Boeing B-29 Superfortress

what is it?

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a retired American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the USAAF and USAF during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, the Superfortress was designed for high-altitude strategic bombing, but also excelled in low-altitude night incendiary bombing and in dropping naval mines to blockade Japan. Silverplate B-29s dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and remain the only system to deliver nuclear weapons in combat.

🔎How to recognise it: 4 piston engines with propellers · mid-wing aircraft · retractable tricycle gear · 43.1 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 574 km/htop speed
• size 60.6 tmax take-off weight
• built 3,970made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 84 years ago, in 1942.
• 🏎️Top speed is 4.4× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 43.1 m: about 10 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 10 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🏔️Can fly 1.1× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1942-09-21

introduced

1944

retired

1960

status

still flying

number built

3,970

role

strategic bomber, heavy bomber

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Boeing

engines

4× Wright R-3350-23 Duplex-Cyclone

crew

11

length

30.2 m

wingspan

43.1 m

height

8.5 m

max take-off weight

60.6 t

top speed

574 km/h

cruise speed

354 km/h

range

—

ceiling

9,708 m

wings

mid-wing aircraft

landing gear

retractable tricycle gear

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.