Army Air Forces leadership committed the Superfortress to Asia, where its great range made it particularly suited for the long over-water flights against the Japanese homeland from bases in China. Silverplate B-29s, however, retained only the tail turret and had their armor removed to save weight so that the heavy atomic bombs of the time could be carried over a longer distance.ĭesigned in 1940 as an eventual replacement for the B-17 and B-24, the first B-29 made its maiden flight on Sept. machine guns and one 20mm cannon in a tail turret, and up to 20,000 pounds of bombs. machine guns in remote controlled turrets, two. Bockscar was one of 15 specially modified "Silverplate" B-29s assigned to the 509th Composite Group. 9, 1945, three days after the atomic attack against Hiroshima. The B-29 on display, Bockscar, dropped the Fat Man atomic bomb on Nagasaki on Aug.
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