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RE: The only Bomber type in the World to ever deliver an Atomic Bomb in wartime, is still flying today!
ha! oh man that is too wild sir smithlabs! lol. what a great post..you mean the only way to get from the front or back of the plane was to crawl through that tunnel? because the rest was so loaded with bombs?
Basically, the middle of the plane was an un-pressurized Bomb Bay. She could really lift a lot! The rear was where the gunners were, and they were also lookouts for clearance on taxi, take offs, and landings. She is huge, and a very dangerous girl!
:Dsir smithlabs! did you get to crawl through her or just look inside? they had machine gun pods or whatever you call those things all over that plane didn't they? on the belly and on top and at the rear, or what that another plane?
and how in the world are you supposed to keep an eye on all those gauges? wow!
The turrets on the B29 were automated, and the gunners were inside the pressure cabin.
We went to see a B17, she was about 60% the size of her bigger sister. We did get on board, and it was cramped! The B17 was the most famous bomber, and did a lot of work in Europe.
sir smithlabs! well sir..but one of those types of bombers had so many machine gun bubbles and turrets that it looked like a porcupine.
Surely there is a B29 Bomber somewhere in a museum that you someone can look out right?
There is one in a Museum; The Enola Gay is in the Smithsonian. I would love to see that one.
The turrets on a B29 are deadly! She was the only bomber to carry 20mm cannon in her turrets ( approx 80 calibre) so she had TEETH! They also had the first computer guided turrets in the air, so she had a better hit percentage than any other bomber. It was hard to attack her!
Even at that though, and the extreme altitude , they still managed to shoot down a number of our super fortresses!
:'(sir smithlabs! the first computer guided turrets? I wonder how those worked, I mean how did they site them and see when to shoot I wonder.
The gunners placed their sights on the plane to shoot at. the system measured speed and distance, and corrected for lead. The gunner controlled the burst length. The computer was analog, and the turrets were deadly....
:)sir smithlabs..yeah but the turrets were not manned except the rear ones right? so how did they aim the other ones if it was remote control?
Gauges are easy to read, when your life depends upon it! If you loose an engine, especially when loaded, you will crash. Those gauges begin to look very interesting about that time, ROFLOL!
:Dsir smithlabs...so I imagine that with so many gauges alot of the pilots time in the air, when they weren't looking for enemy planes was to keep an eye on all those gauges.
Did they have radar on those planes?
The pilots didn't watch the gauges, the flight Engineer did all the monitoring, 100% of the time. That was what my Father In Law did, and that spot is the guy with his back towards the pilot.
This was the only plane I know of that the pilot relied on others to adjust the throttles for him, he couldn't even reach them.
This plane had the highest horse power piston engines that ever flew, and those monsters had to be babied constantly. That is what he taught Fifi's crew, how to make these engines sing!
They used radar for range and speed to aim the turrets for lead. I do NOT know what else they had in the way of radar; but she was the most advanced piston engine aircraft ever made!
:Dvery good sir smithlabs very good. Extremely interesting. Those designers and engineers must have lived at work to get all that put together!
She was a war machine without parallel! They designed her quickly, and it all worked perfectly! She was a predator without parallel, a war beast that owned the air!
The designers were gifted, and reached for an amazing level of design never reached before! No other aircraft could have carried the massive weight, over the great distances involved; to drop the atomic bomb, where needed!
This plane saved millions of lives with those two drops, and likely saved the Japanese race from extinction!
:Osir smithlabs, sounds like you should write the description for it at the museum!
I agree on the last sentence.