B-29 Superfortress on display at airport

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

VIENNA

The B-29 Superfortress bomber, one of the most technologically advanced airplanes of World War II, was used by the U.S. military in the Pacific Theater.

It had guns that could be fired by remote control, holds 5,460 gallons of fuel and had many other innovations. Each of its four engines uses 400 gallons of fuel per hour.

It’s the type of plane that America used to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II.

On the tarmac at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport on Monday, reporters and photographers were able to stand below the open doors of the bomb bay of a B-29 called “Fifi” and see the area where the atomic bombs dropped on Japan were carried on two other B-29s — the Enola Gay and Bockscar.

“Fifi” is one of only two B-29s still flying.

This B-29 never saw duty in the Pacific Theater because of the timing of its manufacture. It was delivered to the Army in the spring of 1945, toward the end of the war and was used mainly for training.

Jacques Robitaille, public information officer for the Commemorative Air Force, a non-profit organization that owns “Fifi,” explained that those two bombs easily fit into the forward bomb bay of the B-29.

“Fifi,” which was named for the wife of the man who restored the plane decades ago, is equipped with replica bombs for visitors to see. B-29s could hold 20 500-pound bombs in the front bay and 20 in the back.

But the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Fat Man, was only 10 feet, 8 inches long and 60 inches in diameter. The one dropped on Nagasaki, Little Boy, was only 10 feet long and 28 inches in diameter. They each weighed about 10,000 pounds.

For those more interested in the aviation-related aspects of the plane, there will be an opportunity to tour the cockpit of the plane from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Cost is $10 for adults, $7 for youth 10 to 17 and free for children under 9.

The cockpit holds the pilot and co-pilot, as well as other crew. Another area in the back holds five other crew members.

For those who want to take a half-hour ride in the B-29 Saturday morning or Sunday morning, the cost varies from $600 to $1,595 per person at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. The most expensive seat is the one in the nose of the plane called the bombardier seat. A seat in the rear costs $600. A person can schedule a ride at www.airpowertour.org.

One of the interesting things about the plane is the 34-foot tube over the bomb bay that allowed crew to crawl between the front part of the aircraft and the rear during flight.

Boeing made most of the nearly 4,000 B-29s. A Boeing web site says as many as 1,000 Superfortresses at a time bombed Tokyo during the war, destroying large parts of the city.

For those who have the cash to ride the plane, Robitaille says to expect something different from a commercial aircraft.

“It’s loud. It shakes, and it’s just great,” he said.