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I did a ground tour through a B-17 once. after watching 12 o'clock High as a kid I thought those things were enormous. Wow was I surprised. It was pretty cramped especially going through the bombay.
I would like to do a walk through on a B-29 one day.
Which one was the one with the long tube over the bombay to get from one end to the other? Was that the B-29?
The B-29 and the B-36 both have a tunnel over the bomb bays. It connects the two presurized crew sections together. You crawl through the tube on a B-29, but the the B-36 was so big it had a little cart that you pulled along a track.
On the B-17 and B-24's, there is a very narrow catwalk that goes between the fore and aft parts of the plane. Both of those are unpressurized aircraft, so no fancy tunnel is needed.
B-29 cutaways:
http://39th.org/39th/images/cutaway/cutaway1.gif
http://39th.org/39th/images/cutaway/cutaway2.gif
http://39th.org/39th/images/cutaway/cutaway3.jpg
http://39th.org/39th/images/cutaway/cutaway4.gif
B-36 cutaway:
http://up-ship.com/blog/wp-content/u...-36cutaway.jpg
Thanks, Shriv
Great cutaways.
In the late 70's I was stationed with the USAF in Iceland. I got to watch a B-29 Fly in on it's way to England for a musem. Quite a sight to see and since it was going to be it's last flight maintenance was just enough to keep it going. When they landed large pans were put under the engines to catch the oil gushing out. Then they refilled them just before take off. Lot's of smoke coming from all engines on take off. Still it was a sight to see.
I'd spend the $600 for a ride on that bird! It sounds like a lot of money, but it goes to a good cause, and what is money for except for buying cool memories??? Seriously, these guys are doing with B-29's, B-17's, etc what we are doing with the M1's, only there job is a bit more complex, especiallly with the B-29.
Our own Tony Giacobbe is a Yankee Air Force member.