B-29
 The
B-29 was a revolutionary aircraft, the first intercontinental bomber.
At 70,000 pounds, it was the heaviest production bomber built. Its
135,000 pounds fully loaded required an 8,000-foot runway for takeoff.
It could cruise above 30,000 feet, out of range of flak and most
enemy fighters.
Almost 4,000 B-29s were built during World War II. The “Fat
Man” atomic bomb, dropped by a B-29, destroyed Nagasaki. After
the war, the 509th Division continued to use the B-29s for post-war
testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific. The B-29s were later
replaced with by more modern bombers.
The National Atomic Museum maintains B-29 #45-21748 at Kirtland
Air Force Base. This B-29 will be on display at the National Museum
of Nuclear Science and History when it opens at the Albuquerque
Balloon Park in the fall of 2006.
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