The Boeing B-29 Superfortress was a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed during the Second World War, particularly for long range bombing missions against Japan. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II. A very advanced bomber for this time period, it included features such as a pressurized cabin, an electronic fire-control system, and remote-controlled machine-gun turrets. There were a lot of teething problems and it was put into service before all technical problems were solved and all systems fully fitted because of the war urgency. The name "Superfortress" was derived from that of its well-known predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress. B-29 aircraft carried out the atomic bombings that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The B-29 was "copied" by the Soviets as the TU-4 during the War. It served also in Korea used by the USAAF and was used by the RAF as well, so the B-29 served in various roles throughout the 1950s.
B-29
This aircraft is at the Pima Air Museum, Tucson AZ and has serial 44-70016 . It has the titles Quaker City/Sentimental Journey
Photographed Januari 2011 by Cees Hendriks (c) Copyright IPMS Nederland
B-29A
This aircraft has serial 44-61669. It was delivered to the USAAF on 5 May 1945. Its last USAF assignment was in 1956 at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. It was transferred as a TB-29A trainer to the US Navy on March 1956. It is now is at the March Field Museum bearing the nickname "Three Feathers".
Photographed 2014 by Cees Hendriks (c) Copyright IPMS Nederland
B-29 "Enola Gay" (which dropped the first atomic bomb)
This B-29-40-MO (serial 44-86292) is the famous "Enola Gay". On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb. It was a specially modified aircraft for that role.The bomb, code-named "Little Boy", was targeted at the city of Hiroshima, Japan, and caused unprecedented destruction. After the war this aircraft operated from Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico but also for nuclear tests in the Pacific. It was put out of service Summer 1946 and went to the Smithsonian Institution for storage. Not earlier than the eighties, the Smithsonian to put parts of the aircraft on display. Since 2003, the entire restored B-29 Enola Gay has been on display at Smitsonian at Dulles airport Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington DC.
Photographed 2015 by Cees Hendriks (c) Copyright IPMS Nederland
B-29A "Fifi
This B-29A , serialled 44-62070, was delivered to the USAAF in 1945. The airplane was transferred in 1958 to China Lake for testing purposes. The flying society "Confederate Air Force" acquired it in 1971 and registered it as a civilian aircraft. It flew in the air demo shows and had its engines replaced in 2008. It is still one of the two flying B-29's and was seen at Nellis AFB, Nevada.
Photographed 2017 by Cees Hendriks (c) Copyright IPMS Nederland
B-29 "Bockscar" (which dropped the second atomic bomb)
This B-29 named Bockscar dropped the second atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 three days after the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima (see above). It was a specially modified aircraft for that role and assigned to the 509th Composite Group. The aircraft went on display in the USAF museum September 1961. It was seen in the USAF Dayton museum, Dayton, Ohio, USA and atomic bomb replica "Fat Man" and Wright R-3350 engine is also on display. The author of this walk around also visited the rememberance museums in Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan in 2002 and was impressed by the atomic bomb devastation displays.
Photographed July 2024 by Meindert de Vreeze (c) Copyright IPMS Nederland
Several scale models exist of the B-29. In 1/72 the golden oldie kit was from Airfix, later replaced by a much better Academy kit.
This walk around page was first published March 2012 by M. de Vreeze