B-29 question for HiTech or anyone from HTC that can answer...

[sluggish]

Give them the Nuke. 

That bozo got banned a long time ago...

[Ack-Ack]

Im not finding any data that provides actual factory designations for follow on variations like a -A or -B?

Seriously? You're not looking hard enough, just search for B-29B-BA and you'll find it.

I know that Lemay had the guns and gunners (minus tail) removed when he switched to low level night bombing but that appears to be strictly a field mod.  The silverplate B29s modified for the manhatten project were also soecial one offs.

The B-29B-BA was factory producted from the Bell at their Bell Atlanta plant and 311 were produced.  The B-29B-BA was not ordered or produced in a large batch but were ordered in small batches, sometimes comprising of only a single B-29B.  

The B-29B-BA was not a special one off, it was designed to be a low altitude, faster and capable of carrying more bombs than the B-29A.

The first actual upgrade for the 29 appears to be the B-50

No it wasn't.  The B was the first upgrade and the 2nd upgrade was the proposed C version with improved Wright R-3350 engines and 5,000 were ordered but cancelled when the war ended.

The B-29D was the proposed 3rd upgrade and it ended up turning into the XB-44 project which was the revision of the original B-29 design.  It was the first major upgrade, not the first actual upgrade.  The B-29D was resignated as the B-50 because Congress was leary of continuing to fund war time projects so the USAF redesignated it to appear as though it was an entirely new aircraft.


ack-ack  

[bagrat]

pretty sure they couldnt, seeing as in game it's its own little capsule

valid point and in a decent manner to. Guppy should take lessons from this man

[Ack-Ack]

valid point and in a decent manner to. Guppy should take lessons from this man

To imply that Corky has been anything but helpful in his posts is way off base and incorrect or you just trying to hump corky's ankle for some bizarre reason that only your feeble little mind can fathom?

ack-ack

[bagrat]

To imply that Corky has been anything but helpful in his posts is way off base and incorrect or you just trying to hump corky's ankle for some bizarre reason that only your feeble little mind can fathom?

ack-ack

That makes no sense, how am implying negativity and ankle humping at the same time...think about. My response was directed towards guppy for though giving some valid points about the lancaster, gave his response in a smug way. Where as pig also gave a response but in a non rude manner, so I said "maybe guppy should learn from pig on how to respond in a less smug way". get it?  or are you just tryin to start stuff cuz the wife or husband aint home to argue with you

[EDO43]

The B-29 and B-29A were visually indistinguishable but were separate.  There was a 1 foot wingspan difference between the two based on the wing center section construction but was sufficient to warrant a new designation.  The B-29A was a B-29 built in Renton (BN).  As a penalty for the new (and better) wing construction technique on the 29A, the useable fuel was reduced by 213 gallons. (Kinzey Pg. 21)  There's two versions right there.  Both B-29 and B-29A could have a four gun upper forward turret vs. the two gun upper turret.  The turret occupied more space in the aircraft, was heavier but climb rate and performance were better than with the two gun turret.  The 20mm cannon was deleted after B-29-55-BW, B-29A-20-BN, B-29-25-BA and B-29-25-MO because it was ineffective. (Kinzey, pg. 20)

the B-29B (668 were manufactured) was a stripped down version of the 29 built by Bell at their Marietta, GA plant.  No remotely sighted turrets, louvered turbosupercharger well covers, third .50 added to the tail turret, AN/APQ "Eagle" radar (characterized by another wing between the bomb bays) and a tail AN/APG-15 tail gun laying radar (Kinzey pp. 24 & 25)  Radar capabilities of aircraft in AH2 is moot so the main difference here are the lack of defensive armament.

Silverplate B-29's were special 29's built to carry the nuclear weapon.  Similar to the B-29B, they were devoid of all remotely sighted turrets.  They also had Curtiss C/S props rather than the regular Hamilton-Standard Hydromatic props.  There were other changes as well but they did not recieve a separate designation that I have been able to find.  These will most definitely NOT be modeled as I seriously doubt HTC would allow the carriage and use of an atomic weapon in the game.

I hope that if the B-29 wins, we get the version w/out the 20mm tail cannon but with the 4 x .50 upper forward gun turret 

Kinzey, Bert.  (1983). B-29 Superfortress in Detail and Scale, Vol. 10, Part I.  Aero Publishers Inc. Fallbrook, CA.

[68ZooM]

Has anyone emailed HT on this matter? i don't know if that would get a quicker responce then waiting for it on the boards

[VonKost]

I know this is an older post, but i believe the only real choice is the B-29A. I was the "vanilla" B-29 and the most produced and used during the war. I believe that the only B's to get into service were with the late coming 315th Bomb Wing. In reference to LeMay removing the gunners and guns for the night missions, I know he relented on the crews because it was hurting morale for them not to be able to fly with the rest of their crew I assume the guns went back so they would have something to do, but I can't verify that now. (still stuck at the hospital)

One thing to consider is that the guns and fire control system was filtered through a lead and range computing system that the Engineering officer updated the speed, temperature etc... to. Think of Mustang K14 sights for all the gunners. The system was quite amazing. I doubt this will be modeled in game. Here is a video about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nskFayhBcy0

Maybe the best solution is to do the A and B like they did two P-39s when they came out.