Built by Boeing just seven years apart, the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-29 Superfortress belonged to completely different weight classes.
The B-29 weighed twice as much and cost $3 billion to develop—even more than the Manhattan Project.
Why build a new giant when the B-17 already worked? Distance. Berlin was a 1,200-mile round trip from England, while Tokyo from Saipan meant nearly 3,000 miles across open ocean. Carrying all that fuel and ordnance stretched the B-29 around two bomb bays from 74 to 99 feet, hid the cockpit inside a smooth stepless nose, grew the slender wingspan from 104 to 141 feet, and raised the tail to nearly 28 feet.
While B-17 crews endured 40-below cold and German 88mm flak at 26,000 feet—relying on sheer toughness like the nearly severed “All American”—B-29 crews flew above 30,000 feet in pressurized shirtsleeve comfort as analog computers aimed their remote gun turrets. Here is how seven years transformed the bomber from soaking up flak to fighting by computer, almost out of reach.
#B29 #B17 #Superfortress #FlyingFortress #WWII #aviation #aerospace #engineering #warbirds #military #howitworks #shorts
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■ 1. First flights, weight and cost
Wikipedia — Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
The Model 299 prototype first flew on July 28, 1935. B-17G max takeoff weight: 65,500 lb
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-17_Flying_Fortress
Wikipedia — Boeing B-29 Superfortress
The prototype first flew on September 21, 1942. Max takeoff weight: 133,500 lb. Design and production cost about $3 billion, far more than the Manhattan Project's $1.9 billion, making it the war's most expensive weapons program
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-29_Superfortress
■ 2. The distances
Wikipedia — Air raids on Japan
The Mariana Islands bases lay about 1,500 miles south of Tokyo, close enough for B-29s to reach most of the home islands and return without refueling
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_raids_on_Japan
■ 3. Length, wingspan, height, nose wheel and rounded nose
Wikipedia — B-17 Flying Fortress (same page as #1)
B-17G: length 74 ft 4 in, wingspan 103 ft 9 in, height 19 ft 1 in. Four 1,200 hp Wright R-1820 engines
Wikipedia — B-29 Superfortress (same page as #1)
Length 99 ft, wingspan 141 ft 3 in, height 27 ft 9 in. Twin-wheel tricycle landing gear. The bomb bays sat between the pressurized front and rear crew compartments, linked by a tunnel
Wikimedia Commons — B-17G and B-29 three-view drawings
Compare the B-17's stepped windscreen with the B-29's cockpit tucked inside a rounded glazed nose
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boeing_B-17G_Flying_Fortress_3-view_line_drawing.svg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boeing_B-29_Superfortress_3-view.svg
■ 4. The German 88 and the B-17's altitude
Wikipedia — 8.8 cm Flak 18/36/37/41
Effective ceiling of the Flak 18/36/37: about 26,000 ft. US daylight raids generally flew at 21,000–24,900 ft, which left them vulnerable to the gun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8.8_cm_Flak_18/36/37/41
■ 5. Cold, frostbite and frozen guns
Army Air Corps Museum — Waist Gunner
Until later B-17 models, waist gunners stood at open windows and frostbite was a problem. They wore electrically heated suits under heavy shearling and leather
https://www.armyaircorpsmuseum.org/Waist_Gunner.cfm
376th Bomb Group — Jammed guns, January 11, 1943
At high altitude the oil in the guns' breech assemblies congealed in the cold and the guns jammed, waist guns at the open windows worst of all. Switching to a lighter oil fixed it
https://www.armyaircorps-376bg.com/1943_11_jan_jammed_guns.html
■ 6. The B-17's toughness and the All American
Wikipedia — All American (aircraft)
On February 1, 1943, a 97th Bomb Group B-17F collided with a German Bf 109 on the way back from Tunisia. The rear fuselage was nearly severed and the left horizontal stabilizer torn off, yet it landed safely at its base near Biskra, Algeria, and none of the crew was hurt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_American_(aircraft)
■ 7. B-29 technology: pressurization, remote turrets, altitude
Wikipedia — B-29 Superfortress (same page as #1)
The front and rear crew compartments were pressurized and connected by a long tunnel. Four remote turrets, each with two .50-caliber guns, were run by General Electric's Central Fire Control system, with an analog computer at each sight correcting for airspeed, lead and more. Service ceiling: 31,850 ft
Wikipedia — Air raids on Japan (same page as #2)
B-29s flew high-altitude daylight raids at around 30,000 ft, a height most Japanese fighters and anti-aircraft guns struggled to reach and fight at
■ 8. R-3350 engine fires
Wikipedia — Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone
Early engines tended to overheat at the rear cylinders. The crankcase's high magnesium content made fires burn extremely hot, and they could burn through the main wing spar in seconds
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_R-3350_Duplex-Cyclone
■ 9. What the two bombers achieved
Wikipedia — Big Week
February 20–25, 1944: raids on German aircraft factories that cost the Luftwaffe 262 fighters and nearly 100 pilots killed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Week
Wikipedia — Oil campaign of World War II
From May 1944 the US Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces and RAF Bomber Command hammered German oil targets. Speer and Galland both called it decisive in Germany's collapse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_campaign_of_World_War_II
Wikipedia — Air raids on Japan (same page as #2)
Low-altitude night firebombing from early 1945 badly damaged Japanese industrial output. Atomic bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, and the bombing weighed heavily in Japan's decision to surrender
■ 10. Simplifications in the script
· "Seven years apart" refers to first flights (1935 and 1942).
· "Twice as much" compares max takeoff weights: 65,500 lb versus 133,500 lb.
· The 1,200-mile Berlin round trip is a straight-line estimate from bases in eastern England (about 560–590 miles each way). Actual routes were longer.
· The 3,000-mile Tokyo round trip is based on about 1,500 miles each way from the Marianas.
· Lengths, spans and heights are rounded. Some sources give the B-17G's length as 74 ft 9 in.
· "Around 26,000 feet" matches the 88's effective ceiling. Actual daylight bombing altitudes were mostly 21,000–25,000 ft.
· "40 below" is a typical temperature inside the unpressurized, unheated fuselage; it is the same in Fahrenheit and Celsius. Some accounts give lower figures.
· The firsthand record of frozen guns found here comes from a B-24 unit (376th Bomb Group) in the same period. B-17 waist gunners fired the same .50-caliber guns through open windows at similar altitudes, but no B-17-specific primary record was confirmed.
· Bare skin sticking to frozen metal is a common detail in crew memoirs and secondary sources, not an official statistic.
· "Above 30,000 feet" is based on the B-29's 31,850-ft service ceiling and roughly 30,000-ft daylight raids. From March 1945, tactics shifted to much lower night firebombing.
· "Shirtsleeves" means the pressurized cabins let crews work without heavy cold-weather gear and oxygen masks. The bomb bays were not pressurized.
· Japan also used dedicated high-altitude interceptors besides the Zero, and some brought down B-29s by ramming. "Struggled to even reach that altitude" describes most interceptors.
· "Fires could eat into the wing" means an engine fire could burn through the wing spar; it is not a frequency figure.
· The B-17's results were shared with B-24s, escort fighters and RAF Bomber Command.
· "Ended the war" refers to the 1945 firebombing and the atomic bombs. The Soviet entry into the war and other factors also shaped Japan's surrender.
· Scenes in the video are reconstructions, not archival footage.
the B29 only cost more than the manhattan project if include the costs of building 4K of the aircraft.
А СССР за два года скопировал B-29 и создал полный аналог Ту-4.
Армии США нужно было не просто долететь до противника, но и сбросить на него атомную бомбу. США – это самая безжалостная страна за всю историю человечества. Никто еще за раз не убивал столько людей ради демонстрации своих возможностей и хайпа…
Достали своими футами и дюймами, стругатели контента. Напряглись и давайте качество
Прилурки. Цену измените
in the b-29 you can see how this led to the jet age as well
Русский солдат сокрушил японию, и положил конец войне. Всё остальное ложь.
who's cooler, Darth vader, or hellraiser??
Конец войне положил СССР, разгромив в Манчжурии Квантунскую армию. А Б-29 просто хороший на то время самолет.
Ai slop..🤷🏼♂️
The human race we sure can kill…
Now do the same comparison between the Avro Lancaster and the Avro Vulcan (11 years apart)
It is ironic that the B29 was brought down to 5000-10,000 ft for its most effective missions, fire bombing. To deliver A-bombs, it needed all the altitude it could get.
The Manhatten Project had a blank check….
Время, дерзких мечтаний инженеров!
Нахрена эта ересь в футах? По нормальному, в метрах почему не сказать? Пол ролика ничего не понятно
Японскую армию разгромили советские войска, а не бомбы )
If only Kelly Johnson was available…would have cut the war by a year or more.
But the B 29 had CFC. A simple sorta computer controlled guns. There were no gunners but an operator… and they could pass off control to another operator. That's crazy for the 1940s. B17 was not pressurized. That makes a huge difference. My Dad was a tail gunner. They took off their boots and put on heavy lead shoes to stay attached and fire their guns. They wore HEAVY clothing and jackets and gloves to stay alive for 8 hours. He flew 75 missions.. I can't even comprehend what that was like. He got shot down 7 times and came back to Spawn me… the last of 8 kids. We're all just pussies.
Ｂ29による高高度からの工場爆撃は効率が上がらず、ルメイは夜間の低空爆撃に切り替えた。焼夷弾は都市を焼き非戦闘員の民間人にも多大の犠牲者が出た。
I believe if you took a composite picture of all the B17's that made it home with battle damage. You could take away the whole plane
While the bombers did hurt the enemy, Happy Arnold and Bomber Harris were wrong: bombers did not break the will of the enemy and didn't win the war! What actually won the war was the Russian Army, the American Army, and the Atomic Bomb (and the thousands of soldiers, sailors, and airmen from almost all corners of the world). American tanks in Africa (under British control), American Submarines sinking the Japanese ships, American planes and Carriers, Marines in the southern Pacific, British fighters (and later American) all had important parts that turned it around, but everything all added up (even the lumbering PBY on endless boring and dangerous Patrols over endless stretches of open ocean).
B29 was designed for daylight-raids but the Norton–targeting-device had problems with the fast jet-stream over Japan. That was the reason they switched to low-altidude night-raids.
In many ways the B-29 ushered in the jet age: it pioneered new technology.
Разгром Японии обеспечила Красная Армия разгромив японскую Квантунскую армию а не какой – то там Б-29.
Что за чушь, что B 29 положил конец войне?
Врать не устают эксперты брехуны.
Чем Б 29 сокрушил Япинию? Тем что сбросил две ядерные бомбы по мирым городам??? И почти капитулированной Японии???
Японию сокрушил русский солдат в Маньчжурии….
Not a bad attempt by AI. Better than most other AI productions.
И ещё В29 стал первым бомбардировщиком сбросивший атомные бомбы. А перед этим сжегший Токио и ряд других японских городов.
Так вот кто выиграл войну ! 😂
Конец войне положил Советский Союз
AI graphics are getting so much better. Hollywood had better watch out. No need for actors, soon.
В 1944 по 45 что они там на воевать могли😂
Компьютерный бой? 😂 М-да, страшно даже думать, что искусственный интеллект овладеет всем видеорынком, и не только видеорынком. 😱
Dang, and all these times I’ve been to Germany. I thought I was visiting Hamburg. Guess it was Berlin and I didn’t even know it.
3 ярда это заоблачная сумма. Б-2 дешевле. Достал ии.
The altitude with jet stream made bombing targets impossible in the B29. Strategy changed to varying altitude per plane of roughly 5,000 to 12,000 feet.
Early versions of the B-17 were still very advanced for the late 1930's, four engines, all metal construction, even features like retractable under carriage were advanced for the pre-war era. As the war went on later model B-17s gained more and more defensive weaponry.
The B-29 benefited from everything that had been learned with the B-17 and B-24. Remote control guns, much more powerful engines and pressurization of the crew areas enabled the B-29 to fly higher, further and faster and they were difficult to intercept for fighters of the time. While the technology was only a few years more advanced than the B-17, the B-29 took full advantage of everything learned in that time.
The B-29 had to depressurize during combat because otherwise a stray bullet turned it into a bomb.
Nothing but ai man all of it the video the taking just do the work man
Flying Fortress tough? Eighth Air Force had the highest casualty rate of any outfit in WWII. Cool name but it was not tough. It was thin aluminum skin.