B-29s Both Drab & Not So Drab.....

[Jack Cook]

[Second Air Force]

Love those color photos Jack!

The top photo is of a YB-29 and her sister from Pratt AAF, Kansas according to the Official Base History from Pratt. I met a veteran named Easter Davis that said that airplane flew for a few hours and then sat in the hangar for a few days being repaired and modified. Then another four hour hop and the cycle began again. One of his jobs was to weld exhaust components that cracked with great frequency.

Scott

[Jack Cook]

I just found a ton of images from the NA I never even looked at after getting them. Nice B-29, B-24 and some great color!

[Nathan]

I can't believe I haven't seen a model yet with the OD B-29!

[Django]

Just found this pic online...

[Jesse C.]

Shoot! If somenone would rustle up some decals for an O.D. '29, I would build it!

So how long did the O.D. paint stay on the combat area 29's?

Nice pic Django!

[b29flteng]

The top two look like the three bladed props. Yes,the exhaust flight hood (part that covers the turbo wheel) still cracks frequently on FIFI.

[Steve Nelson]

MicroScale did a sheet of 1/48 B-29 decals that ages ago that had an OD bird (either Monsoon Goon or Esso Express..don't remember which.) I think it's long out of production now. I saw an OD B-29 at the IPMS Nationals some years back, but I think the builder had taken lessons from the P-47 diorama I posted in the modeling forum.

SN

[SaxMan]

In the O.D., you can really see how the B-29 was a direct decendant from the 17. If you cropped that photo just to show the tails, I think most would be hard pressed to tell the difference on whether those tails came from a 17 or a 29.

I remember when I saw FIFI in flight and thought the same thing...the tail looked just like a 17.

[Second Air Force]

The YB in the foreground of the color shot may indeed have three blade propellers. When I visited with Easter Davis he said he believed that they delivered that airplane to Pratt (it was the first B-29 of any kind assigned to a training base) with three bladers and switched to the four blade type in the hangar soon after they got a second airplane to fly. The stuff he was assigned to weld was all collector ring and slip-joint cracks, along with fixing cracked motor mount parts. He said the early Dynafocal mounts were junk and that the engine bearers took a terrible beating on the very early airplanes. After getting the mounts ironed out and properly installed, that problem was lessened greatly.

Jesse C,
Most of the O.D. airplanes were assigned to the 58th Wing and those that weren't lost in combat were rotated home as war wearys when newer aircraft became available. The very early production Superforts, both painted and NMF, lacked a wing center-section tank that later aircraft had (I think 300 gallons or so), and these airplanes became trainers back in the CONUS. There were quite a number of these early airplanes that made it back home to be used as both flying and ground trainers.
Here's one of the trainers awaiting her fate at Pyote in '46:


And here is "Amarillo's Flying Solenoid". This was assigned to the B-29 Mechanic School and was likely a ground instructional airframe by the time this picture was taken.

[Swiss Mustangs]

I'll throw in my bit

maintenance on an OD Dreamboat in India



publicity shot of 42-6242



OD B-29 41-36957 in England 1945



Martin

[Swiss Mustangs]

and some more color

[Swiss Mustangs]

[Michel C-GNCJ]

Interresting pics ! As always

Thanks

[Jesse C.]

Thanks for the Info to Steve and Second Air!

Now, to find that decal sheet!