Boeing B-29 Superfortress (N69972)

How many of us know that the total cost of the B-29 Superfortress program exceeded the cost of the vaunted "Manhattan Project" by well over 1 billion USD... and that's 1940's dollars!!!

That is a staggering dollar amount! I just can't believe out of almost 4000 B-29's built, that there are only two that are airworthy.

That's true, Paul... and yes, only two of that number are actually flying today.

Also, I'll wager that huge dollar amount did not include the cost of the "back-up" bomber program for Boeing's B-29 should it fail, which was Consolidated's B-32 Dominator.

Great shot! 5*

Thank you Dave!

Great shot of "Doc" in the air. First shot I have seen of Doc since Wichita. Thank you for posting it.

Many thanks Alan. Beautiful "new" aircraft!

Awesome photo.

Thank you Rick!

'Fifi' has a new playmate!

4000 wow everyday is a learning day!
When was last operational?
Were they ever sold on to other air forces?

For John McGeohan...at the end of WW2 the B29 was the world's most advanced bomber, with cabin pressure for instance. In 1944 Russians confiscated 3 B29's from an emergency landing in the USSR and refused to return them. They reverse engineered the B29, rivet for rivet, making 847 EXACT copies. It was called the Tupolev 4...NATO name 'Bull'.

"Pap-Pap" as the grandchildren called him or just "Ernie" as everyone else who knew him, would have loved that picture. Lt.Col. Ernest E. Booth flew those in Korea and told me stories about them.
As for numbers: over 18,000 B-24's were built and there are only 2 flying today.

Lucius Gravely - Your production total is close for the Consolidated B-24 Liberator aircraft.

According to Boeing's records and website, only 3,970 B-29 Superfortress aircraft were built...

"Boeing built a total of 2,766 B-29s at plants in Wichita, Kan., (previously the Stearman Aircraft Co., merged with Boeing in 1934) and in Renton, Wash. The Bell Aircraft Co. built 668 of the giant bombers in Georgia, and the Glenn L. Martin Co. built 536 in Nebraska. Production ended in 1946."

http://www.boeing.com/history/products/b-29-superfortress.page

Great to see 'Fifi' will have a playmate.

Thank you bro. Love the new learning for us all.

John mcGeoghan - as regarding other operators, Wiki shows that 87 B-29 Superfortress were loaned to the U.K., who operated this type as the Washington B.1. Of those 87, the Royal Australian Air Force acquired 2 former R.A.F. aircraft for trials.

As Bror Monberg related, the Soviet Union copied the B-29 and put their version into production. They could be considered as an operator of a B-29... if the Tu-4 "Bull" is accepted as a "true" B-29. There were some material differences, however, in that the Tupolev design bureau used different engines, different defensive armament, and their "reverse engineering" endeavor had to adapt to metric thickness and gauges of Soviet aluminum.

The U.S. Navy acquired 4 from the U.S. Air Force in 1947 and operated these as P2B-1S patrol bombers. These 4 aircraft were given U.S. Navy bureau numbers. One was configured as a "mother ship" for the Navy's D-558-2 Douglas Skyrocket research aircraft. Test pilot Scott Crossfield exceeded mach 2 in the Navy's Skyrocket in 1953. Two of the others were subsequently modified as anti-submarine patrol bombers and redesignated as a P2B-2S by the Navy.

1944 BOEING B-29
THANK YOU! to everyone who help keep these Ol birds flying.