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By: - 9th April 2005 at 14:42 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I think one landed at Burtonwood in 1943/44.
By: - 9th April 2005 at 16:46 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
March '44, one was deployed to the U.K. on a allied 'familiarization tour', actually a decoy to get the enemy to think that the B-29's were going to be used in Europe
Martin
By: - 9th April 2005 at 17:03 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Flat 12x2's date of March '44 rings a bell with me. It definitely landed at Knettishall and one other operational base before returning to the ZOI. I think the other base was Glatton.
Regards
Graham
By: - 9th April 2005 at 17:38 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I came up with November 1946, when six were deployed to Rhein/Main.
And didn't Eisenhower use one as staff plane?
By: - 9th April 2005 at 17:53 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Distiller,
Somewhere I have a photo of the 1944 "tour" when it landed at Knettishall - I'll try and dig it out...
Has this question not been asked before on here?
Graham
By: - 9th April 2005 at 18:07 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
In Roger Freeman's excleenet Mighty Eighth War Manual on Page 205 is pictured B-29 41-36963 at Glatton on 11 March 1944
Returned to ZOI on 10 May 1944
Sorry, scanner isn't working at the mo... :o
Regards
Graham
By: - 9th April 2005 at 18:32 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Since someone brought it up...did the Germans fall for the ruse about the possibility of using B-29s in Europe?
By: - 9th April 2005 at 18:58 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I wonder how much more deverstating the bombing would have been had they been used in Europe, from what I can gather their bomb load was 12,000lb's more than the B17 and B24.
By: - 9th April 2005 at 19:22 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Since someone brought it up...did the Germans fall for the ruse about the possibility of using B-29s in Europe?
Think TA152 and BV155 and I think you have your answer.
The First B29 to reach England was in fact one of the 14 YB29’s and it flew to England, partly as an eleventh hour test of a long range over water flight, and partly to fool the Japanese rather than the Germans. The Germans were already thinking B29 but the Japanese were wondering where the B29 would be deployed, and were aware of the long runways in and around Calcutta. So an elaborate plan was hatched with leaks to give the impression that the B29 had not measured up and would be used as an armed transport for Hump flights. The YB29 reached India on the 6th of April after spending 2 weeks in England.
By: - 11th April 2005 at 08:35 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
First B-29 in Europe
This aircraft certainly visited here (Horsham St Faith), we have photographs of it in our archieve.
Think that some of these photographs were in the Mighty Eighth by Roger Freeman and Fields of Little America by Martin Bowman.
Always understood that the B-29 only visited USAAF 8th bases at Horsham St Faith and Glatton. Interestingly the B-29 was in standard 8th colour scheme of olive drab.
City of Norwich Aviation Museum
Horsham St Faith
By: - 12th April 2005 at 08:37 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Checked which B-29 visited Horsham St Faith last night.
41-36963 was here in March 1944, the picture we have is also in George Reynolds book on the 458th Bomb Group which was based at Horsham at that time.
The USAAF plan was to convert nine B-24 equiped groups to B-29 between June-Sept 1945. These groups would have all been 2nd Air Division units, all based in Norfolk and Suffolk. A training squadron was planned to be based at Boscombe Down. No doubt the runways of the choosen airfields would have need to be longer than for B-24 operations. In February 1945 the plans for UK based B-29 were cancelled.
Interestingly, at the time the B-29 was at Horsham St Faith, 1426 (Enemy Aircraft Flight) from Collyweston sent a Ju88, a He111 and a Do217 to Horsham for inspection by 2nd Air Division personell. All part of a deception or an evaluation on how the B-29 might perform in Europe?
City of Norwich Aviation Museum
By: - 12th April 2005 at 14:23 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Am gagging for pics....don't hold out on me!! :p
By: - 12th April 2005 at 14:44 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Interestingly the B-29 was in standard 8th colour scheme of olive drab.
Many of the early B-29s (including the prototypes) were painted.
It wasn't just for the plane(s) that visited the UK.
By: - 15th April 2005 at 14:01 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
B-29 at Glatton on 11 March 1944, from Key Publishing's Air Enthusiast magazine, Issue #59:
By: - 16th April 2005 at 12:08 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
In the unlikely event of English airfields being threatened with serious air attack or even invasion, there was a fallback plan to base 800 B-29s in Northern Ireland, plus B-32s later. The plan was not abandoned until May 1944 and a project to extend many runways to the necessary 9,000 feet was shelved. I have also found in an obscure PRO (sorry, Natl Archives!) file, a reference to a plan to build the B-29 in Britain. There are no details and I have never read anything to substantiate this.
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By: Distiller - 9th April 2005 at 13:05
When did the first B-29 come to Europe?