The mighty super fortress was a war-winning weapon, and went on to become one of the main forces in the Cold War. The RAF operated the type in the late 1940s and early 1950s, calling it the Washington.
The forward cabin was connected to the rear cabin by a crawlway. In the back sat the gunners, and there were also bunks for resting on long missions.
Most B-29s had a sophisticated radar under the belly which allowed them to bomb accurately even through cloud. In RAF service the B-29 served as a nuclear bomber and as a secret reconnaissance aircraft with probed Soviet airspace for electronic signals.
It took 11 men to fly the B-29 on operations. There were two pilots, a bombardier, navigator, flight engineer, radio operator, radar operator, central the control gunner, left gunner, right gunner and tail gunner. The gunners all sat in the rear compartment, looking out for enemy fighters through domed windows and firing the guns via an early computer system.
Two enormous weapons bays carried the B-29s bomb load. Each bay had winches inside to hoist the bombs up into the aircraft. Under its tail the Super Fortress had a retractable tail bumper, which protected the rear fuselage when the aircraft took off. Sitting alone in the tail compartment, the tail gunner had two machine-guns and a 20-mm (0.79-in.) cannon at his fingertips.
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