B-29 in the UK early 1946?

[RAMC181]

This turned up in the USAF Historical Photo Archive, captioned thus:

Wings over Germany today belong to the Allies, and a large number of them bear the label 'Made In The Usa'.
An American ground crew readying a Boeing B-29 at Borham airbase in England.

Print received 28 June 1946 from Air Force Editorial Office, 52 Broadway, NY, NY.
Used in June 1946 issue of "AIR FORCE" magazine.
Copied 10 July 1946.

From the 1930s C-Type hangar it's obviously not at RAF Borham (which had wartime T-2 hangars), and being dated in the first half of 1946 is too early for SAC's first European B-29 deployment of the USAAF 43rd Bomb Group (Very Heavy) which apparently staged through Burtonwood in November 1946.

Are there any clues from the hangar itself that are of use (it's a pre-austerity C-Type, and the windows have been bricked up etc.), or the black undersides colour scheme?

All the best,
PB

[RMAllnutt]

There was at least one B-29 which came to the UK during 1944 for trials... perhaps this photograph is related to that? Regardless, I would be very surprised if B-29's didn't travel to the UK before they formally deployed in squadron strength. It doesn't surprise me to see a B-29 in England in 1946.

Cheers,
Richard

[JohnB]

There was at least one B-29 which came to the UK during 1944 for trials...

That B-29 didn't have black undersides.
I wonder if this one wasn't a Pacific combat vet and was going home the long way....via India, Africa, Europe?

[RAMC181]

Thanks to a tip-off over on AiX that it likely shows one of the three B-29s posted to RAF Marham in early 1946 as part of the Project Ruby bombing trials over Germany, this can likely be put down to a simple typo in the original caption.
As a pre-WWII RAF station Marham did indeed have C-Type hangars.

There is a photo in [url="http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1946/1946%20-%201046.html"]Flight[/url] magazine showing B-29 45-21752 over the UK illustrating an article on Project Ruby (The RAF Museum also have a similar photo of her on file).

The Project Ruby report also gives dates, locations and the identities of all three B-29s:

In March 1946, three B-29A Superfortresses (45-21747, 45-21750, 45-21751) specially modified to carry either the Tallboy or Grand Slam bombs joined 10 specially modified Avro Lancaster B.Mk. I of No. 15(B) Squadron, RAF stationed at the Central Bomber Establishment, Marham, Norfolk to carry out bomb tests against a selected target.
Scheduled for testing during Project Ruby was the Army Ordnance Deptartment's 22,000 lb ‘Amazon’ earth penetration bomb.
Seven B-17G Fortresses with external wing racks for the 4,500 lb rocket assisted Disney bomb were included in the test schedule.

Project Ruby was followed by Project Harken, the [url="http://www.scribd.com/doc/36187893/B-29-British-Bombing-Tests"]Project Harken report[/url] contains the bombardiers' records of the Farge submarine pen bombing tests while flying the three B-29s listed above.

Oddly, 45-21752 does not appear in either list...

Cheers,
PB

[Mark Allen M]

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Last edited by Mark Allen M on Mon Sep 10, 2012 9:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[RAMC181]

Nice photos.

The first two show Mariannenaue island in the Rhine near Eltville, Germany.

IIRC these photos caused some discussion when they were first put online, due to the Triangle V fin markings (301BG/BW I think) not having been commonly known about.

All the best,
PB

[Flat 12x2]

There is a photo in Flight magazine http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1946/1946%20-%201046.html showing B-29 45-21752 over the UK illustrating an article on Project Ruby (The RAF Museum also have a similar photo of her on file).


Oddly, 45-21752 does not appear in either list...

Cheers,
PB

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1946/1946%20-%201046.html
Fixed the link Paul, (wouldn't open as img )

[RAMC181]

Ta Martin.

That's bizzare, as they were working perfectly as embedded links earlier.

[Flat 12x2]

The weird and puzzling world of PC's and the 'net !

While on the subject of B-29's in the UK in the '40's , does any body have any info on the exercises held with B-29's and RAF DH Hornet's ? The Hornets were used as the attacking force against the B-29's with devastating effect from what I can remember reading a long time ago.

Could these same B-29's also have been used for for these exercises ?

[B-29FE30]

The S/N 45-21752 caught my eye. It was an old friend. I signed in at Edwards AFB in Jan. 1954 as a B-29 Flight Engineer in the Coventional Bomber Maintenance Section. It being a maintenace organization, flying was an extracurricular activity. We maintained our own aircraft. I was assigned to 45-21752 although Iflew on all our aircraft. It got back from I.R.A.N in Tinker AFB two weeks later and was it ever beautiful. It had ALL the mods done including new pop-out blisters, new panels and instrumentation, methyl-bromide fire extingusher system and all new interior. It's primay use was carrying bombs for Aberdeen Bombing Mission-U.S. Army. Most bombs were eight and ten thousand pounders that hung below the belly. It was declared surplus in mid 1955 and was scheduled to go to NOTS Inyo-Kern ( China Lake) as a target. Suddenly, that was changed to being sent to Burbank, CA to a movie studio, Warner Bros., I think. I was part of the crew that delivered it. As we were getting our 263 equipment off, they were already wondering how they were going to get the wings, etc. off. They took us to the terminal and a C-45H came to pick us up. Boy, did I hate to go off and leave it. However I couldn't make up my mind wich was better, The studio cutting it up or the Navy shooting it up. I guess it didn't really matter as soon all B-29's would be scrapped.