Simviation Forum - Mystery aeroplane....

Nov 24^th, 2007 at 6:07am

61_OTU Offline
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Ok guys, a friend of mine sent me this. This appears to be a 4 engined bomber deep in snow, interesting story behind it that I will share in due course, but what do you think it is? My only thought is a Halifax, but it doesn't look quite right somehow. I know nothing about it at all except for who we think took the picture.

Any thoughts?

Steve

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Reply #1 - Nov 24^th, 2007 at 6:13am

Omag 2.0 Offline
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Looks like a B-29 to me. Glass nose, 4 engines with the airinlets underneath... just a thought...

It's the only picture I could find that can be used as reference... Note the round nose and airinlets under the propellors...

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Reply #2 - Nov 24^th, 2007 at 6:40am

ozzy72 Offline
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The engines make me think it is more likely to be a Tu-4 rather than a B-29 (of course the Tu-4 was a clone of the 29) Wink

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Reply #3 - Nov 24^th, 2007 at 7:46am

61_OTU Offline
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B-29 certainly seems a possibility, not one I had considered. I think it is more likely than a TU-4 but in comparing them then it realistically could be either.

The story is that some friends of ours were.... "clearing out some old photograph files and came across a negative which neither of us could locate as belonging to either one of us. When we scanned it in, it printed out an old photograph of a grounded aeroplane, I think in snow.

We are totally mystified. The only rational explanation is that it is an old photograph belonging to Debbie's father, who was an aeronautical draftsman, involved in the design of the first jump jet. He had a 'plane of his own, but it was something like a Tiger Moth"

So where would a B-29 have been to be captured waist deep in snow, apparently with the bomb bay doors open, by an aeronautical draughtsman? Where were B-29's based in the UK (if at all)?

By the lighting as well it looks to me like a flash photo, and with the framing a very bad flash photo Grin

. I wonder why the shot went 'wrong'?

Steve

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Reply #4 - Nov 24^th, 2007 at 8:03am

TSC. Offline
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61_OTU wrote on Nov 24^th, 2007 at 7:46am:

So where would a B-29 have been to be captured waist deep in snow, apparently with the bomb bay doors open, by an aeronautical draughtsman? Where were B-29's based in the UK (if at all)?

Could it be at Burtonwood, which during Dec 1943 became the centre for overhaul and repair of all USAAF radial engined aircraft?

Just a guess, the linked site also has a list of the UK airfields used by the American Air Forces from 1942 to the present day. So that would be a good place to start looking.

From Wikipedia Ref Burtonwood:

In November 1946 six B-29 Superfortress bombers from the USAAF Strategic Air Command 43d Bombardment Group were sent to Burtonwood, and from there to various bases in West Germany as a "training deployment". In May 1947 additional B-29s were sent to Burtonwood to keep up the presence of a training program. These deployments were only a cover-up, as the true aim of these B-29s was to have a strategic air force permanently stationed in Europe.

On 7 November 1953 the USAF 53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron began operating from the base flying initially the WB-29 then WB-50D Superfortress, having been transferred from Kindley Field.

Cheers,

TSC.

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Reply #5 - Nov 24^th, 2007 at 8:48am

Hagar Offline
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It could be a Washington B1 aka the RAF version of the B-29. http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0747306/M/
A total of 87 B-29s were on loan to the Royal Air Force from 1950 to 1955 when they were replaced by the Canberra. A few remained in service until 1958.

Quote:

RAF Marham
No. 35 Squadron RAF
No. 90 Squadron RAF
No. 115 Squadron RAF
No. 207 Squadron RAF

RAF Coningsby
No. 15 Squadron RAF
No. 44 Squadron RAF
No. 57 Squadron RAF (moved from RAF Waddington in April 1952)
No. 149 Squadron RAF

RAF Watton
No. 192 Squadron RAF operated Washingtons between April 1952 and February 1958

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_B-29_Superfortress_operators#.C2.A0United_K...

The angle of the aircraft in your photo doesn't look right to me. Could it be a model?

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Reply #6 - Nov 24^th, 2007 at 10:13am

61_OTU Offline
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Hagar wrote on Nov 24^th, 2007 at 8:48am:

The angle of the aircraft in your photo doesn't look right to me. Could it be a model?

I hadn't thought of that Doug, but it would explain the poor framing if someone was resting the camera on a table top and it shifted as they were taking the shot. Doesn't explain why the wheels appear to be 'buried', but again that could be part of the model.

The background could well be a room, and it would explain the glare on the nose glass, much easier to achieve that amount of glare on a small model with a large flash, than on a large aircraft with a small flash.

I think Doug may have explained the mystery Wink

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Reply #7 - Nov 24^th, 2007 at 10:42am

Hagar Offline
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As a matter of interest I found a history of the RAF Washington. Fascinating first-hand accounts & lots of rare photos. http://www.rafwatton.info/History/TheWashington/tabid/90/Default.aspx

This is one of them. It appears to have been taken from a similar angle as Steve's photo.

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Reply #8 - Nov 24^th, 2007 at 1:03pm

HawkerTempest5 Offline
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I reckon that's a model Steve. If memory serves, the old Airfix kit did not have separate bomb bay doors so it is most likely the old Monogram 1/48 kit. My first thought is that the left undercarriage is simply broken off, but that the right gear does look to be sunken into the ground. On a real aircraft I would have thought the prop spinners should be natural metal, not black, as is the case with just about every B-29/Washington B1 I've ever seen. Looks like the yellow tips are missing also. Awfully big flash bulb used if that is a real aircraft!

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Reply #9 - Nov 25^th, 2007 at 6:01am

C Offline
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Hagar wrote on Nov 24^th, 2007 at 8:48am:

The angle of the aircraft in your photo doesn't look right to me. Could it be a model?

My first thought on seeing the photo was that it was a model of a B29...

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