nose

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Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay” (view into nose cockpit)

Image by Chris Devers
See far more pictures of this, and the Wikipedia report.

Information, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Boeing B-29 Superfortress &quotEnola Gay&quot:

Boeing’s B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of Globe War II and the initial bomber to property its crew in pressurized compartments. Even though developed to fight in the European theater, the B-29 located its niche on the other side of the globe. In the Pacific, B-29s delivered a variety of aerial weapons: standard bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons.

On August six, 1945, this Martin-built B-29-45-MO dropped the first atomic weapon utilized in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. 3 days later, Bockscar (on display at the U.S. Air Force Museum near Dayton, Ohio) dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance climate reconnaissance aircraft that day. A third B-29, The Fantastic Artiste, flew as an observation aircraft on both missions.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Boeing Aircraft Co.
Martin Co., Omaha, Nebr.

Date:
1945

Nation of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Overall: 900 x 3020cm, 32580kg, 4300cm (29ft 6 5/16in. x 99ft 1in., 71825.9lb., 141ft 15/16in.)

Components:
Polished overall aluminum finish

Physical Description:
4-engine heavy bomber with semi-monoqoque fuselage and higher-aspect ratio wings. Polished aluminum finish general, normal late-Globe War II Army Air Forces insignia on wings and aft fuselage and serial quantity on vertical fin 509th Composite Group markings painted in black &quotEnola Gay&quot in black, block letters on lower left nose.

Long Description:
Boeing’s B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated, propeller-driven, bomber to fly in the course of Globe War II, and the first bomber to home its crew in pressurized compartments. Boeing installed really sophisticated armament, propulsion, and avionics systems into the Superfortress. For the duration of the war in the Pacific Theater, the B-29 delivered the 1st nuclear weapons employed in combat. On August six, 1945, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., in command of the Superfortress Enola Gay, dropped a extremely enriched uranium, explosion-sort, &quotgun-fired,&quot atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, Significant Charles W. Sweeney piloted the B-29 Bockscar and dropped a hugely enriched plutonium, implosion-variety atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft that day. On August 14, 1945, the Japanese accepted Allied terms for unconditional surrender.

In the late 1930s, U. S. Army Air Corps leaders recognized the want for really extended-range bombers that exceeded the overall performance of the B-17 Flying Fortress. Several years of preliminary research paralleled a continuous fight against these who saw restricted utility in developing such an high-priced and unproven aircraft but the Air Corps issued a requirement for the new bomber in February 1940. It described an airplane that could carry a maximum bomb load of 909 kg (two,000 lb) at a speed of 644 kph (400 mph) a distance of at least eight,050 km (5,000 miles). Boeing, Consolidated, Douglas, and Lockheed responded with design and style proposals. The Army was impressed with the Boeing design and issued a contract for two flyable prototypes in September 1940. In April 1941, the Army issued another contract for 250 aircraft plus spare parts equivalent to an additional 25 bombers, eight months just before Pearl Harbor and nearly a year-and-a-half ahead of the 1st Superfortress would fly.

Amongst the design’s innovations was a lengthy, narrow, higher-aspect ratio wing equipped with large Fowler-sort flaps. This wing style permitted the B-29 to fly very quickly at higher altitudes but maintained comfortable handling traits throughout takeoff and landing. Far more revolutionary was the size and sophistication of the pressurized sections of the fuselage: the flight deck forward of the wing, the gunner’s compartment aft of the wing, and the tail gunner’s station. For the crew, flying at intense altitudes became a lot more comfortable as pressure and temperature could be regulated. To shield the Superfortress, Boeing created a remote-controlled, defensive weapons technique. Engineers placed 5 gun turrets on the fuselage: a turret above and behind the cockpit that housed two .50 caliber machine guns (4 guns in later versions), and an additional turret aft close to the vertical tail equipped with two machine guns plus two much more turrets beneath the fuselage, each equipped with two .50 caliber guns. One particular of these turrets fired from behind the nose gear and the other hung additional back near the tail. Yet another two .50 caliber machine guns and a 20-mm cannon (in early versions of the B-29) have been fitted in the tail beneath the rudder. Gunners operated these turrets by remote handle–a correct innovation. They aimed the guns making use of computerized sights, and every single gunner could take manage of two or more turrets to concentrate firepower on a single target.

Boeing also equipped the B-29 with advanced radar equipment and avionics. Depending on the variety of mission, a B-29 carried the AN/APQ-13 or AN/APQ-7 Eagle radar program to aid bombing and navigation. These systems have been precise adequate to permit bombing via cloud layers that totally obscured the target. The B-29B was equipped with the AN/APG-15B airborne radar gun sighting system mounted in the tail, insuring accurate defense against enemy fighters attacking at night. B-29s also routinely carried as several as twenty different varieties of radios and navigation devices.

The 1st XB-29 took off at Boeing Field in Seattle on September 21, 1942. By the end of the year the second aircraft was prepared for flight. Fourteen service-test YB-29s followed as production began to accelerate. Constructing this sophisticated bomber essential huge logistics. Boeing built new B-29 plants at Renton, Washington, and Wichita, Kansas, whilst Bell built a new plant at Marietta, Georgia, and Martin constructed 1 in Omaha, Nebraska. Both Curtiss-Wright and the Dodge automobile firm vastly expanded their manufacturing capacity to develop the bomber’s powerful and complicated Curtiss-Wright R-3350 turbo supercharged engines. The system required thousands of sub-contractors but with extraordinary work, it all came collectively, in spite of main teething troubles. By April 1944, the initial operational B-29s of the newly formed 20th Air Force started to touch down on dusty airfields in India. By May possibly, 130 B-29s were operational. In June, 1944, less than two years soon after the initial flight of the XB-29, the U. S. Army Air Forces (AAF) flew its 1st B-29 combat mission against targets in Bangkok, Thailand. This mission (longest of the war to date) known as for 100 B-29s but only 80 reached the target area. The AAF lost no aircraft to enemy action but bombing final results had been mediocre. The very first bombing mission against the Japanese main islands considering that Lt. Col. &quotJimmy&quot Doolittle’s raid against Tokyo in April 1942, occurred on June 15, again with poor outcomes. This was also the initial mission launched from airbases in China.

With the fall of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam in the Mariana Islands chain in August 1944, the AAF acquired airbases that lay a number of hundred miles closer to mainland Japan. Late in 1944, the AAF moved the XXI Bomber Command, flying B-29s, to the Marianas and the unit started bombing Japan in December. Even so, they employed higher-altitude, precision, bombing tactics that yielded poor results. The high altitude winds had been so powerful that bombing computer systems could not compensate and the weather was so poor that rarely was visual target acquisition feasible at high altitudes. In March 1945, Significant General Curtis E. LeMay ordered the group to abandon these tactics and strike instead at night, from low altitude, using incendiary bombs. These firebombing raids, carried out by hundreds of B-29s, devastated much of Japan’s industrial and economic infrastructure. But Japan fought on. Late in 1944, AAF leaders chosen the Martin assembly line to create a squadron of B-29s codenamed SILVERPLATE. Martin modified these Superfortresses by removing all gun turrets except for the tail position, removing armor plate, installing Curtiss electric propellers, and modifying the bomb bay to accommodate either the &quotFat Man&quot or &quotLittle Boy&quot versions of the atomic bomb. The AAF assigned 15 Silverplate ships to the 509th Composite Group commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets. As the Group Commander, Tibbets had no specific aircraft assigned to him as did the mission pilots. He was entitled to fly any aircraft at any time. He named the B-29 that he flew on 6 August Enola Gay after his mother. In the early morning hours, just prior to the August 6th mission, Tibbets had a young Army Air Forces maintenance man, Private Nelson Miller, paint the name just under the pilot’s window.

Enola Gay is a model B-29-45-MO, serial quantity 44-86292. The AAF accepted this aircraft on June 14, 1945, from the Martin plant at Omaha (Situated at what is these days Offut AFB close to Bellevue), Nebraska. Right after the war, Army Air Forces crews flew the airplane for the duration of the Operation Crossroads atomic test system in the Pacific, even though it dropped no nuclear devices during these tests, and then delivered it to Davis-Monthan Army Airfield, Arizona, for storage. Later, the U. S. Air Force flew the bomber to Park Ridge, Illinois, then transferred it to the Smithsonian Institution on July 4, 1949. Though in Smithsonian custody, the aircraft remained stored at Pyote Air Force Base, Texas, in between January 1952 and December 1953. The airplane’s final flight ended on December 2 when the Enola Gay touched down at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. The bomber remained at Andrews in outdoor storage till August 1960. By then, concerned about the bomber deteriorating outdoors, the Smithsonian sent collections employees to disassemble the Superfortress and move it indoors to the Paul E. Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland.

The staff at Garber began working to preserve and restore Enola Gay in December 1984. This was the largest restoration project ever undertaken at the National Air and Space Museum and the specialists anticipated the operate would require from seven to nine years to total. The project truly lasted nearly two decades and, when completed, had taken about 300,000 perform-hours to full. The B-29 is now displayed at the National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay” panorama

Image by Chris Devers
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed P-38J-ten-LO Lightning :

In the P-38 Lockheed engineer Clarence &quotKelly&quot Johnson and his group of designers created one of the most effective twin-engine fighters ever flown by any nation. From 1942 to 1945, U. S. Army Air Forces pilots flew P-38s more than Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific, and from the frozen Aleutian Islands to the sun-baked deserts of North Africa. Lightning pilots in the Pacific theater downed far more Japanese aircraft than pilots flying any other Allied warplane.

Maj. Richard I. Bong, America’s major fighter ace, flew this P-38J-10-LO on April 16, 1945, at Wright Field, Ohio, to evaluate an experimental technique of interconnecting the movement of the throttle and propeller handle levers. However, his proper engine exploded in flight before he could conduct the experiment.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Lockheed Aircraft Business

Date:
1943

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Overall: 390 x 1170cm, 6345kg, 1580cm (12ft 9 9/16in. x 38ft 4 five/8in., 13988.2lb., 51ft ten 1/16in.)

Materials:
All-metal

Physical Description:
Twin-tail boom and twin-engine fighter tricycle landing gear.

• • • • •

Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Boeing B-29 Superfortress &quotEnola Gay&quot:

Boeing’s B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II and the initial bomber to residence its crew in pressurized compartments. Even though created to fight in the European theater, the B-29 identified its niche on the other side of the globe. In the Pacific, B-29s delivered a selection of aerial weapons: conventional bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons.

On August 6, 1945, this Martin-constructed B-29-45-MO dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. 3 days later, Bockscar (on display at the U.S. Air Force Museum close to Dayton, Ohio) dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance climate reconnaissance aircraft that day. A third B-29, The Wonderful Artiste, flew as an observation aircraft on each missions.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Boeing Aircraft Co.
Martin Co., Omaha, Nebr.

Date:
1945

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Overall: 900 x 3020cm, 32580kg, 4300cm (29ft 6 5/16in. x 99ft 1in., 71825.9lb., 141ft 15/16in.)

Supplies:
Polished all round aluminum finish

Physical Description:
4-engine heavy bomber with semi-monoqoque fuselage and higher-aspect ratio wings. Polished aluminum finish general, normal late-Globe War II Army Air Forces insignia on wings and aft fuselage and serial quantity on vertical fin 509th Composite Group markings painted in black &quotEnola Gay&quot in black, block letters on reduce left nose.