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00:46World War II in the Air provided a springboard for aircraft development,
00:50unlike anything in the previous history of flight.
00:53This is the story of the evolution of the bomber
00:56and its wide variety of manifestations, failures and successes,
01:00innovations and war wonders.
01:14All four multi-engine bombers employed by Germany at the beginning of the war
01:19began public life as civil passenger transports.
01:23This is the slow, clumsy Junkers Ju 52 tri-mortar, known to its crews as Iron Annie.
01:33Unlike the other German bombers, it was a genuine passenger aircraft.
01:38It dropped incendiaries on Warsaw, but its career as a bomber would be short-lived.
01:53As a transport, the Ju 52 would serve to the last days of the war and beyond.
01:55It would fly on the Eastern Front in Europe and the Mediterranean.
02:08The Heinkel He 111 was by far the most important German bomber in the Polish campaign.
02:23It maintained its importance later because the circumstances of war forced it to continue
02:28as frontline equipment for years after it had become obsolete.
02:45The He 111 A made its first flight on February 24th, 1935.
02:51The He 111 B proved itself in the Spanish Civil War.
02:55There was a continuing series of design improvements.
02:58By September the 1st, 1939, the Luftwaffe had 808 He 111s.
03:05Most were the P model with engines of 1100 horsepower and a top speed of 247 miles an hour.
03:14It performed well in the Polish campaign, but 78 were lost to enemy action.
03:20This revealed a glaring fault in defensive armament.
03:24The five handheld machine guns were totally inadequate.
03:27But the basic design of the aircraft did not lend itself to significant improvement.
03:34Apart from its bomber career, it also served as a flying test bed for the development of German electronic systems.
03:57This one is fitted with a test version of a German direction-finding radar.
04:02He 111s would also test radar systems used by the highly successful German night fighter force against the British heavy night bombers.
04:11This is a Dornier DO-17Z, an early development of the DO-17 flying pencil, so-called because of its slender fuselage.
04:29It looked delicate, but in fact it was very robust.
04:33It could make diving attacks at 370 miles an hour, making it less vulnerable to ground or air attack.
04:44The DO-17Z had a deep cabin with extensive glazing.
04:48This arrangement helped to correct some of the defensive problems of earlier models.
04:53Its normal armament was six Rheinmetall machine guns.
04:57It was powered by two Bramo radial engines.
05:00They gave it a maximum speed of more than 260 miles an hour and a ceiling of almost 27,000 feet.
05:07The Dornier DO-17 was a big step forward from the DO-17.
05:20It could carry a much larger bomb load than any other Luftwaffe bomber of the time.
05:25The DO-17 series was produced until late 1943.
05:40They were used as bombers, night fighters and anti-shipping missile platforms in the Mediterranean.
05:55The Junker's JU-86 flew for the first time on November 4th, 1934.
06:05Production JU-86s were initially powered by Junker's Jumo diesel engines.
06:10But they could only run effectively at a standard power setting, which was not suitable for the needs of combat.
06:16BMW nine-cylinder radials helped the performance of the D and E models.
06:22But even they were obsolete by the end of the Polish campaign.
06:33Early in the war, Junkers was working on a high-altitude version of the JU-86.
06:38It would have turbocharged engines and cabin pressurization.
06:43The nose was redesigned and the wingspan increased by 10 feet.
06:47It appeared in two versions, the P-1 bomber and the P-2 reconnaissance aircraft.
06:57The P-2 was ready for service in time to carry out photo reconnaissance over the Soviet Union
07:02before Hitler's Barbarossa invasion of June 1941.
07:06The ultimate form of the JU-86 was the R-1 model.
07:13Its wingspan was even greater at 105 feet.
07:18In 1941 and 1942, R-1s flew reconnaissance missions over England at more than 40,000 feet.
07:25Even Spitfires had to struggle to intercept them.
07:29But the JU-86 R-1 left the Allies an important legacy.
07:35It inspired the development of a new generation of Allied high-altitude fighters.
07:50The Junkers' JU-88 was flown long before the war as a civil transport prototype.
07:55But the slower and heavier A-1 bombers were just coming into service when the war began.
08:02It could carry a heavy bomb load and its general performance was good.
08:06Like the other German bombers, it suffered from weak defensive armament.
08:10But it had potential for improvement.
08:23Heavier guns and increased bomb loads didn't reduce performance to the extent suffered by the Heinkels and Dorniers.
08:30It was fast and maneuverable.
08:32JU-88 night fighters destroyed more Allied bombers than all other fighters combined.
08:37Many different versions appeared throughout the war.
08:5415,000 JU-88s were built and production only stopped when the Allies overran the factories.
09:00In many ways, the odd-looking Vickers Wellesley was a revolutionary aircraft.
09:07It used the same metal basket work construction that Vickers had developed for their airships.
09:14In the middle 30s, its performance was outstanding.
09:15By 1939, it was obsolete but it continued to serve in Africa, the Mediterranean and the Middle East until 1942.
09:23Its major legacy was that its unique geodetic construction was applied to its larger successor, the Vickers Armstrong Wellington.
09:26The Vickers Armstrong Wellington.
09:27The Vickers Armstrong Wellington.
09:28The Vickers Armstrong Wellington.
09:29The Vickers Armstrong Wellington.
09:30It was a new design.
09:31The Vickers Armstrong.
09:33The Vickers Armstrong.
09:35in Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East until 1942.
09:44Its major legacy was that its unique geodetic construction was applied to its larger successor,
09:49the Vickers Armstrong Wellington.
09:56The Wellington was the principal RAF bomber until the four-engined heavies came along.
10:07It had a range of 2,200 miles and could carry 4,500 pounds of bombs.
10:13Although it was a remarkable aircraft for its time,
10:16it was far from adequate for the expanding needs of bomber command in 1942 and 43.
10:22But it remained in production throughout the war.
10:25It appeared in more than 16 different versions, including bombers,
10:29coastal reconnaissance, and even trainers.
10:32Almost 12,000 were built.
10:44In 1934, British newspaper magnate Lord Rothermere
10:48asked the Bristol Company for a fast executive aircraft
10:51capable of the extraordinary speed of 240 miles an hour.
10:56The Bristol Blenheim bomber was developed from that design.
11:00In 1936 it was an excellent light bomber,
11:02but by 1940 its top speed of 266 miles an hour was too slow.
11:07The Blenheim was also deficient in armament and armour.
11:25When it went into battle against the Luftwaffe in France in 1940,
11:28it was no match for the Messerschmitts.
11:31But it continued to serve in many theatres throughout the war.
11:34Production continued into 1943.
11:37This is the short-nosed original.
11:53Later, in a version called the Bolingbroke,
11:56the nose was lengthened by three feet
11:58to accommodate a navigator bomb aimer in front of the pilot.
12:09One of the most successful families of aircraft
12:11used by Britain against the Luftwaffe early in the war
12:14was American.
12:15It was the Lockheed Hudson and its successors
12:18the Ventura and the Harpoon.
12:29The Hudson was ordered from Lockheed in 1938
12:31by the British Purchasing Commission.
12:33The initial order of 200 was completed quickly.
12:36The Hudson entered service in 1939.
12:40A Hudson had the RAF's first kill of the war.
12:43It took part in dogfights over Dunkirk.
12:46It hunted submarines in the Atlantic.
13:06The later Vega Ventura was larger and faster than the Hudson.
13:10It could carry a heavier bomb load,
13:13but its work for RAF Bomber Command
13:14proved to be inadequate.
13:16Its major success was at sea
13:19as a Navy patrol bomber,
13:21carrying mines and torpedoes
13:22and equipped with air-to-surface vessel radar.
13:25The Hudson family had its drawbacks.
13:28High wing loading made the Hudson tricky to fly,
13:31but it made a major contribution to Britain's survival
13:33at a time when there were few other options.
13:52Italy's Regia Aeronautica had several medium bombers in service
13:56at the outbreak of the war.
13:58This one was the Kant Alcione, or Kingfisher.
14:02It was built entirely of wood
14:04and was powered by three Piaggio 14-cylinder radial engines.
14:08It had a top speed of 280 miles an hour
14:11with a range of 800 miles.
14:15This is the version with a single tail fin.
14:18Others had two.
14:19The Alcione was no match for the RAF's Hurricanes and Spitfires,
14:24but it managed to serve throughout the Mediterranean
14:26and on the Russian front.
14:32Most of the Italian bombers
14:34were three-engine Savoia Marchetti Sparviero,
14:37the Sparrowhawk.
14:49Their performance compared well with the German Heinkel HE 111
14:59or the British Bristol Blenheim.
15:01Top speed was 270 miles an hour.
15:04Range was more than 1,200 miles.
15:10Wooden fabric construction
15:12made the Sparviero vulnerable to small-caliber shell fire.
15:16It flamed readily.
15:19But the pilots loved its maneuverability
15:21and it was easy to maintain.
15:23Its major uses were as a level bomber
15:26and enclosed support work.
15:44The Sparviero had one major distinction.
15:47It was probably the best torpedo bomber of the war
15:50in any airports.
15:59The Mitsubishi Type 96 bomber,
16:02also known as the G-3M Nell,
16:04is an example of the success of the Japanese
16:06in producing original aircraft.
16:08In August 1937,
16:12the Japanese Navy used this modern twin-engine bomber
16:15to fly a 1,250-mile over-water flight
16:18to attack targets in China.
16:20This mission was beyond the capabilities
16:22of any other operational bomber in the world at the time.
16:25It continued to serve in the front lines until 1943.
16:28The Japanese Army's Kawasaki Ki-48 Lily was a direct competitor of the Soviet Union Tupolev SB-2 bomber.
16:32The Japanese Army's Kawasaki Ki-48 Lily was a direct competitor of the Soviet Union Tupolev SB-2 bomber.
16:53It entered the war successfully in China.
16:57In the southwest Pacific,
16:59it became Japan's most important light bomber.
17:02But its performance was mediocre and its armament too light.
17:06Like many Japanese aircraft,
17:09it ended the war flying the suicide mission.
17:21The Mitsubishi G-4M1 Betty first flew on October 23rd, 1939.
17:27It was the medium bomber with which Japan went to war,
17:31and in which the surrender parties would go to Iwo Jima.
17:40It was a handsome aircraft powered by two 1,500-horsepower radial engines.
17:47It had a top speed of 266 miles an hour
17:50and a phenomenal range of 3,256 miles.
17:55But when faced with strong opposition
17:57or when forced to attack heavily defended targets,
18:00the Betty was very vulnerable.
18:05Early models were designed without armor or fire-resistant fuel tanks.
18:11This was to save weight and meet the range requirement.
18:15But it made them so susceptible to gunfire
18:17that their crews nicknamed them flying lighters.
18:21Almost two and a half thousand were built
18:24and they remained Japan's best bomber of the war.
18:27The North American B-25 Mitchell was an American counterpart to Japan's G-4M Betty.
18:43It was heavier, faster, and carried more bombs, but for shorter distances.
18:47With a 3,000-pound bomb load, the B-25 could reach only 1,500 miles.
18:52The Mitchell was much more heavily armed and armored than the Betty,
19:07and its range, although shorter, was adequate for the island hopping style campaign it would take part in.
19:13The B-25 was named after Billy Mitchell, the controversial American Army Air Corps officer who was court-martialed in the 20s for his unrelenting attempts to promote air power.
19:32He may well have been flattered.
19:44It was highly successful.
19:46More Mitchells were built than any other American twin-engined aircraft of the war.
19:51The Mitchell turned American morale around in 1942 when Jimmy Doolittle led 16 of them off the deck of the carrier Hornet and into Japan to strike against Tokyo.
20:08They bombed at high and low level.
20:11They carried out ground attack missions.
20:13Mitchells packed with forward firing guns and carrying torpedoes made mincemeat of Japanese shipping in the southwest Pacific.
20:38Almost 10,000 B-25s in a variety of models and manifestations were built.
20:45To many students of World War II aviation, the Mitchell was the best aircraft in its class from any of the combatant nations.
20:53It served with distinction in every theater of the war, from Russia to China, the Pacific, the Mediterranean, and in Europe.
21:14When Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941,
21:43the Tupolev SB-2 was already an obsolete bomber.
21:47Great numbers were built in the 1930s.
21:50In 1935, it was a very advanced aircraft with stressed skin construction and retractable landing gear.
21:58By June 1941, it was no match for its German competitors, and the Messerschmitts destroyed them mercilessly.
22:08But the Soviet Air Force had no alternative but to keep them in service.
22:11The only new bomber in the Soviet Air Force at the time of the German invasion was the Petlikov P-2.
22:30It was an elegant twin-engine combination attack plane and dive bomber outstanding against any allied aircraft in its class.
22:45It was designed in 1938 and caught the tide of the war perfectly.
22:50In continually upgraded versions, it served until Germany was defeated.
22:55It was fast enough to be difficult for the German fighters to catch.
22:59It was effective as a dive bomber and in ground attack.
23:03It performed as a high-altitude fighter and reconnaissance aircraft.
23:07More than 11,000 were built.
23:13Germany entered the war better equipped for ground attack and dive bombing than any other nation.
23:30World War II was not a biplane war, but the Henschel HS-123 managed to remain in service from the Polish campaign in 1939 until well into 1942.
23:42This is extraordinary, given that there was no more production after October 1938.
23:48Its jobs were dive bombing and ground attack.
23:51At a certain RPM setting, its engine had a sound like a battery of machine guns.
23:56The noise made attacks seem intensely personal against ground troops.
24:01It also had a terrifying effect on horse-drawn transport.
24:05The HS-123s were sent to the Balkans and then to Russia.
24:10They continued working until there were no more left.
24:14The evil angular lines of the Junkers Ju-87 Stuka became notorious in the early months of the war.
24:29Like so many German warplanes, it was destined to soldier on long after it should have been retired.
24:40The Luftwaffe used only 219 Ju-87s in the Polish campaign.
24:45There was little fighter opposition to bother the rear gunners.
24:49The effect in damage and on Polish morale was astonishing.
24:53The Stukas attacked airfields, roads, bridges, artillery installations and troop concentrations.
25:00They were fitted with wind-driven sirens called the Trumpets of Jericho.
25:14The sound had a shattering effect on the demoralized Polish soldiers.
25:19The Stuka was beloved by its crews for its ruggedness and by ground forces for its pinpoint accuracy.
25:27It was able to deliver its bombs with great precision on targets as small as tanks and kill boxes.
25:51It was, in a sense, a smart weapon.
25:54The guidance system was the brains of the pilot behind the stick.
25:59The Stuka may have been obsolete, but it continued to serve far beyond its time.
26:05And it was a much more effective weapon than one of its allied competitors, the Valti Vengeance.
26:10The Vengeance was an anomaly because it was designed late, in 1940 at Britain's request.
26:29At that time, Britain thought dive bombers would be needed in large numbers.
26:34When the Vengeance entered service in 1942, things had changed.
26:38Land-based dive bombers had become vulnerable.
26:42In spite of all that, it had a long career, but always under fighter cover.
26:51The Douglas SBD Dauntless first flew on May 1, 1940.
27:05It would prove that in the Pacific, the dive bomber would continue to have a major role throughout the war,
27:10operating from both land and carrier decks.
27:13The Dauntless was based on a 1934 design by Ed Heinemann for the Northrop Company, the BT-1.
27:20When Douglas absorbed Northrop, the design was taken over and called SBD-1.
27:26The Dauntless would become one of the most important American aircraft of the war.
27:31With amazing regularity, it would find itself to be in the right place at the right time,
27:36at Midway, Guadalcanal, the Coral Sea.
27:43The sight of Dauntless's, dive breaks fully opened, became a nightmare to Japanese aircraft carriers,
27:49and to the Empire's shipping in general.
27:56Almost 6,000 were built.
28:011942 was a busy year for the Dauntless.
28:05It saw at least as much action as any other American aircraft,
28:08and for such an early basic design, it performed with great distinction.
28:18The SBD could carry up to 1,000 pounds of ordnance under its belly.
28:23It could carry bombs or depth charges on racks under the wings.
28:32Later versions had two fixed forward-firing .50 caliber machine guns,
28:36and another pair manually operated from the rear cockpit.
28:39The Dauntless had a major role in turning the war against Japan in favor of the United States.
28:52One of its comrades in arms, the Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber, would help continue that trend.
28:58The prototypes of the Avenger were ordered in April 1940.
29:12The XT-BF-1 flew for the first time on August 1, 1941.
29:17Six months later, the first service TBFs were delivered.
29:21Like the Dauntless, they were available at midway.
29:25The Avenger was powered by a big right radial engine that could push it to around 280 miles per hour.
29:32It had machine guns in the wings and the fuselage firing forward,
29:36a dorsal machine gun operated from the rear power turret,
29:39and a manual ventral machine gun.
29:41Most Avengers were flown by the U.S. Navy and Marines.
30:02Some went to the British Fleet Air Arm.
30:05They contemplated a name change to the Tarpon, but eventually settled on Avenger.
30:12The majority of TBFs and TBMs operated by the United States and Britain were carrier-based aircraft.
30:31But U.S. Marine and some British Fleet Air Arm Avengers operated from land bases in the Pacific.
30:44Some TBM-3 Avengers produced in 1944 had no turret, but all had strengthened wings to carry rockets.
30:51Later versions worked in anti-submarine warfare and airborne early warning.
31:00Like the Dauntless, the Avenger was a major factor in the United States' victory against Japan in the Pacific.
31:13All right, so the other point–
31:27Volksloatáºy.
31:29When America entered the war in North Africa and Europe,
31:55it was already equipped with the bomber that would help grind Germany down in an unrelenting series of daylight precision bombing raids.
32:02It was the Boeing B-17, the Flying Fortress, a legacy of Billy Mitchell's fascination with the power of bomber aircraft against naval vessels.
32:16The Army Air Corps issued the specification in 1934, and Boeing proposed four engines to allow the bomb load to be carried higher and faster.
32:32For Boeing and the Allies, it was a risk that was to pay a huge dividend.
32:50The B-17 would become one of the truly great aircraft of the war.
33:03On August 17, 1942, the Eighth Air Force began its half of what would become a relentless round-the-clock bombing campaign,
33:12attacking the German heartland, grinding down its industrial might.
33:16When the first B-17s were built in the 30s, their performance outpaced the best fighters available.
33:25But in spite of their speed and high ceiling, by the time the campaign against Germany began,
33:30they were vulnerable to the Messerschmitts and Fockelwulfs. Many failed to return to home soil.
33:35New tactics, and the P-51 Long Range Escort Fighter completed the package, and the B-17 fulfilled its promise as a great aircraft and a major factor in the Allied victory.
34:00The B-17's partner in the daylight raids on Germany was the consolidated B-24 Liberator.
34:12It performed that task with distinction. But the B-24 had another role, which may well have been even more important in determining the fate of Britain and the outcome of the war.
34:23Its long range would have perfect application in the Battle of the Atlantic. At last, there was an aircraft that could close the gaps in maritime surveillance allowed by planes with less endurance.
34:42It performed bombing missions in North Africa, Europe, China, Europe, China, and China.
35:11The Soviet Union, and the Pacific, and served with 15 allied nations.
35:17The B-24 was a remarkable aircraft. Its design was not begun until 1939, but it was in service by 1941.
35:26It was produced in the U.S. Army. It was produced in the U.S. Army.
35:27It was produced in greater quantities than any other American warplane. 18,432 were built.
35:38As a VLR, very long range patrol plane, it could carry as many as 24 depth charges. It was able to persist in an attack long after a Hudson or a Sunderland would have exhausted its munitions.
35:51Its distinctive feature is the slender Davis wing, designed for efficient cruising. The wing, combined with great fuel capacity, was the key to the Liberator's great influence on the outcome of the war.
36:17The night time partners to the B-17 and the B-24 in the great allied round-the-clock bombing campaign against Germany were all British.
36:23And eventually, all had four engines. The short stirring was designed with four.
36:30The short stirring was designed with four. It first flew on May the 14th, 1939. It entered combat on February the 10th, 1941.
36:37with an attack on Rotterdam.
36:38The short stirring was designed with an attack on Rotterdam.
36:40The short stirring was designed with four. It first flew on May the 14th, 1939. It entered combat on February the 10th, 1941, with an attack on Rotterdam.
36:44In spite of its clumsy appearance, it was highly maneuverable.
36:51This was due to a short wingspan that also made handling tricky.
36:58But it continued in service, and was used in bombing raids until September 1944.
37:05But it continued in service, and was used in bombing raids until September 1944.
37:13The Stirling's early partners were the Avro Manchester and the Hanleypage Halifax. This is the Manchester. Both were planned with two engines, and then given four.
37:39with two engines, and then given four.
37:44The Manchester was fitted with four Rolls-Royce Merlins.
37:47It was renamed the Lancaster
37:49and became the best British bomber of the war.
38:01The Lancaster was a handsome aircraft
38:03with a top speed of 287 miles an hour.
38:07Its bomb capacity was its major feature.
38:10It could carry a normal load of 14,000 pounds.
38:13An American B-17 could carry 4,000.
38:18Eventually, the Lancaster would be modified
38:20to carry the 22,000-pound Grand Slam,
38:23the heaviest bomb of the war.
38:37Most of the Lancaster's operation was at night,
38:46in the British area bombing campaign against Germany.
38:49It also made specialized night raids
38:51against German dams in the Ruhr,
38:53using the skipping drum bomb to breach the dam walls.
38:56Lancaster also had some success in daylight,
39:15including the sinking of the German battleship Tirpitz.
39:18Lancaster's flew more than 150,000 sorties in Europe.
39:23They dropped more than 600,000 tons of bombs.
39:277,377 of these classic British bombers were built,
39:31some of them as far away as Canada.
39:33With the Spitfire and the Hurricane,
39:46Lancaster symbolizes the RAF's contribution
39:48to Allied victory in Europe.
39:50A series of American twin-engined medium bombers
40:02also made a significant contribution
40:04to the Allied war effort.
40:06Among them was a family of Douglas twin-engined attack bombers,
40:09which became famous under the names A-20, Boston, and Havoc.
40:14In 1939, the French ordered one variant
40:17of this group of aircraft, the DB-7.
40:20By the time most were delivered, France had fallen
40:23and the remains of the French Armée de l'air
40:25was operating from Britain.
40:36This is a low-level mission
40:38by the French Lorraine Squadron into occupied France.
40:41The RAF flew these missions in the Boston Three.
40:47With two big right radial engines,
40:52later versions of the family were capable
40:54of speeds approaching 350 miles an hour,
40:57making the low-level attacks quite a spectacle.
41:17heavy nose armament and a big bomb load
41:30gave these aircraft great punching power.
41:32It was delivered effectively in most theaters of the war.
41:47Almost seven and a half thousand of these highly successful aircraft were built.
42:00in 1940, the RAF ordered an improved version
42:13of the Martin Maryland Light Bomber.
42:15More powerful engines were fitted,
42:17and the result was the Baltimore.
42:19It was an American aircraft, but none served in United States forces.
42:30The Baltimore went into RAF service in 1941.
42:33Its main contribution was in the Mediterranean theater.
42:36Some Baltimores were passed on to the South African Air Force.
42:45Others were operated by the Italian co-belligerent forces
42:48after the surrender of Italy.
42:50They served in the Balkans.
42:51About 1,500 Baltimores were produced.
43:06The Martin B-26 Marauder did serve the United States,
43:24but it got off to a bad start.
43:27It developed notoriety as a crew killer.
43:30This reputation was caused by unusually high wing loading.
43:34The Marauder's wing was designed for high-speed cruising.
43:38Landings could be difficult.
43:47But it would overcome this reputation
43:49to go on to become one of the most highly respected bombers of the war.
43:53By VE day, it had the lowest loss rate of any American bomber in Europe.
43:58Germany's air war was filled with lost opportunity.
44:13One of the greatest was Germany's biggest heavy bomber program,
44:16the Heinkel HE-177 Greif.
44:20It was confused by the 1938 Luftwaffe requirement
44:23that heavy bombers should be capable of dive bombing.
44:26Its coupled pairs of engines repeatedly caught fire in normal operation.
44:31Trashers and complications docked the program.
44:43Heinkel wanted to fit four separate engines,
44:46but Göring wouldn't listen.
44:49Heinkel experimented in secret
44:51and eventually flew a redesigned high-altitude bomber version.
45:04But fortunately for the Allies,
45:06Germany's heavy bomber program
45:08was to have little effect on the course of the war.
45:11The Heinkel 177 is one of the darker chapters
45:14in the Luftwaffe's history.
45:28The Arado AR-234 Blitz, on the other hand,
45:31was a German engineering triumph.
45:33It was the world's first operational jet bomber
45:36and a superb reconnaissance plane.
45:38It was almost as fast as the ME-262 jet fighter
45:43and had a greater range.
45:46The first prototypes were designed
45:48to drop their wheeled trolley after takeoff
45:50to allow greater fuel capacity.
46:00They landed on a skid fitted under the belly.
46:03Production models had tricycle landing gear.
46:06They were extremely advanced and effective aircraft,
46:09but entered service too late to have a real impact on the war.
46:21But this aircraft had the most profound impact on the war and beyond.
46:26It is Boxcar, the Boeing B-29 that dropped the last atomic bomb
46:30of the war on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.
46:33It is on display at the U.S. Air Force Museum
46:36at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
46:50Boxcar and its nuclear predecessor, Enola Gay, are the most famous of the B-29s.
46:56But the B-29's impact had been felt in Japan long before the atomic bombs were dropped in August 1945.
47:09The B-29 was the single most expensive project of the war.
47:13It cost three billion dollars.
47:15It was the most outstanding bomber of the war by any standard of performance.
47:19A pressurized, long-range, four-engined bomber was an audacious gamble on the part of Boeing and the Air Corps.
47:26The handsome streamlined airframe was a radical departure that required the use of new metals and new fabrication techniques.
47:34There were problems with the new Wright R-3350 engines.
47:38It had a revolutionary high aspect ratio wing with a complex flap system.
47:44No bomber had ever been pressurized before.
47:55But it worked.
47:56It dropped 176,000 tons of bombs on Japan, laying at waste from end to end.
48:03And then it dropped the atomic bomb.
48:06The war was over and the world had been changed forever.
48:14Woo!
48:15The war was over and the time did not end the war.
48:17The war was over and the time ran off the atomic bomb.
48:19It was a undeniable crisis.
48:20It was also in the way that of the Batmos was to the initial launch.
48:21In the air in the air.
48:22It was a big number.
48:23It was a big number of bombs on Japan.
48:24The σ'panel environment was able to bend in the air in its way.
48:25The ship was a major puddles here.
48:28The ship was a huge cut which had been increÃble.
48:30The ship was covered in the air in the air.
48:31The ship was carried around on the air in the air.
48:34The ship was removed from the ship's water.
48:36The ship was restored and the ship was dedicated to the ship.
48:39The ship was a unique to the ship.
48:40The ship was set up the ship's water.
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