BOEING B-29 SUERFORTRESS

The Boeing B-29 Suerfortress is a four-engine heavy bomber propeller aircraft. It was flown by the United States Military in World War II and Korea. Other nations also flew the B-29 Superfortess. The B-29 Superfortress is the predecessor of the well-known B-17 Flying Fortress.

During Operation Matterhorn, the initial plan, as implemented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was to use the B-29 to attack Japan from four forward bases in Southern China and other regions in China and India as needed.

The first combat mission of the B-29 was on June 5, 1944, with almost 77 out of 98 B-29s launched from India bombing the railroad shops in Bangkok and there were five B-29s lost due to non-combat causes. On June 15, 1944, 47 B-29s bombed the Imperial Iron and Steel Works at Yawata, Japan. The first B-29 combat loss occurred during the raid.

The most famous B-29 is the Enola Gay, dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and three days later, the B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki which in turn, resulted to the official end of World War II. The B29 was also used during the Korean War.

After the war ended, the B-29 remained in service long enough unlike other bombers. The B-29 soon became obsolete by the development of the jet engine. There are 3,970 B-29s were built before it retired in 1960.

The B-29 had four remote controlled turrets. The nose and the cockpit were pressurized. The B-29 is relatively mild-mannered according to most pilots, though its unboosted controls were extremely heavy and required great physical strengh to operate it.