How difficult were B29's to maintain?

[bdk]

With a modern military appreciation, we tend to overlook the sheer pace of aviation development until 1950. (F'rinstance the F-15 first flew in 1972, it's still a viable aircraft. Using a 35 year old bomber in 1945 would give you the best of 1910, when they were hand throwing the bombs! )

Not to stray too far off topic, but I believe the service life of the B-52 is now predicted to be 100 years. Imagine operating a 100 year old plane in the air forces TODAY! Some planes were probably still launched from wooden tracks in 1907!

[Bill Greenwood]

Steve, re the names Yefim Gorden, and Vladamir Rigmant? Sounds like a couple of good ole Irish boys to me. Or as the saying goes, Y'all ain't from round here are you?

[Old SAR pilot]

Note on getting the -29s to war at:

http://www.b29memorial.com/Stories/battleofkansas.htm

[n5151ts]

approx...

[JDK]

Losing the second prototype and crew in a catastrophic accident was a setback of the level that stopped other aircraft development.

[famvburg]

That's the book I was refering to.

I have the book from the Red Star series titled: Tupolev Tu-4, Soviet Superfortress by: Yefim Gorden & Vladimir Rigmant. Doesn't say anything about the authors but they both sound Russian to me. I don't remember a lot of details and will brush up on the book tonight. There was also an Air & Space mag article a few years back on the TU-4, I have it but don't know if I will try and dig it out or not.

[famvburg]

I'm not sure of the other guy, but Yefim Gordon has authored many books on Soviet aircraft & I think is very well respected regarding those a/c.

Steve, re the names Yefim Gorden, and Vladamir Rigmant? Sounds like a couple of good ole Irish boys to me. Or as the saying goes, Y'all ain't from round here are you?

[EDowning]

JDK wrote:

You do know that Hawkeye isn't a real person?

Neither is Alan Alda, but that's a subject for another time.

[APG85]

JDK wrote:

You do know that Hawkeye isn't a real person?

Neither is Alan Alda, but that's a subject for another time.

You got that right. And I use to think he was funny when I was a kid...yikes...

[B-29 Super Fort]

To find out how much fun it was to maintain the B-29 you only have to meet a veteran who was assigned to the engine detail. (Or talk to those who have worked on FIFI throughout the years). There were other problems, but the worst aspect of the '29 was the engine being locked into production before it was ready. General Arnold had committed to having the airplane in service in China by the early months of 1944, and Curtiss-Wright had to produce a less-than reliable engine before it was really ready. In addition, the cowling design was inadequate to cool the engine properly, a function of reducing drag to the greatest extent possible. I've interviewed engine guys assigned to the Second Air Force bases who said they almost never saw a B-29 return from a training mission with four fans turning. Frequent engine failures and short life plagued the airplane right up to today, hence Gary's re-engine program for FIFI.

My when my Dad's Bomb Group was being established in China, each B-29 in his squadron carried a spare engine in the bomb bay as they were flying in supplies over the Himalayas to their base in Chengtu, China.

[mustangdriver]

The version they made had the tail made in the english system and the rest made in the metric system. When they tried to join the two halves, they did not fit. Also they copied the boeing logo in the rudder pedals.

Mmmm. I'd like a source on that. Sounds to me like some comforting American invented myths. Front end didn't match the back end? That's a bar-tale.

,

You mean like when the F-86 waxed the MIG time and time again in a two plane air expo, and the Russian paper headlines read, "Mig comes in 2nd place, while American Sabre comes in next to last in air expo"

[JDK]

The version they made had the tail made in the english system and the rest made in the metric system. When they tried to join the two halves, they did not fit. Also they copied the boeing logo in the rudder pedals.

Mmmm. I'd like a source on that. Sounds to me like some comforting American invented myths. Front end didn't match the back end? That's a bar-tale.

You mean like when the F-86 waxed the MIG time and time again in a two plane air expo, and the Russian paper headlines read, "Mig comes in 2nd place, while American Sabre comes in next to last in air expo"

Yes. The latter has some propaganda credibility, but it all comes under the 'our enemies are stupid' heading. IIRC, you couldn't come up with an original on that. Whose / which Sabre was it, BTW?

If it makes you feel good, it's probably a myth. Real history's usually uncomfortable.

They would get MiG rather than Mig/MIG, if it were in western print though.

As to the front end not fitting the back end because it was made in different systems of measurement... That's flat not true. 1. You've gone past the points I made about the internal lack of sense in your statement, and 2. I'd buy all sorts of fit problems, but not 'front to back' because it's too major, and it's also not how the B-29 or Tu-4 are made.

I've read a bit about the type, and I don't recall that. I doubt it'd be missed in all other accounts, eh? I've read and seen what newspaper and TV reporters make of facts like changing from Imperial to Metric, and that kind of incorrect simplification for the audience happens all the time.

There are worthwhile mainstream TV programes on aviation. They are few and far between, and it doesn't sound like the one you saw is a member of that small club.

I may be wrong - often am, but I'd like that to be by a reliable source with proofs.

Cheers,

[Second Air Force]

B-29 Super Fort,

Which 58th Wing Bomb Group was your father in? He was involved in the most trying period of B-29 operations--the conditions in India and China were absolutely brutal on the 3350. A 40th Group flight engineer recalled that on a hot day in India the temps were pegged before even starting the takeoff roll, and that after a time his Aircraft Commander told him to quit telling him the engine parameters because there wasn't a thing they could do to cool 'em down anyway.

Scott

[JDK]

A 40th Group flight engineer recalled that on a hot day in India the temps were pegged before even starting the takeoff roll, and that after a time his Aircraft Commander told him to quit telling him the engine parameters because there wasn't a thing they could do to cool 'em down anyway.

Interesting. From Wiki:

Pilots, including the present-day pilots of the Commemorative Air Force’s Fifi, describe flight after takeoff as being an urgent struggle for airspeed (generally, flight after takeoff should consist of striving for altitude); radial engines need that airflow to keep cool, and failure to get up to speed as soon as possible could result in an engine failure and risk of fire. One helpful technique was doing a rolling start, rather than a braked start, and checking the magnetos while already in motion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-29

[mustangdriver]

Hey JDK, you are going to make me watch that show again aren't you. I think, not sure that they had a guy talking on there that helped build it. But I am going to have to go back and watch it this weekend. I also seem to recall that there was not a ton of secrets about it's production. Just the opposite, where people could go and see the progress made.