 Wichita played a major role in aircraft production during World War II, its factories building airplanes that made significant contributions to the war effort. One of the most important of these was the Boeing B-29. From mid 1943 to early 1945, Boeing Wichita delivered to the U.S. Army Air Forces 1,644 B-29s, including 14 YB-29 prototypes.
‘Doc’ was built in Wichita in 1944 and delivered in March 1945. It was decommissioned in 1956, when it was flown to California’s China Lake Naval Weapons Center and used as a bombing target. The United States Aviation Museum bought the aircraft in 1998, and in 2000 the disassembled plane was transported to Boeing Wichita. Volunteers have spent the past seven years restoring the aircraft to its original condition. The major remaining work is installation of fuel cells and reconstruction of the engines
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress was a four-engine heavy bomber propeller aircraft flown by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and other military organizations afterward. The name “Superfortress” was derived from its well-known predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress.
The B-29 (Boeing 341/345) was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II. It was one of the most advanced bombers of its time, featuring innovations such as a pressurized cabin, a central fire-control system, and remote-controlled machine gun turrets. It was designed as a high-altitude daytime bomber, but flew more low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing missions. It was the primary aircraft in the U.S. firebombing campaign against Japan in the final months of World War II, and B-29s carried the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Unlike many other bombers, the B-29 remained in service long after the war ended, a few being employed as flying television transmitters for Stratovision. By the time it was retired in the 1960s, some 3,900 planes had been built. |
