WWII B-29 Bomber Interior Tip-to-Tail Walk/Crawl through in under 6 minutes

[@eddavis1832]

Another excellent educational presentation. BTW, pointing out the “ash tray” cracked me up! 😂

[@johnwatson3948]

There’s even an ashtray in the cockpit of the B-58 Hustler, where there was little room for the instruments.

[@robertlobianco8917]

My dad was assigned to Dallas Fort Worth as a mechanic. Prior to this he was at Pueblo CO on B24s. He told me many stories about the Supersfort teething troubles, especially with the engines. I recently reviewed some videos detailing problems with the fire control system, and it's obviou😮😮s that this aircraft was truly cutting edge technolog, so teething teething troubles were unsurprising. Ultimately its defects were corrected, and it served admirable until jet powered bombers supercede it. But my Dad always preferred the Liberator.

[@donalddodson7365]

Thank you! Excellent tour.

[@WWIIUSBombers]

Thanks for the channel donation. Your support is much appreciated.

[@JamesDuffey-f7u]

My dad was the senior gunner or barber chair position for the last six months of WWll flew out of the Tinian Island, 11 missions

[@baker2niner]

Always appreciate your B-29 reels. Thank you. Pop was a CFC and said that he selected who got what guns. He could select all 4 turrets, if nec. I believe. The tail gunner kicked his ox hose out of its connector and didn't respond to a crew check. Pop went aft with a 15min ox bottle and found him very blue, passed out and slumped in his chair. He plugged him back in and he got him going. So many ways to die.

[@WilliamHarbert69]

Great presentation. Thanks. Btw: At the Mellon Institute, built in the ‘20’s, there is a large auditorium, wood paneled and beautiful. Behind every single seat was a built in ashtray. In the 1980’s, I asked the Oldtimers if they were used, and the answer was yup. Imagine an auditorium with 200+ people all smoking like smokestacks.

[@trespasserswill7052]

I'm 68. You just described every '60s auditorium that I remember.

[@grizwoldphantasia5005]

My first job after getting out of the Navy in 1976 was with a company with several small desktop computers. Two had different printers, one had a tape drive, and so on, so we kept on switching computers all day long. I got tired of the smokers never emptying ashtrays on each one, butts overflowing, ashes drifting in the breeze of people walking by. One day I got mad enough to just dump the entire ashtray in the trash, and did that on each computer I used. By the end of the week, there were no ashtrays left. The most amazing part is that none of the smokers complained or wondered. They just stopped smoking at the computers.

[@RICHARD-mn3nd]

Dinosaurs use to, why not?

[@frankcarter6427]

when I was a kid in the 60s and 70s, the cinemas were full of smoke - so were planes

[@philiphumphrey1548]

Star Wars was partly inspired by The Battle of Britain film and the Millenium Falcon cockpit was more likely based on a Heinkel He111 bomber. At least one of the scenes is more a less a re-enactment of a scene from the Battle of Britain (except that the He 111, unlike the Millenium Falcon doesn't get away.)

[@Roddy556]

Check out the Star Wars: Dambusters video. All the shots line up and it's pretty funny.

[@gort8203]

The final battle of Star Wars is taken right out of 633 Squadron.

[@PitFriend1]

The ash trays at every station is a nice touch.

[@trespasserswill7052]

I felt an urge and I'm a nonsmoker.

[@thegeneral5716]

Great video, thank you. What a well preserved B-29. What is the name and location of this museum? I would love to visit there.

[@MikeF1189]

These videos are great. I love the primary sources.

[@fridgeffs5662]

I love the fact the seats have ashtrays. I would love this job

[@gort8203]

'The Flight Engineer is the busiest member of the crew'. Well, the Navigator's response might be: "oh, really?" No doubt the FE can get very busy at times, but during cruise he is monitoring, fine tuning, and occasionally switching fuel valves. The navigator has a constant workload for most of the flight, and if he is shooting celestial or sun lines over water while making all his pre-comps, calculations, and plots he doesn't ever get much of a break. You gotta feel for navigators.

[@trespasserswill7052]

I feel for any man who crawled into a B29. Not sure I could've.

[@wes326]

I was an RC-135 navigator and we were very busy especially when shooting cell. But the other crew members were extra nice to us when flying in artic regions in the middle of the winter. Thanks for sharing.

[@hugh_ghennaux]

Out of interest I researched a navigator`s workload as my uncle was an RAF Halifax navigator in 102 SQN based at RAF Pocklington in North Yorkshire. From take-off the navigator was constantly working out complicated equations, calculating wind speeds, and was responsible for operating the H2S radar. A very busy job.

[@gort8203]

@@wes326 Yup, as a pilot I know how busy Navs could be and how much I depended on their unique skills over water. One time crossing the Pacic in broad daylight I commented that the Nav hadn't given us a course correction in a long time. He said all he had to work with was the sun and a questionable doppler groundspeed, so he could tell us what time we'd get there but he wasn't sure where we'd be. Of course, he was just rubbing it in a bit and I didn't mind. But I still felt some relief when our midpoint fix of Midway showed up right on the nose as planned.

[@garygraning3535]

very informative; creates enthusiasm

[@thecitizen49]

My father was a WWII veteran and a 27 year career soldier. He was addicted to unfiltered cigarettes and died at the age of 70 from heart and lung disease. Growing up as an Army brat most of my friends fathers were also WWII veterans who all were addicted to cigarettes. I remember that they all began to die off in the 1980s. Seeing all the ashtrays installed in the B-29 crew positions it is not hard to understand why they had become addicted to cigarettes and how the cigarette corporations made bank during WWII.

[@djackmanson]

Incredible to think the army and Marines (at least) were just handing out five-packs of cigarettes with meals twice a day, and this didn't stop until the early 70s.

[@Paughco]

My little brother was a crew chief on a B-52. He never smoked (other than killer weed) until he was in the USAF. He joined because he had a feeling that his number was gonna come up in the draft lottery. His early time as a crew chief was spent getting his airplane ready for the klaxon at various SAC bases. Every once in a while all the crew chiefs could take a break in the smoking area off of the line. Frequently somebody would have to go attend to something during these breaks. Everybody would say, "Let Butler go and do it - he's not smokin'." So - my brother started smoking then. He served on Guam, then Thailand. He used to say "F**k Guam and the cloud it blew in on." He liked Thailand. Whenever his airplane came back with no squacks the crew would give him a case of beer to share with his buddies.

[@4shink]

@@djackmanson My father started smoking at Army OCS school in 1941 and died of lung cancer complications at age 63. Prior to his death he endured the removal of one lung and the removal of his layanx ...he quit at age 55 but often said he could return to smoking at any time...not a good way to ive one's life.

[@craigloschky9293]

I recently started watching the old movie channel and nearly everyone is smoking !

[@EDKguy]

I just waited for an hour and a half in the hot Carolina sun only to get rushed through 12 feet of the interior of a B-29 in about a minute... It was worth it!

[@mickeyjackson9318]

Fifi?

[@Mark-uh7cr]

Excellent presentation as always... well done

[@mhpjii]

. . . and manned by a 25-year-old pilot - the "old man" - and a crew of twenty-year-olds. Can you imagine?!

[@j0hn00]

As a 25 year old, no I can't. I would love to fly one of these, but I would _not_ love to fly one into battle

[@EFCasual]

A normal situation throughout history. The gerentocracy of the current moment is an anomaly.

[@earlthepearl3922]

You outdid yourself. Awesome job! Thank you!

[@dflamm210]

each vid gets better and better!

[@scullystie4389]

Gotta love how every flight station has an ash tray lol

[@gort8203]

Those ashtrays were still in use on some USAF aircraft in the 1980s.

[@thurin84]

this was awesome! never seen the interior of a b-29 other than be b&w pics and glimpses in videos. thanks for taking us bomber spelunking with you!!!

[@jaex9617]

Great. Thank you!

[@trippm4036]

It’s amazing that the B-29 copied the Millennium Falcon’s greenhouse cockpit.

[@stevecausey545]

That was fun, thank you.

[@guestmatejek9029]

Looks like at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. Pretty amazing collection there including a B-17, B-47, Model 10 Electra and SR-71 (among many others).

[@dejen3303]

Years ago they had the AF1 aircraft that President Kennedy used. It was a long time ago and it was doing a tour. They also have a Concord.

[@guestmatejek9029]

@@dejen3303 yes, I forgot about. It’s very cool, living history. Eerily, I happened to be at the museum during JFK’s 50th assassination anniversary and toured this airplane.

[@Roddy556]

Awesome! Do you have any plans for videos on medium bombers and tactical bombing?

[@JeffBilkins]

Yea, B-25 are bombers too!

[@higgydufrane]

Thank you for this. Well done....

[@SeattleJeffin]

Great video as usual. May I ask where that beautifully restored B-29 is located?

[@Paughco]

I've really enjoyed your WWII US Bomber series. At some point you may have to consider starting on a Cold War US Bomber series. They've got a B-47 and a B-52 at The Museum of Flight, right? Or, maybe, as a way of transitioning, you could cover the differences between the B-29 and the B-50 bombers. Thank you for all your work on this excellent series.

[@crazyguy32100]

4:40 "Don't grab them or you will be flying the airplane". It's not a fault, it's a feature! Emergency steering location, like warships have.

[@juliushummer1069]

Excellent !

[@majors80]

how did the tail gunner get out fast like when the bomber was shot down or what are all the emergency hatches?

[@JeffBilkins]

Is there any documentation touching on effects of smoking during missions?

[@Roddy556]

Such as did anyone ever have a mixup with the oxygen system and a cigarette and set a plane on fire? Also quite curious.

[@gort8203]

@@Roddy556 I'm sure once that first happened in the 1920 everyone became more careful. Smoking is obviously not allowed when using oxygen.

[@Roddy556]

@gort8203 well seeing as how NASA, widely considered one of America's most forward thinking gov't agencies, mangaged to overlook the hazards of an oxygen enriched fire over 20 years later I wouldn't doubt there was an incident or near miss during the war. You're right it's obviously not allowed but that doesn't mean people don't break the rules. Smokers love smoking.

[@Roddy556]

@gort8203 over twenty years later NASA was still having issues with oxygen enriched fires so I wouldn't doubt they had an incident or near miss during the war.

[@gotanon9659]

Just wondering will you ever do a detailed B-24 Vid like the -17 and -29

[@charleshaggard4341]

Where is this plane located? Thanks for the tour.

[@eddavis1832]

Museum of Flight in Seattle

[@mandolinic]

I was intrigued by the comment about shooting out searchlights, since I've often wondered about this. Please, do you have any more information?

[@LynnPalmer-j6u]

I've always liked stuff about the B29 at the end of ww2 they were testing it for bombing of Japan. One crashed near my house. I was not alive by then but my dad told me the incident .he took us to the site. Most of the main parts of the plane was hauled away I think to Wendover Utah or Nevada. To my knowledge the site hasn't been touched since.

[@brockgrace7470]

Enjoyed your little video very much. Thank you.nothing else to say,for this comment.

[@RoverIAC]

Damn considerate of them to give each man his own ashtray. I bet Jerry wouldn't have done that.

[@JeffBilkins]

With 12 dudes puffing away bet they had to depressurize to clear the smoke every few hours.

[@gort8203]

Maybe if Germany had planes that flew 12 hour missions they would have.

[@Spudmuffinz]

I cant imagine how hotbox smokey the tail gunner must have been being isolated ​@JeffBilkins

[@monostripeexplosiveexplora2374]

you are doing nice stuff.. keep it up!

[@jameshowe6057]

What an amazing aircraft, parts of “overexposed” are still on Bleaklow Moor here in England, what a loss of 13 lives

[@L_Train]

Do you have any other channels or are you a ww2 bomber only?

[@kenbb99]

I liked the video, but perhaps you could do another video, or series of videos, with more detail. It was hard to get any detail with the pace of the video.

[@seanh2390]

awesome video

[@cgross82]

Was the flight engineer a commissioned officer or an NCO?

[@gort8203]

They were enlisted ranks.

[@4002corbe]

When these were made we had powered flight for about 30 years, some advancement right there …..

[@GeorgeWyatt-u3g]

Thank you very much!

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Great video...👍

[@karoltakisobie6638]

I wish you spent more time in rear gunner station.

[@WWIIUSBombers]

I produced a video on the B-29 tail position

[@stewartmillen7708]

An ashtray?? No 'no smoking' sign on this airplane!

[@jethrox827]

Brilliant 👍

[@Eric-kn4yn]

Didnt pilot have a sheet of bullet proof glass on top of instrument panel for protection against head on attack.

[@nightjarflying]

The commander's position had medium thickness armoured glass [no such thing as "bullet proof"] & there was duralumin plate behind & under the seats. However Jap pilots & planes were poor performing after 1942 so it's unlikely that a frontal attack would be effective, crews report that rear attacks were the most common. Best defence was altitude & speed plus nighttime if you could get it!

[@tootal2]

my uncle flew b29s over Japan. I have a picture of him playing somewhere

[@Knuck_Knucks]

I enjoyed ! Where do I comment and how do I like? 🐿

[@mrjon1985]

Man am I jealous.

[@Ralphieboy]

"About the bomber's crustaceans?" You mean they had crabs on board?

[@Knuck_Knucks]

If my seat was the toilet... I wouldn't let anyone use it ! 🐿

[@StarlightEater]

Hell yea. Stsy frosty bro

[@benquinneyiii7941]

Strategic

[@MarkElzey-xk4kj]

Loved it, but a little hurried, 10 minutes seems about right

[@wlewisiii]

Cool!

[@benquinneyiii7941]

New pilot

[@jamesharmer9293]

Ashtrays ? When they're breathing bottled oxygen ? That's crazy!

[@HailAnts]

Smoke, everybody smoke!! 🤣

[@billyponsonby]

Heyhey

[@Eric-kn4yn]

That porta potty 💩 after use would have been ripe for crew the oxygen supply a life saver or abandon a/c

[@Mechanized85]

narrow as hell, that for sure.

[@hgiudful]

You do a very good job as always. But, I can tell you're not a pilot

[@spenner3529]

slow your camera down, please

[@user-tl5fi9lz9z]

I wish you would have gone slower.

[@madmonkey823]

Rad

[@dannywilliamson3340]

Now go shoot it again, and pretend you're holding a Steadi-Cam.

[@nommadd5758]

Awesome tour! Thanks!