Girls and Aircraft - Volume II (3 Viewers)

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The crew would enjoy, for the first time in a bomber, full-pressurization comfort. This first-ever cabin pressure system for an Allied production bomber was developed for the B-29 by Garrett AiResearch.
Both the forward and rear crew compartments were to be pressurized, but the designers had to decide whether to have bomb bays that were not pressurized or a fully pressurized fuselage that would have to be de-pressurized prior to opening the bomb bay doors. The solution was to have bomb bays that were not pressurized and a long tunnel joining the forward and rear crew compartments. Crews could use the tunnel if necessary to crawl from one pressurized compartment to the other.
That is awesome. I assume pressure tight doors at each end.
 
See:

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Source: Cutaway illustration of a Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 1945 | The Digital Collections of the National WWII Museum : Oral Histories



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Source: Boeing B-29 Superfortress Cutaway Drawing in High quality
 
No need. They attached to the pressure bulkhead on each end, so the tube was pressurized too. Just the surrounding bomb bay was unpressurized.
I was thinking from a battle damage perspective that rupture if one side or tube wouldn't cause loss in both but thinking about it the crew would switch to 100% O2 and plan descent. So no problem if a hole on one end appeared. Unless of course you were in the tube and launched.
 
No need. They attached to the pressure bulkhead on each end, so the tube was pressurized too. Just the surrounding bomb bay was unpressurized.
I was told, (and based on simplicity of design, I believe it) that the Beechcraft King Airs' (all but the 260s and 360s) pressurization controllers were the same design as the Superfortress.

Works good, lasts long time.
 
I was told, (and based on simplicity of design, I believe it) that the Beechcraft King Airs' (all but the 260s and 360s) pressurization controllers were the same design as the Superfortress.

Works good, lasts long time.

I've worked on King Airs for 5 years. Did many test flights and countless ground runs which included pressurization tests. I'm pretty familiar with the pressurization controller in them, but I don't know if its the same as the B-29s.
 
But you don't not know, either?
Thats what I said… ;)

This is a King Airs. Pretty simple to operate. There is a filter on the backside we would have to replace all the time, and if you hooked up the two tubes on the backsides backwards then your cabin would not pressurize.
 

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The B-29/B-50/B-36 bomb bay tubes usually had a trolley (kind of like a mechanic's creeper) on which the crewman would lay, propelling himself the length by hand. There was a pulley line to retrieve the trolley if at the other end.

As a CAP cadet in the '50s we got some free access to aircraft, and at SAC bases, enjoyed riding back and forth in the 85-foot-long tunnel to get our jollies.

The B-36 also had unpressurized access to the engines in the thick wing during flight.
 

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Thats what I said… ;)

This is a King Airs. Pretty simple to operate. There is a filter on the backside we would have to replace all the time, and if you hooked up the two tubes on the backsides backwards then your cabin would not pressurize.
It was simple and effective. And it was pretty easy to catch the cabin if you're not paying attention.

It was also easy to screw up and cause an ink mess in a passenger's shirt pocket. Happened to a good friend of mine.
 

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