During World War II, the Pacific theater saw the bulk of the use of B-29s. Up to 1,000 Superfortresses dropped bombs on Tokyo at once, destroying major portions of the city
The B-29 Superfortress was one of the most technologically advanced aircraft of World War II and had several novel innovations, such as remote-controlled weapons. Crewmen could crawl between the two pressurized crew areas—fore and aft—that were joined by a long tube over the bomb bays. Only at altitudes where pressurization was not necessary could the tail gunner enter or exit his separate pressurized space.
Due to its increased range, bomb load, and defensive needs, the B-29 was also the heaviest production plane in the world.
During World War II, the Pacific theater saw the bulk of the use of B-29s. Up to 1,000 Superfortresses dropped bombs on Tokyo at once, destroying significant portions of the city. Ultimately, the B-29 Enola Gay delivered the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. A second B-29 named Bockscar dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki three days later. After a short while, Japan gave up.
Over Japan, how many B-29s were lost?
‘Four hundred and fourteen (414) B-29s were lost bombing Japan—147 of them to flak and Japanese fighters, 267 to engine fires, mechanical failures, takeoff crashes, and other “operational losses,”’ Pete Feigal, Former Pro Military Artist, explains on Quora.
‘Do the math and you’ll see that for every B-29 lost to the enemy, almost two were lost to accidents and crashes.
‘The grim jest among B-29 crewmen was that they were being killed more by Curtiss-Wright, the makers of the B-29’s big R3350 radial engines, than by the Japanese. Except it wasn’t a joke.
‘The B-29 had 4 × Wright R-3350-23 Duplex-Cyclone 18-cylinder air-cooled turbosupercharged radial piston engines, making 2,200 hp each, and they were terrible, and the LAST time magnesium was ever used on an engine again.
‘The light-weight crankcase of the R3350 was made out of very flammable magnesium crankcase, and when they went up like shooting stars, they could quickly burn right through a wing spar.’
Feigal concludes;
‘With the unreliability of the incredibly complex remote-aimed guns, the severe engine problems, and the many, many other issues in the very technical (and rushed, IMO) aircraft, give me a B-17 every time.’
Photo by U.S. Air Force via Cool Old Photos and 7th Fighter.com
