Enola Gay photo(s) request

[Chris Brame]

Anyone have a shot of Enola Gay at Park Ridge? Earl Reinert once showed me a photo of the plane there with him poking his head out of the cockpit window; wish I had a copy of that!

[APG85]

An old book I have titled "The Aircraft Treasures of Silver Hill" by Walter Boyne has a picture of the Swoose inside the Dodge aircraft plant at Park Ridge, but not a picture of the Enola Gay at that location...

[AFWhite]

Would anyone happen to know what this item is? To me, it looks like a clear dome/cover over some type of optic???





It is present on the aircraft while on Tinian as seen here during bomb loading of "Little Boy", so I don't guess it is something added later in her service life;

[AFWhite]

Got an answer to the above... B3 Drift Meter

Now, how about this opening? Pressurization outflow valve opening? A light for the bomb bay area??

[sandiego89]

No idea on the circled item AFWHITE (light perhaps?), but I also note this provides great detail of the filled in turret area. So it looks like if you checked the Silverplate/turret delete option at the Omaha dealer, it looks like you got a robust plug- not sure if they tried to gouge you with the floor mats and undercoating I note the double set of rivets around the perimeter of the plug. So is this a hard rivet, or am I just seeing robust double row of rivets along the perimeter of the plug and the plug was bolted in place? I note the rivet patterns on the plug match the fuselage rivet lines, perhaps suggesting frames underneath that connect to the fuselage frames? I imagine with more time a single flush skin in the area would have been easier/lighter, but the plug was expedient without a major tech change.

So in summary, were the Silverplate turret plugs essentially permanent, ie hard riveted?

[AFWhite]

No idea on the circled item AFWHITE (light perhaps?), but I also note this provides great detail of the filled in turret area. So it looks like if you checked the Silverplate/turret delete option at the Omaha dealer, it looks like you got a robust plug- not sure if they tried to gouge you with the floor mats and undercoating I note the double set of rivets around the perimeter of the plug. So is this a hard rivet, or am I just seeing robust double row of rivets along the perimeter of the plug and the plug was bolted in place? I note the rivet patterns on the plug match the fuselage rivet lines, perhaps suggesting frames underneath that connect to the fuselage frames? I imagine with more time a single flush skin in the area would have been easier/lighter, but the plug was expedient without a major tech change.

So in summary, were the Silverplate turret plugs essentially permanent, ie hard riveted?

Yes, the Silverplate aircraft were built as such, and were not intended to be reverted back to "normal" production type B-29s with turrets.

I always wondered why they just didn't run flush "skin" over the areas that housed the turrets, and I believe it was simply a matter of getting them built expeditiously. The structural members were already in place (engineering studies complete, etc.) and it was simply a matter of creating large "patches" to cover the areas rather than re-engineer new structural ribs and stringers.

[AFWhite]

I think the other opening (circled item) is an outflow valve for pressure checking the vacuum and de-ice system...not positive but just from looking at this schematic;

[Brad]

The circled item y'all are looking at is the bubble for the drift meter.

[AFWhite]

The circled item y'all are looking at is the bubble for the drift meter.

Yeah, on the port side, we discerned that. Starboard side though?

[Brad]

Yeah, on the port side, we discerned that. Starboard side though?

That is the opening for the flare chute on the right side.

[AFWhite]

Yeah, on the port side, we discerned that. Starboard side though?

That is the opening for the flare chute on the right side.

OK, cool. Thanks for the info Brad. I do recall seeing a small access door on the floor next to the turret housing in another photo.

[AFWhite]

Yeah, on the port side, we discerned that. Starboard side though?

That is the opening for the flare chute on the right side.

Brad, did the B-29 have two flare ports, an upper, and a lower??

[Taigh Ramey]

This is the flare chute that was damaged by flak that lead to the tragic but amazingly heroic Red Irwin story.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_E._Erwin

http://www.homeofheroes.com/wings/erwin.html

The upper one was for the M-8 flare pistol

[AFWhite]

This is the flare chute that was damaged by flak that lead to the tragic but amazingly heroic Red Irwin story.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_E._Erwin

http://www.homeofheroes.com/wings/erwin.html

The upper one was for the M-8 flare pistol

Holy cow, what a story!

OK, I understand the difference between the two ports now.

As a side note, in some of the P-3 Orions I flew on, they had that same flare pistol port assembly in place in the overhead. It made for a good "beer" question for the "nuggets".

Thanks for the info.