Duxford's B29

Gotcha JDK (again)

Important to remember that bombers are to drop bombs with. Sometimes people die as a result of this activity. We (I include myself here) sometimes forget that these are weapons. Not toys. Not a political statement, just a point of view!

my words !
Martin

a more recent photo to go with the thread

A certain Mike J was there…

Important to remember that bombers are to drop bombs with. Sometimes people die as a result of this activity. We (I include myself here) sometimes forget that these are weapons. Not toys. Not a political statement, just a point of view! 😀

Mike J posted two arrival photos in a previous thread:

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?p=440540#post440540

Saludos
Martin

I remember seeing it arrive at Duxford and from what i remember,which is probably wrong it looked as if it only just made it.The engine [ok more than 1 LOL] was smoking and it looked well used to say the least,i wonder if anyone did get any photos or cine/video of it’s arrival,if so can anyone post some PLEASE 😀

LOL,The photo must’ve been printed as a typed,anyone else with memories

here’s a photo to go with the thread

Martin

I understood that it had stood outside for years (China Lake?) and was restored to flying condition to cross the pond. When I saw it at Duxford first it looked OK but it again stood outside for some years until the AAM was built.
mmitch.

Was it not ‘restored’ enough to get it over to the UK and nothing more?? I’m pleased it’s here and under cover though, when I first encountered it the B29 was living outside in all weathers.

Restored in the US? It did fly in, but I spent many a painful day stripping the paint of the wings in this country.

It was restored in the US and then flown over to Duxford.
mmitch.

Just a small question. Wouldn’t the B-29 have been better off in RAF colors as a Washington?

T J Johansen

Well said- in effect the usage of the Atom bomb was the better of two evils, Japan surrendered the day after Nagasaki. Plus i have no doubt that the Japanese would have used any force neccessary to win their empire a victory. But a very thought provoking argument…

I think the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, though hugely drastic, were incredibly necessary. They brought the war to a swift end, and imagine how much worse it could have been for Japan had the USA and the Russians, who were by then at war with Japan, invaded the many islands and systematically taken each island one by one using horrific force. No, the Japs got off very lightly. And some might say they also deserved such a drastic measure. Lets face it, they’d have used it against us if they could.

A good friend of mine went to Hiroshima in 1946 as part of ‘J’ Force. I have seen his personal photos, as well as many that have been published. The age of the nuclear bomb is certainly disgusting, horrific and something you’d wished never happened, but it still prevented what was most probably much worse for both sides.

Having said this, I am still anti-nuclear, as are most of my countrymen and women – in the country of the father of atomic science, Rutherford himself.

Bear in mind it’s the Imperial War Museum and info about the effects of the weapons etc. is, in my opinion, a justified part of the displays. The board I read certainly never bashed the US in any way – it’s the American Air Museum for gawd’s sake!

Good point about the “War” angle…but still I don’t see pictures of dead civilians in front of the Lanc.
On my last visit to the AAM in June, I didn’t see the bomb display…

I don’t see any difference between the 80,000 killed in the Tokyo fire storm raid, Dresden or the British Blitz and either Atom bomb raids. The net result was that people died in their thousands by fire. It was not America, Britain or any of our allies that started WW2, but we finished it.
mmitch.

My point exactly…

I understand your point. I have seen a display (at Yeovilton museum?) of a Kamikaze flying bomb surrounded by last letters written to the pilots families. i think we were supposed to feel sorry (or even guilty) for their loss. It didn’t work.
I don’t see any difference between the 80,000 killed in the Tokyo fire storm raid, Dresden or the British Blitz and either Atom bomb raids. The net result was that people died in their thousands by fire. It was not America, Britain or any of our allies that started WW2, but we finished it.
mmitch.

I hear the BBC was at Duxford last week using the AAM B29 to make a film on the Hiroshima A bomb. The on site notice said ‘For showing in 2005’ Presumably August?
mmitch.

More U.S. bashing I’m sure. A few years ago there was a standup display next to the plane whose main function was to tell people how bad the nuke was.
Before you say “Another thin-skinned American…”
Let me point out there was not a similar exhibit about the RAF firebomb raids against German cities or how the Dam Raid raid affected civilian populations.
Something to think about….
How would you like a similar exhibit next to a Lancaster?