Was the B-29 Superfortress a Failure?

GrauGeist · Oct 26, 2022

Keep in mind that the B-29 was perfect for the PTO, even if not used at it's designed altitudes, because of it's ability to carry a substantial load over great distances.

Many of the islands captured from the Japanese that were within suitable bomber range of the home islands, were also within range of Japanese attack - which was why Tinian was a main air base for B-29 operations as it was roughly 1,500 miles from Japan, virtually eliminating the possibility of attack.

FLYBOYJ · Oct 26, 2022

What is not mentioned in the clip posted by the OP was the B-29s post war operations, Korea, reconnaissance and ELINT missions, and tanker conversions.

Oh and we forgot about the ultimate B-29 model - the B-29D which became the B-50

Snautzer01 · Oct 26, 2022

You forget weather recon as in WB-29B

About Korea Lemay kept the better bombers for SAC

a crew member

SaparotRob · Oct 26, 2022

Snautzer01 said:
You forget weather recon as in WB-29B

About Korea Lemay kept the better bombers for SAC

View attachment 691979

a crew member

View attachment 691980

Are the reasons behind General LeMay's decision not to use the newer aircraft known?

Snautzer01 · Oct 26, 2022

SAC soviet nuclear threat.

SaparotRob · Oct 26, 2022

I thought he was SAC, essentially. What were SAC's reasons?

FLYBOYJ · Oct 26, 2022

Snautzer01 said:
You forget weather recon as in WB-29B

I said reconnaissance - that can include combat, weather, or ELINT

Snautzer01 said:
About Korea Lemay kept the better bombers for SAC

View attachment 691979

He did

Snautzer01 said:
a crew member

View attachment 691980

And by the early 1950s this was true. Additionally the B-29s were forced to fly at night because of the MiG-15 threat but still managed to drop over 160,000 tons of bombs while losing 20 aircraft in combat. I know other Korean War veterans who flew in the B-29 who felt differently.

Snautzer01 · Oct 26, 2022

FLYBOYJ said:
losing 20 aircraft in combat

34 were counted as combat loss 16 fighter 4 Flak (maker 20) but also 14 other causes . They flew 21000 sorties and 167000 tons of bombs.
Not bad for then not first line aircraft i think. I read 1 loss per 1000 sorties according post war statistics

FLYBOYJ · Oct 26, 2022

Snautzer01 said:
34 were counted as combat loss 16 fighter 4 Flak (maker 20) but also 14 other causes . They flew 21000 sorties and 167000 tons of bombs.
Not bad for then not first line aircraft i think. I read 1 loss per 1000 sorties according post war statistics

Also consider it was flying against MiG-15s.

GrauGeist · Oct 26, 2022

As an aside, the B-29, or rather a spin-off, is still in service today.

The B-377-SG (Super Guppy) is still used by NASA

Dash119 · Oct 26, 2022

NVSMITH said:
Little known B-29 fact: The $3 billion cost of design and production (equivalent to $45 billion today), far exceeding the $1.9 billion cost of the Manhattan Project, made the B-29 program the most expensive of the war.

I believe the Norden bombsight was the third most expensive program in the war. So Hiroshima and Nagasaki were a confluence of the three most expensive weapons programs of the war.

special ed · Oct 26, 2022

A slight B-29 thread drift. In the late 50s, the youth pastor at our church had been a tail gunner on a B-29 during Korea. He said the MiGs would lob cannon shells from out of range of his .50s and be gone before he could return fire. He often could not track the MiG fast enough to fire. He said he promised God if he came back he would serve God. He came back, told his wife he was going to become a minister, she divorced him. He had four boys and I never took the chance to ask why they allowed him in combat with four sons.

FLYBOYJ · Oct 26, 2022

special ed said:
A slight B-29 thread drift. In the late 50s, the youth pastor at our church had been a tail gunner on a B-29 during Korea. He said the MiGs would lob cannon shells from out of range of his .50s and be gone before he could return fire. He often could not track the MiG fast enough to fire. He said he promised God if he came back he would serve God. He came back, told his wife he was going to become a minister, she divorced him. He had four boys and I never took the chance to ask why they allowed him in combat with four sons.

My uncle Bill went though the same thing. I spoke about him on here several times. Flew ELINT missions in RB-29s an RB-50. I think he was in the 91st SRS. He became a minister as well, his wife stayed by his side until he passed away about 20 years ago.

Thumpalumpacus · Oct 26, 2022

Chief loved his -29 for 57 missions. The 58th saw him and his crew (he was the flight engineer) floating in the Yellow Sea for 14 hours before rescue. Shot down by flak, he still praised the bomber's ability to get them out of DPRK airspace so they didn't get tortured etc.

It was far and away the most capable bomber in production in the 40s, and holding the jet-stream against it isn't really apt, as any bomber flying >25,000 ft over Japan would have experienced the exact same results dropping dumb iron bombs or incendiaries -- and in 1944-45 no other bomber could do anything close to hauling ten tons of bombs 1500 miles and return to base.

GrauGeist · Oct 26, 2022

I met a B-29 pilot once, nice guy (don't recall his name), but we did have a friend of the family that served aboard B-29s during WWII, who was a radar operator.

He was aboard Enola Gay during the Nagasaki mission, too.

Snautzer01 · Oct 27, 2022

Loss and Damage Rates for Major Strikes

Peter Gunn · Oct 27, 2022

I can see

Snautzer01 point, and in fact can agree with it as well, after all, it WAS a high attitude design so natural phenomenon like the Jet Stream should be counted in the mix. That the U.S.A.A.F. adjusted to it and succeeded however, should also be added in.

As an aside, my uncle few a dozen night time Empire strikes, he never really talked about it no matter how much I pestered him as a kid. When I got a copy of his wartime diary I can see why. When he got back from the war he went a different route than theology as he opened a bar. His last one was about 1972 and was really nice, he was "that uncle", the one that gave you your first beer, would slip you $5.00 or more in your shirt pocket just for being there, etc... yeah, I miss him greatly.

I was reading through his diary a while back but stopped when I got to the part about fire bombing missions...

Low altitude, incendiary attacks. He writes about the mechs picking burned plywood and even newspapers out of the nacelles, but the real one that stuck was how they were all nauseated by the smell of burning human flesh. In an instant it dawned on me that in all the parties and open house type stuff at his bar, never once was there a cookout.

He had a love/hate relationship with the B-29, in the few times I could get him to talk he praised it's toughness (I believe that's the "Love" part). But he wouldn't even look at photo's of it and really, I believe carried around a lot of guilt in his later years.

I'll stop now, sorry for the dissertation, he was a pretty special guy to me if you couldn't tell and if I keep on, well let's just say my tear ducts work.

peiper · Oct 28, 2022

NVSMITH said:
Little known B-29 fact: The $3 billion cost of design and production (equivalent to $45 billion today), far exceeding the $1.9 billion cost of the Manhattan Project, made the B-29 program the most expensive of the war.

not even counting lives lost .....I've read that before.....does the 1.9 mil include labor costs?

FLYBOYJ · Oct 28, 2022

peiper said:
not even counting lives lost .....I've read that before.....does the 1.9 mil include labor costs?

Lives lost? During construction? When used against an enemy? What does that have to do with anything?

And yes - it probably includes labor costs.

Snautzer01 · Oct 28, 2022

How about xb-30 ? Boeing jumped the line i read. And boy isnt it pretty?

Was the B-29 Superfortress a Failure?

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