Scrapping B29's on Tinian

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

GunnyNelson

Airman
13
2
May 5, 2013
Sacramento
Can anyone direct me to more pictures and history regarding the scrapping of B29's on Tinian? Breaks my heart. What was the reason? Recovery of precious metals?

Scrapped b29s on Tinian.JPG
 
I've seen that same picture in a book. Not sure if I could locate it, but the caption was that they were war weary and damaged airframes that were beyond repair. As such, they were bulldozed onto a pile after critical spare parts had been removed. Space was a bit limited on Tinian, Saipan and Guam, so I doubt they had room for hulks, and I would imagine that the cost and logisitcs of returning them to the U.S. far outweighed their value as scrap.
 
There are several books on the B-29 campaign. Whirlwind by Barrett Tilman and BLANKETS OF FIRE: U.S. Bombers over Japan during World War II by Werrell are both good.
One of the books has an amazing photo of hundreds of engines. Especially early, they were so unreliable that they were replaced freely and tossed in the boneyard.
The role of logistics in the B-29 campaign must have been astonishing. Other than a few mentions of "running out of bombs" it's not discussed much for the Marianas. OTOH it is a major subplot for the earlier attacks from India.
 
I watched a youtube video on the early runs from India, and it seemed that engine overheating was a huge issue at takeoff. It would be nice to find a picture of the engine boneyard and add it to this thread.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back