Located at the Museum of Flight are a large number of static aircraft on display. One of them is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress. The Museum of Flight website contains a
Very Heavy Bomber
The B-29 Superfortress revolutionized World War II-era bombers, enabling long-range missions over Japan. The "super bomber" could carry more payload and fly faster than the Army's B-17 or B-24 heavy bombers. The B-29 was also equipped with a pressurized interior, allowing crewmen to fly long distances in relative comfort. Two modified B-29s dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, helping end the war in the Pacific. Another carried Chuck Yeager and the Bell X-1 rocket plane aloft for the first supersonic flight in 1947.
The Museum's B-29, known as T-Square 54, fought in the Pacific during World War II, flying 37 bombing missions with the 875th Bomb Squadron, 498th Bomb Group. The bomber was later converted to an aerial refueling tanker for the Korean Conflict.
This aircraft is on loan from the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
The B-29 Emerges
In March 1938, the U.S. Army Air Corps requested a bomber design based on a pressurized version of the B-17 bomber with tricycle (nose wheel) landing gear. Boeing engineers undertook the challenge and continued toying with design possibilities after federal funds ran out. In January 1940, the Army sought design information for a bigger bomber. Boeing submitted their Model 345 design and the Air Corps accepted it. By May 1941, the Army Air Corps--in an unprecedented decision--had ordered 250 of the heaviest and most complex airplanes ever built before there had been a single test flight.
The Boeing B-29 was the first bomber designed with a pressurized crew compartment for high-altitude flying, this led to the need for remote-controlled gun turrets. At the time, the B-29 was the world's heaviest production airplane. To distribute the weight efficiently a new wing was developed by George Schairer, a former Consolidated Aircraft engineer hired by Boeing flight-test director Eddie Allen.
Fowler flaps were added to the wings, which created more lift on takeoff and landing by adding 20 percent to the overall wing area when extended.
3,970 B-29s were built by Boeing in Wichita, Kansas and Renton,
Washington. Bell Aircraft in Omaha, Nebraska and Glenn L.
Martin in Marietta, Georgia also built B-29s during the war years.
Ground Crew
Ground Support - Like the figure featured here ground crews often worked through the night to get an airpane ready to fly its next mission. Lack of spare parts and badly damaged planes challenged the ground crew and they often had to improvise the repairs to make the plane safe to fly again.
In addition to the maintenance crew many other personnel had support roles such as ammunition and bomb handling, supply, transportation,
logistics and others. For every combatant in the U.S. Army Air Forces, an estimated twenty additional personnel worked in a supporting role.
Saipan
After one of the costliest battles of World War Two--over 16,000 Americans and over 27,000 Japanese killed ot wounded--American control of Saipan, 1,300 miles (2,092 km)
south of Japan, marked the first time that the Japanese homeland was in range of American B-29 bombers, including the Museum's B-29,
T-Square 54
U.S. Naval Construction Battalions on Saipan spent three months building a support base and air field capable os supporting the 240 B-29s of the 73rd Bombardment Wing and their support units.
The air field was renamed Isely Field after U.S. Navy Commander Robert H. Isely.
Restoration
In 1986, volunteers with the Lowry Heritage Museum in Colorado began restoring T-Square 54. The B-29 was badly damaged after years of use as a ground target for training naval aviators. With the closure of the Lowry facility, the aircraft passed to the Museum of Flight and by 1994 a full restoration project was underway.
During several peak periods, close to 50 dedicated volunteers worked on the B-29 every week. The aircraft is estimated to be 90% complete and its restoration will continue now that T-Square 54 is in its final home in the Aviation Pavilion.