REMEMBERING B-29 BOMBER ON THE HIROSHIMA DAY

B-29 Superfortress long range bomber plane (USA)

Everyone remembers the victims of the Hiroshima day,but how many try to remember the ghostly B-29 Superfortress, a heavy bomber plane nicknamed Enola Gay ,after the mother of Brigadier Paul Tibbets of US airforce ,who dropped the atom bomb at Hiroshima (in Japan ) at 8.15 am on August 6, 1945.The 16 kiloton uranium fission bomb dropped during that day virtually ended the war.

The B-29 bomber was produced by the Boeing Aircraft Company , became the first long-range heavy bomber employed by the United States. The Boeing B-29 was designed in 1940 as an eventual replacement for the B-17 and B-24. The first one built made its maiden flight on Sept. 21, 1942.The Boeing made the aircraft using conventional methods,but the main feature was a pressurized cabin, which allowed the aircraft to be used at high altitudes and also for long range bombings.B-29 was the heaviest production airplane in the world at that time.

B-29 has many specialties apart from its operational altitude,range armaments and payload capacity.The main one was the pressurized cabin.Unlike the conventional unpressurized cabin crew members cannot sit in the gun turrets, so the gun has to be fired with a remote controlled system.The plane also had two bomb bays, which allowed it to release the bombs alternatively so that the balance was maintained.So the aircraft was a technical marvel at that time and was capable of waging attack across the Pacific ocean.

Some technical details-
Specifications ( Boeing B-29 Superfortress )

General features

• Crew:- 11 to 14 (varies accordingly) Airplane Commander, Pilot, flight engineer (a rated pilot),bombardier, navigator, radio operator, radar operator, blister gunners (two), CFC upper gunner, and tail gunner Length: 99 ft 0 in (30.2 m)
• Wingspan:- 141 ft 3 in (43.1 m)
• Height:- 29 ft 7 in (8.5 m)
• Wing area:- 1,736 sqft (161.3 m²)
• Empty weight:- 74,500 lb (33,800 kg)
• Loaded weight:- 120,000 lb (54,000 kg)
• Max takeoff weight:- 133,500 lb (60,560 kg -- 135,000 lb plus combat load (144,000 lb on record[18]))

• Engines: 4× Wright R-3350-23 and 23A turbosupercharged radial engines, 2,200 hp (1,640 kW) each
• Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0241
• Drag area: 41.16 ft² (3.82 m²)
• Aspect ratio: 11.50

Performance characteristics

• Maximum speed: 357 mph (310 knots, 574 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 220 mph (190 knots, 350 km/h)
• Stall speed: 105 mph (91 knots, 170 km/h)
• Combat range: 3,250 mi (2,820 nmi, 5,230 km)
• Ferry range: 5,600 mi (4,900 nmi, 9,000 km, (record 5,839 mi, 5,074 nmi, 9,397 km[18]))
• Service ceiling: 33,600 ft (10,200 m)
• Rate of climb: 900 ft/min (4.6 m/s)
• Wing loading: 69.12 lb/sqft (337 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.073 hp/lb (121 W/kg)
• Lift-to-drag ratio: 16.8

Armament

• Guns:-
• 10× .50 in (12.7 mm) caliber Browning M2/ANs in remote controlled turrets
• 2 x .50 in and 1× 20 mm M2 cannon in tail position (the cannon was eventually removed as it proved unreliable in service )
• B-29B-BW - All armament and sighting equipment removed except for tail position; initially 2 x .50 in M2/AN and 1× 20 mm M2 cannon, later 3 x 2 x .50 in M2/AN with APG-15 gun-laying radar fitted as standard.
• Bombs:- 20,000 lb (9,000 kg) standard loadout