B-29 Bomber

I’ve gotten addicted to those “combat missions” books available at steep discounts at Barnes & Noble.  I’ve already written about the B-17 and B-24 bombers, the most common US bombers of World War II, and recently I picked up a third volume, B-29 Combat Missions, by Donald Nijboer and Steve Pace.  Unlike the B-17 and B-24, I can’t claim to have any uncles that I know of who flew the B-29.

The B-29 is most famous for being the bomber which dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, thereby ending World War II with Japan’s surrender.   The Enola Gay, the one which bombed Hiroshima, is on display at the Dulles Annex (Udvar-Hazy Museum) out near Dulles Airport.  Unfortunately, you can’t go into the bomber – or any of the others.  I can understand not flying around, but not getting inside?  Someone, at some museum, should set up a display bomber, whether it be B-17, B-24, or B-29, set up to allow visitors to actually get inside the plane.  I suppose at this point the planes are too rare to allow that.  Anyhow.

Due to the vast distances, mostly over water, which these planes had to travel, a very long range bomber was needed for attacks on the Japanese mainland.   Boeing developed the B-29 starting in 1942, and rushed development and production so that when operations began in June 1944, the ”bugs” were still not worked out.  In fact, B-29 losses due to engine failures and other such “snafus” exceeded losses inflicted by the Japanese; of 414 losses, 127 were due to enemy action.  A B-29 crew was more likely to be killed by the plane itself than the enemy.  During WWII a total of 3,970 B-29s were built at various plants across America.  

In addition to its higher range and payload, the B-29 also had some innovations.  The cabin was completely pressurized, and the turrets were remote controlled, allowing a much lower profile and higher accuracy.  In terms of bombing accuracy, however, the Norden bombsight was not as good as commonly claimed.  At high altitude, and with unpredictable weather and a strong jet stream, bombing Japan was hit or miss.  Sometimes they had to bomb by radar (visual sighting being the optimal method assuming the target could actually be seen).  Ultimately they decided that precision bombing was not going to happen, so the better solution was lower level night attacks focused on general areas.

Japanese cities were primarily built with wood at this time, making them particularly vulnerable to incendiary attacks.  B-29s would strike at night, with the bombardier simply dropping bombs on whatever target was not already on fire, which was simple enough to execute and remarkably effective and devastating.  Tokyo was hit especially hard.  B-29s also took part in supply missions and rescue operations.

Reaction.  Just as the aircraft carriers were, B-29s were subject to suicide attacks.  But Japanese resistance was not very impressive, least of all compared to the Luftwaffe’s night fighter forces.  Japan’s top fighter ace, Saburo Sakai, lamented the consistently negligible impact the Japanese interceptor forces had on the B-29 raids.   The B-29s were more likely to have to ditch because of unreliable engines or the planes running out of fuel, than because of damage caused by Japanese fighters or flak.

  

Korea.  The B-29 served in the Korean War too, operating from bases in Japan.  However, once the MiG-15 came into operation, B-29 missions had to be done at night, as the MiGs would slaughter the B-29s.

 Engine.  The Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone.   This was an 18 cylinder radial engine, with the cylinders in two banks of 9, and a supercharger.  Total displacement was 3,347 cubic inches, but only 2,200 horsepower, or .65 HP/cubic inch.  This would be like a 350 cubic inch V8 putting out 230 HP – with a supercharger.   My L98 put out 240 HP in stock form (1992 model year), without a supercharger, though with EFI and electronic ignition, neither of which were available to aircraft designers in the 1940s; GM automotive engineers were able to achieve 1 HP/cubic inch in the late 1950s without forced induction.  Due to the tight clearance between the cowl (engine cover) and the cylinders, which were air-cooled, the engines had a bad habit of overheating, and the magnesium cases burned at extremely high temperatures, making them extremely difficult to put out.