Evening star., 1944-06-17
|B.2o Proved STRENGTH
By Flying Two Days
After Be||y-Landing
zone OF a Series.)
By JAMES Y. NEWTON.

By JAMES 4. NEWTON.
Pilots say Americas new air
giant, the Boeing B-29, is as easy
to fly as its "little brother" the
Flying Fortress, or the Consoli-
dated Liberator, and an idea OF
Its durability and balance may
be had from an experience re-
Gently when the worlds largest
bomber was brought to a safe
landing on its belly.
E. M. Allison, chief test pilot at
lBoeing's wichita tKanso plant,
was bringing Super Fortress IN
| from test when he discovered that
q leg OF the landing gear was stuck
and would nt come down. He
gained some altitude and asked the
control tower at the flying field for
instructions. He was asked to wait
until plant ofncials and engineers
could be summoned.
Mr.. Allison circled Wichita while
engineers got out the blueprints and
pored over them. He and his crew
were In constant conversation with
the plant and every so often they
would tell him to try this or that
remedy. They wouldn't work. No
one was willing to assume response
bility for smashing up this million
dollars of the taxpayers money.
Radio to Pentagon.
Washington was called In and
Mr.. Allison and his men, high in the
Kansas air, talked with Air Forces
officials in the Pentagon. Blue
prints a thousand miles away were
studied and Mr.. Allison was given
new suggestions. But it was no 60,
the huge double-wheel just would
not come down. Finally, after the
plane had circled for six hours,
Washington issued the order to
bring the big bomber down on its
belly.
The landing was made with no
injury to the crew. So little dam
age was done that it was possible
two days later to fly the Super
Fortress on instruments to an Army
base In Oklahoma to get the Skin"
repaired. Mr.. Allison was no novice.
At the time he was a veteran Of
10000 hours In the pilots seat, in
cluding 800 hours Of B-29 experience.
This feat is all the more amazing
when 1t is considered that the BAD
Is half again as large as the Flying
Fortress and It's gross weight Is per-
maps twice as great, totaling scores
Of tons. Wings of the B-29 are
about 20 feet longer than those Of
the Constellation, the big transport
that visited Washington recently.
"Cleanest" Big Plane.
In the. B-29 designers were able
for the flrst time to combine q huge
bomber with high performance, and
the ease with which pilots whip the
big craft around is beautiful to see.
|It Is called, aerodynamically, the
"cleanest" big plane ever designed.
Giving an idea Of It's aerodynanic
qualities, the drag on the Super
Fortress is doubled when the land
ing gear Is down.
This superbomber is a streamlined
beauty and In fight gives a feeling
Of tremendous power and speed.
News correspondents who rode In it
lat Wichita recently said 1t was the
|smoothest ride they ever had. The
interior does ont possess all the
comforts Of home for passengers, but
1T is truly q smooth-riding dread
naught of the air.
Army flyers returning from battle
with Flying Fortresses and Liberia
tors are impressed tremendously
with the interior arrangement Of the
B-2o, which they say should greatly
reduce crew fatigue. The pilot, CO.
pilot, fight engineer, radio operator,
navigator and bombardier are placed
close together In the front Of the
ship. The engineer is a new crew
member for a bomber and takes a
big operating load of the pilot. The
plane Is so well insualted that this
operational part of the crew can
converse in ordinary tones despite
the roaring motors outside. There
are other devices that add to crew
comfort that canont be revealed.
Double Wheel on Each Leg.
Each leg Of the planes landing
gear has a double wheel and weighs
something more than 1000 pounds or
nearly as much as an automobile.
The gear retracts into wells whose
doors close flush for streamlining.
The four Wright engines of the
B-z0 develop a total Of $500 horse
power, nearly double the 4,80o of
the Flying Fortress, and drive 161h-
foot four-bladed prepellers, the
largest ever installed on any air.
craft. Each engine has twin, ex-
haust-driven superchargers. This
dual installation, devised by Boeing
was necessary because no single
supercharger available was large
enough for the huge engines. The
superchargers enable the engines
to breathe" at the highest alti-
tudes any big plane has ever flown.
Engineers say the B-29 is the
nearest any airplane has yet ap-
preached to being all-electricaily
operated. Every piece of equipment
on the bomber that moves is acti-
waited either by an electric motor or
cables, with exception of the brak-
ing system, which is hydraulic.
$50 Electric Motors.
An idea Of the complexity of this
plane Is furnished by the fact that
it has on 1t 150 electric motors of
40 different types.
Huge wing flaps enable the Super
Fortress to take off and land in
nearly the same space as the BIT
Many landings have been made
without use of the flaps as well as
with all engines cut off. The craft
Will take off on three engines and
fly satisfactorily on two.
Air Forces officials say that re-
turning heavy bomber pilots beg"