The B-29 Superfortress was the last kid airplane to matter. Built by Boeing (in those days Boeing was primarily a military manufacturer), it was the big brother of the company’s earlier B-17 Flying Fortress (that plane was the star of Memphis Belle and, somewhat unfairly, any other movie you’ve seen about World War II).
The B-29 was a huge plane at the time. Compared to the B-17, it was twice as large, could fly 60% farther, and could carry 3 times as much. It’s comparable to today’s Boeing 737 and Airbus A320, the kind of plane you generally fly domestically.
The earlier Flying Fortress got its name from having so many attached machine guns (13) that it looked like a fortress. The B-29 kept the name for marketing purposes, but was as much a porcupine. Guns aren’t intersting, but their presence proves the B-29 was designed in a low-speed world: if planes fly at 600mph, their combined speed of 1200 mph is so fast that guns aren’t useful.
The B-29 is (in)famous as the plane that ended WWII. “Enola Gay” and “Bockscar” were B-29s that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, thereby proving that such large planes were feasible and that 1940s pilots picked terrible names for airplanes.
The age of the propeller plane was past. There were 12,000+ B-17s but just under 4,000 B-29s. Boeing would sell the Air Force a further upgrade of the Superfortress (more powerful engines and various improvements) as the B-50, but only made 370 that flew in support roles until 1965.
Amusingly, the B-29’s last gasp was in China. Over the course of WWII 3 B-29s landed in the USSR. They reverse engineered every piece to make the Tu-4. It weighed more and performed worse than the original B-29 because every imperial metal thickness was rounded up when converted to metric. The Russian manufacturer built 847 Tu-4’s and sent some to its ally China where they flew until 1988.
The B-29 was a huge plane at the time. Compared to the B-17, it was twice as large, could fly 60% farther, and could carry 3 times as much. It’s comparable to today’s Boeing 737 and Airbus A320, the kind of plane you generally fly domestically.
The earlier Flying Fortress got its name from having so many attached machine guns (13) that it looked like a fortress. The B-29 kept the name for marketing purposes, but was as much a porcupine. Guns aren’t intersting, but their presence proves the B-29 was designed in a low-speed world: if planes fly at 600mph, their combined speed of 1200 mph is so fast that guns aren’t useful.
The B-29 is (in)famous as the plane that ended WWII. “Enola Gay” and “Bockscar” were B-29s that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, thereby proving that such large planes were feasible and that 1940s pilots picked terrible names for airplanes.
The age of the propeller plane was past. There were 12,000+ B-17s but just under 4,000 B-29s. Boeing would sell the Air Force a further upgrade of the Superfortress (more powerful engines and various improvements) as the B-50, but only made 370 that flew in support roles until 1965.
Amusingly, the B-29’s last gasp was in China. Over the course of WWII 3 B-29s landed in the USSR. They reverse engineered every piece to make the Tu-4. It weighed more and performed worse than the original B-29 because every imperial metal thickness was rounded up when converted to metric. The Russian manufacturer built 847 Tu-4’s and sent some to its ally China where they flew until 1988.
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