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Superfortress, the Boeing B-29 - Aircraft Specials series (6028) Summary:By Steve Birdsall
The B-29 was an airplane of superlatives...the world's first pressurized bomber, the world's heaviest production airplane, with the most powerful engines and highest wing loading. The proof of the design's inherent excellence was the fact that all 3,960 Superfortresses differed little from each other, or from the basic design. In fact, when the first flight of the XB-29 took place on September 21, 1942, sixteen hundred B-29s had already been ordered. The B-29 program did not run smoothly - there were production delays and bottlenecks, and problems which had to be solved as they arose. All these things cost time, and there was constant pressure, both political and military, to get the B-29s into action. When the second flight test aircraft crashed in February 1943, killing test pilot Eddie Allen and his crew, the entire multi-million dollar program was in jeopardy. There were those of the opinion that the airplane should be cancelled, but others, in particular the commander of the Army Air Forces, General "Hap" Arnold, believed in the B-29 and fought for it. The Army Air Forces "took over" the project, and by the early months of 1944 Superfortresses were rolling off the production lines at four factories. Boeing's first Wichita production aircraft, 42-6205, was accepted by the Air Force on October 7, 1943 and the company's first Renton-buill B-29A, 42-93824, was accepted on New Year's Day of the following year. The other two companies building B-29s were Martin Aircraft at Omaha, Nebraska and Bell at Marietta in Georgia. Initially they produced five aircraft each under a Boeing Wichita contract, presumably from sub-assemblies shipped from Kansas. The first "all Georgia" Bell aircraft, 42-63352, was-accepted on December 30, 1943, while Martin's "first Omaha" B-29, 42-65202, was rolled out in May 1944.Summary: Squadron/Signals Superfortress series best Rating: 5 Of the three books about the superfortress by Squadron/Signal that I own this is the best, and the three together are a formidable bulk of photographs and very fine artwork. This one stands out because it also offers colour photographs and more text than the two 'in action' brothers (1031 and 1165) can carry. NEWER EBOOKSSponsored LinksSuperfortress, the Boeing B-29 - Aircraft Specials series (6028) Keywordsb 29 production aircraft superfortress b 29s boeing photographs airplane squadron forces bomber omaha series action wichita accepted signal martin army georgia production airplane heaviest production powerful engines inherent excellence production delays superfortresses differed pressurized bomber laying waste steve birdsall specials series |
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