Boeing XB-44 Superfortress Photos

[jzichek]

Check out this article at RetroMechanix.com on the Boeing XB-44 Superfortress, a B-29A upgraded with Pratt & Whitney R-4360-33 Wasp Major radial engines of 3,000 hp each:



This experimental engine testbed first flew in May 1945 and was essentially the prototype for the B-50, the core of the USAF's early postwar strategic bombardment capability. The accompanying gallery features 15 high resolution photos of this little known member of the Superfortress family.

-Jared

[b29flteng]

Non-turbocharged as there is no large exhaust pipes. The engines must have had several exhaust outlets around the engines where the cowl flaps have the bumps.

The cockpit has the original curved glass panes in stead of the flat panes retro fitted to 99.9% ofthe B-29s.

[The Inspector]

4293845 B-29A-5-BN

[k5083]

By 1948 this was relegated to a training aid at Keesler AFB.

My friend Dick Kamm was a fledgling mechanic and shutterbug then, so I have a few original negs of it.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m12/ ... 0x_web.jpg

August

[The Inspector]

Must have been a handful in some situations with the original 'short' vertical tail feathers.

[b29flteng]

Must have been a handful in some situations with the original 'short' vertical tail feathers.

We ran out of rudder one time in FIFI practicing two engine out procedures. We're a little more careful now. The B-50 had hydraulic rudder boost, I wonder if the XB-44 did?

[The Inspector]

Looking @ whats online for photos in GOOGLE, it looks like a firewall forward P.O.C. airframe and probably didn't have a boosted rudder.