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The sole XB-44 Superfortress was a B-29 Superfortress converted to test the possibility of using the R-4360 radial engine.. Development of an improved B-29 started in 1944, with the desire to replace the unreliable Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone engines with the more powerful four-row, 28-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major radial engines, America's largest-ever displacement aircraft ...
The Lucky Lady II was a B-50 of the 43rd Bombardment Group, equipped with 12 .50-caliber (12.7mm) machine guns. For its circumnavigation mission, a fuel tank was added in the bomb bay for extra range. The mission required a double crew with three pilots, under the command of Capt. James Gallagher. The crews rotated in shifts of four to six hours.
The mission included three B-29 bombers and their crews: Bockscar, The Great Artiste and The Big Stink. Bockscar was flown on 9 August 1945 by Crew C-15, which usually manned The Great Artiste; piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney, commander of the 393d Bombardment Squadron; and co-piloted by First Lieutenant Charles Donald Albury, C-15's aircraft commander. [7]
Two B-29's (45-21871 and 45-21761), one B-17 Flying Fortress, and one long-range OA-10A Catalina reconnaissance aircraft were launched. Also available was an Air Transport Command C-74 Globemaster, which was at Ladd in temporary status from Morrison Field, Florida, performing cold-weather testing.
The Swoose is a Boeing B-17D-BO Flying Fortress, USAAF serial number 40-3097, that saw extensive use in the Southwest Pacific theatre of World War II and survived to become the oldest B-17 still intact.
Thunderbird was a high mission-tally Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress of the 303rd Bombardment Group during World War II.The original plane, serial number 42-38050, was scrapped at the end of the war and no longer exists.
More than 10,000 B-17s were produced, but only a few survive today, according to Boeing. The B-17G Flying Fortress was equipped with 11 to 13 machine guns and capable of a 9,600-pound bomb load.
Lucky Lady I was one of two Boeing B-29 Superfortresses that made a round-the-world trip in July/August 1948, flying from and back to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, completing the 20,000 miles (32,000 km) flight in 15 days after making eight stops along the way and flying for 103 hours and 50 minutes.