Is this a B-29 ??

[retroaviation]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong (which is common), I think the way the tech order read was that during WWII, the transition line where the black paint started was to be "soft and wavy," much like pictured above. In Korea, however, the tech order was changed to make the line a "crisp line with few waves." I'm paraphrasing something I think I may have read at sometime during my imagination there. Or maybe it was just the voices in my head that told me that.

Gary

[Second Air Force]

Gary,

The WWII applications seem to defy description. The field-applied method varied from straight line to big waves. The 315th applied the paint with a spray set-up, so they got the soft line somewhat right. Some airplanes have the black farther up the fuselage than others, and some painters actually masked off the lower frames on the nose enclosure and sprayed them as well. Others simply masked off the entire nosebowl and left the frames NMF. Same goes for the ring cowls on the engines.

If my reference source is right, Renton factory-applied--or depot-applied--black to a bunch of aircraft. Oddly enough, a few photos I've seen show serial numbers quite near to FIFI with this paint, so I guess it's feasible she was delivered with black belly?

Here is what I'm led to believe is a factory-applied job on a B-29A landing at Boeing field:


Here are a couple of shots of Milt Johnson's Second Air Force B-29A trainer taken at Great Bend AAF around Christmas of 1945. Note how shiny that black is, and the paint line is entirely different from the Boeing Field picture:



And here is my all-time favorite B-29B photo (for now!), taken by Harold E. Groenthal on Guam. 315th Wing, 331st Bombardment Group (VH), field applied camouflage:



Scott

[retroaviation]

Thanks for setting me straight, Scott.

I have (somewhere) a picture of 44-62069 (one serial number sooner than FIFI's), and it is painted with the black belly. I suspect that originally, FIFI was done the same.

Gary

[Second Air Force]

I don't really think it was a matter of right or wrong, but the mood of the painter when he slapped the paint on the airplane! They didn't seem to follow any Tech Orders from the evidence I've seen. Fertile Mertle had real small, tight waves painted on her during the Bell airdrops, so who really knows? Fun subject matter for a cold morning, though. I'm going to find a pic of FIFI at Grand Island SOMEDAY , and then we'll all know.

Scott

[gary1954]

Beyond me, and any idea I may have. I have a couple of photographs from the Korean War Era, and a few of the 29's do not have any paint on the underside of the aircraft, then I have one that shows the wavey black paint, the photos I have of 29s exiting the Bell plant in at Merietta show them in NMF. would post but ain't going to do the photobucket thing

[Paul Krumrei]

Is that a radome to the left? Could it be a RB-29 or an RB-50?

[Second Air Force]

Paul,

Which photo do you see a radome in? If it's the man standing next to #2 in the snow it is the forward lower turret.

Scott

[Paul Krumrei]

no, it was in the very first photo, and you are right, it is the front turrent. Thought it was a little odd shaped, thought maybe it could have been a radome.


Paul

[Second Air Force]

I dug through some pictures and found this shot of 44-62073, just three airplanes newer than FIFI. The photo was taken at Westover Field if memory serves. I would guess this photo was taken in the 1950 timeframe, and I don't know if the black was factory applied or done later. I'd guess the black is quite old judging from the fact that the cowls are NMF and probably have been replaced at overhaul. She was lost on 11/08/52 on a night bombing mission in Korea while a part of the 307th Bomb Wing. Three of her twelve men survived, the balance either KIA or MIA.


Scott

[Django]

Can't see the pic Scott.

[Second Air Force]

Here it is again Django:

I can see the original on my first post .

[Roger Cain]

I saw it no problem also on the first one.

[Second Air Force]

Since I've hijacked this thread with my ramblings already, I thought I'd go ahead and post these pictures too. They seem to confirm my hunch that Renton painted the black camouflage at the factory. The first picture was taken at Boeing Field after the new Renton-built aircraft were flown over for acceptance checks.


This is B-29A 44-61906, and shows the paint applied exactly as Gary described from the T.O. specification. This picture was also taken at the plant.


Scott

[Roger Cain]

Thanks Scott,

Actually you haven't hijacked this posting, as it probably would have died ater the info you posted on it earlier. Nice to see more pictures with the scheme, still on topic..........

[Second Air Force]

Roger, when will you learn not to encourage me!

Here are a couple of shots taken at Tinker AAF on 3-25-1948 of just a few of the aircraft damaged when a tornado went through the Depot Storage Area. A lot of B-29s and several C-54s were wrecked along with smaller aircraft such as the poor thing pasted up against the Superfort in the first picture. There were a lot of combat veterans stored here, and many of them had the black camouflage. It seems that many 315th Wing B-29Bs ended up at Tinker.


If anyone can decipher the "MH" tailcode on the wreck in this photo I'd be thankful:


Scott