With the exception of the tail gunner’s position, all defensive armament-four powered remotely operated gun turrets with ten. The engines drove four-bladed Curtiss Electric reversible-pitch propellers with a diameter of 16 feet, 8 inches (5.080 meters), through a 0.35:1 gear reduction. at Sea Level, and 2,200 horsepower at 2,800 r.p.m, for take-off. It was rated at 2,000 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m. The R-3350-41 had a compression ratio of 6.85:1 and required 100/130 aviation gasoline. A weaponeer’s control station was added to the cockpit to monitor the special bomb systems.īockscar had four air-cooled, supercharged, 3,347.662-cubic-inch-displacement (54.858 liter) Wright Aeronautical Division R-3350-41 (Cyclone 18 787C18BA3) two-row 18-cylinder radial engines with direct fuel injection. The bomb release mechanism in the forward bomb bay was replaced by a single-point release as was used in special British Lancaster bombers. The bomb bay doors were operated by quick-acting pneumatic systems. Additional fuel tanks were installed in the rear bomb bay. They were approximately 6,000 pounds (2,722 kilograms) lighter. The Silverplate B-29s differed from the standard production bombers in many ways. Like its sistership, Enola Gay, 44-27297 was a specially modified “Silverplate” B-29. Sweeney, in command of the Martin-Omaha B-29-35-MO Superfortress 44-27297, named Bockscar, departed Tinian Island in the Marshal Group at 3:47 a.m., and flew to Iwo Jima where it was to rendezvous with two other B-29s, The Great Artiste and The Big Stink, the instrumentation and photographic aircraft for this mission. Air Force)ĩ August 1945: Three days after an atomic bomb had been used against the Japanese industrial city of Hiroshima, a second attack was made on Nagasaki. Martin-Omaha B-29-35-MO Superfortress 44-27297, Bockscar, at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.