The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is one of the main icons of American Engineering and one of the main instruments used to pound Nazi Germany and Japan into surrendering. The B-29 Superfortress was the successor to the older B-17 Flying Fortress. The B-29 was designed as a heavy bomber and was used extensively during the latter part of World War II.
While the B-29 Superfortress was designed for high altitude bombing. It was also well suited to low altitude night incendiary bombing, as well as dropping naval mines in the war against Japan. It was fitted with much of the best state-of-the-art technology of the day and boasted a pressurized cabin and even an analog computer-controlled fire control system. They are also responsible for the deadliest bombing raid in history when 100,000 people died in a firestorm that swept Tokyo. Here is everything you need to know about the B-29 Superfortress
10 Design Requirement
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The B-29 Superfortress was designed to fulfill the requirement of having a super bomber that could deliver a 20,000lb payload to a target 2,667 miles away. It was built at a time before ICBMs were mainstream.
The requirement also stipulated that they should be able to fly at a speed of 400 mph. Boeing was already ahead of the competition as they were already working on a similar project, and so they were selected to build the B-29.
9 Number Built And Urgency
Because of the war, Boeing had to develop the project in overdrive and had to mass-produce the aircraft while still fine-tuning it. The first prototype flew on 21 September 1942, and it was introduced in May 1944.
In the end, Boeing and partner companies managed to build an impressive 3,970 of these monster planes. They contributed massively to the Allied war effort against Germany and particularly Japan. They would go on to devastate the Japanese home islands.
8 Super Expensive
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The B-29 was an incredibly expensive undertaking and the most expensive American program during the war. The B-29 cost around $3 billion at the time — a huge amount of money.
In today's money, $3 billion is around $43 billion. By comparison, the Manhattan Project cost $1.9 billion. It's truly amazing how money changes over time. Now, the lifetime cost of the F-35 Lightning II fighter program could be as much as a lofty $1 trillion!
7 Engines And Reliability
At first, the B-29 was powered by the Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone radial engines, and these were very unreliable and a source of multiple catastrophic failures during the war. Hopefully, they were able to land with only one engine working!
Later these reliability issues would be remedied, and eventually these engines were replaced by the more powerful and reliable Pratt & Whitney R-4360 "Wasp Major" in the B-29D/B-50 program — although these weren't available until after the war.
6 Debate Of Where To Use Them
The B-29 wasn't introduced until May 1944 by which time the war had already decisively swung in the allies' favor. They were intended to be used against Germany, however, there just wasn't enough space in the British airfields to accommodate them.
Additionally, by that time, the Allies had decided that the more pressing issue was Japan, so they were deployed to assist China in fighting Japan. Then they were used to massively bombard Japan from the islands.
5 Early Bombing Performance
The B-29s early bombing performance was very poor. On their first raid against Bangkok, the B-29s suffered heavy losses, and crucially of all the bombs dropped in the raid, only one bomb actually struck the factory.
At the start, the Air Force was using strategic bombing, whereby only strategic targets like factories and infrastructure were targeted. But they eventually had to change their strategy, as from the B-29s high altitude the bombs would be carried away by the jet stream.
4 Island Hopping To Japan
One problem was that the airbases in China were just too far away to be really useful in bombing Japan into submission. In order to do that, the navy continued to island-hop to Japan.
Then the Americans took the Mariana Islands and from there, Japan was well within the range of scores of angry fully armed B-29 Superfortresses. Also, bombing tactics switched from high altitude strategic bombing to low-level incendiary bombs, which massively drove up civilian causalities and the destruction wrought.
3 Dropped Atomic Bomb
The B-29s were modified to drop atomic bombs into the Silverplate series. The atomic bombs were very heavy, so the planes were stripped of their guns (except for the tail gun) to save on weight.
The first atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima was called Little Boy, and it was dropped from a B-29 called Enola Gay and was piloted by Tibbets. The second bomb dropped on Nagasaki was called Fat Man and was piloted by Bockscar.
2 Soviet Knock Off
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The Soviets reverse engineered the B-29 Superfortress and created the Tupolev Tu-4. They did so without a license, and they made some 847 of these aircraft. Interestingly, while the B-29 was withdrawn from American service in the 1960s, the Tupolev Tu-4 wasn't fully retired until 1988 in China.
The Soviets reverse engineered the B-29 in response to the Americans twice refusing their request for them under Lend-Lease. Some B-29s had wound up in the Soviet Union.
1 Surviving Aircraft Today
Today, there are some 22 B-29s on display in museums around the world. Of these, two are still in flying condition. These two remaining flying B-29s are called FIFI and Doc. So if you are lucky, you may be able to see them at an airshow today.
In 2016, after restoration, Doc made its first flight in some 60 years. More B-29s are known to be under restoration now. Additionally, of the Silverplate B-29s modified to drop nuclear bombs, three survive today.
In summary, the B-29s were a monster of World War 2 and a marvel of American engineering.