Editing Boeing B-29 Superfortress (section)

==Features==

[[File:Interior of a B-29 Superfortress bomber.jpg|thumb|Interior photo of the rear pressurized cabin of the B-29 Superfortress, June 1944]]
[[File:B-29 Weapons Bay with General-Purpose AN-M64 TNT 500 LB bombs.jpg|thumb|B-29 Weapons Bay with General-Purpose AN-M64 TNT 500 LB bombs]]

===Defensive gun turret emplacements===
[[File:B29 55 MO tail HAFB.jpg|thumb|Tail armament, B-29 Superfortress, Hill Aerospace Museum]]
[[File:20TH AIR FORCE, OKINAWA-A-2C Don W. Murray of Mazon, Ill., flashes a victory smile from the gun blister of his U.S.... - NARA - 542361.tif|thumb|Gunner sighting station blister]]
In wartime, the B-29 was capable of flight at altitudes up to {{convert|31850|ft|m|-1}},<ref name="ceiling">[http://www.boeing.com/history/boeing/b29.html "B-29 Superfortress."] ''Boeing''. Retrieved: 22 March 2012.</ref> at speeds of up to {{cvt|350|mph|km/h kn}} ([[true airspeed]]). This was its best defense because Japanese fighters could barely reach that altitude, and few could catch the B-29 even if they did attain that altitude.

The General Electric Central Fire Control system on the B-29 directed four remotely controlled turrets armed with two [[M2 Browning|.50 Browning M2 machine guns]] each.{{efn|The forward upper turret's armament was later doubled to four .50 Brownings.}} All weapons were aimed optically, with targeting computed by analog electrical instrumentation. There were five interconnected sighting stations located in the nose and tail positions and three Plexiglas blisters in the central fuselage.{{efn|The nose sighting station was operated by the [[Bombardier (air force)|bombardier]]|group=N}} Five [[General Electric]] [[analog computers]] (one dedicated to each sight) increased the weapons' accuracy by compensating for factors such as airspeed, [[Deflection (military)|lead]], gravity, temperature and humidity. The computers also allowed a single gunner to operate two or more turrets (including tail guns) simultaneously. The gunner in the upper position acted as fire control officer, managing the distribution of turrets among the other gunners during combat.<ref name="RCT80-3">Brown 1977, pp. 80–83.</ref><ref name="Flyguns p164-6">Williams and Gustin 2003, pp. 164–166.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Popular Mechanics|author=Hearst Magazines|title=B-29 Gunnery Brain Aims Six Guns at Once|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h98DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26|date=February 1945|publisher=Hearst Magazines|page=26}}</ref><ref>"[http://www.twinbeech.com/CFCsystem.htm "Central station fire control and the B-29 remote control turret system."] ''twinbeech.com'', 23 February 2011. Retrieved: 30 May 2015.</ref> The tail position initially had two .50 Browning machine guns and a single [[M2 cannon|M2 20 mm cannon]]. Later aircraft had the 20&nbsp;mm cannon removed,<ref name="iapr22 p140">Willis 2007, p. 140.</ref> sometimes replaced by a third machine gun.<ref name="pace p53">Pace 2003, p. 53.</ref>

In early 1945, Major General [[Curtis Lemay]], commander of [[XXI Bomber Command]]—the Marianas-based B-29-equipped bombing force—ordered most of the defensive armament and remote-controlled sighting equipment removed from the B-29s under his command. The affected aircraft had the same reduced defensive firepower as the nuclear weapons-delivery intended [[Silverplate#Wartime production versions|''Silverplate'']] B-29 airframes and could carry greater fuel and bomb loads as a result of the change. The lighter defensive armament was made possible by a change in mission from high-altitude, daylight bombing with high explosive bombs to low-altitude night raids using incendiary bombs.<ref>Herman 2012, p. 327.</ref> As a consequence of that requirement, Bell Atlanta (BA) produced a series of 311 B-29Bs that had turrets and sighting equipment omitted, except for the tail position, which was fitted with AN/APG-15 fire-control radar.<ref name="iapr22 p140,4">Willis 2007, pp. 140, 144.</ref> That version could also have an improved [[List of radars#AN/APQ Series|APQ-7]] "Eagle" bombing-through-overcast radar fitted in an airfoil-shaped radome under the fuselage. Most of those aircraft were assigned to the 315th Bomb Wing, Northwest Field, Guam.<ref>[http://www.315bw.org/ "History of 315 BW."] ''315bw.org''. Retrieved: 19 June 2008.</ref>

===Pressurization===

The crew would enjoy, for the first time in a bomber, full-pressurization comfort. This first-ever cabin pressure system for an Allied production bomber was developed for the B-29 by [[Garrett AiResearch]].{{efn|Boeing had previously built the [[Boeing 307 Stratoliner|307 Stratoliner]], which was the first commercial airliner with a fully pressurized cabin. Only 10 of these aircraft were built. While other aircraft such as the [[Junkers Ju 86|Ju 86P]] were pressurized, the B-29 was designed from the outset with a pressurized system.{{cn|date=August 2023}} }} Both the forward and rear crew compartments were to be pressurized, but the designers had to decide whether to have bomb bays that were not pressurized or a fully pressurized [[fuselage]] that would have to be de-pressurized prior to opening the bomb bay doors. The solution was to have bomb bays that were not pressurized and a long tunnel joining the forward and rear crew compartments. Crews could use the tunnel if necessary to crawl from one pressurized compartment to the other.<ref>Mann 2009, p. 103.</ref>