The Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the most famous of all bombers in the U.S. Military, is known to be the very symbol of American air superiority and dominance. The reason for this is that this particular aircraft was used in the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Design:
The B-29 had a relatively streamlined shape for its size. With a wingspan of 141 feet, a length of 99 feet and a height of 29 feet, this bomber was an absolute beast in the 1940s. It could carry more load than most other aircraft of that time while flying higher and faster than all the others at the same time.
The design of the B-29 was such that it could fly long distances at high speeds, while at high altitudes. Its maximum speed was 576 kph, and each of its 4 engines produced 2,200 horsepower. It had 4 remotely controlled turrets, with one tail turret, giving it defense and a way to fight back against enemy aircraft. It also had dual bomb bays with alternating releases, which helped it efficiently drop bombs on enemy territory.
Materials:
The B-29 was an all metal aircraft, but mostly made out of aluminum alloys on the fuselage, wings and skin. This was a strategic move to keep the structure reliable and the aircraft light. More high-stress components like the engine mounts, landing gear, and structural reinforcements were made out of steel.
Some internal structural elements and engine components used magnesium to further reduce the weight of the aircraft, and the nose and gunner canopies were made out of plexiglass, which was lighter than traditional glass, further reducing the weight of the aircraft.
The least common materials in the aircraft were rubber and wood. Rubber was used for fuel system seals, tires and gaskets for flexibility and durability. Wood was used in some non-critical areas like interior fittings.
Most of the materials used were to decrease the overall weight while keeping the structural integrity.
How Forces Affected the Aircraft:
The B-29 created a surprisingly little amount of drag, due to its streamlined shape and pill-like fuselage. It had no flat ends or anything that would significantly disrupt the airflow around the aircraft. The 4 Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone radial engines on the Superfortress produced 2,200 horsepower each, and the aircraft flew at 300 knots.
As for weight, the Superfortress, without any load, weighed about 31,574 kg and with its max load, 81,191 kg. The speed that the B-29 had to go at before being able to take-off was 257-290 kph. That means that the Superfortress had to go at that speed before lift would overcome gravity and weight.
The Effects on the Aircraft by the Properties of Air:
The only reason the aircraft could fly was because of the wing shape. The wing was shaped in such a way that an area of low pressure would be created above the wing and an area of high pressure would be created below the wing.
Then, since nature wants pressure to be balanced, the region of high pressure would act like a spring and move towards the area of low pressure, lifting the wing with it. This system relies on the property that air can be compressed and exert pressure. It also relies on the property that air acts like a fluid, so it would smoothly go around the wing.
Control surfaces:
The aircraft couldn’t achieve liftoff quickly just by using that principle, it needed to take help from the elevators. On the horizontal stabilizers, the elevators moved up and down for pitch. Pitch up meant that the plane’s nose pointed up, and pitch down meant the nose pointed down. That was one of the flight surfaces and was situated on the horizontal stabilizers, on the fuselages’ back portion.
Roll was also another important feature. It was controlled by the ailerons on the far side of either wing. The ailerons rolled the aircraft when one went up and the other one went down. This worked because the aileron that was raised created less lift and less drag than the one that was lowered. This caused a roll and curve motion.
This was because a lowered aileron caused the angle of attack (AOA) to be raised. A higher AOA caused induced drag, along with some lift. The opposite happened on the other wing.
Flight surfaces:
These surfaces included the flaps, slats and landing gear. The flaps were used for reducing the chance of stalling while in descent and while flaring. They were situated on the back part of the wing and had 2 settings: Flaps 15 and 25, for takeoff and landing.
The landing gear was controlled by electrical motors and cables. It had brakes that also helped the B-29 slow down on the runway. Unlike all the other systems, with electrical cables and motors for them all, the wheel brakes used a hydraulic braking mechanism.
For additional braking power, the B-29’s rotary engine’s propellers could reverse their pitch, giving additional braking power. It worked a bit like reverse thrust in today’s world. The reversed pitch propellers, when spun, would create thrust in the opposite direction, slowing the aircraft down even more.
This concludes my report on the B-29 Superfortress, the plane that bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Citations:
Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay | National Air and Space Museum
Boeing B-29 – Pima Air & Space
Boeing B-29 Superfortress | The Museum of Flight
Wright R-3350-23 Duplex-Cyclone > National Museum of the United States Air Force™ > Display
Meet the B-29! | B-29 Test Flight From 1944
The Silverplate B-29: Delivering the Atomic Bombs
Rafaz Anwar 
wiggle
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[revels in the memories of assaulting rafaz with a lunch box]
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wow, im better now, i forgor abt u lol
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