Boeing B-29 Superfortress by Fujimi

1/144 scale
Kit No. 14407
Cost: $24.99
Decals: Two versions, both U.S. Air Force, Korean War era
Comments: Engraved panel lines; kit includes bomb bays with complement of bombs

History

The prototype Boeing XB-29 flew for the first time on September 21, 1942, just over nine months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  Upon entering service in 1944, the B-29 was the largest airplane ever ordered into production with the most powerful engines (each Wright radial R-3350 was capable of 2,200 hp), and the first to have a pressurized crew compartment with a central fire control system.

The B-29 originated from a January 1940 War Department specification calling for a bomber capable of 400 mph and able to deliver a bomb load of 2,000 lbs. at a range of 5,333 miles. By July 1940, the U.S. government had entered into contracts for preliminary engineering data with Boeing, Douglas, Consolidated and Lockheed. Lockheed and Douglas later withdrew from the competition, leaving only the Boeing XB-29 and Consolidated XB-32 designs as contenders, with the War Department appropriating funds for the construction of two prototypes each. Ultimately the XB-29 was chosen and by January 1942, 500 had been ordered even before the prototype first took flight.

The B-29 was a cutting edge design that was rushed into production and there were troubles throughout its development, beginning when the second prototype developed an engine fire and crashed while making a landing approach on February 18, 1943 — a tragedy that claimed the lives of 11 men, including Boeing test pilot Edward Allen. In-flight engine fires would plague the B-29 throughout its service life.

The first operational B-29’s were delivered to the 58th Bombardment Wing in July 1943 based at Marietta, Georgia. Design changes resulting from test flights included switching from three-bladed to four-bladed Hamilton-Standard propellers, and switching from the periscope-sighted Sperry gun turret, to General Electric turrets sighted from remote astrodomes.  During the autumn of 1943 deliveries accelerated to combat training units.

The B-29 delivered into the hands of the U.S. Army Air Corps the means for strategic bombing of the Japanese home islands, something for which even the Consolidated B-24 Liberator did not have sufficient range, given the vast distances between islands in the Pacific.  From early 1944 on, the overall strategy in the Pacific was to a large degree dictated by the need to secure island bases from which U.S. bombers could reach Japan. The battles of Saipan and Iwo Jima in particular were in part driven by this strategy, and it was from Tinian, the island just four miles southwest of Saipan in the Northern Marianas group, that the B-29 Enola Gay took off for the fateful atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945.  Four months earlier, Iwo Jima, roughly halfway between the Northern Marianas and Japan, had been invaded in part to provide B-29’s conducting ongoing conventional bombing of Japan with an emergency landing base should the need arise.

The First Bombing Campaign

The first B-29 raids against Japan began on June 15, 1944 and took off from bases in China and India, from airfields cleared and built by 700,000 Chinese laborers. These raids, which required flying over the Himalayas, often in poor weather, met with only limited success, in part due to the hazardous route which claimed several aircraft for reasons other than enemy action. Another factor was that the early raids bombed from high altitude, and the air currents over Japan (an island, albeit a large one) could carry the majority of the bombs miles off target.

In the summer of 1944, once the B-29’s moved to five bases in the Marianas after the taking of Saipan, the bombing campaign took on greater significance. The five bases (two on Guam, two on Tinian and one on Saipan) could each handle 180 aircraft, and were located just 1,500 miles from Japan. On November 24th the first Marianas-based raid attacked Tokyo with 111 B-29’s commanded by Robert K. Morgan flying “Dauntless Dotty” (Morgan had previously been the pilot of the “Memphis Belle,” the first B-17 to complete its tour in Europe). This raid struck the Musashino engine factory, but only 24 of the 111 aircraft hit the target, due to the jet-stream winds over Japan which often ruined accuracy when bombing from altitude. Future raids had no greater success; in addition to the jet-stream, cloud cover and poor weather over Japan often prevented accurate visual bombing.

A New Commander and a Change of Tactics

On January 20, 1945 General Curtis LeMay took command of the XXI Bomber Command in the Marianas, fresh from Europe and an interim command of B-29 operations in India. On March 9, LeMay ordered night bombing with incendiaries from much lower altitudes — 5,000 to 8,000 feet. To save weight and increase speed, planes were stripped of armament and carried reduced crews. Aircraft would attack individually. This “carpet bombing” approach mimicked that employed by the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command for raids into Germany. Tokyo was to be the first target.

LeMay’s rationale was that a B-29 flying at lower altitude could carry an increased bomb load; a single B-29 flying in formation at high altitude could carry only 35 percent of the bomb load of a B-29 attacking individually at low altitude. Individual attacks did away with the need for aircraft to waste fuel assembling over their base before proceeding to the target; instead, planes could go straight out and straight back. Lower altitude also mean avoiding the fuel-consuming heavy winds of Japan’s jet-stream.

Photo-reconnaissance planes followed the raid, taking pictures early the following morning. Using M-69 incendiary bombs, the March 9th raid caused widespread fires, destroying 16 targets marked for pinpoint attacks. But low altitude bombing carried a price: out of 302 aircraft, 14 were lost, many of these to anti-aircraft defenses. Despite such losses, the fire bombing raids continued. They were effective in destroying Japan’s military and industrial centers in or near major cities, but in so doing also killed tens of thousands of civilians.

The B-29 was the aircraft that helped change warfare for all time with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945, and the second atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9th, hastening the end of the deadliest war in human history.  The B-29 was such an effective weapon that the Soviet Union made a copy, the Tupolev Tu-4, after studying three B-29’s that were forced to land due to mechanical problems in Vladivostok, Russia between July and November 1944, during the period the Americans were bombing Japan from bases in India and China.

Korea

The Superfortress would be called upon again during the Korean War, first by launching daylight raids against the Korean peninsula from, ironically, Okinawa, and later Japan proper. The B-29’s encountered opposition from the start in the form of Yak-9 and Lavochkin fighters, and later at times the MiG-15. Then on April 12, 1951 — the very day that President Truman relieved General MacArthur of his Far East Command — in a raid against a railroad bridge linking Korea and Antung, Manchuria, a formation of 48 B-29’s, escorted by Lockheed F-80 fighters, were attacked by dozens of MiG-15’s — some sources saying as many as six dozen. Three Superfortresses were shot down and seven damaged. This marked the start of an escalation in enemy air operations.

By October 1951, up to 200 MiG’s would attack B-29’s during daylight raids. Casualties ran high that month, with 55 airmen killed or missing and another 12 wounded, with five B-29’s shot down in two separate raids on Taechon and Namsi airfields. The U.S. Air Force switched to night bombing operations and by November 1951 no longer mounted daylight raids. In early 1952, several raids were mounted on airfields south of the Yalu River, forming the border between China and North Korea, to deter movement of Chinese Soviet-built MiG’s into the area. The B-29 ended its combat career by making frequent raids on ten North Korean airfields in the closing weeks of the war leading to the July 1953 armistice.

The Kit

Fujimi’s “Heavenly Laden” B-29 Superfortress, first released in 1995 in 1/144 scale along with four other versions of the bomber, including a KB-29 tanker, two versions of the F-13 photo-reconnaissance aircraft, and “Dauntless Dotty” which led the first Marianas-based raid on Tokyo, is injection molded in metallic grey and comes on four sprues in three individual clear plastic bags.  The kit consists of 91 parts, and unusually for this scale, includes parts for instrument panels and control yokes in the cockpit, which has the pilot and co-pilot’s seats molded as a single part with the cockpit floor.  Also notable are parts for the B-29’s two bomb bays, with an option for open or closed bomb bay doors and sixteen 500 lb. bombs with bomb racks.

There are two plastic parts for the nose glazing, and the landing gear are relatively detailed for the scale. No real effort is made to capture the detail of the engine faces and the cowlings are four single pieces, but in this scale it may not make much difference. There are four individually mounted four-bladed propellers.

There is a single part for each of the four remote-controlled gun turrets, as well as clear parts for two astrodomes adjacent the dorsal guns, and for two windows in the rear third of the fuselage. Other small parts include the rear 20mm cannon for defensive armament and two individually mounted exhausts for each of the four engine nacelles. Overall, the kit looks highly accurate and features excellent, well-defined panel lines.

Markings

The kit decals are sealed in their own individual plastic bag, so despite the kit’s age there is every reason to believe they will still be serviceable when used. They provide markings for one of two Korean War era B-29’s based in Japan: “Heavenly Laden” from the 98th Bomb Group based at Yokota, Japan, April 1951, and painted for night bombing with a natural metal paint scheme over flat black under surfaces; and “Snugglebunny,” also with the 98th Bomb Group based at Yokota, Japan during 1951, with an overall natural metal scheme. Both aircraft feature feminine nose art, but for some reason only “Snugglebunny” appears in color and has its name in significantly larger letters; “Heavenly Laden,” also features a scantily clad woman, but her figure is entirely in the color white. Likewise, the lettering of the name is much smaller.

Conclusion

Fujimi’s B-29 series from the mid-1990’s are still sought after kits, offering quality and ease of construction with a modicum of detail — the bomb bays are a nice touch in this scale. They are out of production but can still be found from aftermarket sources by the patient modeler, and offer a economical alternative to the 1/48 Monogram and 1/72 offerings from Academy/Airfix. Highly recommended.

Reference

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress by Mitch Mayborn; Profile Publications No. 101, Copyright 1971 Profile Publications Limited; Windsor, Berkshire, England