Saturday, December 5, 2009

The B-29 entered service late in the 2nd WW after we had achieved air superiority in the Pacific The

Does anybody know if we sustained any B-29 losses? If so, do you have any idea of how many, where, etc.



I don't think the B-29 served in the European theatre, it was devloped mainly as a long-distance bomber for the war against Japan. Am I right on this point?



Thanks!



The B-29 entered service late in the 2nd WW after we had achieved air superiority in the Pacific Theater.?listen to opera



Flyboys: A True Story of Courage



by James Bradley - 2004 - 464 pages



B-29 losses for all operations totaled 414. B-29 aircrew casualties numbered 2897, of which 2148 were deaths. Another 334 Superfortress crew members were captured/interned of which 262 survived.



I actually knew a few pilots and flew with one (Mike Novosel, MOH). It has been well said that the runway on Iwo Jima saved over 5,000 flyers. I recall a few actually landed before the island was 100% secure. Most of the AC (aircraft commanders: pilots) were very experienced B-17 and B-24 aviators. Not all ETO veterans but instructor pilots as the need for ETO pilots was gone by early 1945.



Skilled men, note the high wounded to death ratio: not much first aid at 30,000 feet. Most did not die in POW camps but were executed on-the-spot by the Japanese.



Had Russia done anything more in Asia after August the B-29's were poised to bomb them as well, great deterent.



The support system for B-29's was huge: they never could have been dualy deployed as the logistics were awesome.



Naval ships were basically converted in Army Air Corps



boats with all the repair facilities on-board. I also knew many of these guys from those ships. They also had the first operational helicopter units in WWII: to ferry parts from ship to shore.



Personal note: they could out drink anyone. Been know to fly



as the B-17 on a wing and a prayer....all were grateful that I knew to the USMC for Iwo Jima and the other islands.



The B-29 entered service late in the 2nd WW after we had achieved air superiority in the Pacific Theater.?concert venue opera theaterThanks for the "best answer", glad you could read what I was saying, few of those WWII B-29 men left, few of us who later flew with them. My last B-29 friend has passed a few years ago, such men I loved. What they did is what makes us all Americans. Report It


The B-29 sustained a fair number of losses. Combat damage was mainly due to heavy caliber anti-aircraft, little from enemy fighters. The altitude and speed of the B-29 made it difficult for enemy fighters to engage.



But the most common reason they were lost was due to engine fires and running out of gas. The first bases used were at the maximum limit of their range. The USAAF was desperate for a base closer to Japan. Iwo Jima fit the bill.



The B-29 only flew in the Pacific Theater. Quick search did not come up with any number of loses.



It was developed as a continuation of the USAAC 1930s program of making large 4 engined bombers therefore it was more evolutionary than designed against a specific enemy.



The development of the B-29 actually started in 1934 but the Army request for a plane with its specifications came in 1940.



Three landed in the USSR and the Russians reverse engineered them to get their first bomber capable of hitting the USA.
The government awarded the contract for the B-29 to Boeing in 1940, before the US even entered WWII, so no, it wasn't developed specifically for use against Japan.



It was used exclusively against Japan in WWII though. By the time it became operational in mid-1944, other US warplanes were routinely pulverizing Germany from bases in England, so the B-29's services were not really needed there as they were in the Pacific, where bombing raids had to be launced from bases further from their targets.



There were several B-29s lost to combat and non-combat related causes in WWII. As far as I can tell, between 5 and 10 B-29s were lost to all causes during the war.
There were B-29s shot down, the first being downed on 15 June 1944.



There were 147 shot down by the end of 1944.
Because we did not have air superiority over Japan.



We also had problems with Japanese antiaircraft guns.
The total amount of B-29 losses in World War Two was 414 B-29s shot down. I cannot pinpoint the location of every B-29 lost, but the majority of them were doubtlessly lost during bombing raids on Japan.



You are correct on your second point. It was only by late 1944 that B-29s really started coming out of the factories, too late for the ETO. So it was designated for the PTO only.
yes, we sutained losses, no, i do not know how many; wish i did.



and you're wrong; it was developed to serve in both theatres of war, and Germany developed fightes like the FW-190D and others for the specific purpose of shooting down any A-bomb loaded Superfortresses over Berlin! ok, maybe not Berlin, but anyway the war in Europe ended before the B-29 could be brought to bare, so the Japanese became the first targets to feel its wrath!

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