Boeing B-29 "Superfortress"

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Boeing B-29
Boeing B-29 "Superfortress"

Hill Aerospace Museum

Boeing B-29 "Superfortress"

History of the B-29 "Superfortress"
Designed in 1940 as a replacement for the B-17 and B-24, the B-29 first flew in September 1942. In December 1943, U.S. Army Air Forces leadership decided to assign the future Superfortress fleet to Asia, where its extensive range made it well suited for the long overseas flights against the Japanese homeland in the Pacific. With the onset of the Korea War in June 1950, the B-29 returned to combat. Advanced features of the B-29 when introduced to the Air Force included a pressurized cabin, an electronic fire-control system, and remote-controlled machine-gun turrets.

Utah's B-29 Connection
Hill Air Force Base and Utah have a storied history with the B-29. During World War II, the 509th Composite Group-the first atomic weapons unit-trained at Wendover Field, Utah, an installation supported by Hill Field. The men and women of Hill later played a critical role in repairing, maintaining, storing, and refurbishing B-29s after World War Il to support the Korean War.

Straight Flush
Glen L. Martin Company, located in in Omaha, Nebraska, built this B-29 and delivered it to the U.S. Army Air Forces on August 6, 1945, the same day another B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, Its assignment history includes several bases across the United States. It retired from service in 1953 and then it came to the Hill Aerospace Museum in 1983. Museum staff are restoring this B-29 to depict Straight Flush (tail## 44-27301), assigned to the 509th Composite Group at Wendover Field, Utah. On August 6, 1945, Captain Claude Eartherly flew weather reconnaissance in Straight Flush over Japan to determine if there was enough visibility for the Enola Gay to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

S/N 52-10862
Service: 1944-1960
Crew: Nine to fourteen
Engines: Four Wright R-3350-23 radial; 2,200 hp each
Wingspan: 141 ft 3 in
Length: 99 ft 0 in
Height: 27 ft 9 in
Weight: Empty: 70,140 Ibs; max: 135,000 Ibs
Speed: Cruise: 220 mph; max: 365 mph
Range: 5,830 miles
Ceiling: 32,000 ft
Armament: Twelve .50-caliber machine guns; up to 20,000 lbs bombs

Attribution Noncommercial Some rights reserved
Taken on: November 8, 2023
Tags: Everybody's photos tagged with B-29 B-29 Everybody's photos tagged with Superfortress Superfortress Everybody's photos tagged with 44-86408 44-86408
Sets appears in:   • Hill Aerospace Museum - Hadley Gallery    • B-29 Superfortress   
Camera: Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II, f/4.5, 1/30 sec, 8.8mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II
Aperture: f/4.5
Exposure Time: 0.033 sec (1/30)
Focal Length: 8.8mm
ISO: 400
Exposure Bias: -1 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program: Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering Mode: Center-weighted average
White Balance: Manual
Color Space: sRGB
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