B29 Bomber Identity Search

JosephLawler

My Father was a flight instructor at Pensacola, Ottumwa, Ia, New Orleans. I have 40 or so photos of various aircraft. Love to share them but I am having trouble finding the history of a B29 bomber that Dad photographed but did not fly. I also note from the pics it does not have most of it's armament. So help me find out the identity and history of tail number FA224512. It also has a number on the side near the cockpit. K-179. Joe Lawler 847-772-5907

L-5jockey

For starters, here's some info:

Boeing Wichita built: B-29-30-BW msn: 4173 serial: 42-24512

Possible conversion to F-13 photo-reconn ?

A photo or two might help, ID it's mission type, or mods status..

John

JosephLawler

I have 4 photos of the B29 and numerous others at http://picasaweb.google.com/joepat1947. thanks for the quick response. Joe...also is there a way to trace where it served or what happened to it. The camera that took the pictures was wither a graflex or Hasselblad. I have a picture of an enlisted Navyman taking pictures of my oldest brother in 1945. The negatives from these pictures are 4 inch by 5 inch.

L-5jockey

Looking at your photos, I guess we can rule out the F-13 photo reconn version.

With all the turrets removed, mod side blisters, and the AN/APQ-15 tail-warning radar ball hanging below the twin .50's, it sure looks like a B-29B, except the serial number indicates it being an early Wichita B-29.

Maybe it was a test ship for the APQ-15 or some other project. I don't know of any cross-over serial lists converting B-29's to Bell-Atlanta B-29B's. I assume all B-29B's were new-production.

Heres a link to some more info on B-29B production: http://home.att.net/~jbaugher2/b29_5.html

As far as tracing this frames (42-24512) history you might try the AFHRA archives at Maxwell AFB.

Someone else on this board my have more info as to obtaining service history cards on this B-29.

BTW very nice pix Thanks for sharing.

ref: http://picasaweb.google.com/joepat1947

JosephLawler

Looking at your photos, I guess we can rule out the F-13 photo reconn version.

With all the turrets removed, mod side blisters, and the AN/APQ-15 tail-warning radar ball hanging below the twin .50's, it sure looks like a B-29B, except the serial number indicates it being an early Wichita B-29.

Maybe it was a test ship for the APQ-15 or some other project. I don't know of any cross-over serial lists converting B-29's to Bell-Atlanta B-29B's. I assume all B-29B's were new-production.

Heres a link to some more info on B-29B production: http://home.att.net/~jbaugher2/b29_5.html

As far as tracing this frames (42-24512) history you might try the AFHRA archives at Maxwell AFB.

Someone else on this board my have more info as to obtaining service history cards on this B-29.

BTW very nice pix Thanks for sharing.

ref: http://picasaweb.google.com/joepat1947

Thank you John for all the help and I welcome imput from other members. Happy New Year to all. Joe