Boeing Washington (B-29)

History of the Boeing Washington (B-29)

After World War II, beginning with the Cold War (1947-1991), the Royal Air Force (RAF) found itself with an option for a long-range strategic bombing role - particularly is related to the delivery of nuclear weapons - with few resources. The veteran fleet of the post-war Avro "Lancaster" and subsequent four-engine Avro "Lincoln" heavy bombers (a derivative of Lancaster itself) is now exhausted and underperforming veterans have seen their best days , and has proven to be an option served by few locals.

So the UK looked to its wartime ally in the US and focused on buying the postwar Boeing B-29 "Superfortress" design to fill the gap (nearly 4,000 were eventually built). While the Boeing product isn't the long-term solution the RAF has been looking for, it's a proven solution - albeit obsolete in the era of jets - but the old high-altitude bomber still has some life and is also useful for The British provided the voyage and the nuclear weapons supply was woefully short.

This led the RAF to lease three B-29s and another 80 B-29A production bombers from the United States, resulting in the model being locally named the "Washington" - more formally known as the "Washington B. The Mark I"". The acquisition officially took effect on 27 January 1950, with deliveries to RAF Marham beginning as early as March of that year.

Prior to closing, the bomber consisted of no less than 10 full RAF squadrons and the aircraft The team was actively operating before being abandoned in 1953-1954 (three examples were converted to ELINT - "Electronic Signals Intelligence" - platforms). By that time, the service had taken over the more modern jet-powered British electric "Canberra" (the Details elsewhere on the website), the remaining 70 B-29s were sent back to the United States, where the ELINT platform replaced the de Havilland Comet in 1958.

Washington officially flew under the RAF flag until 1954, with a pair serving from 1952 to 1952 under the Aircraft Development Section of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) (testing for the British Department of Supply). 1956 is archived.

In 1957, these insistences were finally stripped of their usefulness and abandoned.

Specification

Base

Year of Service

1950

Origins

United States

Status

retirement

does not work.

Crew

11

Production

83

Manufacturer

Boeing Company - USA

Carrier

Australia; UK

Roles

Ground attack (bombing, strafing)

The ability to conduct air strikes against ground targets using (but not limited to) artillery, bombs, rockets, rockets, etc.

Dimensions and Weight

Length

99.0ft

(30.18m)

Width/span

141. 2 feet

(43.05m)

Height

27.7 feet

(8.45m)

Cured weight

74,957 lbs

(34,000 kg)

MTOW

134,482 lbs

(61,000 kg)

Wgt Difference

+59,525 lbs

(+27,000 kg)

Performance

Installed:

4 x Wright R-3350-23 Duplex Cyclone 18-cylinder turbocharged air-cooled 2,200 hp radial piston engines driving a four-bladed propeller unit.

Maximum speed

224 km/h

(360 km/h | 194 knots)

Maximum

31,857 feet

(9,710 m | 6 km)

Area

5,592 km

(9,000 km | 16,668 nautical miles)

rate of climb

900 ft/min

(274 m/min)

Range (MPH) Subsonic: <614mph | Transonic: 614-921 | Supersonic: 921-3836 | Hypersonic: 3836-7673 | Hypersonic: 7673-19180 | Reentry: > 19030

Weapon

8 to 12 x .50 Browning M2 .50 caliber air-cooled heavy machine gun (HMG) mounted in dorsal and ventral remote-controlled turrets and rear emplacements. Internal bomb bay for conventional and nuclear-throwing bombs with combat loads between 5,000 lbs and 20,000 lbs, depending on the desired range.