eBay: Boeing B-29 Superfortress

[FLYBOYJ]

Here ya go;

 

[special ed]

The planes' name may mean the normal fuel carried or it may have flown the Hump in the early days carrying fuel supplies. Note no turrets and maybe associate systems.

 

[bdefen]

Thanks! All good information. BTW, I like the Yin-Yang nose wheel "hubcap"

 

[bdefen]

Makes me think of "Catch 22" and General Dreedle's plane with whitewall tires.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Makes me think of "Catch 22" and General Dreedle's plane with whitewall tires.

That was actually a "thing."

images from the internet

 

[SaparotRob]

I thought that was a gag! The things one learns here.

 

[Snautzer01]

Some had the inner wheels painted as a star

 

[BlackSheep]

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Something tells me this is not the guy you want to get on the wrong side of come closing time…it looks like he WAS the bomb hoist.

 

[BlackSheep]

Dummy,Tinian 1944

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These are things not much talked about.
We've all seen gun footage of decoys on Japanese fields being shot up, but, that stuff still went both ways, at times and it was worth the man hours to erect these diversions for attackers and recon flights.

 

[Snautzer01]

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[Donivanp]

19th BG Korea

 

[Wurger]

 

[special ed]

View attachment 688363

View attachment 688364

View attachment 688365

7 WORLD WAR II PHOTO NEGATIVES United States Air Force Planes Military Men WWII | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 7 WORLD WAR II PHOTO NEGATIVES United States Air Force Planes Military Men WWII at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

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Reminds me of the movie weenies trying to pull Fifi's prop thru for the movie scene of which I can't remember.

 

[BlackSheep]

BOOM!

There is a video on YouTube, somewhere I'll have to poke around it's been so long since I've seen it, but it follows a RAF EOD guy, who inherited the job of disarming the old blitz-era bombs that pop-up in England, even still.

There was an very interesting scenario where a large bomb, 550lb?, was in a cellar and couldn't be removed for disposal in the country, so after much study and consulting old Nazi/RAF/USAAF materials he had to steam the explosives in order to use a sort of closed-circuit vacuum to suck them out of the case. The machine had to be very precise because there was only something like 6 degrees between safely melting the solid explosive and detonating/ignition of the fuel, of course, the material was referencing current manufacture ordnance and not 75 year old weathered and damaged product.

Edit: While writing, I remembered the reason the bomb could not be moved was due to leakage of the primary explosive (picric acid?). So, he couldn't just unscrew the giant blasting cap-type device because the secondary/bulk explosive was contaminated with these extremely pressure/temperature/pucker sensitive crystals.

You know what they say, it's a dirty job, but……

 

[Gnomey]

Good shots!

 

[EwenS]

I'm pretty certain the Camels indicate missions over the Hump. As far as the green B-29? Possible propaganda tour

The very earliest B-29-1 from the Boeing Wichita plant came off the production line in camouflage. Not sure how many exactly. But a fair number ended up with units of the 58th BW in India. The first B-29 arrived in India on 2 April 1944 and by 8 May some 130 had arrived at their bases in Bengal, with a number lost en route. For the next month they were mainly engaged in flying fuel and supplies over the Hump to their forward bases in China. Of nearly 3,000 hours flown in May, 83% was on Hump missions. They flew their first bombing mission (from their Indian bases to Bangkok) on 5 June 1944.

The aircraft in the photo (serial 42-62??) was amongst the first 106 delivered. Judging by the large marking painted out on the fin, it might well have served with the 462nd BG in India.

The survivors of these early B-29s were returned to the USA during the winter of 1944/45 as "war weary", which probably explains how it ended up at Kelly Field with Hump markings.

As for the B-24s, over 200 (of over 2,000 planned) B-24J/L were converted at modification centres in the USA, to C-109 tankers, stripped of armament, with 8 extra fuel tanks in the fuselage to carry fuel over the Hump in support of B-29 operations. The programme was curtailed when the decision was taken to transfer the 58th BW to the Marianas from March 1945.

In addition the aircraft of the 7th BG, 10th AF were withdrawn from bombing operations in May 1945 in accordance with US policy, following the capture of Rangoon. They were then redeployed to haul fuel over the Hump until the end of the war. Had the war gone on the unit would have itself moved forward into China along with the rest of 10th AF to work alongside the 14th AF.

The photo above with bomb and Hump markings is probably from the 7th BG. Note also the black belly and shark mouth worn by a number of this unit's aircraft.

 

[Snautzer01]

 

[Snautzer01]

 

[Snautzer01]

Remote control turrets

 

[Gnomey]

Nice shots!