B-29 Superfortress Illustrated Paperback – January 15, 2026

If ever an airplane was appropriately named, it is the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. “Fortress” may have been appended to the name in reference to its Boeing predecessor, the B-17, but if “fortress” had been left out, and the name expanded to “Superlative”, it would have been appropriate enough, because the B-29 was nothing but a whole lot of superlatives. It was the biggest, the heaviest, the fastest, the most heavily-laden, the longest-ranged bomber of the war. It was the first with pressurized crew compartments, the first with remote-controlled, radar-directed defensive armaments and, of course, it was the bomber that brought World War II to a close, dropping the first atomic bombs in history. The B-29 program was also the most costly program the war. The B-29 was originally conceived for the purpose of attacking Nazi Germany from bases in the United States, so the first requirement was for long range, and that is what drove the development of the most technologically advanced bomber of World War II.It was not all sunshine and roses for the B-29, since that requirement for power made it difficult to maintain those big engines (the biggest piston engines ever) under rough conditions. For every Super Fortress lost to the enemy, almost two were lost to accidents and crashes. B-29 crewmen sometimes said that they were killed more by Curtiss-Wright, than by Japanese air defense. That in reference to the Wright R-3350-23 Duplex-Cyclone engines that powered the B-29. Those technological wonders produced an amazing 2,200 HP, a power to weight ratio of .82 to 1, that ratio aided by making the crank case from very light weight magnesium. Unfortunately, magnesium burns very hot and fast when ignited, so engine fires were often fatal. It wasn’t just the engines either. The B-29 was a technological wonder which produced an accident rate 25% greater than the B-17.Though the Japanese air defense ultimately failed to prevent B-29s from their deadly mission, that did not mean it was without teeth. Nearly 10% of all B-29s built were lost in just 15 months of combat over Japan, so though those long missions may have been flown in pressurized comfort, they were not without significant danger.The B-50 followed the B-29, finally proving the potential of the design. Though it did not serve long in SAC, it did serve in a variety of other roles, from tanker to lauch aircraft for the pioneering supersoic test flights of a series of early X planes. The basic B-29 design also provided the basis fo the longer-lasting C-97 and KC-97. Finally, that design also morphed into the first luxury long-range airliner, the Stratocruiser.The oolorful career of the B-29 and its offspincg are chronicled here, in photos, illustrations, and personal text. Read more