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American Combat Planes of the 20th Century is an incredible reference for anyone who is interested in any American Combat Plane History. There are 758 pages and 1700 b/w photos in this substantial labor of love by Ray Wagner, who has been passionately researching and writing about aircraft for over 50 years. Whether you are already familiar with his past works, or just discovering this accomplished author for the first time... This is the book that you've been waiting for!

If you'd like to see the book's Table of Contents ... Click here. You can also browse the entire Index Section to get an idea of the extensive amount of information that is covered within this book.

Search our site for other combat planes. A- 1 Eaton A- 4 Skyhawk A- 6 & A- 7 Air Weapons AV- 8 to A- 10 A- 20 Havoc A- 22 Martin Maryland A- 23 Martin Baltimore A- 24 Douglas A- 26 Douglas Invader Attack Planes B- 2A, F-111, F-117 Stealth B- 17 Flying Fortress B- 24 Liberator B- 25 North American B- 26 Marauder B- 29 Superfortress B- 32 Dominator B- 35 Flying Wing B- 36 B- 47 Stratojet B- 50 Boeing B- 52 Stratofortress B- 57 Canberra B- 58 Hustler Biplanes Biplanes, Army Pursuits Bombers, B- 70 to Stealth Bombers, First Big Curtiss Falcon CO- 1 DH- 4 De Havilland F3D- Douglas Skyknight F3H- McDonnell Demon F4D- 1 Skyray F4F Grumman Wildcats F- 4U Corsair F6F Grumman F7F Grumman F7U Vought F9F G. Cougar F9F G. Panther F- 16 Fighting Falcon F- 84 F- 86 Sabre F- 89 to F-94 F- 100 to F-108 First Fighters Flying Boats GAX Iraq to Afghanistan Martin Bombers Missile Era Fighters Navy Fighers Navy Flying Boats O- 2 Douglas P- 35 Seversky P- 36 to 42 Curtiss P- 38 Lightning P- 39 Airacobra P- 40 Line P- 47 Thunderbolt P- 51 Mustang Fighter P- 61 Black Widow P- 63 Kingcobra P- 79 to P-81 P- 82 Twin Mustang SB2C Helldiver TBF-TBM Avenger Thomas-Morse Torpedo Planes V- 11 Vultee XB -28 XP -48 / 77

B-29 Superfortress

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BOEING B-29-30-MO (Martin) of 19th Group

The XB-39
An alternative power plant proposed for the B-29 was the liquid-cooled inline Allison V-3420-11. A contract was awarded in May 1942 to develop a turbosupercharged version and the new engine installations were tested on the XB-19A. The first YB-29 was flown to Cleveland in November 1943, stripped of its Cyclones, but retaining guns and war paint so that performance could be accurately compared. After engine delays to aid the P-75 program, the redesignated XB-39 was first flown on December 9, 1944. By that time, AAF attention was looking forward to the XB-44 project with even larger Wasp Majors.

B-29 Operations, 1944-45
Although the first Superfortress to go overseas was a YB-29 flown to England on March 8, 1944, this was just a feint to obscure the concentration against Japan. Four groups began moving to India on March 26 and on June 5, 77 B-29s raided Bangkok, the longest (2,261 miles) bombing mission to that date. The first attack on southern Japan itself was by 47 B-29s staged through China on June 15. These and all future B-29 missions were made by the Twentieth Air Force, created solely to use the big Boeings. The longest American air raid of the war was a 4,030-mile, l9-hour mission from Ceylon to Sumatra on August 10, 1944. BOEING B-29B-60-BA (Bell)

When Chinese bases proved too difficult to supply and defend, the B-29s shifted to the newly-captured Mariana Islands. From there, beginning with a raid on Tokyo on November 24, 1944, they bombed the war economy on the main Japanese islands. Japanese weather frustrated the precision bombing technique used in Europe, and engine failure caused many aborted sorties. General Curtis E. LeMay shifted his method to night low-level incendiary attacks on Japanese cities. The first of these on Tokyo, March 10, 1945, caused more casualties than either of the atomic bombs.

On March 27, the B-29s added Operation Starvation to their missions, eventually dropping 12,035 mines in coastal waters to destroy Japanese shipping. Even without the atomic bomb, these fire bomb and mining attacks crippled Japan. The largest single-day effort with conventional bombs was the 836 B-29s dispatched on August 1.

BOEING B-29-45-MO (Martin) Enola Gay

Silverplate
In his letter to President Roosevelt on August 2, 1939, suggesting the atomic bomb, Albert Einstein had feared “such bombs might very well prove too heavy for transport by air”. But the length of the uranium-gun “Little Boy” and diameter of the plutonium “Fat Man” weapons completed at Los Alamos were tailored to fit the bomb bay of the B-29, which in September 1943 had been selected as their carrier, and the very secret operation was code-named Silverplate on December 1, 1944.

Seventeen B-29s with modified bomb bays for training and drop tests preceded the 26 Silverplate B-29s built in the Omaha factory in 1945 with special fittings in the front bomb bay, fuel cells in the rear bay, fuel injection engines, Curtiss electric propellers, and accommodations for the weapons specialist in the front compartment. No turrets were fitted, except for the two .50-caliber tail guns.

BOEING XB-39

Fifteen went to the specially-trained 509th Composite Group in May 1945, and flew to Tinian in the Marianas in June. There they flew practice bombing missions while awaiting the test-firing of the implosion prototype on July 16 in New Mexico, and the rush of the first two bomb cores to Tinian by cruiser in time for the August 6 strike on Hiroshima.

The 8,900-pound uranium bomb was dropped from Enola Gay, an Omaha-built B-29-46-MO, flying 328 mph at 31,600 feet, on its third mission over Japan. On August 9, the USSR began its offensive against Japan and a B-29-36-MO dropped a 10,300-pound prototype Mk 3 plutonium weapon on Nagasaki. Another atomic bomb wasn’t yet available, so the B-29s continued their campaign until 809 made their last attack of the war on August 14, 1945. Japan’s surrender was announced as they returned to their bases.

By the war’s end, there were about 2,865 B-29s on hand, and 40 VHB groups, of which 21 had been deployed in the Pacific. They flew 38, 808 sorties, dropped 171,000 tons of bombs or mines, claimed 914 enemy fighters, and lost 512 B-29s on combat missions. Another 260 were destroyed in the U.S. on training missions. Mk. I “Little Boy” used at Hiroshima

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