Editing Boeing B-29 Superfortress (section)

====Nuclear weapons====
The most famous B-29s were the [[Silverplate]] series, being extensively modified to carry nuclear weapons. Early consideration was given to using the British [[Avro Lancaster|Lancaster]] as a nuclear bomber, as this would require less modification.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/project-silverplate|title=Project Silverplate|website=Atomic Heritage Foundation}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Groves |first=Leslie |author-link=Leslie Groves |title=Now it Can be Told: The Story of the Manhattan Project |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1962 |isbn=0-306-70738-1 |oclc=537684 |pages=254–255}}</ref> However, the superior range and high-altitude performance of the B-29 made it a much better choice, and after the B-29 began to be modified in November 1943 for carrying the atomic bomb, the suggestion for using the Lancaster never came up again.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/first-atomic-bombs-black-lancasters | title=Black Lancasters: The story of heavy British bomber and first atomic bombs | date=22 February 2023 }}</ref><ref>McKinstry, Leo "LANCASTER: The Second World War's Greatest Bomber", John Murray Publishers 2009, page 495</ref>

The most significant modification was the enlargement of the bomb bay enabling each aircraft to carry either the Thinman or Fatman weapons. These Silverplate bombers differed from other B-29s then in service by having [[fuel injection]] and [[Variable-pitch propeller (aeronautics)|reversible props]]. Also, to make a lighter aircraft, the Silverplate B-29s were stripped of all guns, except for those on the tail. Pilot Charles Sweeney credits the reversible props for saving ''Bockscar'' after making an emergency landing on Okinawa following the Nagasaki bombing.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Commager |first1=Henry Steele |last2=Miller |first2=Donald L. |title=The Story of World War II: Revised, expanded, and updated |date=2010 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4391-2822-0 |page=637 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=43Nk5lzO_oIC&pg=PA637 |language=en |quote=But Sweeney muscled the plane under control with the help of its specially installed reversible propellers.}}</ref>

[[File:Bockscar and a nuclear weapon painted to resemble the Fat Man bomb.jpg|thumb|''Bockscar'' and a post war Mk III nuclear weapon painted to resemble the Fat Man bomb]]

''[[Enola Gay]]'', flown by [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] [[Paul Tibbets]], dropped the first bomb, called [[Little Boy]], on [[Hiroshima]] on 6 August 1945.<ref name="OSTI.GOV Hiroshima">{{Cite web | title=Manhattan Project: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, August 6, 1945 | website=OSTI.GOV | date = 1945 | url=https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945/hiroshima.htm | access-date = 2021-11-23 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210326051651/https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945/hiroshima.htm | archivedate = 2021-03-26}}</ref> ''Enola Gay'' is fully restored and on display at the Smithsonian's [[Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center]], outside Dulles Airport near Washington, D.C. ''[[Bockscar]]'', piloted by [[Major (United States)|Major]] [[Charles W. Sweeney]], dropped the second bomb, called [[Fat Man]], on [[Nagasaki, Nagasaki|Nagasaki]] three days later.<ref name="The New York Times 2004">{{cite web | title=Pilot on Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Mission Dies at 84 | website=The New York Times | date=2004-07-18 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/18/national/pilot-on-nagasaki-atomic-bomb-mission-dies-at-84.html | access-date=2021-11-23 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314192403/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/18/national/pilot-on-nagasaki-atomic-bomb-mission-dies-at-84.html | archivedate=2021-03-14}}</ref>  ''Bockscar'' is on display at the [[National Museum of the United States Air Force]].<ref name="National Museum of the US Air Force 1945">{{cite web | title=Boeing B-29 Superfortress | website=[[National Museum of the United States Air Force]] | date=1945-08-09 | url=https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196252/boeing-b-29-superfortress/ | access-date=2021-11-23 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603140406/https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196252/boeing-b-29-superfortress/ | archivedate=2021-06-03}}</ref>

Following the surrender of Japan, called [[Victory over Japan Day|V-J Day]], B-29s were used for other purposes. A number supplied [[Prisoner of war|POWs]] with food and other necessities by dropping barrels of rations on Japanese POW camps. In September 1945, a long-distance flight was undertaken for public relations purposes: Generals [[Barney M. Giles]], [[Curtis LeMay]], and [[Emmett O'Donnell Jr.]] piloted three specially modified B-29s from [[Chitose Air Base]] in [[Hokkaidō]] to [[Chicago Midway International Airport|Chicago Municipal Airport]], continuing to [[Washington, D.C.]], the farthest nonstop distance ({{convert|6400|mi|km|disp=or|sp=us}}) to that date flown by U.S. Army Air Forces aircraft and the [[1945 Japan–Washington flight|first-ever nonstop flight from Japan to Chicago]].{{efn|"The straight line distance between Chitose Japanese Air Self Defense Force and Chicago, Chicago Midway Airport is approximately 5,839 miles or 9,397 kilometres."<ref>[http://www.findlocalweather.com/forecast.php?forecast=pass&pass=distances&dpp=0&pands1x=RJCJ&pands2x=KMDW&Find+distance=How+far+is+it%3F "How Far Is It?"] ''Findlocalweather.com''. Retrieved: 8 June 2009.</ref>}}<ref name="Potts">Potts, J. Ivan, Jr. [http://www.40thbombgroup.org/DCFlight.pdf "Chapter: The Japan to Washington Flight."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217194704/http://www.40thbombgroup.org/DCFlight.pdf |date=17 February 2012 }} [https://books.google.com/books?id=md-mHAAACAAJ ''Remembrance of War: The Experiences of a B-29 Pilot in World War II.''] Shelbyville, Tennessee: J.I. Potts & Associates, 1995. Retrieved: 8 June 2009.</ref> Two months later, Colonel Clarence S. Irvine commanded another modified B-29, ''Pacusan Dreamboat'', in a world-record-breaking long-distance flight from Guam to Washington, D.C., traveling {{convert|7,916|mi|km}} in 35 hours,<ref name=milestones>[http://www.af.mil/information/heritage/milestones.asp?dec=1940&sd=01/01/1940&ed=12/31/1949 "Monday, January 01, 1940 – Saturday, December 31, 1949."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020162322/http://www.af.mil/information/heritage/milestones.asp?dec=1940&sd=01%2F01%2F1940&ed=12%2F31%2F1949 |date=20 October 2012 }} ''History Milestones (US Air Force).'' Retrieved: 21 October 2010.</ref> with a gross takeoff weight of {{convert|155000|lb|kg}}.<ref name=SetRecords>Mayo, Weyland. [http://b-29s-over-korea.com/B-29s-SetRecords/B-29s-SetRecords.html "B-29s Set Speed, Altitude, Distance Records."] ''b-29s-over-korea.com.'' Retrieved: 21 October 2010.</ref> Almost a year later, in October 1946, the same B-29 flew {{convert|9422|mi|km}} nonstop from Oahu, Hawaii, to Cairo, Egypt, in less than 40 hours, demonstrating the possibility of routing airlines over the polar ice cap.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Popular Science|author=Bonnier Corporation|title=Inside The Dreamboat|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NSEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA91|date=December 1946|publisher=Bonnier Corporation|page=91}}</ref>