B-29--B36 bombers----YouTube

[getitdone1]

Just finished watching videos on YouTube about the B-29 and B-36 bombers. Very interesting. The B-29 was a very big plane but the B-36 was much larger.

Most interesting video was titled: "B-29 Frozen in Time." Type that in the YouTube search box and you'll have some great entertainment. They try to salvage a B-29 that crash landed on Greenland during WWII.

Don

[gak]

Some great stuff. Yeah, the fate of that Greenland rebuild was heartbreaking. My father flew both planes; a lot of the 29, some of the 36. I got a personal (father-given) tour of a 36 when we were stationed in San Antonio in the 60s. You're right-a ginormous plane--the 29 and its successor B-50 no slouches in that department either, but dwarfed. (A comparative photo of a 707 next to 747 comes to mind) To see some great B-36 and B-47 footage, the film "Strategic Air Command" with real-life Air Force pilot James Stewart and June Allyson is must see. Great 50s Air Force/airplane nostalgia. Ironically, the movie depicts a dramatic flight to Greenland on a 36.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&hl=en& ... cription=1

[rbertalotto]

Read a great book about the B29...."Fire over Tokyo"

The B29 was a terrible airplane. Built in three factories and the parts were not interchangeable amongst them. 20% crashed with out any involvement of the enemy. The engines were magnesium and caught on fire with spectacular results. And they did this so often they actually experimented with "Jetisonable Engines". Engine catches fire, simply drop it off the wing!

The B29 was built for only one mission...........Bomb Japan. The jet was already in development and the writing was on the wall for propellers.

"I Like Planes!"

[rbertalotto]

GREAT video here:

http://archive.org/details/TheLastBomb1945

[olyinaz]

We've got a B-36 in Tucson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCu9MEwc ... re=related

http://www.pimaair.org/collection-detail.php?cid=58

Great museum too!

Oly

[deafrn]

The B29 was built for only one mission...........Bomb Japan. The jet was already in development and the writing was on the wall for propellers.

My dad was an intercept technician with the 20th AF at Kadena (actually Yontan Mtn.) when the Korean War broke out, talking by radio to the bombers (and the occasional F-82 night fighter) once they were out of the tower's control. The obsolescence of the B-29 in the space of just five years was obvious to everyone who actually had anything to do with them. Demoted to "medium" bomber status at the time, they were small when compared to the B-36, but still heavy enough to pound the living snot out of the runway at Kadena.

About ten years ago I showed dad a book with some B-29 nose art and darned if he didn't remember a fair number of them, and could even remember a few of their pilots' vocal idiosyncrasies.

[C. Cash]

DAD STARTED OFF ON THE RB-36's at Travis AFB in the early 50's(as an engine mechanic). He went to Thule and worked on that Cadillac of the sky, The Delta Dart. Later he was on F4's(Vietnam)and F104's(one of which is at the Pima Air Museum). Talked to him yesterday and he was setting on the Tarmac of Williams AFB where he retired in 73, flying his Beech Baron for the US Forest service. Sixty years in aviation ain't bad!

[Mike D.]

Sad that after all of their efforts the "Kee Bird" burned after catching fire on takeoff.

[gak]

Dad and his flight engineer had to scrounge the Guam island/base junkyard (gettiing pot-shot at) for parts to repair two and virtually rebuild another 29 engine to get his plane flight-worthy for the trip home to Hawaii and the mainland at the end of the war. I don't recall that (necessarily) being a dis' on the 29 itself in that particular case, as all the planes had seen relentless and rough duty on their long Japan runs. He liked and spoke with affection (in different ways) about all the planes he flew, from 17s and A-20s (his favorites) to 24s, 25s, 26s, and 29s, post-war B50s and some 36s and 47s, and even a few hours in Twin Mustang P(F)-82s and T-33s (both a real kick for a mostly bomber pilot I recall his saying)--in addition to a variety of cargo types (lots of C47s and occasionally C97s (Boeing Stratocruisers IIRC))... but, to the point, I didn't gather the 29 was particularly a favorite. Just viewed it as another job needing done at the time (late 44-45, the 29 almost exclusively his specialty). Like most pilots, he'd rather have spent 10 hours in a B-29 or a Gooney Bird versus 10 on the ground!

[Ji in Hawaii]

Many years ago my dad told me about the first time he ever saw a B-36. It was around 1951, dad was living in Ounuki Chiba, Japan with his new wife and daughter (worked in Tokyo for the US Army Map Service). On the week end he would row his custom made dory out into Tokyo Bay to dive for fish to feed his family as well as his in-laws who were living with him (I still have several of his gyotaku fish prints from this time). Anyways he said he was rowing home from the fishing grounds when this HUGE B-36 flies by directly overhead, it was an unforgettable moment.

As many here know the Russians stole a B-29 and took it apart piece by piece to reverse engineering it. It went into production as the Tupolev Tu-4. Stalin in 1953 gave the communist Chinese 10 of these planes. In 1966 the Chinese stretched it's lifespan by replacing the radial engines with turbo-prop engines. In 1967 they added a radar dish to make their own version of an AWACS which was never a success. Pretty interesting design none the less.

[gak]

The contrast is unbelievable.



Reminded me of this as well:
Like the B-29, as you recall the 707 was no slouch, until...

[bdhold]

As a kid, I used to climb on the XC-99 airframe at Kelly AFB.

[C. Cash]

There was reportedly a flyby of B36's for a memorial service at Travis, AFB, which broke a good number of windows in the surrounding town.

[Ji in Hawaii]

As a kid, I used to climb on the XC-99 airframe at Kelly AFB.

WOW That is one fat sausage of a plane though a beautiful fat sausage.

[bdhold]

it was cool to climb up into the pilot's seat and look down at the ground.

[gak]

it was cool to climb up into the pilot's seat and look down at the ground.

+1 I recently climbed around in a B-17 here in Az--the fully outfitted and operational Sentimental Journey--and was reminded even in that it appears a ways up there, and by comparison to that XC and the 36 the 17 was "nothing"! Also, even though the son of a pilot and know the basics, I was reminded looking out of the 17's cockpit that these guys--virtually in any of these aircraft--see nothing in the way of ground or even forward perspective...the ol' "if--or by the time--you can see it, it's way too close and maybe too late." It's all navigation, radar and related communications, and seat of the pants. On the ground, the aircraft like B-17s, P-51s, etc, this "flying blind" dynamic is exaccerbated further by their no nose gear configuration. Pretty scary to the un-or infrequently-initated among us.

[bdhold]

understand, how about Spirit of St. Louis?

But if you look at the XC-99, it has a lot of glass up front and it sits a couple of three stories off the ground.
It's the cargo variant of the B36 wing.
They also planned but never delivered a civilian double-deck airliner, the Convar 37, but jets roared by.

[MrMurphy]

The 29 was actually originally intended for bombing Germany, from the US in case that was needed from what I remember.

The Japan role came in later. Yeah, it had issues, but it was also the most advanced airplane in the world at the time, built in a hurry and designed in a hurry.


The Russian B-29s weren't 'stolen' so much as the crews had to put down in Russia after missions and the Russians refused to give them back. They didn't do any sneak commando plane-stealing missions.

[Ji in Hawaii]

The Russian B-29s weren't 'stolen' so much as the crews had to put down in Russia after missions and the Russians refused to give them back. They didn't do any sneak commando plane-stealing missions.

Obviously that's not what I meant, the designs were taken against US wishes, that is stealing. Most of us are aware of the few planes going down in Soviet territory after bombing missions over Japan. The Soviets refused to return these planes and as stated in my earlier post they took them apart to reverse engineer them into what became the Tu-4. That is also stealing. If you thought I was implying that Soviet commandos sneaked onto a US airbase on Saipan and commandeered a few B-29s and flew them to Siberia you are mistaken, and I apologize for leading you astray.

[C. Cash]

Though impressive in size , those later designs just don't have the class of the B-36 with the bubble canopy and four outboard Jets, IMHO. It's wonderful to see some of these beautiful airplanes being preserved. Going to have to get back to the Pima Air Museum with my boys.

[GonnePhishin]

Yes, the B36 was extremely impressive, but the jet age killed 'em.
I do wonder if they ever attempted to outfit any experimentally with turboprop engines to try to update them?