Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
B-29
Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images
B-29 bomber, 1945 The Enola Gay, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, is parked on an airfield with its name visible on the nose and other aircraft in the background. Boeing B-29 Superfortress
Quick Facts
Also called:
Superfortress
Related Topics:
Bomber
Britannica AI Icon
Adding us as a Preferred Source tells Google you trust our content, so our articles show up more often in your Google Search, Discover feed, and AI Overviews.
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
B-29 bomber, 1945
B-29 bomber, 1945

B-29

aircraft
Also known as: Superfortress
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
Last updated
•History

B-29, U.S. heavy bomber used in World War II. Its missions included firebombing Tokyo and other Japanese cities and dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively.

The Enola Gay, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, is parked on an airfield with its name visible on the nose and other aircraft in the background.
Enola GayThe Enola Gay.

Designed by Boeing, the Superfortress was designed to meet Army Air Corps specifications written in January 1940 and was then modified to provide heavier armament and bomb load. First flown in September 1942, the bomber was built at five plants around the United States and was operating in the Pacific theatre in flights of as many as 500 planes within two years. It was armed with 10 .50-calibre machine guns and one 20-mm cannon, four of the gun turrets being operated by remote control from any of five sighting stations. Its bomb capacity was 10 tons, and the crew varied from 10 to 14. In August 1945 the modified B-29s Enola Gay and Bockscar were used in the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. When production ended in 1946, 3,970 B-29s had been built, many of which were subsequently converted to tankers for in-flight refueling.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen.