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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1561.PDF
FLIGHT, 17 August 1950 203 The XB-39, one of the most powerful Super- forts, had Allison 3,000 h.p. in-line engines. Dramatic close-up of a B-29 equipped for "flying boom" refuelling. At present, however, the U.S.A.F. employs the British flexible-hose system. experienced with the use of a flexible hose and to enable refuelling to take place quicker and at higher altitudes than was possible with existing methods. Considerably more skill, however, would appear to be required during the operation, particularly once the connection has been made, when highly accurate flying is necessary. The large mass of the rigid boom would also be dangerous in gusty condi- tions and seems particularly liable to foul the airscrews of the receiving aircraft. Boeing have received a U.S.A.F. order for 116 boom-equipped B-29 tankers. Most impressive is the " Stratovision " B-29, used for ^experiments in relaying television programmes. The ad- ^vantage of using aircraft for this work is that at 30,000ft more than eight times the area served by a ground station can be covered, using only a fraction of the power. A 33-29 was chosen because, being pressurized and able to cruise at high altitudes, it was the most suitable aircraft then available The receiving aerials, for both sound and vision, are mounted above the fin and the 25ft trans- mitting antenna is hinged under the fuselage and retracts flush when not in use. The drag of this mast when lowered at the normal cruising speed is 350 lb, but fortunately the Designated XB-44, this version was powered by 3,500 h.p. Pratt and Whitney Wasp Major engines ; it served as a prototype for the higher performance B-50 series. large nose-down moment is largely counterbalanced by the drag of the receiving aerials. The first public demonstra- tion was made in June, 1948, and a programme relayed ovei 100 miles but no announcement has since been made thai indicates whether the scheme is an economic proposition. Early flight trials of the McDonnell XF-85 Goblin "para- site " fighter were carried out with the aid of a B-29, to which a replica of the B-36 retrieving cradle was fitted. The fighter was hooked on. before take-off and released at operational altitude. The little aircraft handled satisfac- torily in the air but great difficulty was experienced when attempts at re-engagement were made, and several times the fighter had to be landed on the ground—at about 170 m.p.h.! The whole project has now been abandoned. Specialized Duties In addition to these research B29S, numerous variants have been developed for specialized duties with the Air Force. Typical of these are the F-13S, developed for long- range, high-altitude photographic reconnaissance ; they did some of the aerial mapping of Japan before her surrender, and a sub-variant, the F-13A, was used as camera recording and observation aircraft during the Bikini atomic-bomb ex- periment. During the war a number of B 29s were stripped down and all armament except the tail guns removed ; then they were used for extreme-high-altitude bombing missions over Japan. It was one of these, the B-29B Pacusaii Dreamboat, which, fitted with extra fuel tanks, set up the former world's long-distance record of 8,198 miles in 1945. The Air Weather Service, a division of the M.A.T.S., uses B-29S for air-rescue work, and RB-29S for weather reconnaissance duties. A few B-29S are in service with the U.S. Navy in anti-submarine experiments and. when so used, are known as P2B-IS The B-29 as a bomber has also been undeigoing steady development since the war. Duiing 1949 large numbers of those " cocooned" after the war were modernized by Boeings at the Air Force plant in Wichita, Kansas. Prin- cipal changes include improved electronic equipment, addi- tion of fuel injection to those engines not so equipped. idition of pneumatic bomb-bay doors, and modification ior flight refuelling. Furthei improvements, including the fitting of the more powerful Pratt and Whitney 2,650 h.p. Wasp Major engines, resulted first in the "prototype" XB-44 and later the fully fledged B-50 development of the Superfortress.
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