Evening star., 1944-06-18
Development Of B-H
Marked Tremendous
6ambIebyGenl. Arnold no,
(LGst OF a Series.)
BY JAMES Y. NEWTON,

BY JAMES \. NEWTON.
THE Army Air Forces. took its
greatest gamble of the war on the
B-29 Super Fortress by starting the
largest manufacturing program in
aviation history when 1t was far
from a proven fact that the giant
Hoeing bomber would ever be any
thing more than an experiment.
This huge manufacturing pro-
gram was begun when the B-29 was
still in the blueprint stage, and the
plane actually was ordered into
mass production at the Boeing
plant in Wichita, Kans., before ex-
perimental models were completed
and more than year before the
first flight test. It was the first
time manufacture and development
Of a plane had ever been attempted
on so large scale. +
Gen. Henry H. Arnold, chief of
the Air Forces, is given credit by
his associates for having the foreA
sight and daring to embark on such
a gigantic venture at time when
all looked dark for democracy. The
general put large portion of his
chips on blueprint that looked
good and he won. The plane could
have been a tremendous flop. 1t
still is far from thoroughly tried
war weapon, but all indications are
that 1t will be just as super as its
name implies. Gen. Arnold's faith
also is a great tribute to Boeing en-
cheering and experience.
Wanted Great Performance.
The story of the development of
the B-29 dates back to early 1888
when the Army asked Boeing to
submit ideas for major modification
of the Flying Fortress, which the
company had introduced three years
before as the worlds first four-en-
8ine, high4Rsed bon1A% %Boeing
engineers re ko1A@ the suggested
changes as paprachcal. but conSer-
sations were started with the Air
Forces for plane with much
greater performance.
Following the beginning of the
war in Europe, the Army asked
plane manufacturers to submit de-
signs for a larger bomber. The
war developed quickly and plane
designs went out of date just as
fast It was not until June l, 1910,
that the design of the experimental
B-29 was approved and Boeing was
authorized to build wind tunnel
models.
Wind tunnel tests so impressed
the Air Forces that on August "a,
1910, Boeing was given contract
to build three full-sized airplanes.
In May, 1941, before the first Of
the full-sized models had been COM
pleted In Boeing's Seattle plant, the
Army had become convinced the
bomber would fill vital role in the
country's aerial offensive and or
dered the B-29 into quantity pro-
duction In the Wichita plant. The
first order was for 100000, 900 worth
of Super Fortresses, placed with j.
e. Schaefer, Boeing vice president
and general manager of the Wichita
division. Subsequent orders dwarf
that figure.
Huge Factory Built.
Boeing's comparatively small IA
calities at Wichita were engaged in
producing training planes for the
into with Defense Plant Corp. for
construction of huge new factory.
Nearly a year later, in February,
1912, the B-29 production program
began to assume staggering proper
tions when the War Department
contracted with the Bell Aircraft
Corp. and the Fisher Body Division
of General Motors to build the
plane. Later, contracts were given
Glenn l.. Martin to build the Super
Fortress at Omaha, Nebr.. and to
Boeing to manufacture 1t at Renton
and Seattle, Wash.
The first flight test of the worlds
largest bomber took place Septem-
ber 81, 1912, and lasted one hour
and Is minutes. Testing continued
throughout the rest Of 1912, l943 and
into this year. Before the actua.
fight Of the plane there had beer
tlui1Ol QUO VA OilcOodiAAo Vi l1OSi vi
wind tunnel, stress and other expert.
mental tests.
1t required $4,000 man-hours te
build the first B-29 at the Wichita
plant, completed early last year
This figure now has been reduced
to less than $1,000 man-hours. Tht
time needed to produce a Super
Fortress is said to be less than wa.
required to make Flying Fortres.
at the same stage production. TIL,
big bomber, Army officials say, Il
easy to breakdown" for production
purposes - thereby Fastening tht
manufacturing process.
There were hundreds of changes
made in the B-29 before 1t was frs
used in combat, and Air Forces Off
GERS say there will be lots more
They think they have in the B-2'
q plane that is just as durable a.
the Flying Fortress. They will b.
well satisfied If this proves correct.