B-29's in Europe Theatre

[DREDger]

I wonder why they didn't have B-29's in Europe?  Seems like accounts of B-29's were always in the Pacific.

[fudgums]

Was there a need for B29s in the European theater?

[Tac]

maybe because the b17, b24, b26 was already in the theatre in great numbers and by the time the b29 came into the scene the allies had dominance over the air in europe?

...and the b29... every one of them, was needed for the very long range flights to and back from Japan.

[SIM]

I recall reading an article that stated that the B-29 was developed primarily for use in the Pacific Theater due to the long distances traveled during missions. One of the prototype B-29s also visited the UK as a propaganda stunt.....

Widewing would surely be able to shed light on this thread........

[Serenity]

I recall reading an article that stated that the B-29 was developed primarily for use in the Pacific Theater due to the long distances traveled during missions. One of the prototype B-29s also visited the UK as a propaganda stunt.....

Widewing would surely be able to shed light on this thread........

B-29 project began, IIRC, as a Euro-bomber, VERY early in the war, but by the time it was getting anywhere near completion, it was determined the need was in the Pacific.

[oakranger]

I wonder why they didn't have B-29's in Europe?  Seems like accounts of B-29's were always in the Pacific.

B-17, 24, 26 and A20 where effective enough.  However, the B-32 was in order to replace the B-24 in the ET but deiced to send it to the PT.

[MiloMorai]

The airfields in GB couldn't take the B-29 unless heavily modified due to its size and weight.

[Simba]

The B-29 did serve in Europe, but not until the beginning of the Berlin Airlift, when USAF B-29s flew into British airfields to act as a deterrent force in case the Russians attempted to block the aerial supply routes into the city. The RAF also flew three B-29s and eighty-four B-29As (named Washington B.Mk.1) from 1950 as the primary carrier of Britain's early A-bombs; they were returned to the USA when the V-Force took over in 1954. The last three were refitted as ELINT aircraft and served with the RAF until 1958. Two were also supplied to the Royal Australian Air Force as A76-1 and A76-2, serving from 1952 to 1956.

 

[Chalenge]

The Joint Chiefs decided the B-29 would serve under one command the XX Bomber Command (and later XXI Bomber Command) and that theater commanders would not have control of the Command except in emergencies (undefined). The whole reason the B-29 was created in the first place was strategic bombing and theater commanders had already proven before the B-29 came into service that they were going to use air power as a means of support for their ground forces and not against strategic targets.

Even though the B-29 was rushed into service (literally getting the equivalent of 'service packs' in training units as well as on its way to the front) it was already obvious that the B-17 and the B-24s could accomplish the mission in Europe and the B-17 could not accomplish the mission in the Pacific due to the incredible distances involved. The B-29 could and did fly non-stop from Tinian to Hawaii and from Hawaii to New York and only one other plane of the war (post-war) could do that (the Twin Mustang).

The B-29 first saw action from India into Burma and China and its first encounter with the enemy was against Ki-43s that inadvertantly ran into a single B-29 crossing the hump. The fighters were amazed at the size and speed of the bomber and kept a good distance from it making feinted attacks but when the first fighter was smoked (literally trailing black smoke and dropping quickly) they left it to climb away from them.

Runways in China were hand made for the giant bomber but they never were satisfactory and when Tinian was finally captured the command was moved there (in great relief). In India the aircraft literally had the oil within five degrees of overheat just sitting on the field. In Tinian things were not much better but the XX Bomber Command could at least get some supply that they didnt have to fly in themselves.

Both the Navy and the Army resented the B-29 and wanted Hap Arnold to make them stop 'stirring things up in Japan' but Hap didnt listen. When Arnold asked LeMay when he would have all his mission targets destroyed LeMay gave him a date that was only three days short of reality.

The war plan of the Joint Chiefs had not expected to be finished with the war until 1947 and had the Army and Navy had their way the island of Japan would have been invaded (the B-29s excluded) and it would have cost probably another million Americans their lives. Churchhill actually requested that the B-29s be withheld in the final days and that his Lancasters (from Okinawa)take part in the final victory. How much time and how many additional lives would that have cost?

At the end of the war with Germany it was discovered that Germany had their own 'B-29' that was within one inch of design dimensions of the Boeing production version. There has never been discovered any evidence of information taken from Boeing and used for that prototype.

[DREDger]

The B-29 could and did fly non-stop from Tinian to Hawaii and from Hawaii to New York and only one other plane of the war (post-war) could do that (the Twin Mustang).

Thank you for that very interesting post on the subject.   

The B-29 could fly from Hawaii to New York nonstop?  That is incredible, though I guess you do get a tailwind going in that direction.

[Treize69]

I've seen photos of an OD B-29 in England during 1944, but AFAIK it was a counterintel stunt to convince the Germans that it was there to train the pilots and crews for full scale deployment of the type to the 8th AAF. Flew around, made a couple of appropriately hush-hush visits (as hush hush as a B-29 can get, which was the point) and then was flown either back to the states or to the CBI.

[Die Hard]

Other aircraft had the range to fly from Hawaii to NY (about 5,000 miles) in ferry configuration. The VLR Liberator for instance, the long-range version of the Ju 290, the Fw 200 (flew commercially non-stop Berlin-NY in the 1930s with cargo and pax). I'm sure there are others.

[Westy]

Trieze you're right and that B-29 was named the "Hobo Queen"

[Angus]

As for the Runways, did the B-29's who were in England post-war use post-war runways? And what about the visiting ones during the war? And were their "footsteps" really that much heavier thanof a Lancaster? It's not all about total weight.
Then I cannot but wonder how much range a fully loaded Lancaster would have had with the bomb-load of a B-17.

[oakranger]

Trieze you're right and that B-29 was named the "Hobo Queen"

(Image removed from quote.)

huh, i know there was a B-32 name "Hobo Queen" aswell.