When Boeing designed the B-17 “Flying Fortress” in the mid-thirties, the aim was to meet the United States Army Air Corps request for a very-heavy, very-long-range bomber capable of flying 5000 miles. Though the B-17 demonstrated impressive strength, firepower, speed, bomb load, range and altitude capability, it was not until the B-29 Superfortress flew that the original specifications were met.

The B-29 from the beginning was a producer of “firsts” unbelievably employing some of the methodologies and successes of the later NASA Lunar and Space Shuttle programs. Manufacturing facilities were already constructed before the first prototype had even been completed, a very risky and potentially extremely costly venture. The Superfortress was the heaviest production aircraft built at that time, was the first to have pressurized crew compartments (including the tail gunner’s section), it also had centralized and computerized control of all its guns except the tail gunner’s. It had the capacity to carry a 20,000-pound bomb load. The B-29 could also fly 5,830 miles, with a top airspeed of 365 miles per hour and could cruise at 40,000 feet altitude. Even though the B-29 was designed to be a high-altitude weapons platform, it had it greatest successes at low altitude, in the firebombing of Japan. Low flying b-29s laid waste to most of the militarily important cities in Japan.

Eventually, the B-29 became the first bomber to carry and drop atomic bombs, first on Hiroshima (by “Enola Gay” commanded by Capt. Robert Lewis and Col. Paul Tibbetts) and then Nagasaki (by “Bockscar”, commanded by Maj. Charles Sweeny). It could be said that they were the first and only aircraft to effectively end a world war.

The B-29 had four 2,200 hp Wright Cyclone 18 turbocharged radial piston engines. Empty it weighed in at 70,140 lbs with a maximum takeoff weight of 124,000 lbs. It was 99 ft long, wing span was 141 ft and at its tallest point, 29 ft 7 in. Maximum speed of 358 mph, with a cruising speed of 230 mph.

After the original B-29, there were a number of variants produced, beginning with the B-29A with increased wing span, the B-29B which had automatic, radar-guided tail guns, the RB-29 for photo-reconnaissance work, two that were designed as in-flight refueling tankers, the KB-29M and the KB-29P.

The USN also used several as anti-submarine testbeds. There were a number of B-29s loaned to the RAF from 1950-1958, which they renamed the Washington. The Russian TU-4 was a near-exact copy of the B-29.