Here are 5 things you probably never knew about the B-29 Superfortress, another edition of my Countdowns series. This was made using the World War II flight simulator War Thunder. Hope you enjoy! Please like, comment, and subscribe. #WW2 #WWIIHistory #WarThunder
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My Dad was stationed on the destroyer USS Roe. During the bombing of Japan they were on picket duty to rescue downed airmen. They rescued the entire crew of one B-29 that had to ditch at sea. Members of that crew attended several of the reunions held by shipmates of the Row. They never forgot the crew of the Row and were honorary shipmates.
My Dad was on a Dry Dock off AUS for years. He was the CEO of their Group and every year they would met in Vegas ect AFTER 1965 ??. Then they were passing so the KIDs would go they all had a great Time..Different generation there was like a thousand who served on it like 20% turned into millions by the GI bill. Not my Dad HaHa..aloha
What a beautiful thing. Thank you for sharing that.
Neat story. Was it the Roe or Row ?
@@georgiabigfoot I doubt they would name a bot Row, unless it's some kind of rowboat joke. It must be the USS Roe.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 Hummm, naming it the USS Fish Eggs really doesn't sound much better.
My father was a radio operator on a B-29 In Korea 39 missions. He recently passed away and in a trunk I found his uniforms,insignia , letters and his diary. A treasure to be sure of that time. He never talked about but the diary described an attack by a Mig-15 (A jet in the diary).
Hats off to your father man there's not enough respect for men like that anymore. I don't know that there ever was enough respect for men like that. Tell you one thing really makes me feel like a whist when I gripe about my life!! I run nightclubs strip clubs and health clubs for the last 30 years and I'll tell you a man every time military come in I will treat them like gold!! It really bothers me how much people do not go out of their way to say thank you to our military and they're the only reason we're able to do anything that we do. Thank you for your comment and giving me the chance to say thank you to your Father's son. At least you appreciate what your father did like so many don't!!! More power to you brother!
You may think about placing that personal history of your father where many may see and learn. Please, think about donating the items and his history to some very fine museums such as the WW2 museun in New Orleans. I do thank you for mentioning this and for the bravery of your father and those that were with him..
Better than Gold
I have been watching lots of WW2 videos recently, and I'm noticing whenever there is this "my granddad/dad used to be this or that during WW2", it's always a position like artillery officer, battleship gun loader, radio operator etc. Never seen anybody say my granddad was a rifleman or tank driver. Wonder how many of those poor chaps got to have children and grandchildren
A true hero, may he rest in peace. Greetings from Germany.
My father was a USAAF B-29 navigator 1944 -1945. He passed away in 2016 at age 94. I have his original flight jacket with squadron insignia which he had kept all these years.
My uncle was test pilot in Nebraska, Myles " Doc " Hubbard, he was the first guy to fly the B-29 that became the Enola Gay, quiet little guy with balls the size of church bells, became a test pilot after he was told he wasn't tall enough to be a Army Air Corps pilot.
To be honest in some tiny ww2 fighter cockpits being short was probably a good thing! The famous British test pilot Eric "Winkle" Brown who holds the world record for most types flown (487) was a short man. He had near deaths over the years as you'd expect and he said that he thought the fact he was short saved his life. I think he described a couple situations in his biography.
The B-29 "Doc" which survived into preservation and I believe recently restored to flight is named after your uncle.
@@classicforreal The B29's stationed at Griffiss AFB in Rome NY were the 1ST Radar Calibration Squadron. All the planes were named after the Snow White characters "Doc" was one of them. It was my dads last duty station in 1953.Some times when he had to work on weekends he would bring myself or my brothers with him and we got to go into some of the planes. So I might have been in Doc during his working years.
My Mother worked at the Boeing Aircraft plant at Seattle , WA building those B29 Aircraft. I have a B 29wing pin that was given to her when Jimmy Doolittle visited the plant in 1945.
Your mom was "Rosie the Riviter!" How cool! She sure deserves great thanks for her contribtions! Thanks for sharing.
Respect
Dad was an 18 year old B-29 navigator with 8 missions over Japan. He hated the plane and said the B-29 came much closer to killing him then the Japanese ever did. More B-29's were lost to operational causes than were shot down in WWII. The plane was rushed too quickly into service and the planes short comings were paid for with the lives of the men who went down with them.
A B-29 combat crew faced four primary threats, and they were all named "Curtis-Wright!" While ealier generations of C-W engines had lengthy design and production lead-times, the R-3350 was rushed into production. Perhaps a more practical power solution for the B-29 would have been to use SIX Pratt and Whitney R-2800's.
Great video. My dad was a gunner on a B29 when they were shot down on their way back to Saipan after dropping their bombs on Japan. Spent 10 days on a life raft before being rescued.
My dad was a US Army Air Force pilot flying B29s out of Saipan during WWII. He talked very little about the war and when it was over mustered out of the military for a couple years. But then he reenlisted as a pilot and flight instructor when the US Air Force was formed in 1947. He continued to fly the B29, the KB29 tanker, as well as the B50, KB50 and occasionally the even larger B36. He had a lot of interesting stories about those years. For example, in the mid to late 1950s the tankers were flying out of England as support for jets patroling just this side of the Russian border over the Scandanavian countries. A typical tanker flight was 12 hours spent lingering around an assigned sector, ready to provide fuel to any of the jets that needed it. It often was boring as Hell, so they would sometimes "accidentally" enter Russian airspace briefly to make the Migs scramble, just to liven things up. They called it "poking the bear". Generally speaking, dad was a popular pilot because, among other things, he would do the checklist while taxiing or even rolling down the runway for takeoff. You see, the sooner they got to their assigned sector with the fuel and did their 12 hours, the sooner they could come home! That might have gotten him in trouble once. They weren't happy about it, but got assigned a tanker that had a history of issues. They took off from N. England in low, heavy clouds and started their climb. Some 100 miles or so out over the ocean and still climbing through the cloud layer the airplane suddenly went into a right turn they couldn't correct and started losing altitude in a wide spiral. Still in the thick clouds they couldn't see beyond the first engine nacelle, so had no idea what was wrong, but nothing they did with the flight controls would stop the airplane from banking right and slowly losing altitude. After several minutes that seemed like hours and finally descending below the cloud layer at about 2500 feet, they were amazed to see much of their right aeleron missing from the wing, enough of it still hung up there to cause the wing to drop and cause the constant turn! They had no choice but to try to return to base, if they could find a way to control the airplane. By throttling back the left-hand engines a bit they were able to get the plane to fly somewhat straight, reasonably level and pointed toward home. But they still had to dump their full load of jet fuel, now at only about 1500 feet over the N. Sea and parts of N. England. Lightening the airplane made it handle and maintain altitude better. The remaining control surfaces, landing gear and hydraulics all fortunately continued to work, more or less, while careful engine management gave them some level of control over the airplane. Enough to get home! It was only after landing safely and exiting the plane that they discovered when it broke off the wing the aeleron had flown back and damaged the vertical and horizontal stabilizers too! They really "dodged a bullet". I couldn't help but wonder if a more careful pre-flight might have spotted the problem with the aeleron. But, then again, why hadn't the ground crew caught it? That particular airplane with its history of problems never flew again. It was parked and stripped for spare parts. Then there was the B36 they had to retrieve from Morroco, with only six of its ten engines working.... But that's another story!
Lots of stories for both those bombers! B36 - four burning, six turning, or as the crews would say, two turning, two burning, two choking, four smoking....
Respect! Enjoyed your story!
The original model of the B-36 had six prop engine. It could fly on six engine. XC-99 cargo place had six prop engines and the one prototype built actually flew missions during the 1950s. If the plane was not capable of flying, it would not have been put in the air.
My father was a B29 pilot also flying out of Saipan. He got out of the AAF after the war and went back to school eventually earning his PhD in math. He almost got drafted for Korea but avoided it because he was a university professor by then.
That's quite harrowing!
B-29 also flew as navigation aids for P-51 Mustangs flying VLR (Very Long Range) missions from American air base in Iwo Jima to mainland Japan during WWII. The missions took almost 8 hours, and involved fighter sweeps against Japanese aircraft and attacking targets. The missions were so dangerous that after 15 missions the P-51 pilots would earn the right to go home.
The infamous Tokyo Club. P-51s in the Pacific were very interesting.
I think like 10% who went in the Water came out not like TV claims..Tough Men at 21..ALOHA
8 hours in a little cockpit!
Yes, they should have mentioned Iwo.
a squadron of B-29's was also flown to Britain during the Berlin airlift....more or less as an implied threat to russia as they were the only known delivery system for nuclear weapons at the time....the russians were able to reverse engineer this aircraft using the few they managed to get their hands on....
We watch you here at Camp Pendleton. Love your reenactment and attention to detail. But more importantly, sharing the stories of our American Heroes! God bless our nation 🇺🇸
W
Thanks a ton :) Thanks for your service!
What’s it like at Camp Pendleton?? :D Edit: thx for ur service!
First off thank you for your service. 2nd my parents met at camp pendleton. Rest in peace pops.
My dad flew in a B-29 from China, and eventually Tinian. He was in many of the raids on the Japanese mainland including the raid that burned Tokyo. He was not involved in the Atomic bomb attacks. We have his photos he took of Nanda Devi and Mt Everest as they flew "over the hump". He lost a lot of friends, and flying over the Himalayas was very dangerous, many B-29's are still in the mountains I imagine.
Great video. Keep up the great work! My father was a 2nd lieutenant in the USAAF during WWII and he became a B-29 Superfortress pilot in June 1945. He wanted to become a B-29 pilot so bad that he actually postponed his wedding to my mother twice just so he could learn how to fly the big bomber. He absolutely loved flying the Superfortress despite its known engine problems. Dad sometimes referred to those early R-3350 engines as "wrong engines" and "flame throwers" because the valves would stick if the engines were overheated for very long and catch fire. Another contributing factor was the electrically controlled cowl flaps. Fully open, those cowl flaps generated so much drag that he had to close them for takeoff, otherwise you would run out of runway before the plane had enough speed built up to get it off the ground. The cylinder head temperatures on those early R-3350 engines were redlined at 289 degrees F and he said on a good hot day in sunny Florida it was not uncommon for them to be reading 320 F during takeoff. He flew B-29's out of MacDill Field in Tampa, Florida. By July 1945, my father had his own assigned B-29 crew with orders to report for combat duty to Northwest Field in Guam. There, they would have found out which bomb group and bomb squadron they were to be asigned to. As it turned out, the war ended just two weeks to the day before he and his B-29 crew were to report to Guam for combat duty. Before my father became a B-29 pilot, he was an instructor pilot in B-17 Flying Fortresses, B-24 Liberators and Martin B-26 Marauders.
My dad was in the first group to be stationed on Saipan, (497th Group,73rd Wing,869 Bomb Sq.)He flew 35 missions over Japan and 5 other missions. During his tour he lost 4 engines . He never talked about any of the war until I was visiting him when he was in his 90's. I remember a time in the 1970's when we were on a business trip and I woke up hearing him and realized he was flying a mission in his sleep.(ac:A[]3)
Merlin Emryys....Hearing him reliving a mission must have been kinda eery. Do you remember how long he talked ?
A □ 3 342 Weller Ave #3E Lexington KY 40504 H. H. Simms Jr. 869 497 73 Was on 8th 29 to arrive on Saipan Went overseas as Assist OP officer 869th But took over a crew right away upon arriving Saipan Flew Lucky Lynn (A □ 4 A □ 3) named for child of Capt Cox Who did not return from an early mission lost as A sub [stitute] a/c. A □ 2 Date 1-23-45 at Nagoya Pacific Union Was put in for Silver Star for flying more combat hours And delivering the largest tonnage (Mar 45) did Not rec but did get a citation. Copilot of last half of tour was J. P. Morgan 1627 N. Hudson Altus, OK 73521 a later crew captain who took over when Simms finished Bombardier Lt. McMich (Sp) Flew 40 missions with 5 aborts. Lost 5 engines one half way down runway and brought a/c Back landing on Islay (Sp) #2 was thought to have No address ditched c/p Bill Crawley Landing at Iwo 2 times for gas Flew practice missions to all other islands.
The Douglas A-26 Invader would be a good one to cover. Spanning three wars. The Douglas A-1 Skyraider as well. Excellent video. Thank you!
the A-26 eventually became the B-26....and had a much longer service life than the marauder....
@@frankpienkosky5688 True
Great video. I think it is worth noting that the WASPS played a major role with the B-29. They helped test fly, some of which had lost their lives. They helped transport them to their designated bases for the airmen who were soon to pilot them. Some men were afraid to fly it, but seeing and hearing that a woman was able to fly it was a great motivation for them to fly. There is not nearly enough recognition for the WASPS. I think you could make some great content with their stories if you have not already.
Read a few stories like that from the UK as we used woman as ferry pilots an flew unarmed too. I remember one when a plane landed an she got out an a us officer came over asking for the pilot.. she says I flew it. He didn't believe her so climbed in too look for a male pilot am couldn't find one so again asked her, an she answered the same way.. I'm the pilot. It took some convincing that she did infact fly it in. I think the last one died not too long ago an think she was pushing 90. An had a 2 seater spitfire too.
That's awesome. You hear these stories in the US, while not often, but the ones who tell of them you can tell they were well respected and revered. I never think about the possibility of other countries having similar programs. I was also thinking about well respected Ace pilots from other countries too. In the US we have many who's stories never get old, but don't often hear about aces from other countries. Assuming you are from the UK, do you know of any well respected aces from there? Would love to look em up.
If there isn't a short film, I'll write and produce one...
I've read about those ladies. Truly incredible people, and their interactions with the fellas were sometimes hilarious (some airmen were apparently lovestruck when gals with long hair stepped out of the cockpits). And that is true that a commander used the WASPS to shame the pilots into flying the B-29, I think he even asked whether he needed to fly missions with them if the fellas kept being scared. Needless to say, they soon got up and did it.
Yeah ... the thing with WWII ... is that there were a lot of operational losses. They were cranking aircraft out as fast as they could and sometimes the plane had a problem. There were a group of female ferry pilots flying aircraft from a factory on the US West Coast to the East Coast. Their first stage was in Arizona. One of the pilots had trouble with her aircraft and was late taking off. When they got to Arizona - they were all tired and after a little bit went to bed so they could continue their ferry mission the next day. When morning came - they realized that the last girl had never come in. They had air searches all along her route - but no one ever found her. That happened a lot in WWII. A plane would take off and ... not come back. That was it. No one knew what happened. It just took off and was never seen again. .
Much is said about the immense size of the B-29; and it was significantly larger than other aircraft of the day. If you have the opportunity to see one today, you are shocked by how small and cramped they are. People just do not realize how far aviation has come since those days.
66 years of flight from Kitty Hawk to the Sea of Tranquility.
1st time I went to the museum in Dayton you could actually walk up inside Bock's Car....all the way up to the cockpit....
I got to see Fifi in midland during the winter refit. It was next to a B17 (not a small aircraft for the era). The B29 did loom over the B17. I think it was Christmas Eve and I guess the workers knew you were a warbird fan to be there on the holidays and took us in the plane and were very gracious. Or maybe they took pity on my wife being dragged around yet another flight museum.
The same can be said of the B-52
My father stationed in Lubbock Texas the entire war was a mechanic on B17 & B29. He said when they received the first B29 that the interior of the moters did not cool but had to be rebuilt after every flight..... That by the end of the war the rotary engines (4 inline rows if 7 pistons each) could fly about 120 hours. They steadily improved. Also they didn't have the right tools and would take torches and bend, lengthen, create tools for specific jobs. That plane was so full of "new" advanced development that when the Russians finally got there hands on one......they were astonished....! All the brave men and women of that time are gone now. We owe them alot....! We so easily live in comfort paid for with truly special blood..... just jim
Jim Knowls The Wright R3350's were twin row 18 cylinder engines used on all B29's, you describing a 28 cylinder engine would be the PW R4360, which was ONLY used on the LATER B50 !!! Gotta get your chit stories straight man !! !
And, not to nitpick.....but the correct term is radial engine, not rotary. Two very different designs.
@@wilburfinnigan2142 Thanks for the straight story Wilber. I listened to these story's as a little boy......so my recollection is obviously incorrect. I probably should keep quiet.... I am grateful for their service!! j
@@jimknowles5483 Not nitpicking either, but Amarillo Army Airfield just up the road was the B-17 mechanic's training base. My father was stationed there in '44-'45. Lubbock Army Airfield was the pilot's training base and used other aircraft. That's not to say that LAA wouldn't have had mechanics located there to service their airplanes, so your father could very well been down there in some mechanic's capacity. Perhaps our dads knew each other in Amarillo!
@@wilburfinnigan2142 Well, to be honest... the initial mods to the airplane that involved fitting the corncob PW engines changed the airplane's nomenclature to B-29D. Not much later, it was then changed to B-50 to distance the later airframe from the B-29 after additional mods were added, like uprated avionics, structural enhancements, a taller fin etc. So, Just Jim's reference to a B-29 fitted with R4360s could be regarded as factual. Just sayin'...
My grandfather was a right waist gunner on the b29 gone with the wind, last 3 serial numbers 331. He was initially based at chitigong india. Anytime you see a pick with a camel on a b29, that's a trip over the " hump" or Himalayas. I'm lucky enough to have his pay book, blood chit, folding machete, and 3 bomb pins from their first raid on Japan, yawata iron an steel works. He told me they were lucky to only have engine trouble once or twice. His best friend in the air Corp was Leldon Shed. They had an engine give out and aborted mission. After turning back, a second engine gave out and Shed and most of his crew were killed in the emergency landing. I think of as extended family. Gaughn and Berry were pilot an Co pilot, Freedman an Larson were bombardier and navigator, Hilliard was tailgunner, Wilkining left waste gunner, Smith fire control, Smitty radio, Payne right waste gunner.
There is a B-29 at what used to be Georgia Veterans State Park on Lake Blackshear , it was flown in and all of it and it's components are still there, back in the 60s before it was fenced off, kids were allowed to crawl around and play in it. I was one of them. It was a sister ship to the Enola Gay.
One of my favourite videos!!! The B-29 has been since young age, probably, my favourite WW2 bomber. I mean, it was huge, mighty (for WW2 era size), very good looking! It was modern, surely between the most advanced aeroplanes of WW2! The very distinct highly shiny metal was simply beautiful, very eye catching! Thank you for yet another accurate and very interesting video!!!
My uncle was KIA as the co-pilot of a B-29. It happened on 5/26/1945 on a mission over Tokyo.
In 2015 I had the fortune to take a 30 minute flight onboard the B 29 named the FiFi over the beach in NJ. The roar of those engines starting up still in in my mind and still gives me goosebump years later. . I could not stop thinking of the bravery of the men that flew in those planes in war time combat. IMO the courage of the crews of all B29s is historic.
I have an advertising poster with picture, "See FIFI B-29 July 8-18 Oakland-Pontiac" MI airport. Unfortunately, the year is not shown and I do not recall it. At this time however, CAF was known as the "Confederate Air Force". Without meaning to get political here, it struck me odd at the time as airplanes did NOT exist during the Confederate States of America. Thus, they could not have had an Air Force!
FIFI is supposed to be the last one flying....
@@musicloverme3993 One might also consider the definition of "confederate," united in a league (adj), ally or accomplice (noun), to unite in a confederacy (transitive verb), Mariam Webster. My first aviation job in 1977 for the FBO, Nashville Flying Service, put me in direct contact with members of the then Confederate Air Force. I was able to and meet crew members from aircraft such as P-51 Old Crow, Miss Coranado, (Bob Hoovers P-51) owned at that time by John Baugh, Martin Caiden, aviation writer and owner of JU-52 Iron Annie, Bob Furgeson owned several F4U Corsair's, there were T-6's, B-25's, B-17's, Beech 18's, Stearmans, Corky Fornoff who flew Bear Cats, and many more. This could be any weekend at BNA but especially on the run up to and after Oshkosh, this was a meet up spot about halfway for aircraft based south of BNA. Sometimes the crews would hang out for a few days to wait out weather or just enjoy hanging out with John and other CAF supporters or get some quick repair from John's mechanic's Jerry Myatt and Gene Coles.Though this group bore that name, it seemed apparent the name had nothing to do with the period of the Civil War as you clearly point out and the mission was clear, the love of flying and the peservation of the machines that captivate so many. It seems that association of the word is stronger than meaning and maybe forward thinking persons within the CAF decided to alter the name. The mission stays the same as these dedicated volunteers fight time and scarcity to keep these aircraft flying and the stories of the crews that flew them living and real. As a side note, a college mate and retired USAF pilot is currently training to fly the B-29 Fifi with the CAF. Our Department Head in the Aeronautics Department at Tennessee State University, Cecil M. Ryan, was one of the original instructors for the 99th at Tuskegee. Members of the CAF have assembled a traveling exhibit and to my knowledge display two P51's one A model and a D model if I'm not mistaken.
@@williesweetjr8713 Wow, what a reply! Interesting even though much of it is over my head. Agreed that "Commemorative" is also quite applicable.
25:24 This guy was a great subject to interview. I really enjoyed listening to him talk about the wars.
Yessss he was great
My Grandfather was a gunner. His log shows the POW drops. Great video - learned a ton.
The F-86 Sabre was available it was rushed to the Korean service and was equal to or superior to the MiG 15, once the elevator was modified it was better than the MiG.
actually they were pretty equal...the Sabre did have a radar controlled gunsight that gave it an edge...the real difference was in the quality of the pilots...
@@frankpienkosky5688 The Russians flew the Migs and they were experienced WW2 pilots. Their Command structure was more rigid the the US's. cockpit fogging and other problem stopped Stopped it from being even better than it was. I agree with you The American pilots probably were a big factor in the Sabre's success. thanks
Thanks to the UK for that modification to the elevator
@@johngilbert6036 I remember watching a documentary on the air war in Korea that had interviews with elderly Russian men who had flown the Mig 15 in Korea. Their deployment in Korea was supposed to be a secret because Stalin didn't want to risk a confrontation with the US, so these men were given Chinese uniforms to wear. They hated these uniforms and bought civilian clothes instead and flew in those. They were also taught the basic flight commands in Chinese and were supposed to use them at all times because they knew the US could listen in on their radio traffic. Of course in the heat of battle they reverted to speaking Russian so the US knew they were Russians. In addition to fighting they were tasked with training the Chinese and North Koreans to fly the Mig 15. This was not easy: some of the trainees had flown some piston engine planes but many were peasants from the countryside who had never even ridden a bicycle! Little wonder then that the F-86 pilots had great success against these men - much less so against the Russians who, in some cases were aces from WW2.
@@gourishankar52 I have read the Russians flew these planes. While in Vietnam with 1/10 Cav securing QL-19, a 6' blond soldier was seen firing B-40 RPG at convoy trucks on serval occasions. We believed he was a Russian advisor and not a chu-hoi (turncoat) American.
My dad was the control gunner on the Hobo Queen sent to England, as I understand it, this was the first B-29 to enter "service". He started out in pilot training but couldn't get his pilot wings due to color blindness, but did get co-pilot wings. They were made to remove their nose art before arriving in England. They first flew to Greenland then on to England. They made it to Burma by was of Egypt. After arriving in Burma they flew gasoline over the hump into China.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing
Friend of mine served as right waist gunner on B-29s in Korea. He said the #2 Engine had a habit of running away and would eventually break loose from it's mounts and the Prop would Saw thru the fuselage dooming the plane . He also said when the Bombadier would hit the Bomb release he would say " going up " over the com as the weight released would make the plane go higher.
My dad saw the *B-36* on the drawing board at Consolidated in *1941.* Huge compared to the B-29.
The B-36 was huge compared to damned near anything else.
@@corneliuscrewe677 Yeah. Until the B-52. Convair made a 8-jet-engine version of the B-36 (the YB-60) to compete with Boeing's proposed B-52. But it didn't quite have the performance of the B-52. (I once saw a picture of the flight test crew of the YB-60. It's kinda fuzzy but I think the copilot looks like Don Germeraad, Dad's best friend and later Convair chief test pilot.)
I really like the story behind "Operation Swift Mercy: it says something about humanity.
Thank you for reminding us to remember the sacrifices of our ancestors.
The B-17 prototype (Boeing 299) crashed on take-off just after being signed over to the USAAC. The Army pilot in command died and Hill AFB was named for that man. The B-29 continued that tradition with the second XB=29 crashing into a meat packing plant.
Interesting tidbit is the engines for the B-29 were built in Cicero Ill. When the engines were tested the engine stand was hooked to generators that were used to run the plant.
I don't understand why they redesigned an entirely new design when they had the Merlin engine available to them.
Good video. You might have mentioned the B-50, which was a direct development from the B-29 and looks almost the same. The main change was the engines which were changed to the Pratt and Whitney R-4360-35 Wasp Major. There were many other changes also, which improved both the speed and handling of the aircraft, as well as its load capacity, and fire control of its defensive armament.
The B-50 also has a substantially larger tail. The B-54 was also based on an enlarged B-50. (Yes - Boeing was contracted to build a new version of the B-29 while also building the B-52).
@@allangibson8494 somewhere along the line they hung some jets on that thing.....right?.....
@@frankpienkosky5688 Actually the engine was one of the weird hybrid between turboprops and radial engines where the turbocharger is mechanical coupled to the engine crankshaft so that excess power in the oversized turbo is fed to the propeller. They did work but essentially convinced anyone who saw one that turboprops, turbofans or rockets were a better and simpler idea. Horrifically mechanically complicated is an understatement.
The B-36 also was equipped with R-4360s. My late Father-in-Law was an electrician/gunner on B-36s out of Carswell A.F.B. Fort Worth Texas! He had some great stories to ell!
@@NavyCWO Most of the B-36’s also flew with four J-47 Jet engines (which also powered the B-47).
Thank you for this video. I have 6 period photographs of three (3) B-29s parked up, together, in at least two different airfields in the UK in the last part of the air war over Europe. They were deliberately parked closely together and in one shot a B-17 is parked close by so that German agents would get an instant comparison of the difference in size between the two aircraft types. In the photos they are surrounded by, highly interested, RAF personnel. 'News' of these new, huge bombers swept through the RAF and their placement was also organised so that they were close to the base HQ and near access roads; to make it even easier for 'outsiders' to get a good look. Historians who wrote about this propaganda event estimated that photographs of the B-29s would have made it back to Luftwaffe high command in record time. In the past year or so I did see one of these photos on a KZhead channel. Despite the excellent information in this video; I've done a lot of reading on the early days of the B-29 and I, plus many others, believe that the mechanical problems of this aircraft were far worse than any of the, then, available reports of serious malfunctions. Sure, a lot of these issues could, and were, put down to the new nature of the aircraft's systems, however, the usual long periods of prototype testing were not applied to the formative days of the B-29; such was the headlong rush to get the assembly lines running in the factories. Even prototype testing lasting an extra six to nine months would have significantly reduced the numbers of serious aircraft losses and severe crash landings; thus saving lives and a great deal of money. Books about the atomic bombs dropped on Japan all seem to mention various precautions taken with the aircraft of the 'atomic' squadron, up to being virtually 're-built' by hand and fully tested before taking the nukes onboard. There was no way they could risk a crash on take-off which would have utterly destroyed the island of Tinian and, perhaps another island in the Marianas chain. Even an accidental drop in the open sea would have brought the American 'stockpile' of nukes down to one bomb, at the time. The bombing of Nagasaki would have had to wait some months. Given the Japanese high command were not immediately convinced to surrender after the bombing of Hiroshima; no further drops of atomic weapons would have convinced the Japanese to continue preparations for a land invasion by the US and her Allies. So, the swift end to World War 2 all came down to the ‘special’ reliability of these B-29s. Cheers, Bill H.
Sometime after the first B-29 aeroplatform did a low level recon-mission o'er Tokyo, mes amis, the Empress Nagako (the wife of Emperor Hirohito), wrote in a letter: “Every day from morning to night, B-29's fly freely over the palace making an enormous noise. As I sit at my desk writing and look up at the sky, countless numbers are passing over. Unfortunately... the B-29 is a splendid plane.”
The B-29 wasn't the only US bomber with those capabilities. In fact, the military leaders were so unsure of the B-29 they had a backup plan, the B-32 Dominator. Both the B-29 and the B-32 owe a great deal to the Douglas XB-19 which was the largest bomber ever built until 1946.
Maybe you should think about the C-47 Skytrain, most particularly those that flew the hump from India to China. Had an uncle who flew that route. He had two incidents where the plane just didn't make it and broke in half. My uncle and the pilot were the only survivors, according to family lore, and both walked out but not together
C-47’s were rarely used on the Hump. The C-46 Commando with supercharged engines was far more common on that route.
service ceiling on a C-47 was about a third of the B-29....that meant you had to fly around the mts.
My father related several stories about various aircraft of WW2 (he was an inspector at Boeing/Wichita). One recount was that C-47s were routinely overloaded during missions, they would audibly "creak" when they took off for a mission. Not too surprising that one would break up in flight under those conditions.
"The Candy Bombers!"
Have you done one on sabre jets, F86 and F100? Interesting fact. People who saw Godzilla with Raymond Burr as an American news correspondent also saw what looks like F86es with Hollywood makeovers fly airstrikes against Godzilla. In this movie, I also saw American M41 tanks and Browning .30 caliber machine guns.
B-26. My Dad served in a B-26 mostly (N. Africa, Sicily, Italy) as a photographer, waist gunner and radio man until 44, then back to the US to train for service in the Pacific, but the war ended first. I have copies of most of his mission after action reports and note there were instances of bombs exploding inside some planes or hanging up when the bomb bay doors opened. Only a few such reports, but that must have been terrorizing to the crews of nearby planes. Noting also many missions involved dropping bombs with time delay fuzes mixed in with bombs with instant fuzes. Some 15 minutes, a half hour, 3 hours, some 6 or 12 or more. That must have been annoying to rescue crews for sure.
There is a B29 "command decision" at the USAF Museum that shot down 5. Making it a jet ace as a bomber.
One afternoon, {1994, 1995?) whilst I was checking on the mares and foals, their fences and water (Calumet Farm, directly across US 60 from Blue Grass Field), I heard multiple radial engines pass over. "That's stupid," I told myself. "Nobody makes radial engines anymore." Then I looked up. It was Fifi. The aluminum overcast. You could have killed me with a feather. Next were Diamond Lil and Sentimental Journey. I almost soiled myself. Next day I took a tour, and met a vet. He explained to our little group how the electric gunnery worked. One of the treasures I will carry forever.
It would be interesting to see what you could find out about the C-133 Cargomaster built in the 1950's to haul Atlas and Titan missiles to the silos in mid-America. It was the largest turboprop aircraft built in the free world. Only 50 of these airplanes were built and after the delivery of the missiles the airplanes were used to haul outsized cargo during the Viet Nam War. It was replaced by the C-5 Galaxy in 1971.
My dad worked on the firing system of the B-50s, stationed at Briggs AFB in El Paso, during 1951-'52. For a few months, he was sent to Japan and was stationed at Yakota AFB, where he worked on B-29s. Mr Pilgrim - who, otherwise, provides great commentary in this video - says that no other bomber we had at the time compared to the B-29 as far as range and payload goes, but we DID have the B-50 available. It baffled my Dad at the time, and it baffles me today, why we didn't use the B-50 during the Korean War.
One thing I have not heard anyone talk about is after WWII, the B-29 was dropping guns, money, supplies and personnel behind the Iron Curtain trying to foment revolutions in eastern bloc countries. Dad said they would try a mission up to three times. He said he only got third missions and never missed. They were almost able to get a revolution to be successful in Hungary. They flew out of Wheelus field in Lybia. Missions were about 24 hours and ended in England. On the return to Lybia, they would take fresh milk back in the bomb bay. Dad was also the last to pilot Bocks Car to the Air Force Museum from the bone yard.
not much is spoken about bocks car everyone knows about enola gay though and charles sweeney ????? i dont think it is taught in the school curriculum it should be
The B 29’s that flew over Korea we’re in so much more danger then they were in World War II. The losses were staggering. Those airman were real heroes.😊
I love these old beauties ! Met one at an air show in Nevada......these things have a presence, a heart, a spirit......❤️
A lot of great information that I had never heard before! I appreciate the research you did on this video!
The tail gunner who shot down the Mig-15 was in my father's unit. It was a reconnaissance unit flying RB-29s. The plane suffered flap damage on one side and upon attempting to land the pilot dropped the flaps and the plane flipped over and crashed killing about 1/2 the crew. The gunner survived and was asked by the press how many bursts were needed to down the Mig. He replied that it was one burst. Astonished, "You shot down the Mig with 10-20 rounds?" "Hell, no I fired 200 rounds through each of those guns." He just mashed the firing buttons and held them down burning out the guns. My father flew 51 combat missions in a RB-29 in Korea (14 in a B-24 in WW-II out of Italy).
Really miss having the CAF Headquarters in my hometown providing thousands of volunteer hours, getting to see, work with and crawl all around these amazing aircraft including what was the only B-29 flying at the time ‘Fifi”. I had the privilege of getting to help rebuild her as well as maintain her several times. Also had the privilege to get to help rebuild a P-38 Lighting and it was beautiful. However after rebuilding her the CAF was forced to give her up but we won’t go into that. Just miss getting to be around all that as well as all the other people that were there working on them as well.
My dad joined the nascent us-air force post WW2 to the Korean was as an in-flight radar technician on b-29 refeuling variants. He loved the B-29 . I'm glad it was built.
Dad was Combat Camera with the B29s operating out of Guam, Saipan, and Tinian islands. I have the Air Medal he earned flying missions with them. The one story I remember him telling, other than how Capt Ronald Regan signed him up out of the infantry(no idea how true this was), was one of the air crew customs. Whoever used the toilet on the airplane first had to empty and clean it out after the flight. This would lead to hours and hours of squirming guys until someone finally gave in, which lead to the pilots having to adjust the trim as all the crew headed to the back of the plane at one time.
Thank you for making this longer video, especially the mercy flights, I've not heard of them. war is hell.
I think if this bomber game out earlier and was used in Europe it probably wouldn't need a fighter escort. The gun system was so good I don't think any fighters would get near the plane. I saw the whole gun system laid out on the hanger floor and a gentleman was demonstrating how it worked. It seemed way ahead of its time!!!! He could command all the guns at once, or he could give control to anyone in the plane, whoever could see and had the best shot. The turrets turned and moved up and down like lightning, it reminded me of the Terminator! They accounted for bullet drop and wind condition, they rarely missed in WW2! It was very impressive!!! The B29 was like a space ship compared to any bomber at the time.
Disabled aircraft were landing on Iwo Jima before the battle was over. There were as many air cremen saved as Marines lost seizing the island. The Jap soldiers made a last charge which went through the AAF çrew tents. AAF çrew were some of the last casualties of that battle.
Perhaps another bomber that had a defensive gunner, in this case the co-pilot, was an RB-47H called the Little Toy Dog that is said to have shot down a MiG19 in an encounter in July of 1960 off the Kola Peninsula when it too was shot down.
They sorted out the b29s inaccuracy problems in the pacific by; stripping out the guns, turning off the pressurization system, flying at night, flying at 5000 ft, doing area bombing. Hey sounds like the british tactics in europe except at lower altitudes.
Really, I was under the impression that they improved their accuracy by just flying lower, avoiding those high-wind jet streams that are over Japan.
I thought I knew the history of this remarkable aircraft, but this is all new to me. Well done!
My father was a Marine on Guam toward the end of the war. He told me that after the Marines took Iwo Jima the bombers operating out of Guam had a place to land if they were unable to get all the way back to Guam. Dad got a joy ride in a bomber, because the air crews were so grateful to the Marines for making Iwo Jima available. I am all but certain that meant the ride was in a B29.
@somebodypeculiar That was the whole purpose of taking Iwo. That and as a P-51 base to provide escorts for the bombers.
@@dennisweidner288 pilots landing on Iwo were told to sleep with their firearms....
@@frankpienkosky5688 I'm not sure I understand your point. How many of those pilots were killed by Japanese holdouts on Iwo?
Many pilots mentioned they could smell the rotting corpses way after the war on Iwo
This is an awesome video TJ well worth the wait. You're videos just keep getting better and better. Everytime I think you won't be able to top your last video you somehow hit it out of the park. From the videos on your Patreon it looks like your having a great time doing it too. I built the B-29 Eddie Allen for my son who is also Named Eddie Allen to hang in his room. Keep Em Flying TJ.
Very cool Rick! Just wait until next week ;)
I liked that comment aimed at the British "what are'yall doing?" which made me smile as we had the Avro Lancaster since 1941 which carried as much as a B-29 on a lot less power; plus it kept carrying it without catching fire in flight & burning its own wings off, or catching fire while taxiing & very embarrassingly setting its bomb-load off right on the runway; what we produced after the war was a modified Lancaster called an Avro Lincoln, followed by the most excellent, Griffon powered Avro Shackleton which stayed in service until the 1990's it was that good.
I don't know where the 'what are y'all doing' comment came from, that wasn't the intent of the USAAC. Lancs and the improved versions were great planes and the Lancaster was the greatest heavy bomber of the war, but couldn't get the speed or altitude of the B29. Lancasters had a MUCH longer combat history.
I doubt if the Lancaster could get it's 10 ton bomb off the ground in 100 degrees tropical heat and go 3000 miles.there and back.
Actually, the Lanc did not come into service until 1942. And you folks also had the Mosquito. But neither had the all-important range of the B-29. But what I like the best is the P-51 Mustang because it is a good example of what won the war--the all-important Anglo-American Alliance. The P-51 was an American airframe married to the British RR Merlin engine.
@@dennisweidner288 the mosquito was made out of wood....and it was highly effective......
The B-29 had a cargo variant called the C-97 Stratofreighter which became the basis for the passenger derivative which was the iconic 377 Stradocruiser which would become one of the iconic passenger airliners of the 1950’s. The 377 Stradocruiser and the C-97 Stratofreighter used surplus B-50 parts specifically the wings, tail, engines and their nacelles which came off the B-50. The Stradocruiser was used by six US airlines (Pan American Airlines “Pan Am, American Overseas Airways, Northwest Airlines which was called Northwest Orient Airlines at the time, United Airlines and Transocean Airlines).
Way to go Brad and David! Great info as always!
Thanks for this presentation. My father was stationed in Guam from February through November 1945, serving as a B-29 Ground Crew Chief in the 58th Bombardment Group.
What blows me away is how fast aircraft technology developed between 1940 and 1950. When the first prototype of the B 29 took to the air in November of 1942 it represented the last word in multi engine bomber technology. Yet only five years later when the B 47 multi engine swept wing jet bomber was in the final stages of development, it had become hopelessly outmoded. If you placed both aircraft beside each other, in comparison to the radical B 47 the B 29 would look like it had come from the previous century, such was the case of technological advance during those turbulent years.
The B-29 was an enormous aircraft. Yet next to the B-36 it looked insignificant. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_B-36_Peacemaker#/media/File:B-36aarrivalcarswell1948.jpg Increases in aircraft size were such that the B-29, that was very much a 'Heavy Bomber', eventually was reclassified as 'Medium' when the B-36 came into service.
My Uncle was a gunner on a B29 in the Korean war he parachuted twice :) Survived to to live a long life :)
My dad was a side gunner on a B-29 stationed on Tinian. Your last segment was very interesting because I did not know about the food drops. My dad was a POW the last few months of the war after having to bail out over Tokyo during a night bombing run. We actually have a picture of him after he was freed, I believe it was on a dock in Tokyo bay.
My Dad was also stationed on Tinian. I don't doubt that your dad was a gunner on a B-29 but a B-29 did not have side guns.
Great video! Especially appreciate the 1st person accounts from viewers experience and relatives stories.
Another great informative video TJ3. I always learn from these videos. The B-24 Liberator “ Witchcraft” in this video I have seen and actually been in. When it came to a airport near me back in 2018. Maybe a video on that B-24? Or B-24s Thanks.
I love that you used war thunder for your animations that just proves the level of detail they put in to their game
My father told me of a B29 that dropped supplies on the camp he was in located in Mukden in Manchuria. This camp had 10 Australians and the rest of the prisoners were American airmen.
Thanks for the amazing content you provide about our heroes! Maybe next video you could have something like “5 Facts You Never Knew About the B-24.” I personally feel it is an overlooked aircraft and I feel it should be recognized by more as an effective warbird.
This is true. The B-17 had the PR(there was a hit movie starring Gregory Peck, "12 O'clock High," that was made into a hit TV show in the early 1960s - always watched at our house, because Dad was a B-17 pilot) and the reputation as a great airplane that saved the lives of many crewmen. But there were many more B-24s built - 18,000 of 'em. And when they first designed the Liberator the biggest complaint about the B-17 was it's bomb capacity, so they drew a block diagram of wings with 4 nacelles for engines, with a block diagram of a fuselage with 2 B-17 bomb-bays in tandem in between the wings - and went on to design the rest of the B-24 around it. They didn't always carry twice as much bombs; often extra fuel tanks went there. But the Army Air Force liked them B-24s, even if the crews didn't.
@@DavidSmith-ss1cg B-24's had greater range...often used over water....Germans used to call them "flying moving vans"....most famous for the Ploesti raid...where they flew so low the gunners actually shot it out with the Germans on the ground....
Love the content! keep up the good work!
They use to come to US army base Vernam Field, Jamaica on training missions. My Grand mother use to opperate a shop in the village of Gimme--MI-Bit south of the base.
The b29 is starting to remind me a lot of the he 177. Unreliable engines causing fires lead to huge losses for the 177. Interesting to see the b29 had similar issues
A better comparison to the He-177 would be the Avro Manchester.
Fun fact: First use of "Composite Materials" was on the B-29 ... to increase range ("lightening") the Cockpit floors were made of composites (balsa wood/fiberglass not carbon fiber).
The cost of the initial build, and it’s continuing developmental costs were staggering for the time. Yet the advancements contributed immensely to the future or aircraft design, technology, safety, and overall construction techniques. It was what made America such a leader in post WWII aviation.
I was not aware of a lot of the history involving the B-29! Especially the food drops to the Allied prisoners! Very interesting!
You should do a video about the Me-264 the German b-29
That brought tears to my eyes that American POWs gave some of their food to the local Japanese citizens who were also starving. I never heard of that before but it does not surprise me. One thing that always bothered me as a young post-war kid born in 1952 was why the local candy store had candy and wax-filled make-believe lips and teeth filled with juice that was imported from Japan. I did not know better because I was so young. But these "edibles" that resembled fake teeth and fake lips always had some sort of juice filled into them that were marketed as, "made in Japan". They would cost as much as 10 cents to 25 cents depending on what we young 7-year-old kids were able to afford. My dad was always annoyed at me because I bought Japanese products that he and five other brothers fought against in WWII. My dad didn't approve of me spending my money on toy-made wax lips or teeth filled with who knows what kind of juice contained therein. But yet, the U.S. government allowed the Japanese to flood our U.S. markets with toys and other things. In reality, it brought about a revitalization of economic stability between our two countries who are now economic and political allies.
Beautiful animation! Thank you for this fascinating documentary!
Tremendously informative video! Thank you very much. I learned things about the B-29 and WW-2 that I did not know. Keep up this very important work. My request for an aircraft to do a video on would be a PBY. My dad was a radio man on the PBY in the later stages of WW-2 in the Pacific theater. He was assigned to the USS Pine Island, which was a combination of supply ship/seaplane tender. He flew over Hiroshima 2-weeks after the bomb was dropped and as an 18-year old saw the devastation the bomb wrought. Dad didn't talk about the war too much as I believe was/is common among veterans of any war. He did tell me that he was one of the lucky ones who was able to come home and that many many really good men never were able to return. I think he felt some guilt over that. But he was the greatest man I've ever known and whenever I see old war footage, especially naval footage, I look for my dad in some of those films. Thank you again for your efforts in putting this together.
Take a look at some of the things Howard Hughes did. During my life, he was looked at as excentric (or worse) but during the 1930's and '40's he designed some leading edge aircraft and his last (Spruce Goose) was the largest wooden aircraft to achieve flight. (I spent much of my adult life repairing digital equipment HAC manufactured. It was good stuff but nothing lasts forever. So I'm told.)
To think this aircraft was engineered during the days when the flathead Ford V8 ruled the road. The primitive 9N Ford tractor ruled the farm. Aircraft engines built from scratch during a time when most of the metals of today did not exist. Simply mind numbing! The men that crawled into the belly of these beasts were as brave as any from history legend of the past!
Man the Korea war was really brutal…can’t imagine how the b29s went down.
Once the Sabres and other jets arrived to serve as escorts, the B-29s could actually operate much more safely. Their raids on North Korea from 1952-53 were just brutal for the Communists, among the heaviest we had ever done up to that time.
So interesting to see so many comments from people with family connections to the B-29. My father as well flew as tail gunner on a B-29 from Kadena during the Korean war. He also painted the nose art on many of the aircraft stationed there.
Dad was a bombardier in the other wing at Kadena, the 307th, the first eleven months they were there. The c/o of the 307th didn’t allow nose art. Lots of slides of the other units’ nose art. When kids slides went by so fast we couldn’t see the naked ladies much. Air Force had this weird policy that enlisted men could only buy beer at the px. So they had to give cash to an officer, who then broke reg’s and bought the hard liquor for them. Officers also gave a couple bottles of liquor to the enlisted guys who had some ability for painting their ship’s nose art. Presumably your dad was beneficiary of this system. One I remember - girl in a martini glass, text ‘Top Of The Mark’. The Mark was a fancy joint in S.F. Top of the Mark was its upstairs cocktail lounge. Expensive. By tradition crews, or at least the officers, heading west across the Pacific went there and got drunk the night before. Of course they didn’t fly until the next night. Fly at night so they could navigate by shooting the stars, timed to arrive on Oahu at sunup, land in daylight.
I just checked out my dad's scrapbook and taped on the cover is a picture of 'Top of the Mark's' nose. @@billsmith5109
There were other strategic bombers available for the Korean war, but they were designated for the main nuclear deterrence role. Randolph AFB became a crew training hub as the B-29 came back from storage. Incredible to believe given Randolph's size and early training mission.
A video about the B-29's more conventional backup, the B-32 Dominator, would be an interesting comparison.
@TJ3 - What a *wonderful* video! Thank you! :)
Heck, I did learn some stuff I didn't know, especially the details. Thank you! For potential viewers, I would recommend skipping that memory fix ad though. I watched that obnoxious thing for about 10 minutes while they kept telling me they were going to show me some method of preventing brain decline, but I went completely senile waiting for them to do so. Otherwise, cool vid.
It is well to remember that the Wright Bros first flew less than forty years before. Also, I believe, the costs can be amortized over the fleet of B-29's but also civilian Stratocruisers in airline after the war.
Great video. Really enjoyed. Loved the narrator/expert in the brown bomber jacket. Great job.
Another great video. So glad I subscribed to this channel.
Great video TJ. Learned a lot of new facts. Keep 'em comin'! 🇺🇸
Awesome documentary much appreciated here in Perth Western Australia 👍🙃🍺🦘
Normally, I chafe at these "countdown" extravaganzas, but this is decently narrated and interesting - particularly, number three about B-29s resupply of other B-29s.
Yesss FInally! Been waiting a long time for this video to come out, thought you forgot about it after recording. Glad to be the B29 that shot the Mig-15 down (the B29 with a 5 on its tail 😄)
B29, B50, they sure are beautiful airplanes. Thanks for the vid 👍 Greets from the Netherlands, T.
I remember the excitement when we heard about the B-19. It became a kinda sweet/sad story when we found out they were to be destroyed after the testing of such a huge aircraft.
FINALLY!!!!! A KZhead video that promises to tell me things I don’t know about a particular subject - and then actually delivers. First time ever.
An incredible aircraft, cutting edge in so many ways.
The Catalina. That should be what you cover next.