the USAA F esruhlish cd its S trateg ic Ai r Comma nd (SAC) and race d forward to acquire a flee t of mod ern stra teg ic nuclear bom bers. However, the so-ca lled jet age had arrived and it was di fficu lt to sel l th e USAA F 'new' 13-29 models, eve n th e mu ch impro ved B-29D. S t ill, the new ly estab lishe d USA F, fou nd ed as a se pa ra te se rvice on 18 Se ptem ber 194 7, needed in te rim h eavy bombers wh ile it wait ed for jet-power ed bom bers such as the N ort h A meri can 13-45 Tornad o, Boein g B-47 Srrarojcr and Boein g B-5 2 St ra rofortress. At th is time th e US A F was gea ring up to receive its first bat ch of Convai r 13-36 Peacem aker bombers, bur it also wanted, a nd n eeded, Boein g's ca n ce lled B-29D. Knowing that it would no t fare all that well wit h a request to bu ild B-29Ds, th e USAAF/USAF redesign at ed th e D model of th e B-29 th e B-50A . Its newer and mor e po werful engines and larger verti ca l sta b ilizer wer e the excuse used for thi s rcclcsigna tio n. T he ploy work ed an d on 30 Ju n e 194 7 a co n trac t (A C 1301 3 ) was approved for th e initi al bat ch of fifty-n ine B-50A 13 s to be built at Ren ton. But sinc e B-29 produ cti on at th at fac ility h ad ended in

B-50

T h e Boeing Model B-345 -2-1, th e B-50A 130 , was classified as a medium-class stratcgic bomber. O n 30 Jun e 194 7 a USA A F co n trac t (AC 13013 ) was approved for th e manu facture of sixty B-50A s as fo llows: four B-50A -I -BO (46 -002/ -00 5), ten B-50A -5130 (46-006/-0 15) , ten B-50A -IO-BO (460 16/-025), ten B-50A - 15-BO (46-0 26/035 ), ten B-50A -20-BO (46-036/-04 5), and sixteen B-50A -25-BO (46-046/-06 1). The sixtieth exa mple, 46-06 1, was event ually ca nce lled: it was to be taken off th e prod uction line to undergo mod ificati on to th e YB50C co nfigurat ion as prototype of the project ed B/R B-54A aircraft, describ ed below, To the untra in ed eye the B-50A look ed for the enti re world like a B-29 in its ove ra ll outward appea ra nce . But upon close r ex amina t ion two majo r d ifferences were read ily detect ab le: a h igh er vert ical srabilizer , ab le to fold over for h anger clearance; and a new n acell e design to h ouse a new eng ine. O the r less n oti ceab le ch anges included th e switch from th e use of 24 ST alumin ium a llo y to 75 ST a lumin ium a lloy for th e structure and sk in . The new a lloy was both t ron ger and ligh ter. For exa mple, a B-29 win g bu ilt with it was mor e th an 600lb ( Z70kg) light er, bur 16 per cent stro nge r! T he B-50A retained th e B-29's basic armame nt hut it was built fro m th e o utse t to serve as a nu cl ear bo mb er if need be. A sign ificant d ifference, hidden und er its new nacel le, was its new e ng ine - th e 28-cy linde r, four -row 3 ,500h p Pratt & Whitney R-4 360 Wasp Majo r, wh ich gave a 59 pe r cent power in crease over th e B29's 2,200h p Wr igh t R-33 50 engine .

Specification - B-5OA Powerplant:

FourPratt & Wh itney Wasp MajorR-4360-35 radial engines

Weights:

Empty 81,050lb(36,760kg); loaded 168,7081b 176.525kg )

Dimensions:

Length 991t (30.1ml: wingspan 141ft 3in(43.1ml; wing area l ,720sq It (159.8sq m]: height 3211 8in (1 0m)

Performance:

Maximumspeed 385mph(620km/h); cruising speed 235mph(380km/ h); service ceiling 37.00011 (11 .300m);maximum range 4.650miles(7.500km); maximum bomb load 20.000lb 19,OOOkg)

166

B-29 D ERI VAT I V ES. VA RIANTS AN D SPIN -OFf'S

T he first B-50A (46-2) made its maiden flight on 25 June 1947. It was not a prototype per sc, but a bo na fide produ c tion aircraft. It and th e o the r fifty-e igh t B-50A BO s were lat er ferried to Boeing's W ich ita faci lity to unde rgo an 'extend ed range ' mod ificat ion programm e, wh ereby th ey were fin ed with receptacles to use th e hosetype in-fligh t refuel lin g system develop ed by the Brit ish RA E These were later modi fied to use Boeing's own 'flying boom ' system . It co uld ca rry a maximum bomb load of 20,000l b (9 ,000k g) and was ar med with twelve .50-c alibre machi ne-guns and a single 20mm can no n . Its maxim um ran ge was unlimited with aerial refuelling. In add it ion to the fac tor y-built B-50As, B-50 Bs, B-50Ds and T B-50 Hs there we re numerous of o the r versions of th e B-50 created from modificat ion progra mmes, whi ch are beyond the scope of thi s refe re nce. In all, Boe ing-Seat tle pro du ced 3 71 B-50A, BSOB, B-50D and TB-5m-1 aircraft. T h e forty-five B-50 Bs wer e imp ro ved B50A s with an in creased gross weight of 170 ,0001b ( 77,OOOkg). Most were co nve rted into RB-50B reconnaissan ce bo mbers, and then KB-50J tan kers before th eir reti re ment . T he 22 2 B-50Ds were th e ult imat e variants of th e B-50 series, wit h a 173 ,0001b (78,S00k g) gross weight. T hese had exte nded ran ge with two 700-US gallo n (580 Imp ga llon/2 ,650Itr) ex terna l fuel ta nks mounted o n pylons ben ea th either wing. From BSOD num ber 16 onwards, th ey were equipped for in -fligh t refuel ling via the flying boom syste m. Th e twenty-fo ur TB-5 0 Hs se rved as un ar med bo mbardi er/n av iga to r tr ainer s unt il lat e r co n ve rted into KB-50K tankers.

The B-54 T h e never-bui lt Boeing B-54A and R B54A bombers fell victim to Boeing's own success in build ing two of the je t age's most sign ifican t je t-po we red bom ber aircra ft B-47 S t rarojct a nd B-5 2 Stra rotorrrcss. Yet th eir story is inte resti ng because, if built , th ey wo uld h ave been the e pito me bot h of B-29 develop ment a nd of piston -engin ed bo mb e rs, wh ile st ill loo king ve ry much like th e o rigin al XB-29 S upc rfort ress. Respecti vely designated B-50C and RBSOC at first, th e B-54A and R B-54A were to be h igh ly adv anced versions of the B-29/ B-50 series. Bot h were to be po wered by four 4,S00hp Pratt & Whitncy R-4 360-5 1 W asp Major turbo-compo und 28-cylinde r radial

An impressive view of a Boeing KB -50J(49-03911. formerly a B-500. sportingtwo underwing 700US gallon (580 Imp gallon1extern al fuel tanks and two 5.200lb thrust General Electric J47turbo jet eng ines.which raised topspeed to 444mph (715km/h). AFFTC/HO via Ray Pu ffer

B-50A. B-50B. B·50D and TB-50H Production Designation

Ouantity

SerialNumber

Comment

B-50A-l -BO B-50A-5-BO B-50A-l0 -BO B-50A-15-BO B-50A-20-BO B-50A-25-BO B-50A-25-BO

4 10 10 10 10 15 0

46-002/ -005 46-006/-01 5 46-016/-025 46-026/-035 46-036/-045 46-046/-060 46-061

contract AC 1301 3 1approved 30/6/47)

B-50A-30-BO B-50A-35-60 B-50B-40-BO 6-50B-45-BO 6-50B-50-BO B-50B-55-BO 6-50B-60-BO B-500-65-60 6-500-70-BO B-500-75-60 B-500-80-60 B-500-85-60 B-500-90-BO B-500-95-BO B-500-100-60 B-500-105-60 B-500-1 10-BO B-500-1 15-60 B-500-120-60 B-500-125-60 TB-50H-B O

15 5 10 10 10 10 5 8 7 10 10 10 10 10 10 15 33 33 33 33 24

47-098/-11 2 47-113/-117 47-1 18/ -127 47-128/ -1 37 47-1 38/ -147 47-148/-157 47-158/-162 47-163/-170 48-046/-052 48-053/-062 48-063/-072 48-073/-082 48-083/ -092 48-093/ -102 48-1 03/ -1 12 48-11 3/-127 49-260/-292 49-293/ -325 49-326/ -358 49-359/ -391 51 -447/-470

Total: 370

16 7

cancelled; to YB-50C prototype (laterYBIYRB-54A; not completed] co ntract AC 15587 1approved 26/11 /47)

contract AC19823 1approved 3/2/491

contractAF14809 (approved 24/10/511

1l-29 D ERI VATI V ES. VA RIANT S AN D SPIN -OFFS

TOP:

An artist' s impression of the gargantuan Boeing B-54. Peter M. Bowers

The Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation (BAHF) restored this C-97G (52-2718), named DELIVERANCE, to appear as the C-97A (45-59595) that participated in that historic undertaking . BA HF

MIOOLE:

A B-377Stratocru iser in American Airlines markings. Apart from its double-deck configuration and different nose treatment, it resembled the B-29. Northwest Airlines

BonOM:

168

eng ines; th is version of the Wasp Major was also kn own as a Variable Dischargc Turbin e (VDT) engine and was onc e slat ed for use by the Conva ir 13-36 as well. In May 1948 th e USA F orde red an in itial bat ch of th irty B/RB -50C s, USAF serial n um bers 49-200 to 49-229 . T hc B/RB50C full-sca le eng inee ring mock-up was inspect ed and approved in Novembe r 1948. T h en a B-50A -25-BN (46-06 1) was pirat ed from th e Sc attic pro duct ion line to he co n verte d to the service test YB-50C. In early 1949, due to its man y d ifferences from and imp rovement s over the 13-50 , the USA F redesignat ed th e B/R B-50C to B/R B-54A. Wind -tun nel eva luations and engine ering data in reference to th e R-4360 engine's immen se power d icta rcd that the B/RB -54A needed to he qui te a bit longer th an previous B-50 models, with an increased wingspan as wel l. T heir proj ect ed len gth was to be 111ft (33.8m ) with a wingspan of 16 1ft 2in (49. lm ). Moreover, due to thi s increased size and weigh t, these aircraft would h ave been about 50,0 001b (23 ,OOOkg) heavier th an the heaviest 13-50. However, with the adven t of the six-jet B-47 and eigh t-jet 13-52, the B/RB-54 A became obsolete and the programme was correctly rerru inated . T he YB-50C /YB-54A service test aircraft, some 75 per ce n t fin ishe d at cancel lat ion, was not completed . A s menti o ned ea rlie r th e B-29 se rved as th e basis for two o the r successful Boe ing types: rh e militar y Model 13-367 S tr a rofrcigh rer, wh ich evolved in to the C 9 7 and KC -97 series of a ircraft ; and th e civilian Mode l 13-3 77 , wh ich was th e famed S rra rocruiscr airl in er. Boe ing pro d uced 888 C -9 7s a nd fifty-six S traroc ru iscrs. O f the 88 8 C-9 7s bu ilt, 2 19 were built as KC- 9 7E/Fs and 592 as KC-9 7G s. T h e C /KC -97 a irplanes were bu ilt between [944 a nd 1955 wh ile th e S tratoc ruiscrs wer e prod uced from 194 7 to 1950. A n int eresting modificat ion of rhe S rratocruise r was the Model 377-PG , the ' Pregnant G up py'. Aero Space Lin es C orporation bough t a single Pan A merican A irl ines 13-377 - 10-26 (N 10 24V ) and hi red O n -Ma rk Eng inee ring C ompan y to mod ify ir to transport Sat urn moon-rocket assemblies. Ne xt ca me th e eve n larger S uper G uppy (3 77SGT- 20 I ), created to transpor t Int ern ational Spac e S tation modu les. Finally, a little-known use of B-29 tech n ology was the near ident ica l rail group asse mbly (albe it sca led dow n ) employed by th e three Model 13-400 Bocing XFSB- I figh te r-bo mbe r prot ot ypes bough t by th e

1l-29 DERI VAT I V ES. VAR I A NT S A N D SPIN -OFr-S

- - - ----- -- ---

---

---~......

---~

TOP: The Aero Spacelines B371PG Pregnant Guppy

prior to a series of flight-tests and pilot familiarization eval uati ons at Edwards AFB in October 1962. NASA ABOVE: The Super Guppy in NASA mark ings at the

Dryden Flight Research Centre (DFRC) at Edw ards AFB. NASA

The tai l group on this XF8B-1 prototype clearly shows its close relationship to that of the B-29. USN

169

1l-29 DER IVATIVES. VARIA01TS A01D SI' I01 -0F FS

US <1VY. T he se were powered by sing le 3 ,000h p Pratt & Whitney 1\-4360 Wasp Major four-ro w, 2 -cylindc r rad ial eng ine s, giving th e m a top speed of 430 mph (690km/h ). It is truly amazing just how far a basic a irfra me ca n be modi fied an d stre tc he d to gene rate n ewer an d bette r types of airc raft. Th is truism ce rt ain ly applied to th e B-29: in on ly six years, from th e appea rance of th e origina l XB-29 in 194 2 ro th e ca nce llati on of th e prop osed B/RB -54A in 194 , the Superfort had successfully mcramorph osed int o at least twenty ot he r va riant s.

I ,

Line drawing s of a B-29A. Lloyd S. Jones

-

E

~ ' ---~

A KB-29M of the 301st Air Refuelling Squadron in the Korean War. Peter M. Bowers

BELOW: A KB-29M (formerly a B-29-90-BW, 45-21734), later redesignated YKB-29T, 25 r::FFT

refuels three RAF Gloster Meteor fighters via its stand ard fus el age hose and added wing -tip pod hose s. Peter M. Bowers

770

1l-29 D ERIV AT I V ES. VA RIANTS AN )) SPIN -OFFS

A KB-29M (closest to camera) refuels a B-29MR via the hose system developed by the British. This system was less popular than the hose-and-drogue system. and far less favoured than the flying boom system. Peter M. Bowers

BELOW: A KB-29B refuels a Boeing B-47A Stratojet near Edwards to verify compatib ility between the two types of aircraft. AFFT C/ HO via Ray Puffer

BonOM: An exce llent c lose-up view of the KB-29P's fl ying boom conf iguration. This KB-29P was formerly a B-29-60-BA (44-84071). Peter M. Bow ers

777

1l - 2 ~

DERIVATIVES. VARIANTS AND SPIN-DFFS

TOP: This EB-29 (42-62205; formerly a B-29A-60-BN )

was modifi ed to serve as a receiver for early flying boom system tests . The tanker, formerly a B-29A-l 0BN (42-93921I, was one of the first Superforts to be converted to KB-29P standard . The wh ite -paint atop the EB-29's fuselage was applied to show patterns of fuel spillage. Peter M. Bowers A KB-29M of the 301BG, 301st Air Refuelling Squadron. Peter M. Bowers

ABOVE:

MA (44-27352) in the lead, and PA (44-61551 ) tr ailing her over Edwards AFB, durin g the mid 1950s. MA w as a B-29-40-MO modifi ed w it h a low -drag rece ptac le assembly astern, to refue l PA IB-29A-35-BN) w hic h was equi pped with a refuelling prob e in test evalu ations of this unique aeria l refuelling procedure. Once PA's probe entered int o MA's receptac le, fuel w as transferred to PA. This in -flight refuelling system, how ever, was not proceeded w ith . AFFTC/HOvia Ray PuHer

172

CHAPT ER TWELVE

Survivors Fro m ea rly Septe mbe r 194 2 unti l mid -M ay 1946 the Boe ing Ai rp lane C o mpan y, in co nc ert with th e Bell A irc raft C or po rat ion and the G len n L. Martin Compa ny, pro d uced nearl y 4,000 B-29 , B-29A and B29 13 aircraft. A relat ivel y large number of th em were clai med by co mbat act io n in \'(Iorl d \'(Iar Two , whil e ma ny o t he rs wer e ta ke n by ge ne ra l a tt rition and unfo rt una te mish aps. Yet , mor e tha n 2,500 of th e m .u rvived the war. A fa irly large num ber of th ese - gene ra lly th ose of th e new ly establish ed U S A AF S t ra teg ic A ir C o mma nd and speci fica lly th ose of th e 509t h Bo mb G ro up (for me rly Compos ite Gro up ), t he world's first and th en o n ly n ucl ea r bo mb gro up - rem ained in service whi le a h ost of o th e rs wer e placed in flyable stor age. T h ey were no t to be so ld or scrapped , like man y o th e r types of W o rld \'(Iar Two airc raft , for th e B-29 was the most ad vanced bombe r in th e world . C o mba t ac tion in the Kor ean \'(Iar took a nu mb er of ot he r B-29s, not to ment ion t he add itiona l losses fro m att rition and mish aps between the wars and afte r th em. W it h the ad vent of mor e advanced h eavy bo rnbcrs th e B-29s were fin all y st ricke n fro m U S AF inv en tor y a nd placed into dispersal yards to he so ld a nd/or sc rapped . Tod ay, fe wer th an forty re main in ex iste nce o ut of th e 3,9 70 B-29s th at wer e bu ilt. T he se few serve as h isto ric di sp lays and mu se um pieces, and on e was co m plet e ly rebui lt to flying co nd ition in 19 74 a nd has been flying ever since.

Beginning o n 3 1 Ma rch 19 71 , CA F vol un teers wor ked ni ne weeks to make the airc raft flyab le. To do thi s th ey restor ed all th e critical syste m by rep laci ng fue l, h yd rauli c and o il lines, and fligh t co n tro ls and in stru men ts. Prior to fligh t th ey tested the engines a nd landing gear. T h en o n 3 A ugust 19 7 1, flying 1,250 m iles (2,000k m ) non-stop to C A F h eadqu arters in H arri ngto n , Texas, 44-620 70 safely landed afte r flying fo r th e first tim e in fiftee n years. uddcn lv, th e wor ld co uld o nce mor e enjo y a flying Superfor t , whi ch in late 1974 was ch ristene d FIFI (c iv il registr at ion 529 B). For nea rly thi rty yea rs sin ce , FIFI has kept a busy sche d ule and h as appea red at nu merous air sho ws th ro ugho ut th e ni ted S ta tes. Ir remains o ne of th e most pop ula r stars of th ese air sho ws and it is fully apprec iat ed by th ose in atte nda nce . But its

reign as th e wor ld's o n ly flyin g upcr o n I ab out to end . A s thi s hoo k went to press in ea rly 200 3, a seco nd B-29 was be ing restor ed 10 Ilyin co nd itio n ; it is o wned by th e nircd nu Avia t ion Mu seum (Western I ivisinn based at Inyoke rn , C alifo rn ia. It is a B-2 70-BW (44-69972 ) whi ch was r .. u 15 A pril 199 from the US nv v C h ina Lake and subseq ue n t I mo I U A M (W D ) faci liry a r lnvok In III 2000, Boei ng-W ichita in K;II\ a I provide h angar space a nd f I II I o rgun izatio n of t he vo lun t ' ' I wou ld be necessary to su C ' (1111 the a irc raft to flying uuu s. It qu cnt ly mo ved to the I II W ichita, Kan sas (whcr ' it \ ', I I I I restorat ion to flying o nd it \I n I and for me r Boeing em] 1,1

.' - ~---

- '

Flying 8 -295 Th e 13-29 th at was brought back to becom e a flying upcrfo rr o nce aga in is pro ud ly o wned by th e Con fede rate A ir For ce (C AF ). It was ori gin ally bui lt as a B-29A 60 -BN (44-6 207 0 ) a nd was placed in no n co coo ned stor age at C h in a Lak e N a va l W eapo ns Cen t re, C alifo rn ia, in Oc to be r 1956 . Dur ing its service with t he US A F it a lso se rved as a T B-29 and VB -29 o n se ve ral occas io ns .

The 8 -29 bone yard at the US Navy China Lake facility in southern California. This facil ity provided numerou s spare parts for 8 -29 restoratio n efforts. and it has prov ided the w orld's only two fly in g 8 -29s, FIFI and. soon, DOC. AFFTC/HO via Ray Puffer

173

S U RV I V O RS

FIFI of the Confede rate Air Force (CAF) has long w owe d the crowd s of aviati on fans at many ai r show s. It conti nues to do today. Boeing viaW. All en

T hi s 13-29 was delivered to th e US A A F in Marc h 19 45, and after th e war it pri mar ily se rved in th e elect ro n ic co un termeasur es (EC M) ro le at G riffis AFB, Rom e, ew York. It was decommi ssioned in Oc to be r 1956 and flo wn to C h in a Lak e ava l Weap o ns Cen tre wh e re it rem a ined unti l it 199 resc ue. W hil c it was in service at G riffis A FB th is 8 -29 fea tured th e Walt Disney ca rtoo n charac ters no w \V h ite and th e eve n Dwar fs, hi gh ligh ting Doc, one of th e more

pop ular of the seven dw arfs, hence the plan e's na me - DO C. At th e tim e of wr iting, DO C was sch eduled to ta ke Oight in t he spring or sum mer of 2003. In any eve nt, wh e th er DO C meet its projec ted first fligh t c hc d ule, it will be no less t han mar vel lo us to see th ese two 13-29 5 Oying toge t he r wh en t hat eve nt ac t ually occurs. The re was a th ird Oyin g S upc rfort of wh ic h littl e informati o n h as been bro ugh t to ligh t. It is a B-29A -45-B (44-6 1748)

The condition in which DOC was found at China Lake. Boeing via Dick Ziegler

774

nam ed IT'S HAW G W ILD rl uu was do nat ed to the Im perial \Var Museum a t Duxford , Engla nd . M uch like FIFI, it was resc ued fro m C h ina Lake in t he late 19 705 and was mad e flyable with th e use of n ume ro us bi ts and pieces from a n umber of C hi na Lak e B-29s. A fter it was restor ed to Oying co nd ition it was flow n to Eng land in 19 0 (B rit ish regist rati on G - BH DK) and it is o n disp lay at th e A merica n Ai r Mu seum in Duxfo rd in 307 BG co lours and mar kings.

SU RV IVO RS

Non-Flyi ng 8-295 The most hi sto rica lly sign ificant I surviving B-29s is of co urse th e III E O l A GAY. T h is of co urse is th e I II ma/Little Boy atomic bo mb er, wlu I many years was stored in bits and 1'1 th e Paul E. G ar ber Preservat io n . 1 rio n and S roragc Facilirv of rh e m ith II Institut ion - spec ifically, the N ational and Space Museum ( A S M ). In the ea rly 1990s, in prepa ra t ion for II 50t h a n n iversar y of its d rop ping LilliI' BII on Hi roshi ma to h e lp bring aho ut th e n I of Wor ld War Two , EN O LA G AY \ a un de rgo ing restorati o n in pre pa rat io n fo r its asse mbly for static d ispla y to begin so me t ime befor e 6 A ugust 1995. But th ' r was co nt rove rsy o ver just h o w E l. GAY sho uld be di spla yed . It was fin all y decid ed that o n ly the nose sec t ion II EN O l.A GAY wo uld be d ispla y xl, II I hi! it beginni ng in lat e Jun e 199 5 th is went o n disp lay at the NA SM .

DOC arriving at Boeing-Wichita . Boeing via Dick Ziegler

One of DOC's R-3350engines. Boeingvia Dick Zieg ler

175

S RVIVORS

ABOVE: DO C restor ation . Boeing via Dick Ziegler LEFr. DOC nose art . Boeing via Dick Ziegler

S inc e mid - 1995 all th e rem aining sec t io n s of EN OLA G AY h ave l-ccn restor ed . It is to be fully asse mbled and put on per man cnt stat ic d isp lay at th e new NA S M A ir a nd Space A n nex at wh at is ca lled Dulles Ce nte r a t Washingto n Du lles Interna tional A irpo rt, Virgin ia. Th e secon d most recogn ized 13-29 is agasaki /F ar Man a t o m ic bomber the BO CK SC A R, whi ch rem ains o n pen n ancnt sta t ic di sp lay at th e US A ir For ce Mu seum, Wr ight-Pa tt erso n AFB at Da yton, O h io. Another sign ificant 13-29 was the carrier aircraft (m ot her pla ne) for th e US avv h igh -speed , high -altitude Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket program me. It began life as a 1329-95- BW (45 -2 1787) but was given ove r to th e US N avy in th e lat e 1940s, wh ich redesign at ed it P213- 1S (US Bureau umher 40 29) . During its h eyday at Edwards A FB in th e 19 50s it was ni ckn am ed

776

SU RV I VO RS

FERTIL E MYRTL E, and in 19 4 it was donated to an av iation museu m in O akland, C alifor n ia. lr was larcr bo ught by the Kermi t Wecks Fantasy o( Flight Mu seum near [)lJlk Ci ty, Flor ida wh ere it remains roday (c ivil registrat ion n umber j 29 KW).

Stat ic Display 8 -29s

TOP: DOC in Boeing -Wichita Plant 2 f acto ry, where it w as or iginally built nearly sixty year s ago.

Boeing via Dick Ziegler ABOVE: The B-29-35-MO (44-27297) as it w as in desert stor age prior to being restored for perm anent dis play at the US Air Force Museum in Dayton , Ohio . Brian Baker via Peter M. Bowers

(called Dulles Cen te r) at W ash ingron Dulles Int e rn at ion a l A irpor t, Virgin ia.

ENO LA GA Y, B-29-45-MO. 44-86292 O wne d by rhc ationa l A ir and Space Mu seum , o n Slat ic d isplay hegi nning in 2003 at th e A S M Ai r and pace A n nex

B OCKSCA R. B-29-35-M O, 44-27297 US A ir Force Mu seum , \X1righ t-Patterson A FB, Day to n , O h io.

177

D UKE OF A LBUQUERQUE, 13-29-9 7-BW, 45-2 /748 Sand ia N a tio na l Ato m ic Mu se um , Kirt cw Me. i o; la nd A FB, A lbuq ue rq ue , fo rm er ly d ispla yed at C h an ute A FB Mu s '. 11111 , Illinois.

SU RV I VORS

LEAGLE EAGLE II, B-29-9D-BW, 44-87779

B-29A-70-BN, 44-62220

B-2.9A-15-BN, 42-93967

So uth Dak ot a A ir and S pace Museum , Ellswo rt h A FB, Rapid C ity, So uth Da ko ta.

Kclly AFB Museum , Sa n A nt o n io, Texas,

Geo rgia Veterans Mem or ial Park , Cordele, Geo rgia.

T SQUARE 54, B-2.9-60-BW, 44-69729 B-29-80-BW, 44-87627

Muse um o f Fligh t , Sea t t le , W ashi ngto n .

Barksda lc AFB, Sh reve po rt, Lo uisian a.

HAGERTY'S HAG, B-2.9-55-MO, 4486408 H ill Aerospace Museum , H ill AFB, Ogden, U ta h.

SENTIMENTA L .JO URN£}~ B-29-7.5-BW, 44-70016 Pima A ir and S pace M use um , Tucso n , A rizona.

B-29-80-BW, 44-70013 HERE'S HOPING, B-29-75-BW, 44-70102 Recov er ed from C h ina Lak e, Ca liforn ia to replac e DO C a t th e Bud McG cc Avi a tio n Par k, ln yokern , Ca liforn ia.

MAN 0 ' WA R, B-29-60-BA, 44-84076 S trategic A ir C o mmand M use u m, O mah a, N ebraska.

B-29-55-BA, 44-84053 W arncr Ro bins AF B, M a rietta , Georg ia.

Dobbins ARB, Mari et ta, G corg ia .

MI.s:5 AMERICA '62, B-29-25-MO, 426528 1 Travis A ir Force Mu seum , Travis A FB, Fairfiel d , Ca lifo rn ia .

FERTILE MYRTLE, P2B-1S, USN Bureau Number 8402.9 forme rly B-29-95 -BW, 45-21 7 7, T h e Ke rm it W eeks Fa ntasy of Fligh t Museum , Po lk C ity, Flor ida .

TINKER HERITAGE, B-2.9-40-MO, 4427343

B-29-.90-BW, 4.5-21739

T in ke r A FB Ai r Park , O klahoma C ity, O klaho ma.

O n sta tic di spl ay ar a c ity par k in Seo ul, Ko rea.

RAZ 'N HELL, B-2.9A-35-BN, 44-61535

B-2.9-80-BW, 44-87627

C astle A FB, Merc ed , Ca lifo rn ia; mad c up of rh rcc B-29s - win gs fro m 44 -84 084, n ose fro m 44-70064 , a m i tai l fro m the real RA Z'N H ELL (44-615 35) .

Eigh th Air Force M use um, Barksda le AFB , Lo uisian a.

FLAGSHIP 500 (ex ML5SION INN) , B2.9A-40-BN, 44-6166.9

SWEET ELOISE, B-2.9-80-B W, 44-70113 ava l A ir Stat ion ( AS ) Atlanta, A tlant a, G eo rgia,

Marc h A FB, Ri vers id e, C a lifo rn ia; to be mark ed in its o rigina l 50 0 BG, 883 BS mark ings with Z tail code and squad ron n um ber 49.

PEACHY, B-2.9A-60-BN, 44-62022

THE GREAT ARTISTE, B-2.9A-40-BN, 44-6167/

FIFI,

W hitc man AFB, Knob Nosie r, Missouri. (It is in appropriatel y n amed ; ac tually, TH E G REAT A RT IST E was a Martin-bu ilt 1329-40- MO, 44 -27353.)

Pueb lo \Veisbrod A irc raft Muse um, Pu e b lo M emoria l Ai rpo rt , Pu ebl o , Colorado. B-29A-60-B1\~

44-62070

C o n fede ra te A ir Force, M idla nd, Texas.

DOC, B-29-70-BW, 44-69972 US Avia tio n M useum, In yokern , Ca liforni a; bc ing rest o red to flyin g co nd ition at th e time of writing.

178

B-2.9A-55-BN, 44-61.9 7.5 Ne w Engla nd A ir Mu seum, Brad lcy In te rn at ion al Ai rpo rt, W ind sor Locks, C o nn ccr ic ut; 10 be di sp la yed as JACK'S '-lA C K, B-29A -35- B , 44- 6 1566, of th e 46 BG , 794BS at a larcr dare.

IT 'S I-IA WG WiLD, 61748

B-29A-4.5-BI\~

44-

Im peri al War Muse um/Ameri can A ir Museum, Duxford, England; 30 7BG co lo urs and mark in gs.

COMMAND DECISION, B-2.9A-6.5-BN, 44-62139 Wa lk-t h ro ugh e x h ib it a t US A ir Fo rc e Museum .

B-29B-60-BA, 44-84084 A cro Trad er, C h ino, Ca liforn ia; sta tus uncl ea r.

LADY OF THE LAKE, B-29B-45-BA, 4483.905

Modified to KB-29P ; c rashed o n land ing a nd is pa rti all y ubmcr gcd in a lake ncar Eic lso n A FB, Alaska; may bc reco ver ed for parts. BEETLE BOMB, B-29-60-BW, 44-69800 U nde rwate r in La ke Mead, ne ver bc recovered.

e va da : may

F-I3A, 42-.93.967

Formcrlv a B-29A - 15-B , G eorgia Ve rc ran 's Par k, A ugusta , Geo rgia, KEE BIRD, B-29-9.5-B W, 4.5-21763 KEE BIR D was restor ed to flyin g co nd ition in th e field o n a frozen lak c in G ree n land . A s it was being prepared to fly o ut o n 2 1 May 1995 it ca ugh t fire, burned a nd sa n k th ro ugh t he melt ing icc. It rem ain s th ere to thi s day.

CHA PT ER T HIRTEEN

Summaries

B-29 sc ra p heap. Stan Piet

T he Boe ing B-29 S upe rfort ress was th e wor ld's first strategic n uclear bomber. T h at is, it was the first bomber in the world tha t was capa ble of very lon g range, very h igh a ltitude and very large payloads - inclu d ing n uclear weapons. It went from first fligh t (2 1 Septe mber 1942) to first combat (5 Jun e 1944 ) in just tw ent y mo n th s and fifteen days. To acco mplish such a feat wh ile it was und ergoing n umerous dev elo pme n t prob lems is no less than amazing. T h en th ere was

the challenge of train ing its a ircrews to h andle such a co mplicated mach ine as th e B-29; some of t hem were a lread y ex perienc ed o n B- 17s a nd B-24s, but ma n y ot he rs, fresh out of fligh t tra ining schoo ls, had on ly flown o ne - and t wo-cn gi ncd a irc ra ft. It was a trem endo us undertaking to say th e least , but th e XX a nd XXI Bo mbe r Commands , l Oili and 20 t h A ir Forc es in th e C h ina - Burma - Indi a and Pac ific th eatres mor e than met th at most difficult cha llenge .

179

T he 13-29 S upc rfortress was th e most adva nced bo mb er of \Vodd War Two . Its lo ng ran ge of 3 ,000 m iles (4 ,800km) a llo wed for round tr ips from Ti ni an Island to t he Japan ese h o me islan ds and its h eavy 20 ,OOOlb (9,OOOkg) bo mb loads destroyed ma n y c ities and st ra teg ic ta rget s. But in its in fancy it was fra ught with a n umbe r of developm enta l problem s, espec ially with its re la tivel y n ew, un dev e lop ed engine , wh ich had a ten dency to ove rhea t, swallow va lves,

S U ~ I ~ IAR I ES

catc h fire a nd prema turel y fail. Bur wh en th e eng ine woes and oth er sign ificant d im cult ics were addressed and co rrec ted th e S upe rforr became th e dep end able wor khorse it was. It was in Se ptember 1943 wh en the 20A F, 58BW began to accep t the first comhat -bou nd Supcrforrs. Duri ng th e ensuing rwcn ry-th rcc months of war, fourt een of th ose months being ac tua l co mbat , th e 20A F was forc ed to rake the B-29 matrix and mould it in to th e 'Super Bom ber' it beca me. U nde r XX Bombe r C ommand in th e C BI ( LOth A ir Force ) and XXI Bomber C ommand in th e Pacific, th e fleer of 20A F 8-29s new th e longest combat missions ever attempt ed up to th at time, and under I he most dem and ing co nd itions. That is, they h ad to nymore th an 1,000 miles ( 1,600km ) over wate r, and in a lot of cases th ey had to do it dur ing fo ul weat her. Moreover, wh en at high alt itude, they had to co nte nd with someth ing quir e new, wh ich is now called the jet strea m, often figh ting th e se vere turbulence found with in. From Jun e to Oc to be r 194 4 th e 20A F new Ior tv-ninc co mbat missions in the C BI. From th e four forward air bases in C h ina , 5 rh Bom b Wing (V I-I ) B-29s destroyed n umerou s Japanese air fields, naval bases, h ipbuild ing yards and reel-produ cin g facrorics, T h ese four air bases were created by h undreds of very hard-wor king, low-paid C h inese c ivilians. From ovcrn ber 1944 to A ugust 1945 th e 20A F [lew 24 ,665 bom b ing sortie s d uring 25 1 co mbat missions dropping 155,04 1 IOns ( 140 ,65 \ metri c ronncs) of bombs and min es. During thi s nine-month per iod , un fortun atel y, many comba t crews were killed or captured and 3 18 B-29s were lost T he S upcrlo rt was used for othe r types of combat missions in \Vorld \Vm Two as well, even minelaying. T hese included n ine ph otogra ph ic reconnaissan ce flight s, seventythree radar reconnaissan ce, 405 weather reconnaissan ce, 180 weath er and ph ot ograph ic reconnaissan ce, 150 radar and ph otographi c reconnaissan ce, 106 weather reconnaissan ce and leaflet drops, and 110 sea search and rescue mission s. During the weather reconnaissan ce and leaflet drop missions anoth er seven crews and th eir B29s were lost. The 3rd Photographic Recon naissance Squadron alone flew 427 photo recon naissance sort ies, losing six crews and their F-13 and F-13A aircraft. During th e last five months of th e war th e 20 A F destroyed five major industr ial areas: Kob e, Na goya , O saka , Tok yo and

Yok oham a. It was duri ng thi s time that th ese ind ustr ia l ce n tres rece ived 44 .1 pe r ce nt of all 20AF B-29 to n n age. effectively eliminat ing at least 50 pe r ce n t of th e aircraft indu stry in those a reas. Mor eov er, sixty-four oth er c ities were burned to destru ction . The low-level raids alone bu rn ed out 175 squa re mi les (450sq km) of urban terri tor y in th ese sixty-n ine c ities. Thc Supe rfort was the wor ld's first mode rn h eavy bo mbe r and the e mb od iment of strateg ic bombers to come . \Vh ile it is tr ue that a num be r of 'h eavy' bomb ers had existed before, rh e B-29 h ad no eq ual, T h c C onso lidated B-3 2 Do minator was created to bc th e B-29's equa l - a backup , if you will - but afrcr o n ly a shor t t ime th e B-29 easily demon stra ted its supe riority ove r th e B-3 2. W ithout a doubt, as far as Wor ld War Two airc raft arc conce rned, th e B-29 was by far the most expe nsive bomb er in th e world to devel op an d prod uce . In fact, in so me c ircles, th e 8 -29 pro gramme is referred to as th e 'T h ree Billion Dollar Gamb le'. Yet , to th ose who wer e assoc iarcd with it a nd wh ose lives it saved , it was worth ev ery ni ck el th at was spent upon it. A fte r \Vor ld \Var Two a nd until the adve n t of th e 8 -36 and B-50 , and th e jetpowered B-45, 8-47 and B-52, it was th e B29 th at reigned supreme. It was on ly afte r

th ese new bomber types sta rted entering service , in June 194 8 for bo th the B-36A and B-50A , June 1950 for th e B-45, O CIOber 195 1 for th e B-47 and Ju ne 1955 for the B-5 2, th at the ac tual ph asin g-ou t of the Supc rfo rr bo mber fleet began , in lat e 1954 . A nd un t il the a rr iva l of th e piston - and jet -powered Boein g KC -97G tanker, a nu mb er of KB-29 M, KB-29MR and KB29 P S upc rforrs stayed on to serve as ae ria l tank er s. Mor eover, a number of RB -29s, TB-29s and WB-Z9s co nt in ued to serve un t il th ey wer e repla ced by RB-50s, TB 50s and W8-50s. Just two months afte r th e Korean \Var bro ke out in June 1950 , B-29s wer e flyin g comba t missions ov er N ort h Kor ea . T hese missions laste d thr ce full years, fro m A ugust 1950 to A ugust 1953 , and even th ou gh B-36 s, B-45s, 8 -4 7s and B-50s were av ailab le, the B-29 was the bomber of cho ice. As it tu rn ed out in fac r, no ne of those o th er aircraft ever fired a sho t in ange r; instead , it was th e tri ed and ·trusted S upc rfo rr th at was used . A nd Kor ean \Var S upcrforrs h ad 10 fend off 1 o rrh Kor ean MiG - 15 jet fighters nown by experienc ed Russian p ilo ts. The 8 -29 S upc rfortress was a so lid airfra me an d powerplanr co mbina tion th at spawned a n umber of im portant fo llow-on airc raft. It gave b irth to ae rial refuellin g

The streamlined top forward gun turret that w as mounted atop some B-29As. Reportedly. this stre amlin ing effort did not bear any frui t. Peter M. Bowers

180

S U~1 ~I ARIES

tankers and recei vi ng a ircraft, soph ist icat ed ph o tographic reconnaissan ce and map ping a ircraft , avio n ics, eng ine and weap on syste m test -bed a ircraft, and eve n Ru ssia 's first h eav y bo mbe r and large c ivil tr an spor t a ircraft. Fro m its first co m ba t mi ssion aga inst j ap an ese forces in Ban gkok, Thai land o n 5 june 1944 to th e dropping of two ato m ic bombs o n 6 and 9 Augu st 1945. th e 13-29 mor e th a n mad e its prese nce fe lt. Tru ly a tec h no log ica l wonder in th e ea rly- to mid - 1940s, th e 13-29 co uld fly h igher, fart h er and with mor e bom bs th an any oth er bombe r in th e wor ld . It was design ed in an e ra wh en A rt Deco st yling was st ill in vo gue . A erodyna m ica lly, it was so st ream lined t ha t its pa rasite d rag act ua lly do ub led wh en its lan ding gear was exte nde d. Its wide array of weapo ns wh e th er con ven t iona l or nuclear - co uld be dropped from very hi gh alt it ude . A nd its adva nce d fire -co nt ro l syste m provided good de fenc e aga inst japan ese figh te rs. The S upe rfort h ad bee n d esign ed fro m the o ut set for h igh -alti tude day time preci io n bo m b ing. But o n man y occasio ns in Worl d \'(1ar Two , B-29s were used for m issio ns for whi ch they wer e not pr im aril y de sign ed : lo w a ltit ude ni ght-time ar ea bomb ing, com mo n ly referred to to d ay as ca rpet bom bing. In th e fina l an alysis the Boeing 13-29 Supcrforrress was far more successful than man y expec ted it to be . But with the adve nt of th e 13-36 and 13-50 , an d subseq uen t jet bo mbers, th e re ign of th e 13-29 Supc rfo rt was fin ally ove rtake n by th e numerou s techno logies it h elped to pro d uce. In th e box (see p. 184 ), famed Boei ng test pilo t Bob Robbins h as summe d up th e n um ber o ne X13-29 fo llow -on flight test pro gramme th at contributed so mu ch to th e succ esses of th e Su pc rfortrcss,

The 468BG of the 58BWcalled itself ,.he General Billy Mitchell Group'. TIME'S A WASTIN !. an unidentified B-29 of the 468BG. is shown here in mothballs. Note the group logo. Schirmer via SIan Piel

Th e Boeing B-29 Supe rfo rtress Turns Sixty Wi th littl e fanfare . 21 September 2002 mar ked the 60th an n iversary of th e Boeing 13-29 Supcrfortress. Havin g been o ut of th e potlighr since 2 1 Se ptembe r 1992, wh en th ere was a big 50th ann iversary celebration at Boeing, th e Superfo rt is now anot he r full decade older. So metime in 2003, th e seco nd fully restored 13-29, nam ed DO C , was scheduled to take win g. Then, along with FIFI, it will be truly ma rvellous to sec two S uperforts in the air - in th eir prope r en viro n ment, th eir righ tful place .

This mothballed B-29-45-BW (42-247371carried the nose art KAGU TSUCHI - The Scourge of the Fire God; it belonged to the 58BW. 40BG. Schirm er via SIan Pi el

787

S U ~ I ~l A R I ES

TOP: A fine study of an SB-29 with its A-3 lifeboat

tucked away in her belly. While the unarmed SB-29s were not as glamorous as the armed ones, they were every bit as important to the war effort.

Stan Piet ABOVE: A formation of B-29s. The Circle X and white-coloured cowls/tail fins denotes they were from the 313BW. 9BG. Stan Piet

oom.

DAUNTLESS A Square 1 (l ater A 1) of the 73BW. 497BG and 869BS. This B-29-40-BW 142-24592) led the first daylight high -altitude strike against Tokyo, Japan . on 24 November 1944. 73BW commander Br ig Gen Emmett O'Donnell led the 110plane attack from Isley Field. Saipan. His co-pilot, Colonel Robert Morgan. had earlier commanded the famed B-17 named MEMPHIS BELLE.the first Flying Fortress to complete twenty-five missions in Europe.

Stan Piet

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S U ~ I ~ IAR IES

The XB-29: From Chaos to Victory By Robert M. Robbins, Boeing Experimental Test Pilot onXB-29Number One Itwasat 12:26pmon18February1943whenthemounting fortunesof the fledglingXB29 flight-test programme catastrophically hit rock bottom. For it was when Boeing research test pilot Edmund T. 'Eddie' Allen alongwith his entire crew perish ed in the crash of heavily instrumented XB-29 number two. This is the story about the painful aftermath of that tragic crash, the road to recovery, the ultimate success of theXB-29 flighttest programme, and some of my involvement therein. AfterEddie's accident.of course all of theXB-29pre-crashproblemsremainedandnow there were a lot of new ones. Eddie Allen, his crew and the number two XB-29 prototypeweregone.Thecause orcauses forEddie'saccidenthadsomehow tobe found from themeagre rema ins in all the devastation- and they hadto be fixedbefore thenumber one XB-29 orany subsequent B-29 airplanes would fly again. And every efforthad to be made at the sametime to fix the many problems that had plagued Eddie. The remaining two XB-29s[the third XB-29 didnot fly until 26June 1943J and presumably the B-29s filling the productionlines weretoodangerous to fly without major modifica tions. Boeing flight test was decimated, devastated, demoralized. In less than eight yea rs Boeing had lost three chief test pilots andthree big experimental airplanes andcrews: AIReed, Eddie'sChiefofFlight Testand ChiefTestPilot. wasnowtheonlyman alive who hadever pilotedanXB-29.To thebest of my knowledge, AI never flew againafterEddie's accident. AI Reed left Boeing a few weeksafter Eddie's death anddropped from sight. The end of March a man by the name of N.D. Showalter became the new Chief of Flight Test. He had been BoeingChief MilitaryProjects Engineerand deeply involved in both the B-17 and B-29 programmes. He had flown with EddieAllenon the testing of thenumber two Model B-307 Stratolinerafter JuliusBarr had been killed in the 1939 crash of the first one. N.D. was a good pilot but had notpursued that asa profession and didnot have much opportunity to fly. Whenhecould hewou ld fly occasionallywith some of us as co-pilot. Under N.D.'s skillful guidance morale improved and flight test gradually got back on its feet. In the meantime a very comprehensive investigation into the cause or causes of Eddie'scrashwasunderway. Witnesses were interviewed, fallen bitsand piecesalong the flight pathwerecollectedandstudied, debrisfromthecrashsitewassiftedthrough for all the evidence that cou ld be found, the remains of engines andpropellers were disassembled and examined and many, manyground tests and engineeringanalyses wererun.

Extensive airplane modifications resulted. Possible conditions, which could cause fuel leaks, were eliminated. Fuel filler necks were relocated, fire stop bulkheads were installed,better sealing in someplaces and better ventilation in otherplaces was provided. Dams andoverboard drains werealsoprovided to get rid of anyfuel that might leak. These and many other improvements were incorporated in the number one and three XB-29s and all production airplanes. Shortlyafter Eddie's accident, Brigadier General K.B.Wolfe wasdirectedby General Arnold to take over all aspects of the B-29programme. Oneof his directives was that the Army Air Corps would take overthe entireB-29 flighttest programme andthe number oneXB-29 flight test programmewould be done at Wichita where conditionswere much more favourable. The wea ther was be tter, runways were longer and wider, approaches were clearer and good alternativefields were relatively close. TheBoeing Wichita plant wou ld provide support. The number oneXB-29 pilot and co-pilot would be Air Corpsofficers. Other than that theairplane would beoperated and maintained inaccordancewithBoeing flighttest proceduresandbyBoeing peoplewho were familiar with the large amount of highly specialized instrumentation. I wasasked to be the primary interface betweentheAir Corpspilots andthe Boeingtest crews - essentiallyto betheFlight Test Project Pilot butwithout anypiloting duties. Unresolvedwasany consideration of whetherI wouldever beallowed to fly the airplane. On30August 1943thenumberoneXB-29wasflown fromSeattletoWichitabyColonel Olson. Since thelossof thenumbertwoXB-29, this wasthe only heavily instrumentedB29 inexistence- a veryva luableairplanefrom whichalot of datawasneededin ahurry. Colonel H.S. Esteswastheco-pilot. Theyverygenerouslysigned me on alsoasaco-pilot and let me fly fora couple of hours on theway to Wichita. In Wichita they arranged for meto get some transitiontime. My first flight there was with Major Sullivan on3 September 1943fromWichita to Salina in the brand-new YB-29 service test airplane, serial number41-36963 (YB-29 number101. Major Sullivan gave mefour flights, five take-offs and six landings on 3 and4 September at SmokyHill and Walker in 'Sixty Three'. In the weeks of number one XB-29 flight testing that followed, I was allowedto fly asco-pilot onevery flight andgiven theopportunity to get asmuch experience with the airplaneas our test requirements permitted. On 8 October Colonel Estes checked me out asAircraft Commander and Ed Martin asmy co-pilot. and, except for a few additional flightswith usover the following twoweeks, turnedthenumber oneXB-29 flight test programme overto us in its entirety After 21Octoberthe numberoneXB-29 flight test programme was a total. 100 percent Bo eingresponsibility once again.

Nine unidentified 8-29s flying in three-ship formations to create a nine-ship box formation. Griber via Stan Piet

784

SUMMARIES

By 28 October 1943 we had finished the initial testingwith the number one XB-29. Theairplaneandtestinghad goneextremelywell. In fiveandahalf weekswehadmade twenty-four flights in seventy-two hours of flying. There had beenno engine failures and nosignificant probl ems. We had gottenlarge amounts of crucial performance and engine cooling data and make take-offs upto 130,OOOIb 159,OOOkg). We flew a 3,000mile (4,800kml. fourteen-hour simulated bombing mission with a 1D,OOOlb (4,500kgl simulated bomb load. Therewas no longer any doubt that the B-29 wasgoing to be a fine airplane. Andthe severetrauma sufferedbytheBoeingFlight TestOrganizationfromEddieAllen's 18February crash was largely healed. N.D. Showalter,thesuperb Boeing manager and Chief of Flight Test. had restored the Flight Test Organization to the superb team that Eddie Allenhad built. He had alsoearned the respect of K.B. Wolfe and the Air Corps. N.D. had stayed in Wichita during the entire time the number oneXB-29was there to do everything possible to help achieve the huge successesthat had been realized. It wastimeto take thenumberoneXB-29back to Seattleforconfiguration and instrumentation changes so wecould get onwith the next seriesof testsandtoexplore new ideas and potential improvementsto make the B-29 fleet as safe andcombat effective as possible. It was a triumphal return. In December we flew another 37 hours 25 minutes andstill had no enginefailures. Thingsweregoing great - a far cryfromthe fierceproblems EddieAllenhad beenfighting a year before. Thenumber oneXB-29 had earned theright to aname. After careful considerationand in view of its past and probable future of experimentation and exploration, it seemed right to name her 'THEFLYINGGUINEA PIG'. To the end, it was an appropriate name.

A B-29-75-BW(44-70077) 01the 19BG IromKadena Air Base in J apan, circa 1952. Packed within its belly we re 20,OOOIb 01100lb bombs. Stan Piet

On 15August 1945whenthewar ended,therehadbeen9,062 B-29sorderedof which 3,970 werecompleted. After thewar ended we continued thenumber oneXB-29 flight testingat a somewhat slower pace. The last time I ever flew THEFLYING GUINEA PIG wason 9 May 1947 whenwe usedit asa landing simulator forthe XB-47 Stratojet, on which I was to make the first flightthat December. On 11May 1948 thenumber one XB-29wasscrapped. It hada total of 576 hourson it; EddieAllen had flown it for twenty-seven hours. I hadbeen on board a total of 545hours and had been pilot in command for 496 of those. From21 October 1943 to the end of the war on 15August 1945, 1hadbeen theProject TestPilotandaircraft commander onevery flight of XB-29 number one - 312 flights, totalling 458 hours in twenty-two months. There is a picture that shows THEFLYI NG GUINEA PIGin the scrap yard fading away. After fouryears ofvery closeassociation and beingalmostmy entirelife's work for two of thoseyears, it issaddening to see something that served mankind sowell just be left in solitude, ignored, to fade away alone. She started as an incorrigible; developed to serve mankind well; was fun to fly. Andwhile she has physically passed into oblivion, hermemoriescontinueon. I'll never forget thenumber oneXB-29 flight-test programme. However, I was fortunate that my next programme, the XB-47 Stratojet, was even more fun to fly andeven more exhilarating. Also it was the biggest peacetime bomber programme ever. For 2,042 B-47s were ultimately produced for the USAir Force.

B-29weight and balance diagram. Note that the pressurized bulkheads are 01a convex shap e like the exter ior of a sphere. USAF

185

S U ~ n tA R I ES

ABOVE: The Boeing B-50 was no more than a modernized B-29 used to supplement the USAF heavy bomber fl eet until jet-pow ered B-47s came on li ne. An Ai r Force Reserves (AFRES) B-50B (47-1621 is shown here. Stan Piet

A trio of 314BW. 29BG B-29s have departed North Field . Guam i n Apr il of 1945 to once more atta ck a very stubborn J apan. It is most unfortu nate that Jap an opted to fight on rather th an surrender. prior to the devastation caused by the atom bombs. Stan Piel

This B-29. marked w ith 20th Air Force logo and Number 1 on its tail. wa s one of thre e modif ied B-29Bs that flew non-stop some 6.000mil es (9.700km) from Jap an to W ashington DC after VJ-Day. It was commanded by Lt. General Barney M . Giles. deputy chief of US Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific. USAF _,.,..,

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The B-29 w as at one time the world's largest operational bomber, That was the case unti l the Convair B-36 'Peacemaker' came along . Their relat ive sizes are dramatically shown here. USAF

186

I

.

. ....... .

. _

_

-

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..

APPEND IX I

8-29 Production Contr acts Dcsigiuuio»

XB-29-BO XB-29-BO YB-29-BW B-29-I -BW B-29-5-BW B-29-10-BW B-29-15-BW B-29-20-BW B-29-25-BW B-29-30-BW B-29-35-BW B-29-40-BW B-29-45-BW B-29-50-BW B-29-55-BW B-29-I-BA B-29-5-BA B-29-10-BA B-29-15-BA B-29-20-BA B-29-25-BA B-29-30-BA B-29B-30-BA B-29B-35-BA B-29B-40-BA B-29-40-BA B-29B-40-BA B-29- I-MO B-29-5-MO B-29-10-MO B-29-15-MO B-29-20-MO B-29-25-MO B-29-30-MO B-29-35-MO B-29A- I-BN B-29A-5-BN B-29A-IO-BN B-29A-15-BN B-29A-20-BN B-29A-25-BN B-29A-30-BN B-29-35-MO B-29-40-MO B-29A-35-BN B-29A-40-BN

A moun:

2 I

14 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 100 100 100 50 14 16 20 50 50 50 29 41 70 45 4 12 I

7 8 16 28 50 69 18 20 30 50 50 50 50 50 67 33 100 100

C ontract N umber

Date of Contract A/JIJroval

AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC

6/9/40 14/ 12/40 16/6/4 1 6/9/4 1 6/9/4 1 6;9/4 1 6/9/4 1 6/9/4 1 3 1/1 /42 3 1/ 1/42 3 1/ 1/42 3 1/ 1/42 3 1/1 /42 3 1/1/42 3 1/1/42 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 30/6/44 30/6/44 30/6/44 30/6/44 30/6/44 6/30/44 6/30/44 6/30/44 19/9/42 19/9/42 19/9/42 19/9/42 19/9/42 19/9/42 19/9/42 30/6/44 30/6/44 30/6/44 30/6/44

15429 15429 (amended) 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 27730 27730 27730 27730 27730 27730 27730 27730 27730 27730 27730 27730 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 117 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 11 7 117 19673 19673

18 7

B-29 I' ROD UCTI O "

A B-29A-40-BN (44-61604) of the314BW, 19BG from North Field, Guam. David W. Menard

Contracts continued Designation

13-29A-45-B 13-29A-50-B 13-29A-55-13 13-29A-60-13 13-29A-65-BN 13-29A-70-13 13-29A-75-BN 13-29-55-BW 13-29-60-BW 13-29-65-BW B-29-70-BW 13-29-75-BW 13-29-80-BW 13-29B-40-13A 13-29-40-13A 13-29B-45-13A 13-29-45-13A 13-29B-50-13A 13-29-50-13A 13-2913-55-13A 13-29-55-13A B-2913-60-BA B-29-60-BA B-29B-65-BA 13-29-65-BA B-29-40-MO B-29-45-MO B-29-50-MO 13-29-55-MO B-29-60-MO 13-29-80-BW B-29-85-BW B-29-86-BW B-29-90-BW B-29-90-BW B-29-95-BW B-29-96-BW B-29-97-BW B-29-100-BW

A mo un t

100 100 100 100 100 100 19 50 100 100 100 100 50 5 I

42 25 23

23 24 24 24 23 25 24 35 39 55 55 48 50 50 50 50 50 65 20 15 30

C ontra ct j umber

Dale of Cammer A/J/n'Ol}(l!

AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC AC

30/6/44 30/6/44 30/6/44 30/6/44 30/6/44 30/6/44 30/6/44 13/6/44 13/6/44 13/6/44 13/6/44 13/6/44 13/6/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 19/7/44 6/9/44 6/9/44 6/9/44 6/9/44 6/9/44 30/6/44 30/6/44 30/6/44 30/6/44 13/1/45 13/1/45 13/1/45 13/1/45 13/1/45

19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 27730 27730 27730 27730 27730 27730 27730 27730 27730 27730 27730 27730 11 7 11 7 11 7 117 11 7 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673 19673

188

11 -29 I'ROD UCT I O;-.l

Production De$i[!;lUHion

N unioe: BlIilc

XB-29-BO XB-29-BO YB-29-BW

2 H

B-29-I-BW

17

B-29-I-BA B-29-I-BW B-29-I -BA B-29- I-BW B-29- I-MO

1 1 I 4 4

B-29-I-BA B-29-I-BW B-29-I-BA B-29-I-BW B-29-I-MO B-29-I-BW B-29-I-BA B-29-I-BW B-29-5-BW B-29-10-BW B-29-15 -B\'(1 B-29-20-BW B-29-25-I3W B-29-30-BW B-29-35-BW B-29-40-BW B-29-45-BW B-29-50-BW B-29-55-BW B-29-1-I3A B-29-5-I3A B-29-10-BA B-29-15-BA B-29-20-BA B-29-25-BA B-29-30-BA B-29B-30-BA B-29B-35-BA B-29EH O-BA B-29-40-BA B-29EHO-BA B-29-40-BA B-29 BAO- BA 13-29-40-BA B-29IH O-BA B-29-I-MO B-29-5-MO 13-29-10-MO B - 2 9 -1 5 - ~1 0

B-29-20-MO B-29-25-MO

I

5 I

II 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 100 100 100 50 14

16 20 50 50 50 29 41 70 45 I 6 I 5 I I 3 7 8 16 28 50

Serial i lImber ($)

Designauon

41 -002/-003 41 -1 335 41 -36954/-36967 (41-36954 ro XB-39) 42-6205/-6221 (first production B-29s) 42-6222 (first Bell-built 13-29) 42-6223 42-6224 42-6225/-6228 42-6229/-6232 (firs: Martin-buill B-29s) 42-6233 42-6234 42-6235 42-6236 42-6237 42-6238/-6242 42-6243 42-6244/-6254 42-6255/-6304 42-6305/-6354 42-6355/-6404 42-6405/-6454 42-24420/-24469 42-24470/-2451 9 42-24520/-24569 42-24570/-24669 42-24670/-24769 42-24770/-24869 42-24870/-249 19 42-63352/-63365 42-63366/-63381 42-63382/-6340 I 42-63402/-63451 42-63452/-6350 I 42-63502/-63551 42-63552/-63580 42-63581/-63621 (first B-29Bs) 42-63622/-63691 42-63692/-63736 42-63737 42-6373 /-63743 42-63744 42-63745/-63749 42-63750 42-63751 42-65202/-65204 42-65205/-65211 42-6521 2/-6521 9 42-65220/-65235 42-65236/-65263 42-65264/-65313 (42-653 14 was cancelled; no other information)

B-29-30-MO B-29-35-MO B-29A- I-13N

69 1 20

B-29A-5-13N

30

B-29A-10-B B-29A-15-BN B-29A-20-BN B-29A-25-BN B-29A-30-BN B-29-35-MO B-29-40-MO 13-29-35-13 B-29A-40-BN B-29A-45-BN B-29A-50-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-60-BN B-29A-65-BN B-29A-70-BN B-29A-75-BN B-29-55-13W B-29-60-BW B-29-65-BW B-29-70-13W B-29-75-BW B-29- 0-13W B-2913AO-BA B-29-40-BA B-29I3AO-BA B-2913A5-BA B-29A 5-BA B-29B-45-BA B-29A5-BA B-2913-45-BA B-29-45-BA B-29BA5-BA B-29-45-13A B-29B-45-BA B-29-45-BA B-29B-45-BA B-29-45-13A

50 50 50 50 50 67 33 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 19 50 100 100 100 100 50 4 1 1 4 I 3 I 3 I 2 I 2

B-2913-45-BA B-29B-45-BA B-2913-45-13A B-29B-45-BA

2 3 3 7

189

N lImber BlIilc

I

2 20

Serial i lImber(s)

42-65315/-65383 42-65384/-6540 I 42-93824/-93843 (first B-29As built and the first B-29s ( 0 be built at Boeing's Renton Washington plant) 42-93844/-93873 (42-93845 to XB-44) 42-93874/-93923 42-93924/-93973 42-93974/-94023 42-94024/-94073 42-94074/-94123 44-27259/-27325 44-27326/-27358 44-6 15 10/-6 1609 44-61 6 10/-6 1709 44-61710/-61809 44-618 10/-61909 44-6 19 10/-62009 44-620 I0/-62109 44-62110/-62209 44-6221 0/-62309 44-62310/-6232 44-69655/-69704 44-69705/-69804 44-69805/-69904 44-69905/-70004 44-70005/-70 I04 44-70 105/-70 154 44-83890/-83893 44-83894 44-83895 44-83896/-83899 44-83900 44-8390 I/-83903 44-83904 44-83905/-83907 44-83908 44-83909/-839 10 44-83911 44-83912/-839 13 42- 3914 42- 39 15/-83916 44-83917, 44-83920,44-83923, 44-83926, 44-8392 , 44-83930, 44-83932, 44-83934,44 - 3936, 44-83938, 44-83940, 44-83945, 44-83947, 44-83949, 44-83951 , 44-83953, 44-83955,44 -83957, 44-83960 and 44-83962 44-83918/-83919 44-83920/-83922 44-83923/-83925 44-83927, 44-83929,44 -83931, 44-83933, 44-83935,44 -83937 and 44-83939

1l-29 PROD UCTI ON

Producti on continued Designation B-29B-45-BA B-29B-45-BA B-29-50-BA

N umbev Bllill 4 I

23

B-2913-50-BA

23

13-29-55-BA

24

13-2913-55-BA

24

B-29-60-BA

23

B-29B-60-BA

24

Serial

IImber(s)

44- 3941/- 3944 44-8396 J 44-83964,44-83966,44 - 3968, 44-83970,44-83972,44 - 3974, 44-83976,44-8397 , 44- 3980, 44-83982,44-83984,44 -83986, 44-83988,44-83990,44 -83992, 44-83994,44-83996,44-83998, 44-84000,44-84002,44-84004, 44-84006 and 44-84008 44-83963,44-83965,4 4-83967, 44-83969, 44-83971,44-83973, 44-83975,44-83977,44-83979, 44-83981 ,4 4-83983,44-83985, 44-83987, 44-83989, 44-83991, 44-83993, 44-83995,44-83997, 44-83999,44-84001,44-84003, 44-84005 and 44-84007 44-8401 0,44-8401 2,44-84014, 44-8401 6, 44-8401 8, 44-84020, 44-84022,44-84024,44-84026, 44-84028,44-84030,44 -84032, 44-84034,44-84036,44-84038, 44-84040,44-84042,44-84044, 44-84046, 44-84048, 44-84050, 44-84052,44 -84054 and 44-84056 44- 4009, 44-84011 , 44-84013, 44-8401 5,44-8401 7,44-8401 9, 44-84021,44-84023,44 -84025, 44-84027, 44-84029,44-84031, 44-84033,44-84035, 44-84037, 44-84039, 44-84041, 44-84043, 44-84045,44-84047, 44-84049, 44-8405 1, 44-84053 and 44-84055 44-84058, 44-84060, 44-84062, 44-84064,44-84066,4 4-84068, 44-84070,44-84072, 44-84074, 44-84076,44-84078,44-84080, 44-84082,44-84084,44-84086, 44-84088,44-84090,44-84092, 44-84094,44-84096,44-84098, 44-841 00 and 44-841 02 44-84057,44-84059,44-84061 , 44-84063,44-84065,44-84067, 44-84069,44-84071,44-84073,

Designation

N umber Bllill

B-29-65-BA

24

B-29B-65 -BA

25

B-29/-29B-BAs B-29-40-MO B-29-45-MO B-29-50-MO B-29-55-MO B-29-60-MO B-29-MOs

35 39 55 55 48

B-29-80-B\XI B-29-85-B\XI B-29-86-B\XI B-29-90-B\XI 13-29-90-B\XI B-29-97-B\XI B-29-95-B\XI B-29-96-B\XI B-29-95-B\XI B-29-100-B\XI B-29-B\XIs

50 50 50 50 50 15 35 20 30 30

Totals: XB-29-BO (3), YB-29-B\XI (14), B-29-BA (357), B-29-B\XI (1 ,630), B-29-MO (536), B-29A -BN ( 1,119), B-29B-BA (3 11) - 3,970 B-29s total; the last producti on B-29, a B-29A-75 -B (44-62328), came off the Boeing-Renton production lin e on 28 May 1946.

790

Serial N llm ber(s) 44- 4075,44 -84077,44- 4079, 44- 40 1,44-84083,4 4- 40 5, 44- 40 7, 44-84089, 44- 4091, 44- 4093,44 -84095,44- 4097, 44- 4099,44-84101 and 44- 4103 44-841 04,44 -841 06,44-841 08, 44-841 10, 44-8411 2,44-841 14, 44-841 16, 44-8411 8, 44-84120, 44-84122, 44-84124,44-84126, 44-84128,44 -84130,44-841 32, 44-84134,44-84136,44-84138, (44-84140 cancelled), 44-84142, 44-84144,44-84146, 44-84148, (44-84150 cancelled), 44-84152, (44-84154 cancelled) and 44-84156 44-84105,44 -841 07,44-841 09, 44-84111 ,44-84113, 44-841 15, 44-8411 7, 44- 41 19, 44-841 21 , 44-84123,44 -841 25,44-841 27, 44-841 29,44 - 413 1,44-84133, 44-841 35, 44-841 37,44-841 39, 44-84141 ,44 -84143,44-84145, 44-84147,44-84149,44-841 51 , (44-84153 cancelled) and 44-84155 44-841 57 to 44-84389 cancelled 44-86242/-86276 44-86277/-863 15 44-8631 6/-86370 44-86371/-86425 44-86426/-86473 44-86474 to 44-86691 cancelled 44-87584/-87633 44-87634/-87683 44-87684/-87733 44-87734/-87783 45-21693/-2174 2 45-21743/-217 57 45-21758/-21792 45-21793/-21 12 45-21 813/-21 842 45-21 843/-21 72 45-21873 to 45-22792 cancelled

B- 29 PRODUCT IO N

A B-29 from an unknown unit named "l AUE" HO! is shownhere in mothballs at Oavis-Monthan AFB . Arizon a after it was cocoonedfor long-duration storage. Schirmer via Sian Pial

PHO DUCTlO N - KEY

BA BN 130 13\'(1 MO

Bell-Atlan((l , Georgia Boeing-!{enton, \VClShington Boeing-Seattle, Washington !3oeing-Wichi((l , Kansas lvlartin-O maha, N ebraska

F-13 and F-13A Production (partial) Original

Serial No.

Formerly

C ommen :

Original

Designation F-13

42-6412

13-29-20-13\'(1

served as F-13 proto: vpe

F-13

F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F- 13 F- 13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13A

Serial No.

Formerly

42-93850 42-93851 42-93852 42-93853 42-93854 42-93855 42-93856 42-93863 42-93864 42-93865 42-93866 42-93867 42-93868 42-93869 42-93870 42-93871 42-93872 42-93874 42-93879 42-93880 42-93900 42-93903 42-93912 42-939 14 42-939 19 42-93926 42-93933

B-29A-5-BN B-29A-5-BN B-29A-5-BN B-29A-5-BN B-29A-5-BN B-29A-5-BN B-29A-5-BN B-29A-5-BN B-29A-5-BN B-29A-5-BN B-29A-5-BN B-29A-5-BN B-29A-5-BN B-29A-5-BN B-29A-5-BN B-29A-5-8 N B-29A-5-BN B-29A- IO-BN B-29A-IO-BN B-29A- IO-BN B-29A-10-BN B-29A- IO-BN B-29A-IO-BN B-29A- IO-BN B-29A- IO-BN B-29A-15-BN B-29A-1 5-BN

DesigllMion

42-24566 42-24567 42-24583 42-24585 42-24586 42-24588 42-24621 42-24803 42-24805 42-2481 0 42-248 11 42-248 13 42-2481 6 42-2481 7 42-248 19 42-24821 42-24829 42-24833 42-24860 42-24869 42-24870 42-24871 42-24877 42-24881 42-93849

13-29-35-13\'(1 13-29-35-13\'(1 13-29-40-13\'(1 13-29-40-13\'(1 13-29-40-13\'(1 13-29-40-13\'(1 13-29-40-13\'(1 13-29-50-13\'(1 13-29-50-8\'(1 13-29-50-13\'(1 13-29-50-13\'(1 13-29-50-8\'(1 13-29-50-13\'(1 13-29-50-13\'(1 13-29-50-13\'(1 13-29-50-13\'(1 13-29-50-13\'(1 13-29-50-13\'(1 13-29-50-13\'(1 13-29-50-13\'(1 13-29-50-13\'(1 13-29-50-13\'(1 13-29-50-13\'(1 13-29-50-13\'(1 B- 29A-5-BN

F-13A F-13A F- 13A F-13 A F-13A F-13A F-13A r -13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13 A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F- 13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A

191

C onnnen t

1l-29 PROD UC T IO N

F-13 and F-13A Produc tion (partial) continued O rigina l Design{l(ion

Serial No.

F-I3A F-I3A F-I3A F-I3A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13 A F- 13 A F-13A F-13 A F-13 A F-13 A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F- I3A F-13A F-I3A F- I3A F- I3A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13 A F-13 A F-13 A F-1 3A F- 13 A F-13A F-I3 A F-13A F- I3A F-13 A F-13 A F-13 A F- 13 A F-13 A

42-93965 42-93967 42-9396 42-93987 42-93992 42-93993 42-94000 42-94022 42-94054 42-94074 42-94080 42-94081 42-94113 42-94114 44-61528 44-6153 1 44-61 533 44-61 577 44-61 57 44-61 583 44-61 659 44-61 727 44-61 8\ 0 44-61 8 13 44-61 815 44-61 817 44-61 8\ 44-61 819 44-61822 44-61 832 44-61 843 44-61 847 44-61854 44-61 855 44-61 857 44-61860 44-61862 44-61 866 44-61 924 44-61 929 44-61 930 44-61 931

Formerl)'

Comment

O rigina l

Serial

1

o.

FOllnerl)·

Dcsignaiun:

B-29A-15-BN B-29A- 15-BN B-29A-15-BN B-29A-20-BN B-29A-20-BN B-29A-20-BN B-29A-20-BN B-29A-20-BN B-29A-25-BN B-29A-30-BN B-29A-30-BN B-29A-30-BN B-29A-30-BN B-29A-30-BN B-29A-35-BN B-29A-35-BN B-29A-35-BN B-29A-35-BN B-29A-35-BN B-29A-35-BN B-29A-40-B B-29A-45-B B-29A-50-B B-29A-50-B B-29A-50-B B-29A-50-B B-29A-50-B B-29A-50-B B-29A-50-B B-29A-50-B I B-29A-50-BN B-29A-50-BN B-29A-50-BN B-29A-50-BN B-29A-50-BN B-29A-50-BN B-29A-50-BN B-29A-50-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-55-B B-29A-55-B B-29A-55-B

F-I3A F-I3A F-I3A F-I3A F- I3A F-13A F-I3A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13A F-13 A F-13A F-13A F- I3A F-13A F-I3A F-I3 A F-13A F-I3 A F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F- 13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13 F-13

Kn own to tal: 139

792

44-61 933 44-61 934 44-61 939 44-61 945 44-61 946 44-61 947 44-61 94R 44-61 951 44-61 960 44-61 961 44-6 19R1 44-6 1986 44-6 1989 44-6 199 1 44-6 1999 44-62000 44-62216 44-62282 44-6228 ) 44-622 4 44-62285 44-622 6 44-622<7 44 - 6 22 R ~

44-622 'l) 44-6229 44-622l)1 45-2145-2171 45-21 45-~ 1 7 » )

45-21766 45-21 68 45-21773 45-21775 45-21777 45-21790 45-218 12 45-21846 45-21 847 45-21 84 45-21 856 45-21859

B-29A-55-B B-29A-55-B B-29A-55-B B-29A-55-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-55-B B-29A-55-B B-29A-55-B )-29A-55-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-55-BN B-29A-70-BN 1)-29A-70-BN 1-19. -70-BN B-29A-70-B B-29 -70-13 B-29A-70-B B-29.'\- 70-B B-29A-70-B 13-29.'\-70-B 1)-29.'\-70-B B-29A-70-B B-29-9 -BW B-29-95-BW B-29-95-B\'(I B-29-95-B\'(I B-29-95-BW B-29-95-BW B-29-95-BW B-29-95-BW B-29-95-BW B-29-95-BW B-29-96-BW B-29-1 00-BW B-29-100-BW B-29-100-BW B-29-100-BW B-29-100-BW

C omment

APPENDIX II

Individual Aircraft Names A A BLE FOX 42-24466 5 W40G45 A-BROA D WITI-I ELEVE YA KS 44-70083 73W499G 77S ACE BASE ACE IN T HE WHOLE 44-6 1872 98G K AKA SACS APPEAL 98G

ADAMS EVE 42-24600 73W500G883S AG ITATO R, TH E 42-6399 58W444G678S AG ITATO R II, TH E 42-24899 58W444G67 S AH SOO 44-61 17 9 G K/SAC91SRS AIRBOR E 42-652685 W444G794S ALL SHOOK 98G345S K AMARILLOS FLY ING SOLENOID 41-36959 58W468G AMERICAN BEAUTY 42-24686 73W500G882S AivlERICAN BEAUTY 42-24703 58W468G792S AMERICA BEAUTY III 44- 7661 5 W468G792S AMERICA MAID 42-24593 73W497G869 ANC IE TM ARI ER, T HE 44-70113 73W500G 83S ANDYGU MP 42-24528 ANDYS DA DY 42-65208 58W468G794S ANGEL I DISGUISE 58W40G45S ANGELLlC PIG, T HE 44-61 99 1 58W40G A DEE 42-65249 73W500G 3S A 1 GARRY III 313W 6G39 A GARRY V 44-87650 3 13W6G39S A NIE 42-6224 5 W468G ANTAGO IZER 314W39G6 1S A TO I ETT E 42-24751 73W498G875S ANTO ll ETT E II 44-70 135 73W498G875S A YT IME 9 G345S K APE SHIP 44- 6330 98G343S K AKA BULL BUTT ING BOMB APE SHIP 98G K ARKANSAS TRAVELLER 44-69892 3 14W29G52S ARKA SAS TRAVELLER 42-65331 73W498G873S ARSON INC. 44-70 129 58W444G677S A KA FLAK MAID ASSID TEST 42-65336 58W462G769S AKA ASSID T EST II 58W462G769S ATOMIC TO M 44-69 62 19G93 K AKA C IT YOF FLATBUSH

B 13 A BI RD 42-93896 3 13W9G 1S A KA BIG GA K BABYGA IL 42-2491 7 314W29G6 IPPER A KA C IT YOF MILW C IT Y

BABY SAN 44-86290 SAC98G AKA PHIPPENS PIPPE S BABY'S BUGGY 44-61 61 8 SAC92G BABY'S BUGGY42-93964 314W330G459S A KA CITYOF ROCK ISLA D BACH ELO R QUARTERS 42-24507 58W444G67 S BAD BREW 42-24594 73W497G869S BAD BREW II 42-63539 73W497G869S BAD CREW 42-24594 73W497G869S BAD ivlEDIC I E 42-24 50 3 13 W505G482S BAD PE Y 42-65274 58W40G45S BAI BRIDG E BELLE 42-63525 313W505G4 2S BALD EAGLE (T HE) 3 14W39G60S BALL OF FIRE 42-65344 313 W505G483S BANANA BOAT 42-63551 313 W6G40S BA ANA BOAT 44-86261 28G BARBARA A 42-24652 73W500G8 2S a nd 883S A KA DEVILS DELI GHT BARBRA A 44-61685 73W500G882S BARRO ESS. TH E 42-24675 73W500G8 3S BATAA AVE GER 44-69753 3 13 W6G BATTLIN BETTY 42-24606 73W498G875S BATTLIN BETTY 44-69847 313 W6G40S BATTLl BETTY II 42-24760 73W498G875S BATTLI BETT Y III 44-69772 73W498G875 BATT LI BEAUTY 42-24457 5 W40G25S BATTLI . BEAUT Y42-63457 5 W462G769S BATT LI BITCH II BATTLI N BONNIE 42-24907 3 13 W9G IS BATTLI N BONNIE 1144-87737 3 13 W9G IS BATT LI BULLDOZER 42-93908 314W330G458S AKA CIT YO F C EDAR RAPIDS BEAUBOMBER II 42-63442 73W499G 79S BEAT ME 42-93943 3 14W330G45 AKA C IT YO F r RT MOUTH BEDRO M EYES 42-246 10 73W498G874S BEETLE 13 MB 44-69800 98G 344S K A KA CITY OF SAN FR N I 03 14W330G29S BEE LE BOMBER BEI-IR ' BROO D 42-93955 3 14W330G45 S A KA CIT Y F EOLA AKA CO LLEE BELL RI ER 42-63464 5 W468G 794S BELL R T H 42-24680 73W500G88 1S BELL 13 RTION 42-63355 58W468G793S BELL E F BI KINI. T HE 44-61 882 16 PRS AKA HEAVENLY L I : 16 PRS AKA DESTINATION UNK OWN ,}44 K B1~ ,AL LANCER 42-6348 58W40G44S B I~ L LANCER 42-24487 58W468G793 BE RAIDERS 44-69725 73W500G883S BET Y3 13W9G99S

793

INDI VID AI. A IRC RAFT NA\ IES

BETT ER' UT I 42-2453 58W444G676 BETTY BEE 73W499G87 BETTY MARION 44-699 10 3 14W39G60S A KA CIT YOF SPOKA E BIG AINT IT 42-65273 58W444G677S BI G BLOW 44-86339 98K BIG CHIEF 42-63 2 58W462G770S BIG DICK 313 W9G99S BIG FAT ~ l A M A & PATRICA LY N 42-9390 1 3 13 W6G39S BIG GAS BIR D, T HE 44-86400 98G344S K BIG JO E 42-24885 313 W6G24S BIG MIKE 42-63619 3 13 W505G BIG PO ISO 42-6353 5 W444G677S BIG PO ISON 2ND DOSE 42-6')270 BIG SCHMOO 44-69963 58W44G678S BIG SHMOO 44-62063 19G93S K BIG ST ICK, T HE 42-2466 1 73W500G BI G ST I K 44-27354 3 13W509G393S A KA DAV E'S DREAM BIG T IME O PERATO R, T HE 42-2479 1 3 13W9G IS BIG WHEEL, T HE 42-652 3 3 13W9G99 BLACK BARTS REVE G E 44-69706 73W49G BLACK HILL BABY 44-84054 28G BLACK JACK 42-6292 58W444G45S BLACKJACK 11 314W39G60S BLACK JACK TOO 42-63451 58W444G678S BLACK MAG IC 42-24672 73W500G88 1S BLACK MAG IC 42-6276 58W40G45S AKA O LD CRACKER KEG BLACK MAGIC 1142-24718 58W40G45S BLACK HEEl' 3 14W39G6 1S A KA C IT YOF AUST IN BLI D DATE 41 -24429 5 W468G794S BLIZZARD WIZARD 44-62216 308WRG375WRC A KA DUFFY'S TAVER BLUE BO ET BELLE 42-6307 58W444G676S BLUETAILFLY42-65272 19G30S K BOCKSCAR 44-27297 3 13W509G393S BOMBIN BUGGY 42-6306 58W40G44S BOMBING BUGGY II 42-24541 58W40G44S BON IE LEE 42-6322 58W40G44S BOOMERANG 44-61 81 BOOZE HO D 44-69746 73W500G881S BRI GADE 5 BROOKLY BES IE 42-93 545 W40G IPRC 13- \VEET 42-6425 58W40G25S B-SWEET II 42-24522 5 W40G25S B-SWEET II I 42-6349 58W40G25S AKA LAZY BABY B-SWEET IV 44-70094 58W40G 25S BUB 44-61 8 15 19W 19G30S-K BUCKIN BRONC 44-70136 73W882S BUCKI ' BRONCO 42-63436 73W500G882S BUGGER 42-6361 0 3 15W331G355S BUGS BALL BUSTER 44-6163 19G28S.K AKA GO I G MY \VAY3 14W I9G2 S BULL BUTT ING BO ~'lB 44-86330 9 G343S K AKA APE SHIP BURK JERKS 45-21 721 9 K BUR ING DESIRE 3 14W39G62S BUSHWACKER 315W j

'

BUST' 1TH E BLUE 9 G K BUTT ER FLY BABY 44-61854 SAC98G

c CABOOSE 44-69870 3 14W39G6 1S AKA C ITYO F AURORA CADEN MAIDE 3 15W CAIT PAOR AT 42-9382 58\V40G395S CAjU QUEE 144-69982 58W444G676S CALAMITYj A E 42-245 9 5 W40G25S CALAMITYSUE 42-636 58W46 G794S CAMEL CARAVAN 42-6333 58W468G 793S CAMI NI GO 344S K CAN UCK, TH E 42-24668 73W500G882S CAPT. SAM AND T HE T EN SCENTS CAPT. CLAY42-6351 4 3 13 W6G CARALANI 42-65213 58W462G770S CATG IRL 44-62053 19G2 A KA ROCK HAPPY CELEST IAL PRI CESS, T HE 42-2459 5 W462G770S CELEST IAL QUEEN 44-876605 W40G44 CE SO RED LADY 44-69810 314W39G60S AKA CENSO RED AND O LD P-47 CHALLE GER, T HE 42-62 4 5 W468G 794S CHARLEY'S HA T 3 13 W9G CHARLI E'S WAGO 44-69746 SAC 22G CHAT' NOOGA C HOO C HOO 42-24471 58W468G782S CHERRY HO RIZONTAL CAT 42-63564 3 14W29G52S CHICAGO QUEE 3 15 W CHICAGO SAL 44-61 562 58W468G792S CHIEF MAC T El LI TTL E I lDIAN 44-621 86 SAC98G K CHIEF SPO KANE, TH E RED ERA O R 44-61 25 SAC9 G K CHOTTO MATTE 44-86400 98G344 CITY SERIES OF THE 33 0BG. 45 7, 458 AN D 459BSs: 457135 44-69696 - CITY OF REDBANK A KA HAPPYSAVAGE 42-93982 - C ITYOF H. WO RTH 44-698 17 - CIT YOF ROANOKE A KA REA DY BETTY 42-93957 - C IT YOF DULUT H AKA SHE WOLF A KA DO 'T WORRY ABOUT A THI G 42-93971 - CIT YO F COU C IL BLUFFS A KA T HE GERM 42-9397 - CIT YOF jACKSO lVILLE AKA MISS TAKE 42-93980 - C ITYOF ST. PETERSBURG A KA MY GAL C ITYO F WILLI AMSPORT 42-94062 - C ITYOF C HATTANOOGA A KA PLUTO 42-93935 - CITY O F HIGH MAN A KA SHILLELAG H C IT YOF BEDf ORD 44-69928 - C ITYO F BERKELEY AKA jE REVIE 42-94024 - CITYO F C LAYTO N AKA OU R BABY 42-94016 - CITYO f OMAHA AKA x«: AMARA'S BAND 44-69795 - U AMED 42-93969 - U AMED 42-94032 - C IT YO F SA JOSE CITYOF ST PETERSBURG A KA MY GAL II 44-69996 - C ITYOF GARY 42-94029 - C ITYOF KANKAKEE A KA LUCKY STRIKE

794

(l':DIVIDUAL AIRCRAFT l':A:>IES

458I35 42-93970 - C ITYOF WEST PALM BEACH 44-69790 - C ITYO F B1 RMI G HAM A KA OLE BOOMERA G 42-65371- C ITYOF OMAHA AKA YO KEE DOLL-AH 44-69800 - C ITYOF SA FRA C ISCO 42-93943 - ITYO F PORT MOUTH A KA BEATS ME 42-93943 - C ITYO F SpRI GFIELD A KA JANIE 42-93908 - C ITYOF CEDAR RAPIDS A KA BATT LI BULLDOZER 44-8961 4 - C ITYO F NIAGA RA FALLS AKA KNIPP'S V . NIPS 42-698 14- C ITYOF INDIA APOLI S A KA MARY KATHLEEN 42-93945 - C ITYOF PORTSMOUTH AKA BEATS ME II 44-69997 - C ITYOF SPANISH FO RKS AKA HEAVENLY BO DY 42-94052 - C ITYOF TERRA HAUT E AKA STAR DUST 42-93955 - C ITYOF OSCEO LA AKA BREI-IE 'S BROOD 42-93996 - C ITYOF RICHMOND AKA REBEL'S ROOST 44-69995 - CITYO F KNOXVILLE AKA ER IE PYLE 42-94037 - CITYOF HERSHEY AKA THE WILLFUL WITCH 44-700 16 - CITYOF QUAKER CITY AKA SE lT IMENTAL JOURNEY 44-700 10 - CITYOF HATCH AKA CITYOF PACIFIC PALISADES AKA CUE BALL 42-63517- C ITYO F PO RTSMOUT H A KA ROUND RO BI 44-69799 - CRASHED ON FIRST MISSIO 12 APRIL 1945 CITYO F GRASS VALLEY AKA BUSTY BABE BOMBER

459I35 42-6974 1- CITYOF CO LUMBUS A KA TEN UNDER PAR 42-93946 - CITYOF ROCK ISLAND AKA BABY'S BUGGY 42-69786 - CITYOF RENO AKA HERE TO STAY 42-69772 - CITYOF PATT ERSON AKA KOEHANE'S KULPRITS 42-65370 - C ITYOF MIAMI BEAC H A KA OL' SMO KER II 42-65363 - C ITYOF AKRON AKA LADYjA E 42-69766 - C ITYOF BURBANK AKA O LD SOLDIER'S HOME 42-6980 1 - C ITY OF MEDFO RD AKA LI GHTENI G LADY 42-93837 - CITYOF MIAMI BEACH AKA O L' SMOKER 44-699 1I - C ITYO F RICH MOND AKA VIVAC IOUS LADY 42-93961 - C ITYOF ABERDEE 42-94059 - C ITYOF FARMI GTO AKA LO ESOME POLECAT 42-93912 - C ITYOF GLENDALE AKA MOTLEYCREW 42-94047 - C ITYOFJAMESTO\V A KA THROBBI G MONSTER 44-69897 - C ITYOF LARAMIE 42-94040 - C ITYOF ROCH ESTER AKA FEATHER MERCI-IA TS 42-94071 - ITYOF EVA STO N AKA CITYOF GAl ESVILLE, C ITYOF O KLAHOMA CITY 42-63539 - CITYOF HIGH LAND FALLS 44-61664 - CITYOF LYNN COC K SURE

O LLEEN 42-93955 3 14W330G458S A KA BEl-IRE S BROOD AKA C ITYOF OSCEOLA OME ON A MY HOUSE OU R BABY COMMA D DEC ISIO 144-87657 19WI 9G28S o FEDERATE SOLDIER 3 14W39G60S A KA C ITYOF YOUNGSTOW o STANT YMPH 42-63487 73W500G882S CO VINCER 44-61 521 58W468G793S CO RAL QUEE 42-2461 5 73W497G869S CO RAL QU EE 42-63499 3 13W504G398S COU NTRYGENTLEMA 42-24793 313W505G482S COX'S ARMY 42-63544 3 13W9G5S CRAIG COMET, TH E 42-63445 58W468G794S CRAMER'S CRAPpER 44-83897 3 15 W331G356S CREAM OF T HE CROP 44-6 1657 19G30S CROSS OVERTHE BR IDGE CULTURED VULTURE 42-2490 1 313W6G39S CUNNUC K, T HE 42-24668 73W500G

o DANGEROUS LADY 42-24 Z3 313W505G AKA HIGH 'EH DOC! AKA 27T H NCB SPECIAL DANNY MITE 44-69777 73W49 G874S DARK EYE 42-63555 58W40G45S DARK SLIDE 44-27296 JP RC AKA U ITED OT IO S SAC 98Gj92G DARLI G DON A ;:3 42-24820 313W9G99S DAU TLESS DOTT Y42-24592 73W497G869S DAVES DREAM 44-27354 313W509G393S A KA TH E BIG ST INK DEACONS DELI GHT (THE) 42-24818 313W505G484S DEACONS DISC IPLES 42-24492 58W44G44S DEAD JUG 19G93S K DEAL ME IN 44-69805 98G K DEARLY BELOVED 44-70069 3 13 W6G40S DEE-FENCE BUSTER 44-62274 30 1G3SRS DEST INYS TOT 42-65284 3 13 W9G5S DEST INYS TOT 42-65293 73W497G DEUCES WILD 42-6222 58W40G45S DEUC ES WILD 44-69809 313W505G482S DEVILS DARLIN 42-24629 73\V498G873S DEVILS DELIGHT (THE) 42-24652 73W500G882S AKA BARBARA ANN DEVILISH SNOO KS 42-63527 5 W40G44S DICKERTS DEMO S 44-86361 98G344S K AKA LONELY LADY98K AKA LONE OME POLECAT DI A MIGHT 42-652 03 13W504G29S DI AH MIG HT 42-65286 313W9G IS DING HAO 42-6358 58W468794S DING HOW 42-6358 5 W468G794S DING HOW 42-6313 5 W40G45S DING HOW 42-6225 5 W444G676S DIXIE BABE 19 K DIXIE DARLIN 42-63423 73W497G871S DO IT AGAIN 42-65229 313 W6G39S DO 44-69972 DOC SAID ALL I NEED WAS AFFECT ION 42-65266 3 I3W504G

795

INDI V ID UA L A I RCRA FT NA \ I ES

DOCS DEADLY DO E 42-24780313 W504G39 S DOPEY 44-700 16 AKA C ITYOF QUA KER C ITY & SENT I1v1ENTALJOURNEY DO RIS AN 142-24677 58W444G792S DOTT IE'S DILEMMA 42-24796 313 W9G5S DOUBLE EXPOSURE 42-24877 JP RC DOUBLE EXPOSURE 42-93855 58W IPRC DOUBLE OR NUT HI 19G K DOUBLE WI-IMvlMY 44-87734 19G93S K DOW S CLOW 44-862 4 9 G K DRAGG I LADY 42-24694 73W500G 81 DRAGO BEHI D 44- 624758W444G676S DRAGO LADY 42-93892 313W9G99S DRAGON LADY 73W497G87 1S DRAGON LADY 44-61 835 19G30S K DRAGON LADY (TH E) 42-63425 73W497G871S AKA TERRIBLET ERRY DRAGON LADY 42-69663 58W468G793S DRAGO LADY42-63525 3 13W505G482S DREAM BOAT 'i8W44G DREAM G IRL 42-634 05 W462G76 S DREAM G IRL 42-24673 73W499G879S DREAMER 44-27341 3 15W9 G343S DROOPY DRU KARD - STAGG ER IN 44-615665 58W40G 25S DUC HES ALMOST READY 3880 344K DUC I-IESS 42-63411 58W444G677S DUCI-IESS (T HE) 42-93880 98G K DUFFYS TAVERN 44-62216 308WRG 375WRS AKA BLI ZZARD WIZARD DUKE OF ALBUQUERQUE 44-69829 73W500G88 1S DUMBO 42-6257 58W444G

E EAGER BEAVER III 42-24750 73W498G876S EARLY BIR D 42-63556 3 13W9G5S EARLY BIRD 44-86303 3 13W6G EART HQUA KE MCGOON 42-24866 3 13W6G40S EDDIE ALLE 42-24579 58W40G45S EDDIE ALLE 1144-701 51 58W40G45S EIGHT BALL 44-62237 98G K EIGHT BALL CHARLI E 42-65328 5 W40G44S EILEE 42-6323 58W444G678S EL PAjARO DE LA GUERRA 42-24 74313 W6G24S ELEA O R 42-65337 58W444G676S AKA j o ELLIE BARBARA A D HER O RPHANS 42-63605 315 W I6G EMAN-ON 58W40G44S ENOLA GAY 44-86292 3 13W509G393S ERNIE PYLE 44-701 18 3 13W504G458S ER NIE PYLE' MILKWAGON ESSO EXPRESS 42-6242 58W46 G 794S EVERY MA A T IG ER 44-61830 SAC98G K EXCA LI BUR 42-6316 58W462G76 S

F FA CY DETA IL 42-24696 73W500G882S FANCY NANC Y313W9G FANNY-TI-IE ATO M & 144-86384 3 13W509G398S FAST COMPANY 42-2469 1 58\V468G792S FAST CO MPA Y 42-63495 73W499G877S FAT CAT (T HE) FAY 42-65210 73W49 G874S AKA FILTHY FAY FEATHER MERCHANT 42-6308 58W40G45S FERT ILE MYRTLE 45-21787 FEVER FROM T HE OUT H 42-63497 73W500G882S FICKLE FINGER 42-63426 73W497G 71S FIF144-62070 FIGHT ING PA C1-II TO (TH E) 44-69724 73\V497G FILTH Y FAY 42-65210 73W498G874S A KA FAY FILTHY FAY 2 42-93999 73W498G874S FILTHY FAY3 44-69852 73\V498G874S FIRE BALL 44- 62281 98G345S K FIRE BELL E 44-6 1653 58W444G677S FIRE BUG 44-69944 73W500G882S FIRE BUG 42-63566 3 14W29G52S FLAG SHIP 42-63504 313W504G39 S FLAG SHIP 500T H 44-61 669 73W500G883S A KA MISSIO INN SAC22G2S & 19\V19G FLA K ALLEYSALLY 42-24878 3 13W6G39S FLAK MAGNET 44-61634 58W40G44S FLAK MAID 44-70 129 AKA ARSON INC 58W444G677S FLAK SHACK FLEET ADMIRAL IlvllTZ 42-63650 3 15W50 1G FLUFFY FUZZ FLUFFY FUZZ 2 FLUFFY FUZZ3 3 15W FLUFFY FUZZ 4 3 15 W FLUFFY FUZZ 5 FLYIN' I-lO ME 42-24909 58W468G793S FLYIN JACKASS 42-24580 5 W444G676S FLYI NG FOOL 42-24698 73W499G877S FLY ING GUINEA PIG (T HE) XB-29-1, 41 -2 FLYING PARTS 44-86438 FLYING STU D 42-6320 58W44G FLYING ST UD 2 FO RBI DDEN FRUIT 42-24607 73W498G875S FO REVER MvlBER 44-69839 3 13 W6G40 FO REVER AMBLI G 44-62231 43RC FOUR-A-BREAST 44- 6323 19G28S K FRENCH 'S KABAZIE WAGO 44-700 11 3 13 W9G99S FRESHLY MAID'CAPT PEO AND HIS 10 ACS' 343K FRI ENDLY UNDERTAKER 44-62213 SAC 98G FRISCO NANNY 42-93889 73W500G882S FRY 'IN PAN (TH E) 44-698 12 SAC98K345S AKA SUC J-IOS IN! FUBAR 42-63378 58W444G676S FUj lGMO 44-621 66 19G K FU-KEMAL 42-6352 58W444G676S FU-KEM AL-TU 42-24720 58W444G676S FULL HO USE 44-27298 313W509G393S

196

(NI>IVIl) UAI. AIRC RAFT

G GAl lOPI GOOS E 42-6390 58W468G794S GAME COC K 'T I-IE' 313W 504G GAS GO BBLER 44-623 14 43G GEAR BOX (THE) 42-24704 58W468G793S GEISHA G ERT IE 42-24763 73W498G874S G E ERAlA DREW 44-69888 314W39G GE ERAl H. H. AR OLD SPECIAL 42-6365 58W46 G794 GE IE 42-63455 58W40G25S GE 11:;=244-61 12 58W40G25S GEORGIA PEACH 42-63356 5 W468G793S A KA l ASSIE VA LKYR IE QU EEN GERTRUDE C 42-6334 58W468G794S G HASTLYGOOS E (THE) 42-63541 73W497G871S GLO BE G IRDlE MYRTLE 42-24581 58W462G770S GO DS Wlll42-24831 3 13W9G 1S GO IN ' j ESSE 42-63561 313W9G5S GO ING MY WAY44-6163 3 14W I9G28S AKA BUG'S BAl l BUSTER I9W I9G2 GO E WITH T HE WIND 42-6331 5 W40G25S GO A MAK'ER 42-65231 73W497G871S GOOD DEAL 42-24852 313W504G421 S GRAVEL G ERT IE 42-63500 58W468G792S GRAVEL GERT IE 42-64221 73W500G882S GREAT ART ISTE (THE) 44-27353 3 13W509CG393S GRIDER GIRL 42-24884 3 13 W6G39S GRIM WOO D GREMLI NS 3 15W GRYM GRYPHON 3 14W GUARDIANS OF PEACE 44-62224 SAC98G344S AK A WA DERER SAC 98G345S K GU GA DII 42-635658W468G792S GUS HER 42-6356 5 W468G792S GYPSY (TH E) 44-61 948 98G /1 9G AKA SHEER MADNESS

H HAD A CALL 19K HAGARTY'S HAG 44-86408 98K 1-I Al EY'S CO MET 42-24615 73W497G870S I-l AM'S EGGS 42-24670 73W499G879S HAP'S CHARACTERS 42-63424 58W46 G792S (-lARRY MIl l ER 42-24740 58W40G45S HASTA LUEGO 42-24647 73W499G87 S HAULIN A 44-621 03 SAC 98G343S K HAULI NASS 42-2446 1 73W499G878 HAULINGS TURBO 10 (TI- IE) HAWG WILD 44-61 748 SAC 307G I-I EARD O F BALD GOATS 44-70005 3 13W505G482S HEARTS DESIRE 98G K HEARTS DESIRE 2 98G343S K I-IEATS ON (T HE) 42-24605 73W498G873S HEAVENLY 44-69696 314W I9G30S HEAVENLY BO DY42-628 1 58W40G HEAVENLY BO DY 42-6351 HEAVENLY BO DY 44-69997 3 14W330G458S AKA CITYOF SPA ISH FO RKS HEAVENLY BODY 42-63510 73W498G

NA ~ IES

I-lEAVE lY FLOWER 42-94025 3 13 W9G99S AKA JUDY ANN LITTLE EVIL I-lEAVE lY l ADE 44-6 1 22 16PRC HEAVENLY lADE 45-21 822 91 HEAVENLY l ADEN 45-21522 98G344SG HEl l ON WINGS HEl l ON WINGS 42-93857 58W444G677S HEl l S BEllE-BEll RUTH 42-24680 73W500G88SG I-IEllS BEllS 73W499G HER MAJESTY42-63375 58W444G677S HER E TO STAY44-69786 3 \4W330G459S AKA C ITYO F RE 10 HERO HEATERS 44-6 1702 58W468G793S HI ST EPPER 42-65275 58W468G794S HIGH 'HI DOC 3 13W505G482S AKA 27TH NCB SPECIAL A KA DANGEROUS l ADY HO HUM 44-701 23 58W462G768S HO BO Q UEEN 4 1-36963 58W462G HOG WilD 42-63436 73W500G HOG WilD 44-70 136 73W500G 88S 1-IOllEY HAWK HOl l YWOO D CO MMA DO 42-24724 5 W444G677S HOLTO 'S BAR'l 92G HOLY JO E 42-63489 73W500G881S HOMB IRCCISMUS 58W HOMERS'S ROAMERS 42-24794 73W498G873S HOMING BIR D 42-24824 313W505G483S HOMOG ENIZED ETHYL 44-6971 0 43W43AREFS HON. SPY REPORT 42-24876 3 13W9G99S I-IONEY 42-24659 73W499G879S HO EY BUCKET HO SHO 44-61 929 9 1 HONEYWEll HONEY42-2473 58W40G45S HONGCHOW 44-27308 28G HONORABLE T T WAGO 42-63484 3 13 W505G484S HO SHU HAWK 42-63444 73W498G87S HO SHU HURRICANE 73W499G87S HOODLUM I-lOUSE #2 42-24475 58W462G768S HO RE-ZONTAl DREAM 58W444G678S HOT BOX 19G HOT PANTS 42-63485 73W497G869S HOT T' TROT 44-69727 98G345S HOT TO GO 42-65352 19G93S also with SAC98G K HOUND OF HEAVEN (THE) HO USTO FLYER3 13W9G HOUSTO I-IONEY 42-63475 73W49 G875S HULL'S ANGEL 42-63362 58W462G770S I-lUMP HAPPY MAMMY42-624I AKA MALFU CT ION JUNCT ION AKA YEllOW ROSE O F TEXAS all ass. to 58W40G44S I-lUMP HAPPY PAPPY42-6254 58W40G45S HUMPI N I-IONEY42-6299 58W462G770S I-lUMP'S HO EY 44-24648 73W497G87IS I-IUN-DA-GEE 44-61546 58W444G678S HURRICA E HATTIE 44-87750 373WRC HURRICA E HU T ERS 44-69987 53WRC

79 7

INDIVIDUAL AIRCRAFT NA.\ IES

K HIBAN 44-61 807 9 1SRS TH E MOO D 313W CHCLI FFE CASTLE 44-61 543 58W444G67 S DIA MAID 67TH SEABEE 42-24806 313W505G482S DIA A 42-63546 313W9G99S I DIA A I142-94010313 W9G99S IINSPIRATIO 42-63427 73W499G8S IRISH GIRL 42-63614 3 13W505G IRISH LASSIE 42-6524_ 73W497G8S IRISH LULLABY42-24830 313W6G24S IRON G EORGE 44-87640 58W IRON SHILLALAH 42-635 19 73W487G ISLAND GIRL ISLAND PRINCESS ISLAND QUEEN 3 13W504G ISLAND QUEEN 19G28S

KAGO TSUCHI 42-24737 5 W40G KAGO TSUC HI 315W KAMO DE HEAD 44-62000 KAMRA-KAZE 44-61583 16PRS KA SAS FARMER 73W KATIE 42-6298 58W40G25S KAYO KID, T HE 44-69987 73W49 G873S KICKAPOO II 42-6232 58W468G792S KI CK-A-POO JAY III KI CKAPOO LOU 42-24678 58W460G792S KING SIZE 42-6347 58W462G796S KITT EN 42-63380 SAC98G AKA SPITT IN KITTIN KLONDIK E KUTEY 42-24612 KOEHANE'S KULPRITS 44-69774 3 I4W330G459S KOZA KID44-8766 1 I9G29S KRI STY ANN, TH E 42-93886 3 13W9G IS KRI TZER BLITZER 42-63542 58W40G44S KRO'S KIDS 42-24788 3 13W504G

.J jABBITT III 44-27303 3 13 W509G393S JACKPOT 42-24797 313W505G4 4S jA K'S I-lACK 44-61566 5 W46 G794S JAKE'S JALOPY 44-69985 313W9G99S JANICE E, T HE 42-93947 73W500G883S JANIE 44-70101 3 14W330G458S j E REVIENS 44-7010 1 73W500G882S; forme rly jA IE (see above)

j ITA 19G93S io 42-65337 58W444G676S A KA ELEANO R JOE'S JUNK 42-24883 3 14W 19G28S JO HNNY REBAL 44-61674 58W468G794S jOI-I N'S OT HER WIFE 44-86349 SAC 22G jOKENS WILD JOKERS WILD 42-24626 73W497G87IS JOKERS WILD II 42-24897 58W444G677S JOLLY ROGER 468G JOLLY ROGER 42-6341 5 58W468G793S JOLLY ROG ER 3 13 W6G JOLLY ROG ER 42-63475 58W468G793S jOLTIN' JOSIE: TH E PACIFIC PIONEER 42-24614 73W498G873S JOOK G IRL 313W505G JOURNEY FOR MARGAREET jOY-OUS VE TURE 44-61821 5 W444G678S JUDY A , TH E 42-94025 313W9G99S JUG HAID II JUG HAID III 44-69676 314W29G60S JUG HOU D JALO PY3 15 W JUMBE, KI G OF T HE SHOW 42-6341 8 73W497G871S JUMBO II 42-24855 73W497G871S jUMPI G STUD , THE 42-63414 73W497G871S JUS' ONE MO' T IME 315W501G JUKE BOX 42-63353 58W468G792S

L LA BOH EM E 44-61851 54WRC LADE MAIDE (THE) LADY BE GOOD 42-65227 58W468G792S LADY CHATEAU 44-87674 5 W468G793S LADY EVE 42-65211 73W49 G875 LADY EVE II 42-24663 73W498G875S LADY FRA C IS 44-61670 58W444G676S LADY HAMILTON 42-6274 58W468G794S LADY HAMILTON :2 42-24542 58W468G794S LADY IN DIS DRESS 44-86446 SAC98G344S AKA LOS ANG ELES CALLING SAC98G A KA RANKLESS WRECK SAC98G also with 19W 19G93S LADY IN WAITING 44-84068 58W444G AKA SHAH ABSO RBER 3 I6W346G462S LADY JANE 42-65363 3 14W330G459S AKA CITYOF AKRON LADYJAYNE 44-69874 3 13W9G5S LADY LUCK 3 15W LADY MARGE 42-24975 LADY MARGE 42-24485 58W444G676S LADY MARGE : 2 42-63399 5 W444G676S LADY MARY ANNA 42-24625 73W498G875S LAGGIN' DRAGON 44-86347 313W509G393S LAGGI WAGO 42-65390 98G92S LAKE SUCC ESS EXPRESS 44-69980 9 K SAC 22G LANCER 314W39G62S LASSIE 42-63356 58W468G793S LASSIE:2 42-24769 73W499G 78S LASSIE COME HOME 42-24609 73W498G874SQ LASSIE TOO 42-63460 58W468G793S LASSIE TOO 42-93984 58W462G768S LASSIE VALKYRIE QUEE 42-63356 58W468G793S AKA GEORGIA PEACH LAST O PER FLT 42-65234 LAST RESORT 42-63394 58W40G LEADING LADY 42-24766 73W500G882S 198

I ND IVID UA L A I Re RA I'T

LEGAL EAGLE 44-84 1I 28G714 LEMON (TH E) 42-63462 5 W40G44S LEMO! DROPKID 44-7001 2 19W19G2 S K LES'S BEST 3PRC LETHAL LADY 42-6370 58W468G793S LI BERTY BELLE 3 15W? 92K? LIBERTY BELLE;:2 39G LIFE OF RILEY 42-65241 3 13W504G LIFE OF RUBY (THE) LI L ABNER 44-69657 73W500G882S LlL DARLIN 44-86272 SAC98 K LIL' jOD INE 42-24875 313W9G IS LIL ' jOD I E 44-69748 313W9G IS LIL LASSIE 42-24693 73W499G878S LIL LASSIE 11 42-24769 73W499G878S LIL ' SPOOK 44-86346 313 W505G AKA SPOOK 3 13 W509G393S LI L YUTZ 42-24892 58W468G794S LI MBER DUGA N 42-6230 58W468G792S LIMBER DUGA N ;:2 42-65315 58W468G792S LIMBER RICH ARD 44-70072 313W9G99S LITTLE BUTC H 42-940 14 73W498G873S LITTLE CLAMBERT 42-245 2 58W40G44S LITTLE EVIL 3 13W9G LITTLE FELLOW 44-61 782 73W500G881S LITTLEG EM 42-24596 73W497G869S LITTLEJEFF 44-69 55 313W6G40S LITTLEjO 42-246 11 73W498G873S LITTLE MIK E 42-63422 58W444G677S LITTLEO RGA A IE 42-24893 58W46 G794S LIVE WIRE 42-24 53 313W9G I LOA DED DICE 42-63688 315W 16G 15S LOADED LEVE 44-69803 SAC98G AKA LUCKY LEVE 1.0 ELY LADY 44-86361 SAC98G AKA DICKERT'S DEMO S 98G344S LONESOME POLECAT 44-62151 375? LONESOME POLECAT 44-86272 98G843S LONESOME POLECAT 42-94059 3 14W330G459S AKA CIT YOF FARMINGTON LONESUM POLL CAT 44-62151 58W LONG DISTA CE 42-24544 73W498G875S LONG JOH SILVER 42-63502 58W462G769S LONG WI DED42-63509 3 13 W9G99S LOOK HO!vlEWARD ANGEL 44-69736 3 13W6G39S LOR DS PRAYER 44-6991 4 3 14W39G60S LOS A GELES CALLI G 44-86446 A KA LADY I 1 DIS DRESS SAC98G AKA RA KLESS WRECK also with 19W I9G93S LOVELY LADY LUBRICAT I G LADY 44-6 175 1 19G28S LUC IFER 45-21 745 19G30S LUCKY 1344-701 49 58W444G676S LUCKY DOG 19G LUCKY IRISH 42-63432 73W497G874S LUCKY IRISH 42-24622 73W497G870S LUCKY LADY 44-62304 315W43G AKA MISS LACE 315W I6G I7S LUCKY LADY 42-24863 313W504G398S LUCKY LADY 42-24584 58W444G678S LUCKY LADY 44-61 734 73W498G873S

NA ~ I E S

42-24685 73W498G873S 42-93956 313W9G I 42-93951 313\Xl6G24S LUCKY LEVE 44-69 03 AC9 G AKA LOADED LEVE LUCKY LYN 42-2459 1 73W497G 69S LUCKY SEVE 142-6407 5 W468G794S I. CKY ST RIKE 44-6201 0 SAC 98G K A KA I. CKY TR IKE ;:2 SAC 92G344S I. CKYST RIKE 44-62070 3 10 L CKYST RIKE 42-63552 3 13W6G39S L CKY ST RIKE 42-94029 3 14W330G457S AKA C ITYOF KANKAKEE LUCKY ST RIKES 42-94030 73W498G873S LUELLA JEA 44-6 1795 LUKE T HE SPOOK 44-86346

M M P I 44-86247 98G344S MAC'S EFFORT 44-70073 98G MAIDENS PRAYER 44-6 1678 73W498G874S MAl OU I 44- 643698G343S MALE CA LL 42-63537 58W444G676S MALFU CT IO jU CT IO 42-6241 A KA HUMP HAPPY MAMMY A KA YELLOW ROSE O F T EXA all with 5 W40G44S MAMMY YOKUM 42-63536 5 W468G792S MA 0 ' WAR 42-6346 5 W462G768S MA O' WAR;:2 42-635113 13W9G IS MA I' HAPPY RETURNS 3 I4W39G60S MARGIE'S MAD GREEK ;:3 44-6 1 43 MARIA A BELLE 44-69 833 13W9G IS MARIAN A BELLE 44-700 15 58W40G44S MARIANNA RAM 44-69732 73W497G869S MARY ANN 42-24550 73W499G878S MARY ANN 42-24494 58W468G792S MARY ANN 42-24693 73W499G878S AKA LI L' LASSIE MARYANNA 42-65253 313W505G482S MARYANNA ;:2 44-69962 3 13W505G482S MARY K 42-24525 58W468G793S MARY KAT HLEE 44-69814 3 14W330G458S AKA C IT Y OF INDIANAPOLIS MARY LOU 44-61960 6 11 EG MARY LI GAY (T HE) 44-71 13 73W500G883S MARY 'S LI L' LAMBS 44-63332 58W444G678 MASON'S HO EY 44-61721314W29G6S MAX EFFO RT 19G93S MAXIMUM EFFORT ;:3 44-69893 314WI9G93S MAXIMUM LOAD 42-63564 3 I4W I9G30S MAYA'S DRAGO I 42-94022 3 13 W6G39S MEET I G HOUSE MEMPHIS MAID 44-70 120 58W444G678S MIGHT Y FI E 44-61655 73W498G873S MILLION DOLLAR BABY 42-65247 73W500G883S MILLION DOLLAR BABY 42-6397 58W468G793S MILLION DOLLAR BABY ;:2 42-63532 58W46 G793S MIS-CHIEF-MAK-ER 42-24896 MISS AMERICA '62 42-24896 3 I3W6G 24S MISS SEA HAVEN 44-69805 98G 199

I:-I DIVIll UAL AIRCRAFT i\'A).,lES

MISS BEHAVE ' 42-24655 73W497G881S MISS BEHAVI ' 44-69685 3 14WI 9G28S AKA CIT YOF BOSTO MISS BEHAVI ':2 42-63523 73W497G 71S MISS CARRIAGE 42-63364 3 13 W504G680S MISS DO A LEE 42-24915 58W40G45S MISS FO RTU E 19G28S MI S HAP 42-24774 73W497G MISS JACKIE T HE REBEL 19G MISSj UDY 44-61 555 5 W462G770S MISS LA E 42-63554 73W498G874S MISS LACE 44-87658 58W462G MISS LACE 44-62304 3 15W I6G 17S AKA LUCKY LA DY 3 15W43G MISS LEA D 42-24734 58W468G794S MISS MARGARET 42-63427 73W497G870S MISS MEGOOK MISS MINNETT E 42-6272 58W468G794S MISS MINOO KI 44-864 15 SAC98G K AKA SQUEEZE PLAY SAC 98G 343S K MISS MI-NOOKY 44-69764 313W9G99S MISS N.C. 44-86376 19G28S MISS PATCH ES MISS PEGGY44-69565 58W468G793S MISS ROSEMARY 42-2484 3 13 W505G4 2S MISS SA DY 44- 76595 W46 G 793S MISS SHO RT Y 42-65272 5 W46 G 793S MISS SPOKA E 44-27332 98G344S MI S SU SU 42-2481 2 3 I3W504G42IS MISS TAMPA 44-86340 19G MISS YOU 44-70100 5 W40G44S MISSION IN 44-61669 SAC22G2S also with 19W I9G AKA FLAGSHIP 500T H 73W500G883S MISSION I 44-27263 22BG K MISSION TO ALBUQUERQUE 42-24849 73W500G881S MISSION TO ALBUQUERQUE : 2 42-93909 3 13W505G482S MISS-LEA DING LADY MISSOURI BELLE 42-63557 58W444G678S AKA SURE T I-IING 58W444G678S also wirh 19W I9G MISSOURI QUEEN 42-6359 58W462G MONSOON 42-6294 58W40G45S MONSOO N : 2 42-24846 58W40G25S MONSOO GOON 42-93828 58G468G794S MO SOO GOON ;:2 42-2489 1 58W444G676S MO ST RO 44-841I I, XF-85 Goblin parasite fighter program mother plane MOON'S MOO BEAM 44-61 8 15 SAC9 1SRS AKA MOON SHI E RAIDERS 3 15W331G MOO NSHINE RAIDERS 44-61 81 5 3 15W331G AKA MOON'S MOONBEAM SAC9 1SRS MOOSE IS LOOSE 42-24851 3 13W504G39 S AKA OMAHA ONE MOR E T IME 3 13 W504G421S AKA T HE ONE YOU LOVE 504G MOOSE IS LOOSE 42-24834 SAC 98K MRS T ITTY MOUSE 42-6521 2 73W498G875S MULE TRAIN 44-86261 SAC 22G MUS'N TOU C H 44-6 1548 58W40G44S MUSNT TOUC H 42-24657 73W500G883S MY ASSAMDRAGO N : 3 19G

MY BUDDY 42-65279 58W468G794S MYGAL SAL 44-69660 58W468G794S MY AKED 42-63725 3 15W50IG485S MY AKED 42-63725 315WI6G MYA KI AS 44-621 0 98G343S MYA'S DRAGON 42-94042 315W6G39S MYASIS DRAGON 98G MYSTERIOUS MISTRESS 42-6312 58W462G77 1S

N AUG HTY NANCY 42-63496 313W505G also with 58W444G677S NECESSARY EVIL 44-86291 3 13W509G393S NEVER HOPPEN 44-61 562 19G 28S NEVER HOPPEN 44-62196 22G NEXT O BJECT IVE 44-27299 3 13W509G393S NIGHT PROWLER NIGHT MARE 42-6311 58W462G77 IS NIGHT-MARE! 44-87661 19G28S NIGHTMARE 44- 7661 19G30S NI A ROSS 42-24689 73W500G881S II' CLI PPER 98K IP FINALE 313W9G II' NEMESIS 44-69733 3 13W9G IS IP 0 ESE NIPPER 42-939 17 314W 19G93S AKA CITYO F MEMPHIS II' 0 NEES 44-62261 9 G344S IP-ON- EE 44-62261 98343K II' PON-ESE 44-87760 19G93S NIP-PO -ESE 44-6 161792G NIPP 0 NESE 42-24917 3 14W29G6S AKA NIP ON ESE NIPPER AKA borh C IT YOF MILWAUK EE & OKLAHOMA CIT Y AKA BABY GAIL NIPPON NIPPER;:2 42-63503 58W40G44S NIPPON NIPPER:3 42-24729 58W444G44S NO BALLS ATO LL 42-93925 3 14W29G43S AKA CITYOF ARCA DIA NO PAPA 42-6325 58W444G676S NO SWEAT 44-87618 19G285 NOA I--rS ARK 44-27334 NOA H'S BORSHUNS 3 15W NEXT OBJECT IVES NIGHT PROWLER 3 15W NO SWEAT 44-8761 8 19G28S K NO SWEAT 44-70 134

o OGOS HI I! 0 1-1 BROT HER 502G O ILY BO lD 42-24912 3 14W29G6S OL ATCHRAL3 15W OLD 574 42-63574 313W9G99S O LD 900 42-24900 313W9G99S O LD ACQU AINTANCE 58W O LD BITCH-U-A IRY BESS 42-6273 58W462G769S also with 98G345S K

200

INDIVID UAL AIRCRAFT

OLD CAMPAIG ER 42-6272 58WW468G794S OLD DOUBLE DUCE 44-62022 SAC9 IG AKA PEACHY OLD EIGHTY ON E 3 14W39G60S O LD IRO SIDES 42-24436 73W500G882S O LD MALU ALUM 315W O LD MA MOSE 5 W462G O LD OVERCAST 3 14W39G61S O LD SOLDIERS [-lOME 44-69766 3 14W330G459S A KA CITYOF BURBA K O LD WILD GOOS E 44-69771 9 G345S O LE GAS EATER 42-24798 58W40G45S OLE MISS IV 45-21793 OLE MISS 45-21793 OLE SMOKER 44-69857 314W330G459S OMAHA ON E MORE T IM E 42-24851 3 13W504G42IS AKA T HE ON E YOU LOVE 504G A KA THE MOOSE IS LOOSE 504G398S ON E YOU LOVE (THE) 44-69727 3 13W504G O REGO EXPR ESS O' REILLYS DAUGHT ER 42-6264 58W468G 792S O' REILLY S DAUGHT ER : 2 44-61 703 58W468G792S OU IJA BIRD 58W40G OU R BABY42-24597 73W497G869S OU R GA L 19GK OU R GA L 42-244 4 5 W486G OU R GA L 44-61 932 SAC 9 G 343S OU R L' LAS 44-61 951 98G K OUT LAW (T HE) 44-69668 5 W40G45S AKA TH E WILD GOO E 98G344S OUTLAW (T HE) 42-6'5 306 19G2, S K OUTLAW (T HE) 42-24685 5 W40G44S OVER EXPOSED 44-61 999 16PRC OVEREXPOSED 44-61 13 55RG31SRS A KA PAC IFIC PRI 1 ESS 5 W444G

p PACIFIC QUEEN 42-63429 73W500G882S PACIFIC UN IO 42-24595 73W497G869S PACUSAN DREAMBOAT 44-84061 PAMPERED LADY42-6306 58W40G395S PAPA TOM'S CABIN 44-87668 58W468G792S PAPPY'S I' LUvlA 42-24882 3 13W504G42I S PAPPY'S PULLM A :2 42-634 I 3 13W504G42 IS PARTY GIRL 42-6389 58W468G792S PASSIO WAGO 42-63524 313W505G4 4S PASSIO WAGO 42-94043 313W9G IS PASSIO WAGO 42-63 9 58W44G PATCH E 42-24822 313W9G5 PATCHES 42-24624 73W49 G875S PATCHES 44-70085 58W40G45 PEACE MAKER 19G PEACE MAKER 44- 6433 9 G PEACE 0 EARTH 42-6341 2 73W497G 70S PEACE 0 EARTH 44-61 790 92G PEACEM AKER 44-86433 92G325S PEPPER 42-62I7 58W468G792S PERSUADER-HER 19G28S PETROL PACKIN' MAMA 42-6219 58W462G

NA ~ I ES

PHIPPE 'S PIPPERS PHONY EXPR ESS 42-24 0 1 58W462G770S 1'10 EER 42-6208 58W46 G793S 1'10 EER :2 42-63546 58W468G793S 1'10 EER:3 42-63534 58W468G793S POCOHA TAS 42-24601 73W498G 74S POISO! IVY 42-245 5 JPRC PO LAR QUEE 44-621 57 375 WRC POLAR QUEE 44-621 63 5 WRC PO DERO PEN 42-6343 1 73W497G 71 S PORCUPINE44-61 55 3 13W6G24S POSTVILLE EX PRESS 42-6279 58W468G792S PRIDE OF THE YANKEES 42-24676 73W500G882S PRINC ESS EILEEN 42-24462 58S444G PRI NC ESS EILEEN : 2 42-6323 58W484G678S PRI NC ESS EILEEN : 3 42-63559 58W444G PRINC ESS EILEEN : 4 42-65327 58W444G678S PRINC ESS PAT #2 44-70103 3 14W I9G28S AKA CITYOF LI NCOLN PRI NCESS Pf\T : 3 44-83946 3 15W331G357S PRI NC ESS PATSY42-6344 58\V40G25S A KA O LD FIRING BUTT PRI NC ESS POKEY42-63517 3 13 W505G4 2S PUNC HI 'J UDY 42-6571 9 73W500G 81S PURPLE HEARTLESS 44-69760 3 13W9G5S PURPLE SHAFT 42-6536 1 19G 93S & 30S

Q QUAKER C ITY44-7001 6 314W330G QUA YI CHA ARA 42-93853 3PRC QUAN YIN CHA ARA 42-93853 IPRC QUEEN BEE 42-24840 3 13 W9G IS QUEEN OF THE AIR 42-6380 234 QUEEN OF TH E EC HES 44-84065 QUEEN OF THE STRIP 3 15W Q UEEN IE 42-9383 1 58W40G45S

R RABBIT PUNCH RAIDER MAIDEN 42-6265 58W468G793S RAI El ' MAIDE 2 42-65276 58W468G793S RAMBLI RECK 42-24471 5 W468G792S RAMBLI ROSCO E 42-24664 73W500G 2S RAMP QU EE 73W499G 77 RAMP TRAMp : 2 42-24904 58W462G770S also served with 3 13W505G RA KL S WRECK 42-63420 5 W40G RAPID RABBIT 1776 9 / 19G ? RATTLE 'ROLL 44-61 803 313W6G4 RAZ ' HELL 45-21 746 19G2 S READY BETT IE 73W499G878S READY BETTY 42-24879 58W46 G792S READY T EDDY 42-6408 58W468G792S READY TEDDY 42-6356 1 3 13W9G5S REAMATROID 44-69672 313 W6G39S RED HOT RIDER 42-65338 73W497G 20 1

INDIVID UAL AIRCRAFT

REGI A COELI 44-83906 315W I6G RELUCTANT DRAG' ON (TH E) 44-62253 98G345S RENEGADE 3 14W39G61S RIPVANWRI KLE 42-24868 3 13W6G39S R.J . WILSON 42-24714 58W468G794S ROAD APPLE 42-63600 3 I5W50 lG ROC (TH E) 73W499G ROCK HAPPY44-62053 19G93S ROCKET TH E 42-24742 73W RO DGER THE LO DG ER 42-6243 58W46 G792S RO ALIA ROCKET 42-24656 73W500G881S ROUG H ROMA 19G ROUND RO B! ROSIE 444G ROUND T RIP T ICKET 42-6262 58W444G678S A KA BLACKIE! RUSH O RDER '13-13' 42-63393 58W462G768S RUSHIN' ROTATION 42-6341 7 58W468G792S

s SACS APPEAL 44-6 1872 98G K A KA ACE IN THE HOLE SAD SACK 44-61 676 9 G343S K SAD TOMATO 42-652 5 SALEM WITCH 44-61 533 SALT PETER RESISTO R 42-65307 314W19G30S SALVO SALLY42-24699 73W499G877S SASSY LASSY 42-24867 3 13 W505G484S SAN ANTONIO ROSE 42-24587 58W40G44S SATANS ANG EL 42-65202 58W444G SATAN'S LADY 42-24779 3 13 W504G SATAN' SIST ER 42-65453 73\'(I499G SENT IMENTALJOURNEY 44-700 16 3 14W330G A KA CITY OF QUAKER CITY A KA DOPEY SEPTEMBER 0 G 44-69746 SHAC K RABBIT 44-83934 SAC9 G K A KA INDEC IDED SHADY LADY 42-246 19 73W497G870S SHADY LADY 42-65357 98G345S K SHAFT ABSO RBER 44-84068 SHAG'N I-lOME 42-93859 58W40G45S SHANGHAI LI L 42-6277 58W444G676S SHANGHAI LI L RIDES AGA I 42-24723 58W444G676S SHE HASTA 3 13W505G484S SHEER MAD ESS 44-61 94 98G HEEZA GOER 45-2171 6 S H ~vl00 , THE 19G93S K SHRIKE, T HE 5 W SHRIMPER 73W SHUTT ERBUG 42-93864 IPRS SILVER STREAK, T HE 73W499G879S SIR TRO FREPUS 42-6237 58W40G SISTER SUE 42-6342 58W40G395S SITT ING PRETTY 42-24814 3 13W504G421S SKYCHIEF 44-70002 58W444G SKYOCTA NE 45-2171 6 SKY-SCRAPPER 42-63463 73W497G SKYSCRAPPER 42-24599 73W497G869S SKYSCRAPPER 42-65364 3 14W39G6 1S SLAVE GIRK 44-27307 SLEEPT T IME GAL 42-24620 58W40G44S

NA ~ IES

SLICK CHICK 42-24906 3 14W I9G93S SLICK CHICKS 42-24784 3 13W505G SLICK DICK 42-24700 73W500G882S SLOW FREIGHT 44-6 1834 98G SMILI N' JACK 42-24888 58W40G25S SNAFU-PER PRT 42-63435 73W500G881S SNAKE BIT 44-86390 98G K AKA TROUBLE BREWER SAC98G343S K S ATC H BLAC H 42-65302 314W29G52S AKA CITYOF LOS ANG ELES S OO KY'S BRATS 42-93877 5 W46 G792S S 10 0 PIN' KID 42-93865 IPRS S OO PY DROOPY 44-69746 54WRS A KA IT SHOULDNT HAPPEN 73W500G881S SNU DES DUDES 3 14W39G62S A KA C ITYOF MOOREHEAD SNUFFY42-24873 58W444G676S SNUGG LE BUN Y 44-69667 3 13 W6G40S; also assigned to 98G343S K SO TIRED 44-61727 91 PRS SO T IRED, SEVE -TO-SEVEN 44-61 727 313W9G SOFT TOUCH 19G SOME PU KINS 44-27296 509G SOUT H SEA SINNER 19G 2 S SOUT HERN BELLE 42-63478 SOUTHERN BELLE 44-61 667 58W468G793S SOUTHERN CO MFORT 44-61749 19G30S SPAC E MISTRESS 44-8631 6 SAC98G344S SPEARHEAD, TH E 44-69975 3 13W9G IS SPECIAL DELI VERY42-24628 73W97G870S SPIRIT O F FDR 42-93846 3 I3W504G482S SPIRIT O F FREEPO RT 44-62060 22G SPIRIT OF LI COLN 41-36954 SPOOK 44-86346 3 13 W509G393S AKA LIL' SPOO K 313W505G SQUEEZE PLAY44-8641 5 98G343S K A KA MISS MINOOKI SAC98G STAGG ER INN, BEER & ALE STAR DUSTER 19G STAR DUSTER 42-24782 73W499G878S STAR DUST ER 42-93858 73W497G870S STAR DUST ER 42-6305 58W462G STAR DUST ER, TH E 42-94067 313 W9G99S STAR RIDER 58W STATESIDE REJ ECT 19G93S ST I G SHIFT 44-69742 73W500G 82S STO RK CLUB BOYS 42-24 643 13W504G398S STRAIGHT FLUSH 44-27301 313W509G393S STRANGE CARGO 44-27300 3 13 W509G393S STRATO WOLF 3 14W39G6 1S AKA CITYO F NEWBERN STRATO WOLF II 3 14W39G61S STRIPPED FOR ACT ION SU SU BABY 42-24721 73W500G881S SUELLA J 44-61 577 SUPER WABBIT 73W499G879S SUPI E SUE 42-24653 73W500G883S SURET HI G 42-24653 73W500G883S SURE THI NG 44-69999 19G SWEATER OUT 42-24513 58W40G25S SWEATT OUT 73W497G

202

INDIVIDUAL AIRCRAFT

SWEET CHARIOT 3 15W50 lG SWEET JENNIE LEE 313W9G SWEET N' LOLA 44-61578 16PRS SWEET SUE 73W498G875S SWEET SUE 44-700 12 3 I3W9G IS SWEET TH ING

NA ~ IES

TROUBLE BR EWER 44-86390 SAC98G342S AKA SNAKE BIT TUMBLI NG TUMBLEWEEDS 42-93959 73W498G875S TYP HOON GOON II 44-69705 54WRS

u T TABOOMA 44-69906 58W40G25S TABOOMA 11 42-63374 58W40G25S TAIL WIND 42-24761 73W500G883S TAIL WIND 45-21721 98G345S K TAKE IT O FF 42-93939 313 W6G40S TALE OF MISS FO RTUNE II TANA KA TERMITE 42-24749 73W498G TARGET FOR TONIGHT 44-70007 19G93S TARZON TEST BED 45-21748 TDYWINDOW 44-86335 98G343S TEASER 42-63526 73W479G TERRIBLE TERRY 42-63425 73W497G871S TEXAS DOLL 42-24627 73W497G870S THAT'S IT 19G93S THERE'LL ALWAYS BE A XMAS 42-24643 73W500G88 1S THING, TH E 45-21824 5 14WRS TI-IIS IS IT 42-6321 58W444G THREE FEAT HERS 42-24671 73W500G883S THUMPER 3 13W504G THUMPER 42-24623 73W499G870S THUNDERBIRD 42-63454 58W462G770S THUNDERBIRD 42-63570 3 14W29G6S THUNDERHEAD 42-24641 73W497G871 S THUNDERIN' LORETTA 42-249 13 3 13 W9G IS T IEN LONG (SKY DRAGON) 42-65362 3 14\V39G T IGER LlL 42-94000 98G K T INNY-ANN 3 13W6G T INNYANNE 44-6981 I 313W9G IS TN -TEENY42-65278 3 13W9G IS T N-TEENY II 44-69920 3 13W9G lS TO[)DLlN' TURTLE TOjO'S NIGHTMARE 44-70 124 3 13W6G40S TOKYO-KO 42-24859 313W9G5S TOKYO LOCAL 42-24587 73W500G882S TO KYO ROSE 42-93852 3PRS TOKYO TW ISTER 42-24682 73W499G877S TOP OF THE MARK 19G28S TOP SECRET 44-27302 313 W509G393S TO RCHY42-24646 73W498G874S TO RRID TO BY42-93830 58W462G TOT IN' TO TOKYO 42-6454 58W468G793S TOT IN' TO TOKYO 42-63530 58W468G793S TOUC H AND GO 44-8760 1 TOWN TUMP 44-27282 TRAINING PLANE 'BLIND DATE' 42-24429 58W468G792S TRIFLI N' GA L 44-839 19 3 14W30 1G32SRS TRIGGER MORTIS 44-69744 313W6G39S TRIGGER MORTIS 11 44-69744 3 13 W6G39S

UMBRIAGO 42-63545 3 13 W9G5S UMBRIAGO II 42-94041 3 13W9G5S UNDEC IDED 42-24580 58W444G676S UNDEC IDED 44-83934 SAC98G AKA SHAC K RABBIT UN DER EXPOSED 42-93849 58W IPRS UNINVITED, T HE 44-69754 313W9G99S UNINVITED 3 14W39G62S UNINVITED 42-6409 58W468G794S UNTO UC HABLE 42-24506 58W462G768S UP AN' ATOM 44-27304 USS CO MFORT'S REVENGE 44-61554 58W40G45S USS PI NTADO 3 13W39G60S

v VICTORY GIRL 42-2473 1 58W444G678S VICTO RY JEAN 44-83946 315W331G357S VIRGINIA DARE 3 13 W9G VIRGINIA T EC H 44-65129 58W40G45S

w WADDY'S WAGO! 42-2459873W497G869S WANGOBA G0 44-87653 314W 19G WAR WEARY 42-24633 73W499G877S WARSAW PIGEON 44-69849 3 13 W9G5S WE DOOD IT 44-69860 314W l9G30S WHAM BAM 42-22469 58W468G793S WI-IAT HAPPENED 42-93829 58W40G395S WHEEL 'N' DEAL 42-24604 73W497G870S WHITE HUNTRESS 42-24776 3 13W6G40S WHITES CARGO 44-69872 3 14W30S AKA C IT YOF OAKLAND WICHITA WITCH 42-24654 73W498G874S WICHITA WITCH 42-24442 58W468G793S WILD HAIR 42-24505 58W462G770S WILLI AM ALLEN WH IT E 44-701 21 3 13W505G482S; also assigned to 3 13 W9G99S WILLI E MAY42-24663 73W498G875S WIMPY'S BLlTZBURGER 42-6290 58W40G44S WINDYCITY42-6253 58W468G794S WINDY CITY II 42-24486 58W468G794S WING DING 42-63458 58W444G676S WINGED VICTORY II 42-24538 58W40G44S WOLF PACK 44-86340 98G345S K WOLF PACK, T I-IE 42-94063 313W6G24S WRIGHTS DELI GHTS 44-86392 WUGGED WASCAL 42-24658 73W499G877S

203

INDIVID AL AIRCRAFT " AMES

y

A IRC RAFT N A MES - KEY

YACATAN KIDS 44-61587 58W40G44S YO NKEE DO LL-AH 42-65371 3 14W330G458S YANKEE DOLLAR 314W39G60S

AKA also known as

z ZATS ALL FOLKS! 42-24453 3 14W330G458S

Miscellan eous 8 BALL, TH E 44-70070 3 13W9G 5S 20T H C ENTU RY FOX 20T H C ENTU RY LIM ITED 44-6 1797 3 13W9G99S 20T H C ENTU RYSWEET HEART 42-24451 73W500G 20T H C ENTU RY U LIMIT ED 42-628 1 A KA HEAVENLY BODY 58W40G45S 42-24574 5 W40G45S

A [~ S

A ir [~efllelling Sqlladron

G

Groll/)

K

Korean \Var

PS

Photo Sqlladro n

P[~S

Photogral)!Jic Reconnaissan ce Sqlladron

S

Squaaror:

SA C

Strategic A ir Command

W

Wing

WRS \X!eather [~ econ n ais sa nce Sqlladron

A B-29-40-BW 142-24590). The tail code T 3 (formerly T Square 3; the square had been eliminated ) means it was from 20AF. 73BW, 498BG and 875BS on Saipan. Schirmer via Stan Piet

204

Bibliography Bowe rs, Pet er M ., Boeing 13 -29 SII!JeJ!orrress W arb ird Tcch Se ries, Volume 14 (S pecialty Prcss, 1999 ) Bo \\'crs, Peter M ., Boeing Aircraft since 191 6 (A ero Publish e rs, 1966 ) Ca mpbe ll, Richard H ., T hc)' \V'erc Callcd Si!vcr!J!at c (S ilvcr pla rc A ssoc iates, 20 0 I ) C o lliso n , T ho mas, T he SU!Jel!o rrrC.l.l i.l Born : The Story of tlv: 13 -29 (Duel l, S loa n & Pearce, 1945 )

Dav is, La rry, 13-29 SII!Jcrforrre.l.l in ac tion (Sq uadron/S ign al Puhlica t ions , 199 7) Hess, Wi lliam H ., johnsen , Fred er ick A. and Marsh all, C hes te r, Grern Bombers of \Vorld \Val' II (MBI Publishing, 1998 ) Ho wlc rr, C h ris (cd .), \Vashingwll Timc.l Newsletter Issue N o. I, Fall 200 1; Issue No. 2, Wint cr 200 2 T iv: Pacific SUlr.l and Stri!Jcs, 30 Dece mber 1950 , 'A lo ne W ith T he Ene my: Recollec t ions of an R B-29 C rew in Japan '

205

Index Aero Spacclincs 169 Air Force: Srh 94 l Orh 76, 88, 179 20th 8 1, 88, 94, 179 Airborne Early Warning (AEW) 120 aircraft designations: B- I7F 20 B- I7G 19 B-24 20 B-29 149 B-29-BA 149 B-29-BW 149 B-29-MO 149 B-29A 170 B-29A-B 150 B-29B-BA ISO B-29B-BA ISO B-29C lSI B-29D l SI B-29F lSI B-29L 152 B-29M 152 B-29MR 152 B-50 18,1 66 B-54A 167 B/KB-29K l SI C-74 23 C-97 168 EB-29 153 EB-29A 153 F- I3 152- 3 F- 13A 152- 3 KB-29M 153 KB-29P Flying Boom Tanker 157 KB-50J 167 KC-I O 15 KC-97 17 KC-97E/F 16 KC-97G 16 KC-135 158 P2B-I S 176 P2B-2 176 PT-1 9A 22 RB-29 153 RB-29A 153 XB-15 19- 20 XB-17 20 XB-19 19- 20 XB-29 23- 7, 149

XB-29E 164 XB-29G 164 XB-29H 164 XB-30 21, 23- 4 XB-31 22, 23- 4 XB-32 22-5 XB-33 23, 4 1 XB-39 164 XB-42 23 XB-44 164 XBLR- I 19 XBLR-2 19 XBLR-3 19 XF8B- I 170 YIB-20 20 YB-29 36- , 149 YB-29J 165 YB-50C 168 1'B-54 168 1'KB-29T 166 Allen, Edmund T. 'Eddie' 21, 30- 5 Ambrose, Lr Earle 161 A /A PQ-7 Eagle radar l-o m bnrd rn c n r system 54,67 A/A PQ-13 radar system 64 AN/A PQ- 15B radar system 54,64 AN/A PQ-23 radar system 67 AN/APQ-30 radar system 67 Arnold, G cn Henry H. 'Hap' 21, 40, 75 B-4 Programme I 10 B-29 bases in World War Two 94 B-29 production 42 B-29u nic of the Korean War 146 B-29 units in World War Two 94 Ball, John 21 Battle of Kansas, the 39 Beall, Wcllwood 21 Bell Aircraft Corporation 40 Bell-Atlanta (BA) 40 BEETLE BOMB 17 BIG ST I K 10 Bock, Capt. Frederick C. 107 BOCKSCA R 9, 103, 176- 7 Boeing, William E. 'Bill' 10- 11, Boeing Airplane Company 7, 9, 10- 11, 39-40 Boeing-Renron (BN) 41 Boeing-Renton Plant 3, 42

206

Boeing-Seattle 39 Boeing-Seatt le (130 ) 39 Boeing- cattle Plant 2,39 Boeing-Wichita (BW) 39 Boeing-Wichita Plant 2,3 8- 9 Boeing model numbers: B-40/-40A 12 B-80 13 13-214/-2 15 13 B-247 13 B-294 19 B-299 20 13-307 14, 24 B-3 14 15 B-3 16 24 13-332 24 B-333 24 B-333A 24 B-334 16, 24 B-334A 24 13-341 21 13-345 21, 24 13-345-2 1 13-367 16- 17, 168 13-377 17, 16 B-400 170 C- IF I I Bomb Groups: 6BG 94 9BG 94 16BG 94 1913G 94, 146 N I3G 94 39BG 94 40BG 76, 94 330BG 94 331BG 94 333BG 94 34613G 94 444BG 76, 94 46213G 94 468BG 76, 94 472BG 76, 94 497BG 94 49813G 94 499BG 94 500BG 94 50l BG 94 502BG 94 504BG 94

INDEX

50513G 94 509CG 94 130mb Squadrons (medium): ms 146 1913S 146 2813S 146 3013S 146 3313S 146 9313S 146 32513S 146 32613S 146 32713S 146 34313S 146 34413S 146 34513S 146 370BS 146 37113S 146 37213S 146 40813S 146 424BS 146 130mb Squadrons (v e ry h eav y) : IBS 94 5BS 94 6BS 94 15BS 94 16BS 94 17BS 94 21BS 94 24BS 94 25BS 94 28BS 94 30BS 94 39BS 94 4013S 94 41 BS 94 43BS 94 44BS 94 45BS 94 52BS 94 60BS 94 6113S 94 62BS 94 93BS 94 99BS 94 355BS 94 356BS 94 357BS 94 393BS 94 395BS 94 398BS 94 402BS 94 405BS 94 411 13S 94 42113S 94 430BS 94 43513S 94 45713S 94 458BS 94 459BS 94 460BS 94

461 13S 94 46213S 94 463BS 94 482BS 94 48313S 94 484BS 94 507BS 94 54013S 94 54113S 94 676BS 94 67713S 94 678BS 94 679BS 94 680BS 94 768BS 94 769BS 94 770BS 94 771BS 94 79213S 94 79313S 94 794BS 94 795BS 94 808BS 94 809BS 94 810BS 94 81113S 94 86913S 94 870BS 94 87113S 94 87313S 94 87413S 94 87513S 94 87713S 94 87813S 94 879BS 94 88013S 94 88113S 94 882BS 94 883BS 94 884BS 94 Bomb Wings (m edium) : n BW 146 92BW 146 98BW 146 307BW 146 Bomb Wings (ve ry h eavy): 58BW (VH) 75, 81,94 73BW (VH) 88, 94 3 13BW (VH) 88, 94 3 14BW (VH) 88, 94 3 15BW (VH) 88, 94 3 1613W (VH) 94 Bombardment Group (Medium): 19th 146 98th 147 307th 148 Bombardment Wing (Medium): 19th 147 98th 148 307th 148

207

Campbell, Richard H. 105 Cash, Col Melvin G. 'Mel' 9 1 China- Burma- India (CBI) Thcatrcs of O perat ion 179 Cole, John Robert 'Bob' 132-4 COMMAND DECISION 178 Confederate Air Fo rce (CAF) 173-4 Convair 13-36 ' Peace make r' 186 C o rke r, William R. 'Bill' 89 DAUNTLESS DOTTY 182 DAVE'S DREAM 107 Davis, David R. 70 Davis wing 70 DOC 176,1 78 DUKE OF ALBUQUERQUE 177 Ein sre in . Albert 97 English Elec tr ic Can be rra 129 ENOLA GAY 9, 100, 103, 176, 177 ERNIE PY LE, T HE 77 ER NIE PYLE'S MILKWAGON 93 Euler, Don 21

Fairchild n Far East Air Force (FEAF) 6 1 Fat Man 54,89,99- 100, 105 FERT ILE MYRTLE 177- 8 FIFI 173- 4, 178 FLAGSHIP 500 (ex MISSION INN) 178 FLEET ADMIRAL NIMITZ 75 FLY ING GU INEA PIG, T HE 35 Forster, John 134 Fowler- typ e wing flaps 72 Frye Mea t Packing Company 26 'G adget , Thc' 97 General Elec tr ic Company 25 B- l l ty pe rurb osup erch arger 25 Cen tra l Fire Control (CFC ) system 53- 4 GENERAL H.H. ARNOLD SPECIAL, T HE 40 Glenn L. Martin Company 41 G loste r M e teo r 170 GREAT ARTISTE, TH E 178

HAGERTY'S HAG 178 Harmon, Col. Leona rd '[akc' 26 H em isph ere Defen ce Bo mb er 20 HERE'S HO PING 178 HOMING BIRD 9 1-2 IT'S I-l AWG WILD 178 Irvine, Col. Clarence S. 159 Johnson, Phil 21 KEE BI RD 178

INDEX

Kenney, Gcn George C. 121 Korean War, the 139-4 LADY OF T HE LAKE 178 LEA GLE EAGLE II 17 Ld vl
Reed, Al 25 Req uirem en t R-40-B 21

Robbins, Robert M. 'Bob' 27,30, 35, I 4 Rodgers, Russ 25 Roosevelt, President Franklin D. 97 Royal Air Force (RAF) Bases, Coningsby, Marham and \V
208

448BW 123 4 5BW 123 498BW 123 509BW 123 Sr rntcmevcr. Gen George E. 139 Super Guppy, Th e 169 Supcrhomber 19 Surface, 2nd Lt Claude E. 9 I WEET ELO ISE 17 winharr, Earl Tlil codes 95 Tal/l3o)' bomb 59 T11I Tail and 'And y G ump' B-29 164 Thin Man 54, 99 T HOR 137 T HUMPER 83 Tibbets, jr, Brig Gcn Paul W. 103 T INKER HERITAGE 178 TOP SECRET 105 Trinity test site 98 Truman, President Harry S 139 T-SQUARE 54 17 Tupo lev a ircraft:

Tu-2R 109 Tu-4 'Bull' 11 2, I 15, 120 Tu-4A 112 Tu-4D 11 2 Tu-4K 11 2 Tu-4LL I 12 Tu-4T 11 2 Tu-6 109 Tu-70 'Cart' 11 6-1 Tu-75 118 Tu-80 'Bull' 11 2, 11 8 Tu-85 'Barge' 112, 118-1 9 USS !ndiww!JO!is 103 Very Long Range Bomber 20 Washington B. I 129- 38 Welch, William E 'Bill' 161 Wells, Ed 21 Westervelt, Lr George Conrad 10 Willi