Boeing B-29 Superfortress

B-29 Superfortress
A USAAF B-29 Superfortress
Role Strategic bomber, heavy bomber
National origin United States
Manufacturer Boeing
First flight 21 September 1942[1]
Introduction 8 May 1944
Retired 21 June 1960
Status Only 2 active in use for airshows
Primary users United States Army Air Forces
United States Air Force
Royal Air Force
Produced 1943–1946[2]
Number built 3,970
Variants All models
Boeing KB-29 Superfortress
XB-39 Superfortress
Boeing XB-44 Superfortress
Boeing B-50 Superfortress
Developed into Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter
Boeing 377 Stratocruiser
Tupolev Tu-4
Boeing assembly line at Wichita, Kansas (1944)

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress, the Superfortress was designed for high-altitude strategic bombing, but also excelled in low-altitude night incendiary bombing, and in dropping naval mines to blockade Japan. B-29s dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only aircraft ever to drop nuclear weapons in combat.

One of the largest aircraft of World War II, the B-29 was designed with state-of-the-art technology, which included a pressurized cabin, dual-wheeled tricycle landing gear, and an analog computer-controlled fire-control system that allowed one gunner and a fire-control officer to direct four remote machine gun turrets. The $3 billion cost of design and production (equivalent to $49 billion in 2022),[3] far exceeding the $1.9 billion cost of the Manhattan Project, made the B-29 program the most expensive of the war.[4][5] The B-29 remained in service in various roles throughout the 1950s, being retired in the early 1960s after 3,970 had been built. A few were also used as flying television transmitters by the Stratovision company. The Royal Air Force flew the B-29 with the service name Washington from 1950 to 1954 when the jet-powered Canberra entered service.

The B-29 was the progenitor of a series of Boeing-built bombers, transports, tankers, reconnaissance aircraft, and trainers. For example, the re-engined B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II became the first aircraft to fly around the world non-stop, during a 94-hour flight in 1949. The Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter airlifter, which was first flown in 1944, was followed in 1947 by its commercial airliner variant, the Boeing Model 377 Stratocruiser. This bomber-to-airliner derivation was similar to the B-17/Model 307 evolution. In 1948, Boeing introduced the KB-29 tanker, followed in 1950 by the Model 377-derivative KC-97. A line of outsized-cargo variants of the Stratocruiser is the Guppy / Mini Guppy / Super Guppy, which remain in service with NASA and other operators. The Soviet Union produced 847 Tupolev Tu-4s, an unlicensed reverse-engineered copy of the B-29. Twenty B-29s remain as static displays, but only two, FIFI and Doc, still fly.[6]

  1. ^ LeMay and Yenne 1988, p. 60.
  2. ^ "Boeing B-29." Boeing. Retrieved: 5 August 2010.
  3. ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  4. ^ O'Brien, Phillips Payson (2015). How the War Was Won (First ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 47–48. ISBN 978-1-107-01475-6.
  5. ^ "B-29 Superfortress, U.S. Heavy Bomber". The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia. Kent G. Budge. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  6. ^ Waller, Staff Sgt. Rachel (17 July 2016). "B-29 'Doc' takes to the skies from McConnell". McConnell AFB. Retrieved 3 January 2024.

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