![b 29 cockpit b 29 cockpit](https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6002/5999969245_34de11e783_b.jpg)
Some 2,513 B-29s were manufactured by Boeing-Wichita (1,620), Bell-Atlanta (357), and Martin-Omaha (536). Martin Company at its Omaha plant, were used as the aircraft for the atomic bomb missions, modified to Silverplate specifications. Forty-six B-29s of this variant, built by the Glenn L. In fact, the first B-29 was completed only two months after the delivery of the first YB-29. Since the new bomber was urgently needed, the production design was developed in tandem with the service testing. The B-29 was the original production version of the Superfortress. The YB-29 also featured a better fire control system. 50-calibre machine guns in turret-mounted pairs. After alternative arrangements had been fully tested, defensive armament was standardised at ten. Various alternatives to the remote-controlled defensive systems were tested on a number of them, particularly the fourth one delivered. Where the XB-29 had three-bladed props, the YB-29 had four-bladed propellers. The engines were upgraded from Wright R-3350-13s to R-3350-21s. Testing began in the summer of 1943, and dozens of modifications were made to the planes. The YB-29 was an improved XB-29 and 14 were built for service testing. machine guns, and the fuselage package guns just below and aft of the cockpit have twin. Note the nose has an Erco ball turret with twin. Truman investigated the B-29 program, issuing a scathing report, prompting the Army Air Forces to take control of the program.īoeing YB-29-BO (S/N 41-36957). After the crash, the United States Army Air Forces and a congressional committee headed by then- Senator Harry S. Many elite Boeing personnel involved in the design perished in the accident the pilot, Allen, was chief of the Research Division. The crash demolished the majority of the packing plant and killed all eleven XB-29 crew, 22 employees at the plant, and one fireman. The fire spread to the engines, and due to the much reduced power, the aircraft, unable to climb, crashed into the Frye meat-packing plant. The accident happened when leaking fuel from a filler cap in the wing leading edge ran down inside the leading-edge and ignited. "Eddie" Allen on a two-hour powerplant performance test. The flight was conducted by Boeing's chief test pilot, Edmund T. Testing was conducted on the XB-29 until February 18, 1943, when the second prototype crashed. A mockup was completed in the spring of 1941, and it first flew on September 21, 1942. Two aircraft were ordered in August 1940, and a third was ordered in December. The XB-29, Boeing Model 345, was the first accepted prototype or experimental model delivered to the Army Air Corps, incorporating a number of improvements on the design originally submitted, including more and larger guns and self-sealing fuel tanks.