Rocket Power Takeoff Explained. B-29 Superfortress RATO/JATO Early Trials And C-130 Fat Albert

Rocket Power Takeoff Explained. B-29 Superfortress RATO/JATO Early Trials.
Rocket power plant planning and development. B-29 R.A.T.O. B-29.
Power Plant laboratory as project officers discuss the problem of rocket power on aircraft.

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress and the Enola Gay story. The aircraft is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress, the Superfortress was designed for high-altitude strategic bombing but also excelled in low-altitude night incendiary bombing and in dropping naval mines to blockade Japan. B-29s dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only aircraft ever to drop nuclear weapons in combat.

One of the largest aircraft of World War II, the B-29 was designed with state-of-the-art technology, which included a pressurized cabin, dual-wheeled tricycle landing gear, and an analog computer-controlled fire-control system that allowed one gunner and a fire-control officer to direct four remote machine gun turrets. The $3 billion cost of design and production (equivalent to $45 billion today), far exceeding the $1.9 billion cost of the Manhattan Project, made the B-29 program the most expensive of the war. The B-29's advanced design allowed it to remain in service in various roles throughout the 1950s. The type was retired in the early 1960s after 3,970 of them had been built. A few were also used as flying television transmitters by the Stratovision company. The Royal Air Force flew the B-29 as the Washington until 1954.

Three of the Silverplate B-29s modified to drop nuclear bombs survive. The Enola Gay (nose number 82), which dropped the first atomic bomb, was fully restored and displayed at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air & Space Museum near Washington Dulles International Airport in 2003. The B-29 that dropped Fat Man on Nagasaki, Bockscar (nose number 77), is restored and displayed at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. The third is the 15th Silverplate to be delivered on the last day of the war in the Pacific. It is on display at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in Albuquerque, New Mexico, posed with a replica of the Mark-3 "Fat Man" nuclear bomb.

General characteristics

Crew: 11 (Pilot, Co-pilot, Bombardier, Flight Engineer, Navigator, Radio Operator, Radar Observer, Right Gunner, Left Gunner, Central Fire Control, Tail Gunner)
Length: 99 ft 0 in (30.18 m)
Wingspan: 141 ft 3 in (43.05 m)
Height: 27 ft 9 in (8.46 m)
Wing area: 1,736 sq ft (161.3 m2)
Aspect ratio: 11.5
Airfoil: root: Boeing 117 (22%); tip: Boeing 117 (9%)
Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0241
Frontal area: 41.16 sq ft (3.824 m2)
Empty weight: 74,500 lb (33,793 kg)
Gross weight: 120,000 lb (54,431 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 133,500 lb (60,555 kg)
135,000 lb (61,000 kg) combat overload
Powerplant: 4 × Wright R-3350-23 Duplex-Cyclone 18-cylinder air-cooled turbo supercharged radial piston engines, 2,200 hp (1,600 kW) each
Propellers: 4-bladed constant-speed fully-feathering propellers, 16 ft 7 in (5.05 m) diameter
Performance

Maximum speed: 357 mph (575 km/h, 310 kn)
Cruise speed: 220 mph (350 km/h, 190 kn)
Stall speed: 105 mph (169 km/h, 91 kn)
Range: 3,250 mi (5,230 km, 2,820 nmi)
Ferry range: 5,600 mi (9,000 km, 4,900 nmi)
Service ceiling: 31,850 ft (9,710 m)
Rate of climb: 900 ft/min (4.6 m/s)
Lift-to-drag: 16.8
Wing loading: 69.12 lb/sq ft (337.5 kg/m2)
Power/mass: 0.073 hp/lb (0.120 kW/kg)
Armament
Guns:
10× .50 in (12.7 mm) Browning M2/ANs in remote-controlled turrets. (omitted from Silverplate B-29s)
2× .50 BMG and 1× 20 mm M2 cannon in tail position (the cannon was later removed)
Bombs:
5,000 lb (2,300 kg) over 1,600 mi (2,600 km; 1,400 nmi) radius at high altitude
12,000 lb (5,400 kg) over 1,600 mi (2,600 km; 1,400 nmi) radius at medium altitude
20,000 lb (9,100 kg) maximum over short distances at low altitude
It could be modified to carry two 22,000 lb (10,000 kg) Grand Slam bombs externally.
The Silverplate version delivered the first atomic bombs.

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