User:Davegnz/Boeing B-29 Survivors - old version

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Boeing B-29A "Z49" survivor at March Field Air Museum in 2007. This particular aircraft flew 11 combat missions during World War II.
Boeing B-29A "Z49" survivor at March Field Air Museum in 2007. This particular aircraft flew 11 combat missions during World War II.
Starboard side view of B-29A "Z49" at March Field Air Museum.
Starboard side view of B-29A "Z49" at March Field Air Museum.
Main article: B-29 Superfortress

Boeing B-29 Survivors are those B-29s that have been preserved or restored for public display. Some Superfortress have known or notable histories, and include model numbers, serial numbers, wings served, unique fuselage markings, and locations.

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress was a four-engine heavy bomber propeller aircraft flown by the United States Military in World War II and Korea, and by other nations afterwards. The name "Superfortress" was derived from its well-known predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress.

The B-29 (Boeing 341/345) was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II. 3960 B-29's were built with quantity production being between 1943 and 1946. Unlike many other bombers, the B-29 remained in service long after the war ended, retirement coming in the early 1960's. Currently 25 confirmed B-29s are preserved at various museums worldwide.

The airframe was further developed into the B-50 for the USAF, and the Soviet Union developed a virtual carbon copy Tupolev Tu-4 which was reverse engineered from confiscated B-29 bombers.[1]

Contents

[edit] Airworthy aircraft

B-29A-60-BN 44-62070 Fifi (N529B)

Belonging to the Commemorative Air Force is the only airworthy B-29 in the world at present.

Fifi has been grounded since 2006 because of problems with all four engines, but recent developments suggest that she will fly again.

In a joint press release[1], dated 21 January, 2008, the Commemorative Air Force and the Cavanaugh Flight Museum, announced a pledge of $1.2M USD to re-engine FiFi. The pledge was made by Jim Cavanaugh, the founder of the Cavanaugh Flight Museum. As a result of the contribution, FiFi will be returned to flight status, and the B29/B24 Squadron of the CAF will relocate its base from Midland, Texas to the Addison Airport, at Addison, Texas (KADS). The B24 and the B29 will, for the six months of each year they are not on tour, be kept and maintained at Addison.

[edit] Exhibited aircraft

A number of B-29s which were used operationally in the Second World War and Korean War survive in museums in the United States:

B-29-35-MO 44-27297 Bockscar
"Bockscar" at USAF Museum
"Bockscar" at USAF Museum
"Peachy" at Pueblo Museum
"Peachy" at Pueblo Museum
Main article: Bockscar

A "Silverplate" (A-Bomb Carrier) conversion. 393rd Bomb Squadron, 509th Composite Group. On 9 August 1945 dropped the "Fat Man" Plutonium Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Stored for many years and now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio.

B-29-60-BN 44-62022 Peachy

The Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum's B-29A Peachy is named in honor of all the crews who fought in the Pacific Theater. A B-29 by that name was piloted by a native of Pueblo, Lt. Robert T. Haver, who gave it his pet name for a younger sister. The original Peachy flew 35 combat missions into enemy territory from Tinian Island, central Pacific chain of the Mariana's. This aircraft was donated to the museum in 1976 by the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake CA; and in 2005 it was moved indoors.

B-29-60-BW 44-69729 T-Square-54

No. 54 was assigned to the 875th Bomb Squadron, 498th Bomb Group, 73rd Bomb Wing and completed thirty-seven bombing missions. Converted to KB-29 (aerial refueling tanker) in June 1949. In 1986 it was extracted out of the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake and transported to Lowry AFB's Lowry Heritage Museum (LHM);[2] now Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum. It went through its inital level of restoration in 1987 with LHM's volunteers and was readied for its rebirth and rededication of Lowry AFB's 50th anniversary, 2 October 1987. It was restored to its 1944 markings with the "T Square 54" on its vertical stabilizer. In 1995 the USAF Museum transferred T-Sq-54 to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington. After another level of restoration and change in its markings, it was displayed again 1996.

B-29-70-BW 44-69972 Doc

A Korean War veteran which has been used as a radar trainer and ballistic missile target. The airframe was acquired by the United States Aviation Museum for restoration to flight status. After a great deal of work at the Boeing plant in Wichita, Kansas where it was originally built, the aircraft was moved in March 2007 to the Kansas Aviation Museum.

B-29-75-BW 44-70016 Sentimental Journey

Originally flew with the 330th Bomb Group, 20th Air Force from Guam, now displayed at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona.

B-29-80-BW 44-70113

Flew with the 73rd Bomb Wing 20th Air Force. Decommissioned in 1956 and stored until the Marietta B29 Association sponsored restoration in 1994. Now on display at Dobbins AFB, Georgia.

B-29-45-MO 44-86292 Enola Gay
B-29-45-MO 44-86292 Enola Gay
B-29-45-MO 44-86292 Enola Gay
Main article: Enola Gay

A "Silverplate" (A-Bomb Carrier) conversion. 393rd Bomb Squadron, 509th Composite Group. On 6 August 1945 dropped "Little Boy" Uranium Atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. For many years was in storage at Paul Garber facility at National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C. recently re-assembled after lengthy restoration and displayed at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport.

B-29-55-MO 44-86408 Haggerty's Hag

Delivered to USAAF the day the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic weapon on Hiroshima, Japan. Later used to collect radioactive samples during postwar atomic tests, now on display at Hill Air Force Base Museum, Utah.

P2B-1S BuNo 84029

Formerly B-29-95-BW 45-21787 "Fertile Myrtle" which carried the Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket research aircraft was donated to an aviation museum in Oakland, California in 1984. It was sold to the Kermit Weeks Fantasy of Flight Museum, Miami, Florida, and is on the US Civil register as N29KW. Multiple airframes were acquired from the US Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California.[3]

[edit] Other displayed aircraft

Model S/N History Markings Display Location
B-29-70BW 44-69972 ex-TB-29
ex-ADC 4713th REF -1st RCS
ex-ADC 4750th Tow Target Sqdn
N69972		 Doc[4] Kansas Aviation Museum[5] [6] and
Boeing Company, Wichita, Kansas
B-29-75BW 44-70064 Composite airframe Razi’n Hell Castle Air Museum [7]
Atwater, California
B-29-80BW 44-87627 ex-TB-29 BF-627 8th Air Force Museum, Barksdale AFB, Louisiana
B-29-90BW 44-87779 ex-KB-29B
6th BG / 20th AF		 Circle-R
Legal Eagle II		 South Dakota Air and Space Museum
Ellsworth AFB, Rapid City, South Dakota
B-29-90BW 45-21739 Korean Aerospace Industry Museum[8]
Sacheon Airport,Korea
B-29-97BW 45-21748 Duke Of Albuquerque National Atomic Museum
Albuquerque, New Mexico
B-29-25MO 42-65281 ex-WB-29
6th BG / 20th AF		 Circle P
Miss America 62		 Travis AFB, California
B-29-40MO 44-27343 ex-F-13A (RB-29A)
ex-513th RWS
ex-57th SRW		 Tinker’s Heritage Tinker AFB
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
B-29A-15BN 42-93967 ex-F-13A
19th BG, 5th AF (Korea)		 City of Lansford Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park
Cordele, Georgia
B-29A-35BN 44-61535 Composite airframe
(3 airframes)		 Raz’n Hell Castle Air Museum, Atwater, California
B-29A-40BN 44-61669 500thBG, 20thAF (11 combat missions)
N3299F		 Z 49
Flagship 500		 March Field Air Museum, Riverside, CA
Next to March ARB
B-29A-40BN 44-61671 replica of 509th CG Silverplate bomber 89
The Great Artiste		 Whiteman AFB
Knob Noster, Missouri
B-29A-45BN 44-61739 Robins AFB
Houston County, Georgia
B-29A-45BN 44-61748 ex-TB-29A
501st BG / 20th AF
G-BHDK		 Diamond-Y
Its Hawg Wild		 American Air Museum/
Imperial War Museum Duxford, England
B-29A-55BN 44-61975 468th BG / 20th AF Triangle-I 55
Jack’s Hack		 New England Air Museum[9]
Windsor Locks, Connecticut
B-29A-65BN 44-62139 19th BG / 5th AF (Korea) Command Decision[10] Nat'l Museum of USAF
Dayton, Ohio
B-29A-70BN 44-62220 498th BG / 20th AF T-Square-5[11]
Joltin Josie		 History and Traditions Museum[12]
Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas
B-29B-55BA 44-84053 Big Red Museum of Aviation[13], Robins AFB, GA
B-29B-60BA 44-84076 ex-2nd AF
ex-SAC 97th BG
ex-SAC 28th BG		 076
Man O War		 Strategic Air and Space Museum[14]
Omaha, Nebraska

[edit] References

  1. ^ TU-4 information from FAS.org
  2. ^ T.Mathewson: T-Square Retrieved from China Lakes Naval Weapons Range
  3. ^ Warbird Registry: B-29 "Fertile Myrtle"
  4. ^ United States Aviation Museum: B-29 "Doc" Website
  5. ^ United States Aviation Museum: B-29 "DOC" Restoration Project
  6. ^ Kansas Aviation Museum: B-29 "Doc" Official site
  7. ^ Castle Air Museum
  8. ^ KAI Site
  9. ^ New England Air Museum
  10. ^ USAF Museum's "Command Decision"
  11. ^ Official plaque by 73rd Bomb Wing Association
  12. ^ Lackland History and Traditions Museum
  13. ^ Museum of Aviation Robins AFB
  14. ^ Strategic Air and Space Museum's B-29
  • Bowers, Peter M. (1999). Boeing B-29 Superfortress. Stillwater, Minnesota: Voyageur Press. ISBN 0-933424-79-5. 
  • Deakin, John (2002-06-24). "Superfortress!". Pelican's Perch (56). Aviation Publishing Group. 
  • Futrell RF, Greenhalgh WH, Grubb C, Hasselwander GE, Jakob RF, and Ravenstein CA (1976). The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia - Aces and aerial victories, 1965-1973. ISBN 0-8987-5884-X. 
  • Hess, William N. (1998). Big Bombers of WW II. 
  • Higham, Robin; Williams, Carol (editors) (1975). Flying combat aircraft of USAAF-USAF (Volume 1). Air Force Historical Foundation.. ISBN 0-8138-0325-X. 
  • Johnson, Robert E. "Why the Boeing B-29 Bomber, and Why the Wright R-3350 Engine?" American Aviation Historical Society Journal 1988 33(3): 174-189. ISSN 0002-7553
  • LeMay, Curtis; Yenne, Bill (1988). Super Fortress. Berkley Books. ISBN 0-425-11880-0. 
  • Mann, Robert A. (2004). The B-29 Superfortress: A Comprehensive Registry of the Planes and Their Missions. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-1787-0.
  • Pace, Steve (2003). Boeing B-29 Superfortress. Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire, United Kingdom: Crowood Press. ISBN 1-86126-581-6.
  • Vander Meulen, Jacob (1995). Building the B-29. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books. ISBN 1-56098-609-3). (The economic aspect of the B-29 program)
  • Wheeler, Keith (1982). Bombers over Japan. Virginia Beach, Virginia: Time-Life Books. ISBN 0-8094-3429-6.
  • "Boeing B-29 Superfortress." Encyclopedia of American Aircraft. Accessed on October 26, 2004.
  • "Boeing B-29 Superfortress Bockscar.National Museum of the United States Air Force. Accessed on May 24, 2007.

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