Best memory ever.....Dec1990 while at Tom Reilly aviation in Kissimmee Florida two elderly gentleman sat down next to me outside while we watched aircraft goings-on. We struck up a conversation and turns out a common location many years apart was Wendover Utah. This is the bombing range past the Great Salt Lake we use for F16 and F-35, and the Israelis had used it to practice before the Iraqi nuclear bombing raid when we work with them. These gentlemen were truly pleased to see my genuine love of aircraft and service on many types throughout the years. The next thing that happened was one of the most unbelievable moments of my life, the gentleman reached into an old leather satchel he had and pulled out a picture remarkably from Wendover of his B-29 while they were working on the mock-up for atomic bomb testing. He SIGNED that picture and GAVE it to me that day ...his name was Colonel Paul Tibbets commander and Enola gay!!!
He's gotta carry those around right? If you flew the Enola Gay I'm sure you would be prepared for the chance encounter with an aviation enthusiast, right?
I am *fascinated* by the interiors of these aircraft. Finding out tech specs and service records is easy, but the human elements can be quite hard to see, so I'm very glad to watch these detailed tours. Can't wait for the B-17!
Very nice video of the B-29 Superfortress. Thankyou for sharing. My father was a B-29 pilot in command in June 1945. He and his B-29 crew had orders to report for combat duty at North Field in Guam. As it turned out, the war with Japan had ended just two weeks before they were to report for combat duty at North Field in Guam. Dad later joined the newly formed USAF in 1947 when the Air Force separated from the Army, where he flew WB-29 Superfortresses for the USAF's Air Weather Service where he flew several weather reconnaissance missions. Dad would fly through hurricanes to track where they were headed. He would also fly through clouds to take air samples to check for radiation to see if the Soviets had detonated any atomic weapons recently. He retired from the USAF in 1957.
A gentleman at my church was a radio operator on B17s and B29s. He was actually on the last flight of WW2, they were on the way to Japan when they received word to turn around because of the surrender. Seeing the station he was in was incredibly interesting to me. He was a smaller man, so he fit the space well. Told me he hated crawling down the tunnel though, lol. He later became a dentist(we called him "Doc") and was a HAM operator for the rest of his life. Built his home and a huge tower on top of a small mountain for better range.
Much appreciate the tour - dad was a b-17 ball turret gunner then retrained as a b-29 tail gunner. Those man are mostly gone now, their children are getting older and fewer everyday
You’ll notice the tail has a K. That designates the bomb squadron and was used to keep the group together. My Fathers bomb squadron used the K. So, this aircraft was one of maybe 15 associated with my Father when he was a staff intelligence officer on Guam. His job was to brief and debrief crews. He was in Guam from about March 1945 through October or November 1945, a couple months after the war ended. These planes were the ones that conducted General LaMay’s low level fire Bombing of Japanese cities which killed many more than the two atomic bombs did. My Dad received the bronze star along with everyone in his group for one particular raid but I’m unsure which one. He did fly one time over Tokyo on a mission as an observer. As a kid I played with his leather bombers jacket, his headset, and throat mic which he brought home. He also returned home with his service 1911 .45 as well as a hand grenade which he made inert so I could play with it. I still have his pistol but the other stuff was lost over the years. My wife and I saw this B29 a few years back at the Pima Museum. It was a very emotional experience for me. My Dad passed away in 1999 at the age of 90. He was a Major when discharged from the reserves sometime around 1954 I think.
My father at age 17 worked at the Ford Motor Willow Run plant building B-24 Liberator. Dad was very skinny and tall so he crawled in tight areas to work. When dad was finished others would pull dad out but is ankles. A few years ago my son and I visited the Pima museum and boneyard. Seeing the airplanes and a B-24 up close helped me understand what my dad told me. RIP dad
Yes despite the huge size they were incredibly cramped inside. Obviously every bit of space was taken up for military equipment and technology. It’s almost as if crew comfort was the last thought. Same could be said for the submarine’s and German U boats. I’ve visited a German U boat that you can walk around in Germany and how a crew of 40/50 men lived on board those things is beyond me?
Thank you for this well made video. 7 years ago My Wife surprized me with a 30 Minute flight on the B-29 named FiFi for my Birthday. She knew I was fascinated with B 17s and B 29s. I think it cost $500.00 because she said she could of given me a round trip ticket to Miami from NY for what this cost her. The flight departed and returned to Wall NJ and cruised over the NJ Beach / Coast. I still get goosebumps recalling the sound of the FiFi engines starting one at a time. Amazing flight and experiance.
my father-in-law archie hamrick was a tail gunner on a B-29 out of saipan . the ramp queen. won the distinguished flying cross awarded by general curtis lemay himself. had twin 50 cal. machine guns plus a 20mm cannon. cannon removed on many planes due to performance problems but archie took meticulous care of his weapon and did not have a problem. thank you for this most interesting video. JDR
20mm were removed from all B-29s. Both performance and weight problems. The gun system and ammunition weight >1,600lbs. So less weight meant more bombs.
In the mid 1980s the Enola Gay was at Silver Hill Md. getting restored. I was there with a friend who worked there. It was on a Sunday when closed. I got a tour of the warehouse and saw a lot of the planes they were working on. I let me crawl thru the front half of the Enola Gay. It was missing a lot of the equipment and it was very cramped. I enjoyed you video it brought back the memories of that Sunday.
Excellent video! There is an operational B-29 in Dallas at the Henry B. Tippie National Aviation Education Center. I was taking a tour through the museum once and was given the opportunity to climb up into the aircraft. It was a honor to be inside a machine that made such a critical difference in WWII. You can actually book a ride in this aircraft on the rare occasions that it flies.
Thanks Paul, in the age of mobile phones and automatic coffee machines its a great reminder of how staggeringly complex aircraft design was 70 plus years, though someone does need to give that beast of a plane a vacuum on the inside.
It's a very noticeable thing about older aircraft, often still in working order, all the wear on a variety if surfaces but NEVER where it counts. They are well used tools after all but never where it would cause a problem.
Sight Glass/Peep hole?! Absolutely extraordinary video, glad you were allowed in it and did your own audio commentary not computer-generated since it allowed your own emotion involved. At around the 12-minute mark you would have seen between the front two cockpit seats. When I was in a B-29 in 1990 the crew asked me what I thought that small plexiglass piece IN the FLOOR between the pilot seats was? My comment was I believed it was so you could see THROUGH the floor and OBSERVE the direction the nose wheel was pointing!! To my amazement that actually was why it was so they could verify it was locked forward before takeoff! Ah the Little things in Life...
I’ve been fortunate to fly in the B-29 Fifi, Doc is on the list so I can say I’ve flown in both. Also few in the B-17 Aluminum Overcast and must admit, the 17 was cooler, especially standing in the waist gunner positions. But, the view from the cockpit of the 29 is really something to behold. The sound the brakes make, they scream, is amazing, that’s one I’ve only read about. Experiencing it first hand really connects you to those that flew those things into war. During the pre-flight tour I was standing in the bomb bay chatting with the tour guide on how the bomb racks looked like the ones the B-17 used. He pointed at a set of hooks and catches in one part and says “see those? That’s the modification to carry a nuclear bomb”. All I could do was stand there and stare wondering what it was like for those that had to load those weapons back then. Highly recommend the experience. But, hands down, my favorite multi-engine bomber to fly in is the B-25. It’s this super cool cross of a bomber with an inner rebel attitude of wanting to be a fighter when it grows up. I suspect if I ever was to fly in a Mosquito it’d take that first place award, that thing just screams “I WANNA FLY FAST!!!”
Imagine if a B-36 still flew. Those things carried like 3 massive nukes and so much fuel they didn't need any refueling. If Eisenhower gave the order , they could have reduced Soviet or Chinese cities to ashes (thank goodness we didn't have to though).
I started volunteering at the Pima Air Museum as a teenager in the late 1970's. I, with permission, gave myself that same tour on more than one occasion. That aircraft was in amazing condition back then, only significant part missing this video calls the barber chair, gunners position. What I was told was called the CFC gunners seat/Central Fire Control gunners position.
Paul, wonderful video!l got to fly on a b-29 for 30 minutes in 1998 in Cincinnati.500 bucks for 30minutes. It was a birthday present from my wife. At lunken air field. Clock started the second you got on board. It was worth every penny.I just found your channel and I love it. Thank God for guys like you who bring such happiness to old goats 🐐 like me. Fantastic job with these videos thanks again bill feilhauer 👍
I live here in Tucson, AZ, and this museum was by far one of my favorites I have had a pleasure of visiting so far. I remember walking in and seeing this B-29 and was just like “this thing is insane” and I was smiling cheek to cheek. Love to see you’ve visited!!
Fun fact, when the Russians copied the B29, they did such a through job of copying the plane that they even had the same mechanical problems with the engines that the B29 experienced.
so impressed the Soviets was with the b29/tu4 it lasted 6 months and was scraped😂 as was the famed V2 both were laughing crude machines to the Soviets 😮😢
I spent a happy day walking around the outside of these and other war planes at Pima in the summer of 2001. It's very good to have a guided tour of the inside.
Great video Paul. I remember spending a lot of time as a kid looking at this plane. As far as I know everything in it is original to the aircraft and I know for sure she was a combat veteran. Her crew used to come out for reunions every year.
The Pima Aircraft Museum (near Tucson, AZ,) is worth the trip. An excellent place with over 70 acres of land and five or more hangers with about every kind of aircraft you can think of, made completely for aircraft geeks of all ages and interests!! Thanks for this video -- the '29 was a great piece of engineering during the war, and an awesome machine that played a large part in winning the Pacific in WWII!
Thanks to the Museum for allowing us to see it. Thankyou for videoing it. It appears as cramped as I have read about! Brave men flying them - and resourceful men servicing them on sandy, windy islands.
My uncle was the Radar Bombardier on the B29s. He said when he settled in his position he would almost never see anybody until they got back to base. He had some pictures of his radar screen that displayed the terrain land they were flying across. it was almost as good as some of the radars we have today. I'm a Vietnam vet, I do not think I would have liked being in that cubby hole while while the fecal matter hits the fan outside the aircraft. He was one of my hero's as I was growing up. He flew the Hump from India, raids on Indochina and Japan and flew from the Marianna Islands in attacks on the Japanese home Islands
Excellent Video! the fire control system for the turrets was a very advanced bit of technology for the time. I was surprised to see that the control surfaces did only use the control cables with no power assist. For Crew members moving through the plane, lots of places to bang their heads.
Paul, this was definitely a first hand look at the inside of a B29 for me. i've been a plane nut all my life. I just made my second visit of the USAF Museum in Dayton in December. We were there before the current bldgs were opened. Good Show.
Thanks for posting Paul. I went to the Pima Air Museum years ago. Great place. Interesting about the nose gear on the B-29. Never would have thought it was not hydraulically controlled. Enjoyed this!!
What a machine...most instructive.. That must have been hard for those airmen. Being in effect a tin can high up and pretty vulnerable...With only themselves to work as a group to survive.. RIP airmen...you did your duty...and l respect you.. From a Brit in Spain
This was an awesome tour inside. I was at the museum a while back and vividly remember being inside the wheel wells and bomb bays. The museum is an awesome place to visit and hope to go back again...
I am a fairly total noob on this subject, but I am 'shocked' that it looks so high tech on the outside and rather primitive on the inside. It looks a bit like a dusty attic on the inside. But totally fascinating. Thank you.
B-29's were apparently very difficult to handle on the ground due to lack of nosewheel steering. Differential braking to steer was much easier on a tail dragging aircraft. They added nosewheel steering to the upgraded B-50 variant of the B-29.
The sound of a B-29’s brakes while taxiing is astounding, it’s like it’s screaming to leave the ground. That aircraft lets you know it’s there, loudly.
May 7, 2023----Used to drive truck for a living and one time, I was passing thru Kansas. With my laptop, I'd find locations of museums, whether Army/Marines vehicles/tanks or aircraft. Called the museum to see if they had room for 70 feet of truck and trailer and they did. LOTS of aircraft and one of the volunteers offerled to show me the cockpit of their 29. Boy, talked about CRAMPED. Later on, found out that the average American height was 5' 8", which was my Dads height.
Great seeing such a close up view of this beautiful aircraft! That remote control firing technology sounded very advanced and no wonder the plane cost so much!
Very cool and very different from walkthroughs of other unpressurized aircraft. They all have obstacles to navigate but the gun turrets and pressurized compartments make this very different.
I LOVE B-29s! My Grandfather built IPs for them at Bell Aircraft (now Lockheed-Martin) here in Atlanta before, during, and after WWII. He always knew I was going to be an Engineer! 😁 BTW my Father was a WWII vet. Normandy, Battle of the Bulge, captured and spent 97 days in a German POW camp. Always remember those that came before us!
The distances and dangers and temperatures these guys faced just getting to where they were going BEFORE combat alone is amazing...especially in such a simple cramped space just 40 years after the first flight of a plane....such a sparse and basic design yet so expensive, massive, and complicated once you get into it all
Thx for sharing! It is really great they let you crawl in and document the inside too. It at least gives a hint at what those aviators had to go through when on operations.
This was fascinating video for me. I have only seen the insides of FiFi and Doc, who don’t have a lot of the gun turret related stuff in them (the ammo boxes and such). It was also good to see what the fire control station looked like with most of the equipment on it. My grandfather was the fire control officer on his B-29 (named Bachelor Quarters) when he was part of the early B-29 raids flying out of bases in China.
That was great! Thanks for posting this video. I used to have a model of a B29 that I assembled in the late 80s. It had all of the interior components of the real plane, including the crew tunnel. It was neat seeing the real thing. What a privilege it must be to see it for yourself. Thanks for sharing this special experience.
My dad flew 35 missions in Dragon Lady (B29)out of Saipan. I have his WW2 scrapbook that has everything documented. He never talked about any of his war days till he got older, along with reunions with the bomb groups. I think a lot of those guys had ptsd from witnessing everything they did. The Japanese could be ruthless to pow's. The movie The Unbroken depicted some of that. They were B24 crews though. I wish I would have asked more about his B29 days while he was alive and recorded it. As I've gotten older I have gotten more intrest into the history of ww2. The B29 really was ahead of its time with it's technical advancements. Some say it won the war for us! .
GREAT video! I'm shocked that they let you crawl through it! Usually, museums candy up the outside of the plane so that it doesn't even look like it did in real life, looking more like a mock-up of the plane than the real thing, and they DEFINiTELY don't let you look inside, much less experience it like you did!
A detailed description of a plane which contributed muchly to the Allied victory in the 2nd World War. It was truly a great plane for its day which Paul explains with words and video - well done Paul. Looking forward to the next video!
Very interesting! I saw the FiFi take off, fly and land last Summer in Reading PA. It was an amazing sight. Since you are Australian, is there any possibility you can make a video about the Boomerang?
Come to Wichita, Kansas and take a ride in 'Doc'! He will be flying this summer as usual and has a beautiful hanger as well. We love airplanes in Wichita.
I know then the captain gives the order too bail out because we’ve been hit and going down, whilst thundering towards the ground in a spin at 3/400mph😱 it’s amazing any crew actually got out of those things alive, especially with a parachute stuck on your back!
Paul Stewart is a master videographer of historical aviation! I would simply love to see him do one where he reenacts how Little Boy was armed in flight during the Hiroshima mission and everything else the mission entailed. It would be so cool to see.
Wow, that's some pretty cramped spaces to be operating in!! I still don't think I'd want to be the rear gunner! Much prefer that the rest of the gun turrets were electrically operated and could be operated within the aircraft! Amazing feat of engineering that's for sure. Thanks Paul.
I love your videos. You're doing an awesome job. I had a flight instructor in ChristChurch NZ in the early 90s name Paul Stewart, great guy. I was on Operation Deep Freeze at the time going to Antarctica working on the LC-130.
What a trip. It might of been a good video to have a video about the trip itself. My last trip to the US from Australia was a month of aerospace museums including Ohio and Pima and many more but never, did I get inside of B-29!
At Wright Patterson Air Force Base Museum in Dayton Ohio, (used to be free admission and open most days) there were two B29's, one was Bock's Car, of WWII Japan Atomic bombing observer plane, and a second wingless B29 built with visitor steps as a partial walk thru display.
The National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio is still an admission free museum. Its usually closed only on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day. The museum will be closed on Wednesday 15 March 2023 for training exercises. The B-29 named Bockscar is the actual plane that dropped the plutonium atomic bomb named Fat Man on Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945. In the Korean Gallery, there is a B-29 fuselage called "Command Decision" that visitors can walk through.
the best filming ever inside a B-29… I saw things I couldn't believe. The amount of work that went into building a plane like this and how it degrades through the years was amazing. It really felt like I was going through a really old piece of history obviously this one is not flight worthy probably never will be.just a great piece of filming thank you
Very interesting video on the history of this awesome bomber, good job and much appreciated. Only part for me was the too short description and quick video of each part of this magnificent flying machine👍👍
I imagine the flight control cable theory is more real than you think. GI's get bored. 😂 I remember when I was a young airman, I got into sport skydiving. Our Cessna's cables looked very similar and enticing. During the climb to altitude, we'd get bored. One of us would figure out the elevator cable and put some pressure on it. The unknowing pilot would put some trim in. Wait a bit. More pressure, more trim. Wait a bit. More pressure , more trim. Etc, etc. Finally, we'd let go and the plane would drop and scare the pilot. Good thing we all had chutes. I bet a good number of B-29 commanders had to yell "knock it off back there!" back in the day.
It is said, that sometime after the first B-29 aeroplatform did a low level recon-mission o'er Tokyo, mes amis, the Empress Nagako (the wife of Emperor Hirohito), wrote in a letter: “Every day from morning to night, B-29's fly freely over the palace making an enormous noise. As I sit at my desk writing and look up at the sky, countless numbers are passing over. Unfortunately... the B-29 is a splendid plane.”
Best memory ever.....Dec1990 while at Tom Reilly aviation in Kissimmee Florida two elderly gentleman sat down next to me outside while we watched aircraft goings-on. We struck up a conversation and turns out a common location many years apart was Wendover Utah. This is the bombing range past the Great Salt Lake we use for F16 and F-35, and the Israelis had used it to practice before the Iraqi nuclear bombing raid when we work with them. These gentlemen were truly pleased to see my genuine love of aircraft and service on many types throughout the years. The next thing that happened was one of the most unbelievable moments of my life, the gentleman reached into an old leather satchel he had and pulled out a picture remarkably from Wendover of his B-29 while they were working on the mock-up for atomic bomb testing. He SIGNED that picture and GAVE it to me that day ...his name was Colonel Paul Tibbets commander and Enola gay!!!
No way he served on the Enola Gay? That’s amazing.
Wow! Now that’s a cool story.
He's gotta carry those around right? If you flew the Enola Gay I'm sure you would be prepared for the chance encounter with an aviation enthusiast, right?
い
Wow, that’s amazing.
By the way, the Japanese reply above me basically just means nice/good
I am *fascinated* by the interiors of these aircraft. Finding out tech specs and service records is easy, but the human elements can be quite hard to see, so I'm very glad to watch these detailed tours. Can't wait for the B-17!
That green padding was stuffed with horsehair. Try restoring that nowadays!
I agree, the B29 is a magnificent plane, and seeing the human aspect just helps me appreciate how amazing they really were.
Just imagine in that smell when that stuff caught fire
Very nice video of the B-29 Superfortress. Thankyou for sharing. My father was a B-29 pilot in command in June 1945. He and his B-29 crew had orders to report for combat duty at North Field in Guam. As it turned out, the war with Japan had ended just two weeks before they were to report for combat duty at North Field in Guam. Dad later joined the newly formed USAF in 1947 when the Air Force separated from the Army, where he flew WB-29 Superfortresses for the USAF's Air Weather Service where he flew several weather reconnaissance missions. Dad would fly through hurricanes to track where they were headed. He would also fly through clouds to take air samples to check for radiation to see if the Soviets had detonated any atomic weapons recently. He retired from the USAF in 1957.
A gentleman at my church was a radio operator on B17s and B29s. He was actually on the last flight of WW2, they were on the way to Japan when they received word to turn around because of the surrender. Seeing the station he was in was incredibly interesting to me. He was a smaller man, so he fit the space well. Told me he hated crawling down the tunnel though, lol.
He later became a dentist(we called him "Doc") and was a HAM operator for the rest of his life. Built his home and a huge tower on top of a small mountain for better range.
Much appreciate the tour - dad was a b-17 ball turret gunner then retrained as a b-29 tail gunner. Those man are mostly gone now, their children are getting older and fewer everyday
You’ll notice the tail has a K. That designates the bomb squadron and was used to keep the group together. My Fathers bomb squadron used the K. So, this aircraft was one of maybe 15 associated with my Father when he was a staff intelligence officer on Guam. His job was to brief and debrief crews. He was in Guam from about March 1945 through October or November 1945, a couple months after the war ended. These planes were the ones that conducted General LaMay’s low level fire Bombing of Japanese cities which killed many more than the two atomic bombs did. My Dad received the bronze star along with everyone in his group for one particular raid but I’m unsure which one. He did fly one time over Tokyo on a mission as an observer. As a kid I played with his leather bombers jacket, his headset, and throat mic which he brought home. He also returned home with his service 1911 .45 as well as a hand grenade which he made inert so I could play with it. I still have his pistol but the other stuff was lost over the years.
My wife and I saw this B29 a few years back at the Pima Museum. It was a very emotional experience for me. My Dad passed away in 1999 at the age of 90. He was a Major when discharged from the reserves sometime around 1954 I think.
I salute all the Pilots and crews that fought in these planes and gave their lives, from an Englishman.
K actually designates the Bomb Group.., the 330th.
That’s probably true. All of the numbers confuse me
20th Airforce
330th
457
@@mraeromech 21st Air Force, 314th BW, 330th BG, 458th BS.
457th BG. MOS 9301. Cap Lawrence J Schulte
My father at age 17 worked at the Ford Motor Willow Run plant building B-24 Liberator. Dad was very skinny and tall so he crawled in tight areas to work. When dad was finished others would pull dad out but is ankles. A few years ago my son and I visited the Pima museum and boneyard. Seeing the airplanes and a B-24 up close helped me understand what my dad told me. RIP dad
Yes despite the huge size they were incredibly cramped inside. Obviously every bit of space was taken up for military equipment and technology. It’s almost as if crew comfort was the last thought. Same could be said for the submarine’s and German U boats. I’ve visited a German U boat that you can walk around in Germany and how a crew of 40/50 men lived on board those things is beyond me?
Thank you for this well made video.
7 years ago My Wife surprized me with a 30 Minute flight on the B-29 named FiFi for my Birthday. She knew I was fascinated with B 17s and B 29s. I think it cost $500.00 because she said she could of given me a round trip ticket to Miami from NY for what this cost her.
The flight departed and returned to Wall NJ and cruised over the NJ Beach / Coast.
I still get goosebumps recalling the sound of the FiFi engines starting one at a time.
Amazing flight and experiance.
My old college roommate and I also flew on FiFi when she was in Sioux City , IA. It was quite an experience.
my father-in-law archie hamrick was a tail gunner on a B-29 out of saipan . the ramp queen. won the distinguished flying cross awarded by general curtis lemay himself. had twin 50 cal. machine guns plus a 20mm cannon. cannon removed on many planes due to performance problems but archie took meticulous care of his weapon and did not have a problem. thank you for this most interesting video. JDR
20mm were removed from all B-29s. Both performance and weight problems. The gun system and ammunition weight >1,600lbs. So less weight meant more bombs.
He took care of 20mm cannon when it was fitted and no problems but different ballistic travel than 50 cals strange idea
In the mid 1980s the Enola Gay was at Silver Hill Md. getting restored. I was there with a friend who worked there. It was on a Sunday when closed. I got a tour of the warehouse and saw a lot of the planes they were working on. I let me crawl thru the front half of the Enola Gay. It was missing a lot of the equipment and it was very cramped. I enjoyed you video it brought back the memories of that Sunday.
Excellent video!
There is an operational B-29 in Dallas at the Henry B. Tippie National Aviation Education Center. I was taking a tour through the museum once and was given the opportunity to climb up into the aircraft. It was a honor to be inside a machine that made such a critical difference in WWII.
You can actually book a ride in this aircraft on the rare occasions that it flies.
These bomber tours are the most clear and thorough that I have ever seen online. Why has no one done this before?
Nice job
Thanks! They take a lot of time to organise and edit so I’m glad you enjoy them
@@PaulStewartAviation I've walked through a B17 twice, and a b25 once. But the 29 I only saw in a plastic model.
There is an operational B-29 in Dallas (FiFi). I’ve been inside of it, and you can actually book a flight in it.
It is an amazing piece of history.
Ive been in both the remaining airworthy B-29’s and its just amazing how it all works
Thanks Paul, in the age of mobile phones and automatic coffee machines its a great reminder of how staggeringly complex aircraft design was 70 plus years, though someone does need to give that beast of a plane a vacuum on the inside.
True. Even by today’s standards the technology is impressive.
It's a very noticeable thing about older aircraft, often still in working order, all the wear on a variety if surfaces but NEVER where it counts. They are well used tools after all but never where it would cause a problem.
Sight Glass/Peep hole?! Absolutely extraordinary video, glad you were allowed in it and did your own audio commentary not computer-generated since it allowed your own emotion involved. At around the 12-minute mark you would have seen between the front two cockpit seats. When I was in a B-29 in 1990 the crew asked me what I thought that small plexiglass piece IN the FLOOR between the pilot seats was? My comment was I believed it was so you could see THROUGH the floor and OBSERVE the direction the nose wheel was pointing!! To my amazement that actually was why it was so they could verify it was locked forward before takeoff! Ah the Little things in Life...
I’ve been fortunate to fly in the B-29 Fifi, Doc is on the list so I can say I’ve flown in both. Also few in the B-17 Aluminum Overcast and must admit, the 17 was cooler, especially standing in the waist gunner positions. But, the view from the cockpit of the 29 is really something to behold. The sound the brakes make, they scream, is amazing, that’s one I’ve only read about. Experiencing it first hand really connects you to those that flew those things into war.
During the pre-flight tour I was standing in the bomb bay chatting with the tour guide on how the bomb racks looked like the ones the B-17 used. He pointed at a set of hooks and catches in one part and says “see those? That’s the modification to carry a nuclear bomb”. All I could do was stand there and stare wondering what it was like for those that had to load those weapons back then.
Highly recommend the experience.
But, hands down, my favorite multi-engine bomber to fly in is the B-25. It’s this super cool cross of a bomber with an inner rebel attitude of wanting to be a fighter when it grows up. I suspect if I ever was to fly in a Mosquito it’d take that first place award, that thing just screams “I WANNA FLY FAST!!!”
Imagine if a B-36 still flew. Those things carried like 3 massive nukes and so much fuel they didn't need any refueling. If Eisenhower gave the order , they could have reduced Soviet or Chinese cities to ashes (thank goodness we didn't have to though).
What an incredible experience that would be!
I started volunteering at the Pima Air Museum as a teenager in the late 1970's. I, with permission, gave myself that same tour on more than one occasion. That aircraft was in amazing condition back then, only significant part missing this video calls the barber chair, gunners position. What I was told was called the CFC gunners seat/Central Fire Control gunners position.
Paul, wonderful video!l got to fly on a b-29 for 30 minutes in 1998 in Cincinnati.500 bucks for 30minutes. It was a birthday present from my wife. At lunken air field. Clock started the second you got on board. It was worth every penny.I just found your channel and I love it. Thank God for guys like you who bring such happiness to old goats 🐐 like me. Fantastic job with these videos thanks again bill feilhauer 👍
I live here in Tucson, AZ, and this museum was by far one of my favorites I have had a pleasure of visiting so far. I remember walking in and seeing this B-29 and was just like “this thing is insane” and I was smiling cheek to cheek. Love to see you’ve visited!!
Thanks, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Arizona and PIMA.
Fun fact, when the Russians copied the B29, they did such a through job of copying the plane that they even had the same mechanical problems with the engines that the B29 experienced.
Yeah I did read that they actually copied some of the mistakes
There was a field repaired “patch” on the skin from earlier damage. The TU-4’s (Soviet copies) all had that same patch!
Dad flew RB-50G’s, he said the Soviets even copied the equipment tags not knowing what it said or what it was for.
I believe they even copied the Boing logo on the controls
so impressed the Soviets was with the b29/tu4 it lasted 6 months and was scraped😂 as was the famed V2 both were laughing crude machines to the Soviets 😮😢
I spent a happy day walking around the outside of these and other war planes at Pima in the summer of 2001. It's very good to have a guided tour of the inside.
Great to see inside. My Uncle flew the B29 'Washington' when he was in the RAF.
Great video Paul.
I remember spending a lot of time as a kid looking at this plane.
As far as I know everything in it is original to the aircraft and I know for sure she was a combat veteran.
Her crew used to come out for reunions every year.
Great video Paul! I can't wait to see your B-17 video too!
I like
This
Channel
Normally we only see commercial airline flight serial
This is unique with military jets and their unique setup to deal with wars.
I'm impressed how well lit and "roomy" the cockpit appears to be.
The Pima Aircraft Museum (near Tucson, AZ,) is worth the trip. An excellent place with over 70 acres of land and five or more hangers with about every kind of aircraft you can think of, made completely for aircraft geeks of all ages and interests!! Thanks for this video -- the '29 was a great piece of engineering during the war, and an awesome machine that played a large part in winning the Pacific in WWII!
Thanks to the Museum for allowing us to see it. Thankyou for videoing it.
It appears as cramped as I have read about! Brave men flying them - and resourceful men servicing them on sandy, windy islands.
My grandfather was a B-29 copilot in WW2 and again in the Korean War. He said of all the planes that he flew, the b-29 was always his favorite
Thanks! I’ve never seen (nor will I ever see) an actual B-29 in person.
Wow, they really were on the bleeding edge of technology for the time. Fascinating video .
I had the privilege to tour FiFi a few years ago in Leesburg FL.
Very Cool!!!
My uncle was the Radar Bombardier on the B29s. He said when he settled in his position he would almost never see anybody until they got back to base. He had some pictures of his radar screen that displayed the terrain land they were flying across. it was almost as good as some of the radars we have today. I'm a Vietnam vet, I do not think I would have liked being in that cubby hole while while the fecal matter hits the fan outside the aircraft. He was one of my hero's as I was growing up. He flew the Hump from India, raids on Indochina and Japan and flew from the Marianna Islands in attacks on the Japanese home Islands
Excellent Video! the fire control system for the turrets was a very advanced bit of technology for the time. I was surprised to see that the control surfaces did only use the control cables with no power assist. For Crew members moving through the plane, lots of places to bang their heads.
My father was a USAAF B-29 navigator in the Pacific 1944-1945. He died in 2016 age 94. I have his original flight jacket with squadron insignia.
A good memory, and keepsake from your Dad!!!
My father was training as a Flight Engineer on the B-29 when the war ended. Nice to see what his work space looked like.
He was lucky he actually missed active service. Sadly so many young men lost they’re lives serving on these fascinating aircraft.
I didn’t realize the rear including the rear gunner position was so crowded. Great video.
The B-29 was the most sophisticated airplane of its' time. Some say it was ahead of its' time.
Paul, this was definitely a first hand look at the inside of a B29 for me. i've been a plane nut all my life. I just made my second visit of the USAF Museum in Dayton in December. We were there before the current bldgs were opened. Good Show.
Fascinating tour as always Paul. Most costly project of WW2, more than the Manhattan project.
Thanks for posting Paul. I went to the Pima Air Museum years ago. Great place. Interesting about the nose gear on the B-29. Never would have thought it was not hydraulically controlled. Enjoyed this!!
Really cool to watch your B-17 video first and then this one to see the improvements. It’s really a lot more than just a bigger plane.
Our great grandpa was in ww2. He wasn’t a pilot, but he worked in a submarine. Thank you for your service❤ I miss you..
Hey, it kinda looks like a submarine - with wings!
What a machine...most instructive..
That must have been hard for those airmen. Being in effect a tin can high up and pretty vulnerable...With only themselves to work as a group to survive..
RIP airmen...you did your duty...and l respect you..
From a Brit in Spain
This was an awesome tour inside. I was at the museum a while back and vividly remember being inside the wheel wells and bomb bays. The museum is an awesome place to visit and hope to go back again...
I am a fairly total noob on this subject, but I am 'shocked' that it looks so high tech on the outside and rather primitive on the inside. It looks a bit like a dusty attic on the inside. But totally fascinating. Thank you.
I always loved how the front of the B-29 looked.
What a great video! My fav plane, such a beautiful piece of engineering!
Cheers
Man,one could feel a bit claustrophobic climbing back into that rear gunner's position in the tail section ! What a neat aircraft.
B-29's were apparently very difficult to handle on the ground due to lack of nosewheel steering. Differential braking to steer was much easier on a tail dragging aircraft. They added nosewheel steering to the upgraded B-50 variant of the B-29.
The sound of a B-29’s brakes while taxiing is astounding, it’s like it’s screaming to leave the ground. That aircraft lets you know it’s there, loudly.
May 7, 2023----Used to drive truck for a living and one time, I was passing thru Kansas. With my laptop, I'd find locations of museums, whether Army/Marines vehicles/tanks or aircraft. Called the museum to see if they had room for 70 feet of truck and trailer and they did. LOTS of aircraft and one of the volunteers offerled to show me the cockpit of their 29. Boy, talked about CRAMPED. Later on, found out that the average American height was 5' 8", which was my Dads height.
Great seeing such a close up view of this beautiful aircraft! That remote control firing technology sounded very advanced and no wonder the plane cost so much!
Cheers
Very cool and very different from walkthroughs of other unpressurized aircraft. They all have obstacles to navigate but the gun turrets and pressurized compartments make this very different.
The interior looks like a duce and a half! Great video.
I LOVE B-29s! My Grandfather built IPs for them at Bell Aircraft (now Lockheed-Martin) here in Atlanta before, during, and after WWII. He always knew I was going to be an Engineer! 😁
BTW my Father was a WWII vet. Normandy, Battle of the Bulge, captured and spent 97 days in a German POW camp. Always remember those that came before us!
The distances and dangers and temperatures these guys faced just getting to where they were going BEFORE combat alone is amazing...especially in such a simple cramped space just 40 years after the first flight of a plane....such a sparse and basic design yet so expensive, massive, and complicated once you get into it all
Thx for sharing! It is really great they let you crawl in and document the inside too. It at least gives a hint at what those aviators had to go through when on operations.
As a resedent of southern AZ, Pima Air & Space Museum is excellent!
Thanks for the tour thru the B-29. I been in a B-17, but this is my first look inside of a B-29. Very impressive airplane.
Glad you enjoyed it!
best vid of the 29. Thanks! I had no idea the death/loss rate was so high for these. heros all, for sure.
Very impressive. Thanks for your hard work showing us this airplane.
This was fascinating video for me. I have only seen the insides of FiFi and Doc, who don’t have a lot of the gun turret related stuff in them (the ammo boxes and such). It was also good to see what the fire control station looked like with most of the equipment on it. My grandfather was the fire control officer on his B-29 (named Bachelor Quarters) when he was part of the early B-29 raids flying out of bases in China.
I've gotten to do this in B-17, 24 and 29 at Oshkosh. Of course those are actively flying aircraft in the hot sun, so it's a little different.
I don't know how you were able to actually get up close and inside these exhibits but these videos are awesome!
I asked very nicely :)
A very comprehensive & enjoyable video. I'm glad that our international borders have opened so you are able to bring us these gems. Well done Paul
What a magnificent machine. You video tours are outstanding Paul - Thank you.
My pleasure!
This is incredible Paul. I’ve always been fascinated by this aircraft; amazing to see its details like this. Please keep doing what you do mate.
Many thanks!
I’ve always loved building these type of planes out of Lego’s!! I love the b-29!!
That was great! Thanks for posting this video. I used to have a model of a B29 that I assembled in the late 80s. It had all of the interior components of the real plane, including the crew tunnel. It was neat seeing the real thing. What a privilege it must be to see it for yourself. Thanks for sharing this special experience.
Glad you enjoyed it! I was very grateful to PIMA for letting me film inside it.
My dad flew 35 missions in Dragon Lady (B29)out of Saipan. I have his WW2 scrapbook that has everything documented. He never talked about any of his war days till he got older, along with reunions with the bomb groups. I think a lot of those guys had ptsd from witnessing everything they did. The Japanese could be ruthless to pow's. The movie The Unbroken depicted some of that. They were B24 crews though.
I wish I would have asked more about his B29 days while he was alive and recorded it. As I've gotten older I have gotten more intrest into the history of ww2. The B29 really was ahead of its time with it's technical advancements. Some say it won the war for us!
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GREAT video! I'm shocked that they let you crawl through it!
Usually, museums candy up the outside of the plane so that it doesn't even look like it did in real life, looking more like a mock-up of the plane than the real thing, and they DEFINiTELY don't let you look inside, much less experience it like you did!
hes such a beautiful aircraft and i wish there were more still left
Thanks for another great video Paul, the crew of the B29 certainly had their work cut out for them.
A detailed description of a plane which contributed muchly to the Allied victory in the 2nd World War. It was truly a great plane for its day which Paul explains with words and video - well done Paul. Looking forward to the next video!
Very interesting! I saw the FiFi take off, fly and land last Summer in Reading PA. It was an amazing sight. Since you are Australian, is there any possibility you can make a video about the Boomerang?
Come to Wichita, Kansas and take a ride in 'Doc'! He will be flying this summer as usual and has a beautiful hanger as well. We love airplanes in Wichita.
Another fun vLog in the series Paul
Great tour as always. God, just imagine being stuck in that narrow crawl tube when the aircraft was under fire and manoeuvring violently. Nightmare…
I know then the captain gives the order too bail out because we’ve been hit and going down, whilst thundering towards the ground in a spin at 3/400mph😱 it’s amazing any crew actually got out of those things alive, especially with a parachute stuck on your back!
6:24 inspiration for Millennium Falcon
Thanks for this one!! I have been fascinated about aircraft, particularly WW2 aircraft such as this one!!
My dad worked on B 29 s at Hill Airforce Base and I got to see one in the hanger and crawl in it.
Outstanding. Thanks for the up-close tour. From B-29 Museum in Pratt Ks USA.
Amazing fire control system for the mid-40s!
Thanks for taking the time to film and post. Awesome. 👍👍🇦🇺
Paul Stewart is a master videographer of historical aviation! I would simply love to see him do one where he reenacts how Little Boy was armed in flight during the Hiroshima mission and everything else the mission entailed. It would be so cool to see.
Wow you are getting these tours out fast! Another really interesting video! Can't wait to see the X-15 video you're teasing us with in the intro haha
What’s always been striking to me as how far back, plus the obstructed view the pilots had.
Wow, that's some pretty cramped spaces to be operating in!! I still don't think I'd want to be the rear gunner! Much prefer that the rest of the gun turrets were electrically operated and could be operated within the aircraft! Amazing feat of engineering that's for sure. Thanks Paul.
Really interesting video Paul! I missed this when you uploaded it so I'm glad to have found it!
I love your videos. You're doing an awesome job. I had a flight instructor in ChristChurch NZ in the early 90s name Paul Stewart, great guy. I was on Operation Deep Freeze at the time going to Antarctica working on the LC-130.
Cheers Richard!
What a trip. It might of been a good video to have a video about the trip itself. My last trip to the US from Australia was a month of aerospace museums including Ohio and Pima and many more but never, did I get inside of B-29!
Yeah true, it was quite an adventure in itself travelling around the US
Another brilliant, detailed and informative video as always!
Glad you enjoyed it!
At Wright Patterson Air Force Base Museum in Dayton Ohio, (used to be free admission and open most days) there were two B29's, one was Bock's Car, of WWII Japan Atomic bombing observer plane, and a second wingless B29 built with visitor steps as a partial walk thru display.
The National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio is still an admission free museum. Its usually closed only on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day. The museum will be closed on Wednesday 15 March 2023 for training exercises. The B-29 named Bockscar is the actual plane that dropped the plutonium atomic bomb named Fat Man on Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945. In the Korean Gallery, there is a B-29 fuselage called "Command Decision" that visitors can walk through.
the best filming ever inside a B-29… I saw things I couldn't believe. The amount of work that went into building a plane like this and how it degrades through the years was amazing. It really felt like I was going through a really old piece of history obviously this one is not flight worthy probably never will be.just a great piece of filming thank you
Glad you enjoyed it! 😃
Great video, and very informative. Sure would’ve hated getting stuck in that crawl space.
Very interesting video on the history of this awesome bomber, good job and much appreciated. Only part for me was the too short description and quick video of each part of this magnificent flying machine👍👍
Fantastic video sir! Packed full of information.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Love your guides of the old birds.
Glad you like them!
I imagine the flight control cable theory is more real than you think. GI's get bored. 😂
I remember when I was a young airman, I got into sport skydiving. Our Cessna's cables looked very similar and enticing. During the climb to altitude, we'd get bored. One of us would figure out the elevator cable and put some pressure on it. The unknowing pilot would put some trim in. Wait a bit. More pressure, more trim. Wait a bit. More pressure , more trim. Etc, etc. Finally, we'd let go and the plane would drop and scare the pilot. Good thing we all had chutes.
I bet a good number of B-29 commanders had to yell "knock it off back there!" back in the day.
It is said, that sometime after the first B-29 aeroplatform did a low level recon-mission o'er Tokyo, mes amis, the Empress Nagako (the wife of Emperor Hirohito), wrote in a letter:
“Every day from morning to night, B-29's fly freely over the palace making an enormous noise. As I sit at my desk writing and look up at the sky, countless numbers are passing over. Unfortunately... the B-29 is a splendid plane.”