Everything you need to know about the legendary B-29 is in this video.
The Boeing B-29 was a four-engine heavy bomber operational during WWII designed for high-altitude strategic bomber role that become particularly famous for carrying out the devastating atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
After the war, the advanced B-29s carried out several tasks including in-flight refueling, antisubmarine patrol, weather reconnaissance and rescue duty. The B-29 saw military service again in Korea between 1950 and 1953, battling new adversaries: jet fighters and electronic weapons. The last B-29 was retired from active service in September 1960.
The Superfortress featured pressurized cabin, tricycle dual wheeled landing gears, and a quite-advanced-for-the-time, remote, electronic fire-control system that controlled four machine gun turrets that complemented a manned, semi-automatic, rear gun turret.
“FIFI” is the nickname of a surviving B-29 out of about 4,000 produced by Boeing, the only one currently flying. The aircraft is owned by the Commemorative Air Force, currently based at Addison, Texas that rescued it in the early 1970s.
Since then, the aircraft has taken part in airshows, documentaries, demo flights and movies.
In the video below, filmed by our reader and friend Erik Johnston, you can join the aircraft commander Allen Benzing in a guided tour outside and inside “FIFI.”
