Boeing B 29 Superfortress Documentary

[Music] the Boeing b-29 Superfortress now a decaying Hulk it once crippled an empire and in a single stroke of terror ended a war and changed a world forever it's recurring echo still sounds from those gone but not forgotten days [Laughter] [Music] April 1942 under the command of Colonel James H Doolittle 16 b-25 B Mitchell bombers lifted off the rolling deck of the US carrier Hornet with a belly full of bombs and fuel they were bound for the Japanese home islands the first direct bombing assault on Tokyo it proved a costly but needed boost to Allied confidence but demonstrated a desperate inadequacy a strategic long-range bomber a weapon foretold in Doolittle's post mission statement the b-24 Liberator an extremely versatile bomber could not meet the range speed altitude and load requirements now envisioned by the War Department neither could the b-17 Flying Fortress another magnificent plane while they flew countless successful missions over Europe they were already being outmoded by designs on the drawing boards back home the huge Douglas xb nineteen first flown in 1941 was a flying laboratory to test the principles of big aircraft in 1940 the War Department called for a bomber capable of speeds altitudes loads and ranges that the underpowered 19 couldn't match it became a competition between the consolidated and Boeing companies the consolidated b32 Dominator powered by four right R 3350 engines specified for use by the War Department it was pressurized and although large it was not seen to break any major new ground it would just fulfill specifications but offering little more than a conservative step forward adopted as an insurance policy if the radical Boeing model three four five failed only fifteen B 32s saw active duty although over 100 were built the winning design was the boeing giant designated XB 29 top speed over 350 miles per hour ceiling over third thousand feet range approximately four thousand miles with a 10,000 pound payload the maiden flight of the first X b-29 was on September the 21st 1942 over Boeing Field Seattle test pilot Eddie Allen reported that low horsepower was a problem but in flight the big aircraft handled superbly the early Sperry gun system and three bladed props seen here were not incorporated in later models much important data was obtained from this first X P 29 not so with the next xB on its second flight it burst into flames Eddie Allen his 10 crew and 19 civilians perished such horrifying losses were not allowed to impede a project which the war depended on the X peas were soon back flying the b-25 Mitchell is a big strapping bomber 67 feet across the wings but it could reach Japan only if it took off from an aircraft carrier much bigger is the famed b-17 fortress 104 feet from wing didn't tip it is ranged 1,400 miles over Japan's island conquests but it cannot reach Japan itself from any base we now hold the super fortress wingspan 141 feet longer than the Wrights first flight through the air at Kitty Hawk range altitude and bomb load secret by June 1942 the first of 14 pre-production drab painted y b-29s were airborne the theories of the radical design on trial the 29 s huge bomb Bay's were set forward and aft of center of gravity to maintain stability during drops an intervalometer released payload from alternate days inside crunk quarters were heated pressurized and soundproofed in the forward compartment the Bombardier sits in the extreme nose of the plane below and between the pilot and co-pilot the pilot sits on the left the co-pilot on the right the Navigator is behind the pilot facing forward the flight engineer is behind the copilot facing aft the radio operator is behind the flight engineer facing right in the aft compartment along with a rest area are the gun commander in a barber's chair observing through a plexiglass blister atop the aircraft the two side Gunners to the left and right of him notice the early blister cages to stop crew being sucked out if a blister pops the tail gunner man's the putt-putt auxiliary starter motor his normal position is in the pressurized tail compartment the huge wings sent mid fuselage were quite radical Boeing departed from the conventional bridge truss configuration settling on a web type structure flaps increased wing area by as much as 1/5 for low-speed flight takeoff and landings the retractable twin wheeled tricycle landing gear was a great advantage for such a heavy aircraft during high speed landing runs even after extensive combat damage the 29 used another innovation the General Electric remote gunnery control system all guns were sighted and fired remotely four of the turrets two on top and two beneath the fuselage can turn through 360 degrees in azimuth 90 degrees in elevation the tail turret is more restricted in movement but it has a 20 millimeter cannon in addition to the twin 50s the others carry but the big thing about the 29 s armament is the fact that the Gunners don't touch the guns the guns are controlled remotely from special sites and any gunner can fire almost any turret for example one side gunner might have control of two turrets firing four caliber 50 s at his target a small central computer made corrections for wind temperature altitude speed and extended range by correcting for bullet drop Gunners using this remote system experienced no jarring recoil and gun vibration easing the task of holding a target in sight [Music] [Music] gun camera footage of Fighters shutdown is terrifyingly real the camera is activated by the firing mechanism it is seen here mounted between the twin machine guns of the aft lower turret long high-altitude flights called for pressurization 429 s circular cross-section how gave a necessary uniform strength the Boeing auto pressure regulator controlled pressurization there were three pressurized compartments the nose compartment connected via a long 34 inch diameter tube to the aft Gunners compartment the tail Gunners compartment was also pressurized the fact that it was pressurized and the altitude was brought down to simulate 8,000 feet that whenever any kind of window pops out or rupture from if it in combat in the fuselage would cause a sudden rush of air out of that to equalize the pressure and especially when you're hired alle twos in the thin atmosphere and so because we had to travel from the forward deck to the back over the Bombay through a tunnel which was a little bit confining and you couldn't wear your parachute with you but while you're in that tunnel if you should suddenly depressurize at that time you've got the feeling that you might be a projectile in a cannon gone so was a little apprehensive about going in there times especially at high altitudes the massive engines were at the time the most complex and powerful ever built for right our 3350 radials turbo supercharged to produce 2,200 horsepower the huge props were geared to rotate very slowly for high altitude performance this was a very special aircraft spurred on by Pearl Harbor the u.s. now geared up for wartime production by January 1942 b-29 orders were doubled to 500 labor shortages will see processes were simplified for unskilled workers designs were broken down into components for allocation to many production facilities throughout the u.s. final assembly production lines also span the nation [Music] Boeing's Renton planned in Washington the Martin plant in Omaha Nebraska Boeing's new plant in Wichita Kansas and bells Murrieta plant in Georgia [Music] 1600 b-29s would be ordered before a single prototype and flew the b-29 project had slowed to a crawl crippled by its vast logistic and organizational problems the Battle of Kansas was about to be fought August 1943 Canada at the first Quebec conference allied chiefs were planning new strategy expecting European victory in a year the Allies now marshal their forces against Japan the president knew the distances had put a premium on long-range airpower Japan Roosevelt promised 200 b-29 Superfortress at El Frontenac get the Joint Chiefs conference general Arnold proposed to pierce the inner zone of Japan's homeland with the unbuilt bombers from bases to be erected in China it was a bold plan at the time of the Quebec conference we only had 11 super ports half Arnold's motto is to become famous he announced the difficult we do immediately the situation was that the b-29 had to be sent to war within a specified time and it was the job of the people under the command of Arnold to make that happen so it ended up with the situation that they had approximately five weeks to get the b-29 into action and unfortunately they found the worst weather conditions possible they had problems with transportation of parts and they also were dealing with a situation where they had partly trained crews who were trying to complete modifications to the airplane as things went wrong and had to be replaced these crews learned on the job and you had a situation for instance where they were fitting modified radar sets but they had never fitted radar sets before of any kind under direct presidential pressure Arnold stepped in it said 60 armchair generals turned up to impress him but he meant business signing the 175th 29 Arnold demanded it be ready by March the first 1944 by the 28th of February the HAP Arnold special plus all 29 s ahead of it had been rolled out before the super fortress deployment to India and the Pacific an elaborate cover plan was executed hobo Queen the only YB to see active duty was sent to India via England it toured the UK for two weeks in an attempt to mislead the axis to believe the 29 was to be used in Europe not an hour after landing a German reconnaissance aircraft was seen flying overhead China the focus of Japanese aggression for many years here was an opportunity to strike back mainland China offered forward bases close to Japan for a new b-29s bound for permanent bases in India [Laughter] [Music] [Music] the Pacific posed the problems that bore the concept of the 29 the b-17 and b25 had both proven great aircraft over Europe with shorter distances from base to target the Pacific posed huge logistic problems vast expanses of ocean that conventional warfare had not yet encountered the b-29 was simply the only aircraft that could reach Japan the 20th Bomber Command was specifically created to hold the b-29s together as a single force to strike Japan the 58th very heavy bombardment wing was made up of the 40th 444 460 second and 468 bombardment groups they were bound for the heat and dust of India half a world away traveling east the first stop Gander Bay Newfoundland across the Atlantic to Marrakesh Cairo Karachi and finally Calcutta in preparation thousands of Indian workers and US construction troops and upgraded Indian air strips to take the big bombers the bases were scattered around northeast India at Karanga por jakku lea pia doba and dude kindy the forward bases in china lay on the plains of qin - just in range of the southern islands of Japan [Music] from Calcutta everything had to be ferried in a massive airlift operation across the jagged peaks and deep gorges of the Himalayas the treacherous hump covered in ice and cloud but lay before the vast plains of Qin - and the forward bases converted 29 tankers flew the route 3 gallons used for every 1 gallon of fuel offloaded at Chintu for air strips were constructed each 8,500 feet long to service the huge bombers each rock was turned into handmade gravel to fill and flatten the old rice paddies [Music] China mobilized it's one huge resource people over a third of a million laborers worked on the construction using simple barrows buckets and wooden tools to reform the landscape fighter aircraft also had to be accommodated strips were built for them in southwest China these rollers weighed up to 10 tonnes and were hauled by as many as 100 men the sheer manpower was staggering but all this cost money Generalissimo Chiang kai-shek challenged the US government over 200 million dollars in gold for the effort by April 1944 b-29s were landing in China ready for the raids of June raids that would prove disappointing the long distances much at high altitude the treacherous Himalayas the golden air strips of Qin 2 transformed into 200 million-dollar bogs by torrential rain the initial conception that the b-29 could be self-supporting a fallacy the fuel run across the hump couldn't keep up with demand after the first raid of June the 14th raids were held up for a protracted period as there were only 5 thousand gallons of suitable fuel in the whole of China these bases would not dispel the defeat of Japan there were many rates from these Chinese bases but range from China limited targets the 29 s just being able to reach the southern tip of Japan only biting at its heels the turning point came mid 1944 when after much bitter fighting the Marianas Islands were rested from the Japanese the loss caused the fall of the Tojo cabinet these were for the b-29s the stepping stones to Tokyo the three Islands Guam Saipan and Tinian were only 1500 miles from Japan construction of five b-29 bases on the three islands commenced crews working hard coral formations into air strips through tropical heat and sudden rainstorms on October the 12th 1944 the first b-29 landed on Isley Air Field Saipan joltin Joe Zee the Pacific pioneer carried the new commander of the 21st Bomber Command Brigadier General Haywood s handsome as Arnold's chief of staff in Washington he directed the india-china offensive he would now control the 21st from the Marianas [Music] Hanson was a planner and a staunch believer in strategic high-altitude precision bombardment the bombs rained down on industrial and economic targets throughout Japan but results were again poor b-29 losses grew as the enemy concentrated defensive fighter squadrons around these targets the high altitudes the b-29s had to climb for such raids were causing huge operational difficulties many aircrafts ditching on a long journey back to the Marianas Arnold needed results Ansel was relieved of his command on replacing him with general Curtis e LeMay maybe this man could turn the tide Iwo Jima captured soon after Lemay's appointment the island sits around half way from the Marianas de Tokyo Japanese held it was taken by US Marines in February March 1945 with tremendous loss of life the still hot volcanic rock of Iwo Jima was carved into an unsinkable aircraft carrier now there was a safety stop in emergencies fighter escorts for the b-29s and Japan was being pushed back at last LeMay not a devotee to any specific tactical doctrine would try new ideas to get results ideas that would eventually burn the heart out of Japan well I'd say that they respected and feared him but they knew that he could do the job and hopefully would keep them alive previously they've been suffering serious losses in the b-29s and when they came along changed the tactics made the airplane work LeMay found that hansel had built the b-29 bases in the Marianas into a well organized war machine the Navy had shipped in massive stockpiles of cargo to service the vast Armada safely out of range of Japanese attacks LeMay could see no reason for the 29s failure to perform apart from the tactical use he had the weapon it was a case of using it in the right manner efficiently and to its full devastating potential [Music] lemay would at first allow missions to continue as before daylight raids hitting from high altitude in formation using heavy explosives he would observe the characteristics of the missions and devise a startling plan missions were planned in great detail and the map rooms collated huge amounts of data here was the control center for all b-29 operations against Japan [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] even as these bombs rained down on Japan cities LeMay had pieced together the offensive of fire a campaign that in just 11 days would put to the torch 29 square miles of urban area in the following months more fire raids paired with an extensive aerial mining campaign would choke and starve the nation removing all guns and ammunition except the tale armament and leaving the Gunners behind would mean a huge saving in weight allowing more payload for the new m69 in century fire bonds at night the 29s would approach the target at five to eight thousand feet in single file guided by pathfinder b-29s marking the target with a huge cross of fire LeMay observed that Japanese anti-aircraft guns were not greatly effective at low to medium altitudes and their night fighter capabilities were very limited lower altitudes meant more range neither three times greater payload and less strain on the engines engine fatigue was perhaps the worst enemy during these high-altitude rays these factors formed the base of the LeMay treatment flying back to the Marianas after missions the cruise now had the haven of Iwo Jima for emergency landings many dropped in where before it was a long lib home when every chance of a ditching in the vast Pacific and little chance of rescue Iwo was a godsend [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] after Evo was the long flight back to Tinian Saipan and Guam [Music] most 29s returned safely to fly again but not all were nearly so lucky [Music] in the first great fire raid 14 aircraft out of the 279 29 s sent out fell to a similar fate bad losses but in comparison minor for that raid during the night of the 9th of March 1945 is considered the single most destructive air raid ever outdoing the infamous Dresden raids and both atomic attacks [Music] unusually high winds that night fed the many fires into a storm violent air currents thrust the Bombers up thousands of feet the fuselage is blackened by smoke Tokyo could be seen blowing 40 miles away this is not Hiroshima in one night nearly 16 square miles 25% of all the buildings in Tokyo were destroyed 1 million homeless 150,000 dead injured or missing the LeMay treatment was a terrifying success to remove the Naza there was a ripple of discontent but in a military situation orders were orders where the otter came from nobody really seems to know there is one version that says that a number of b-29s went back the United States and when the nose art was seen there were objections to the lurid nature of it and therefore the order came back to they they were in the combat zone to remove it other versions of that story are but it was decided the group level by the group commanders some wanted to run a cleaner operation than others the men's high regard for their aircraft made their loss seem even greater joltin Joe Zee on April Fool's Day 1945 a small explosion was seen shortly after takeoff she burst into flames plunging into the bay of Saipan super wabbit lost February the 19th 1945 the Japanese suicide attack tore off both wings she went down no survivors Joe hit over Mia kanojo on April the 29th 1945 the crew bailed out only six of the eleven men were rescued nose art gave them names to be remembered by but this is surely the most unforgettable name of them all on the 16th of July 1945 US scientists exploded the first atomic device in under one month a modified b-29 of especially created 509 composite group would carry the nine thousand seven hundred pounds uranium bomb high above the city of Hiroshima it made us feel like a Hollywood premiere we got off at about 3 o'clock in the morning darkness and headed for Iwo Jima which we reached about sunrise we made certain adjustments and tests on the bomb during that flight and then headed for the empire and the weather improved as we went along we felt that it was our lucky day and we knew it was as we made the final approach toward Hiroshima which the Navigator hit right on the button Bombardier took over identified the target and everything went was perfection not approached in the rehearsals a bomb was finally released exactly at the designated hour and the explosion occurred as planned my navigator had me perfectly lined up with the target when I clutched in with my sight I could clearly see the city of Hiroshima within my bomb site then I klutz down and took the run and I felt the bump of the airplane I would regularly because I knew the unit at dawn the airplane it weird successfully delivered it meant so much to the Army Air Forces American science the enemy the bomb was armed in flight by captain Parsons to avoid any mishap on takeoff and Oleg a flew unopposed over Hiroshima [Music] well as the bomb left the airplane we took over manual control made an extremely steep turn to try and put as much distance between ourselves and the explode 9:15 on the morning of the 6th of August 1945 4.5 square miles of Hiroshima and 78,000 of its inhabitants ceased to exist the Enola Gay named for Tippit's mother remains the single most destructive weapon used in anger Japan in shock couldn't come to a decision on peace the b-29 boxcar carried the second bomb of a Nagasaki another city disappeared under a billowing mushroom fears of death on the war's last days were fueled as bombing went on after Nagasaki all bombers returned as peace was declared the war was over but the b-29 still had much to accomplish [Music] with a post-war surplus of 29s variants appeared the Poquoson dreamboat was a b-29 be modified for long-distance flight stripped bare inside extra fuel tanks installed Andy Gump chinless now sells fitted and tires filled with low weight helium [Music] it was to break the world distance flight record in November of 1945 the flying fuel tank flew eight thousand 198 miles in 35 hours [Music] in 1946 on the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific the b-29 atomic bomber would launch the tests of a more powerful a bond arriving aboard the b-29 the outlaw a familiar face general LeMay now a deputy chief of staff of research the Marshall group 5,000 miles from the US surrounded by vast stretches of ocean the first test target Bikini Atoll the b-29 Dave's dream was specially modified to hold the test bomb in its bay it would deliver the payload over a target of 93 unmanned naval vessels clustered around the tiny at all other 29s would act as weather planes flying laboratories and photographic platforms unmanned radio-controlled b-17 drones would fly through the fallout cloud to collect samples naval observation ships sent 14 miles from aimpoint [Music] at 34 seconds past 9:00 a.m. July the first the at all and the naval targets ships were rocked by a massive blast beginning operation crossroads and the string of nuclear bomb tests into the 50s the b-29 was the true pioneer of USAF in-flight refueling systems in this drogue probe system fuel was transferred down a long host of a receiver aircraft the pilot having to close in to the end drogue with a probe seen here on the wingtip much more successful was the Boeing patented flying boo a rigid telescopic tube was literally flown into position by an operator in the old tail gum compartment an aerodynamic v-shaped wing at the tip of the arm allowed steering a panel of lights on the belly of the 29 gave the receiver pilot instructions to hold position during normal flight the arm could be pivoted under the tail coupling and decoupling can be seen closer in this footage of a kc-97 tanker and an early b-52 using the flying boom system pioneered by the b-29 [Music] the Soviets at a b-29 of their own the tupolev tu-4 was a direct copy of b-29s interned during the war 1,200 were built the HAP Arnold special was ironically one of the 29s methodically taken to pieces and copied fault for Balt the s b-29 super Dumbo was basically a b-29 equipped with survival and rescue gear its main feature was an a3 lifeboat carried under the fuselage which could be dropped to down cruise [Music] 16's be conversions were carried out the huge a three lifeboat must have been a blessing to count as it was motorized and carried all manner of survival equipment first law in 1947 the b-29 DS designation was changed to be 50 to be 50 had a much stronger airframe later models had 700 gallon wing tanks and a one-piece Plexiglas nose cone its pratt & whitney our 4360 engines produced three thousand five hundred horsepower the huge tail had a folding tip to allow entry into u.s. AAF hangers with the be 50 and new be 36 in their arsenal the USAF could afford to loan the RAF 87 b-29s designated the Washington bomber the p50 the first aircraft to circumnavigate the globe non-stop was the final variant of the b-29 in the late 40s the super fort would play another crucial role in the advancement of aviation this time as a mothership for early experimental supersonic aircraft at the Air Force flight test center Edwards Air Force Base the Bell rocket-powered research aircraft x1 would attempt to break the sound barrier a b-29 was used to air launch the parasite aircraft at around 30,000 feet in a series of flights USAF test pilot major Chuck Yeager took the x1 glamorous Glennis up close to the sound barrier [Music] [Music] [Music] on the 14th of October 1947 Yeager punched the x1 beyond Mach 1 into the smooth airflow of supersonic flight so began a string of b-29 parasite launches that changed the face of aviation technology [Music] [Music] the loading of these explains was quite interesting as the huge b-29 had to be elevated on stilts the parasite explained was rolled underneath then hoisted clear of the ground and recessed into the modified bomb bays another peculiar parasite aircraft was tested from the b-29 the XF 85 goblin air-launched fighter was designed to be carried by the Convair b-36 the Goblin could be launched then picked up after completing its mission when war broke out in Korea in 1950 the b-29 was to play an active and crucial role in support of the UN troops [Music] used mainly in a medium level interdiction role it destroyed bridges roads and enemy communication lines the b-29 was said to be an easy target for the Soviet MIG 50 no match in speed altitude or firepower but the super fortress dealt many a harsh blow dropping 167 thousand tons of bombs in 20 1328 sorties they operated on all but 26 days of the war shut down over 30 fighters 34 super forts were lost in war the b-29 also deployed the mammoth Tarzan radio-controlled bombs the devastating effect in the heat of Korea knows art surfaced again the 29s were soon adorned with pretty girls by the end of the Korean War in 1953 the b-29 was deemed obsolescent it was soon relegated to only second live duties the last operational b-29 fluids final mission a routine radar evaluation flight on the 21st of June 1960 I think the the crews who were flying the b-29s were proud of the fact that they were flying the most advanced aircraft in the world at the time and in one specific case a pilot who flew b-29s during World War two has always insisted that when he flies on an airline it must be an airline flying Boeing planes we more or less had the feeling that we were having the Cadillacs of airplanes it was the the super bomber because of that we were all quite proud and it was a good plane [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music]

Channel: WAR - HISTORY - DOCUMENTARIES

Views: 273,593

Rating: 4.8512869 out of 5

Keywords: History of wars, world war, battleship, warships documentry, war history, documentry films, Boeing B 29, boeing b-29 superfortress, boeing, b-29, superfortress, wwii, world war 2, bomber, aircraft, boeing b29, ww2

Id: PrJ8LgNhrYE

Length: 47min 21sec (2841 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 11 2020