iscover
In its day, the B-29 was, by a wide margin, the most advanced heavy bomber, pioneering a number of important technological advances that had not been successfully attempted by rival nations, So advanced was the Superfortress that it literally propelled Boeing into a technologically elitist area that enabled it to maintain its design supremacy well into the jet age. This R&D head start via the B-29 programme later enabled the Seattle company to win vital military contracts to build the B-47 and B-52 strategic bombers, experience which was used in the KC-135 jet tanker/transport programme to build the world's first commercially successful jet airliner- the legendary 707. With the 707 successfully gaining the majority of long-range passenger jet orders of the late fifties and sixties, there followed an entire family of Boeing jetliners. The 727,737,747,757 and 767 allow much of their success (along with the bulk of the Soviet bomber force of the era) to Boeing's pioneering Superfort.
Profile – Tupolev Tu-4 Bull
0 comment
Tupolev’s Tu-4, the Unwanted Legacy of the Matterhorn Plan
In the short history of powered aircraft, probably no other aeroplane has made a greater contribution to the advancement of aviation technology than the American Boeing B-29 Superfortress. It represented bold new steps forward in terms of structure, propulsion, materials, weapon systems, computers and even flight environment.
This plane had its origins in a March, 1938 study in which the US Chief of Staff requested industrial proposals for a completely new strategic bomber to be equipped with a pressurized cabin and a tricycle undercarriage and which could fly higher and faster than the B-17 Flying Fortress. Boeing, who had developed the B-17, took on the job and put forward its model 345 in mid-1940. Go ahead was given for two XB-29 prototypes. Then, in January, 1942, spurred on by the dramatic Japanese advance through Asia and the Pacific, the US Army Air Force ordered fourteen YB-29s for service evaluation and 250 production aircraft.
By February, the Boeing engineers were working day and night on the vast number of technical problems which manifested themselves during the development of the new plane. A production organization was set up involving several companies – Boeing itself in a new plant created for the purpose, Bell, North American, Fisher (General Motors) and finally Martin which came in later. By the end of the war more than 3,000 Superfortresses had been delivered which was an outstanding achievement because the production of each individual aircraft represented 5 or 6 times the technical effort put into any earlier bomber and set completely new standards of sophistication.
This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.
A monthly membership is only $5.99 or save with our annual plans.
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
