WIEESSO,  I have a question for those envolved in the B-29 rescue aircraft.  In looking thru our local newspapes I find that A bomber from the Pratt ArmyAirfield had a landing in a wheat field in l944. The story in the newspaper states the crew went down after the life raft was deployed by error and became tangled in the tail group and forced them to crash land .  Were the life rafts stowed in the wing of a B-17 or could this have been a B29 with the boat under it. The newspaper only mentions the live raft. I will have to research the report a little more. The son of the owner of the Wheat field that the airplane landed in is still farming the ground and will ask him if knows anthing about the incident.  Thanks  Phillip

Phillip,
that's an interesting story! Please, try to find out more details (location).
Both the SB-17 and the SB-29 had these airborne lifeboats (A-1 respectively A-3) under their bellys.
Maybe the parachute of the lifeboat opened too early...
1944 sounds more like a SB-17. Most of the SB-29 conversions took place 1/50 to 12/52.
On the other hand Pratt Army Airfield during World War II was used to train B-29 crews.
Looking forward
Martin

edit: just found this http://www.prattarmyairfield.com/page/Plane+Crashes+-+Introduction

'The Pratt Army Airfield was on the “leading edge” of the B-29 program.
During this period, there were eleven (11) major air crashes involving the following aircraft from this Air Field, while on training flights:
B-29 off the coast of Florida
B-29 in the Caribbean Sea
B-29 on an oil refinery near Dallas, Texas
B-26 in the Rocky Mountains above Aspen, Colorado
B-25 near the Hutchinson (KS) Naval Air Station
B-29 north of the Air Field near towns of Stafford and St. John
Five (5) in Pratt County, Kansas:
- B-29 on the Air Field
- B-26 near the Air Field
- B-17 near the town of Preston
- B-26 near the town of Cunningham
- B-26 near the city of Pratt'

Phillip:
   On all B-29's, the crew life rafts were stowed in two compartments on the upper part of the fuselage over the center wing section..  I have read of a number of accounts of one or both of these doors popping open on takeoff or in flight and the rafts ejecting into the slipstream - directly at the vertical stabilizer
   In two or three of the accounts, the raft somehow got tangled with the rudder or elevators and created a control problem. 
   I would venture to guess that this might have been the cause of the crash you were discussing
 
Bob Mann

Martin and Bob,  Good to get your infomation. I will visit the library next week and pin down the date , I copied the article from the paper but missed the date box on the copy, will look again. Looking at the accidents from  Pratt the most likely would have been the one Between St. John and Pratt. The airpane went down 17 miles  North Northeast of the Pratt AAF. It was south some 8 miles South East from St. John and 7 miles Southwest of  Stafford. The article called the plane a Fortress, but as you know local papers  it could have been the superfortress. The story said they landed wheels up and plowed a ditch thru the wheat field. They were salvaging the aircraft and hauling it back to Pratt. No injuries just their pride. Our group is trying to get moving on a museum  to be located on the Pratt AAF. The memorial group has a really fine All Veterans memorial at the Pratt AAf now.  We feel that we need to get our collection and history to a building on the airport. We have had several meetings and feel really good about this happening.  We still have the large Echelon B29 hangar in very good shape. The parachute loft is still standing and in good condition. Lost the battle to save one of the other single hangars. Those are beautiful old structures and we hate to lose it. Nothing quite like the atmosphere to walk into those old structures and think what was happening there 65 years ago.  Thanks for the help, I will post some more info when I get it.  Phillip

According to Bob's describtion and Phillip's last post I guess it was the incident of a 'B-29 north of the Air Field near towns of Stafford and St. John'.
Bob, thanks for clarifying!

I talked to my dad this weekend, and according to him he was stationed on Guam at Northfield with Flight D of the 11th Air Rescue Squadron from May 1949 through August of 1951.  There were four SB-29s in his flight.  Their tail numbers were 4088, 6308,m 6303 and 7308.
 
Great Picture!  Thank you Swissmustangs!
 
Gary Van Kauwenbergh

The first three serial #'s were fine but 44-87308 is not a valid B-29 derial number.  Transcription problem?
 
Bob Mann

Bob Mann

Wiesso - According to Davis's Book ,
the AAF converted 16 B - 29s to
Super Dumbos before end of WW II.
Mike

ORIGINAL: garyvank

I talked to my dad this weekend, and according to him he was stationed on Guam at Northfield with Flight D of the 11th Air Rescue Squadron from May 1949 through August of 1951.  There were four SB-29s in his flight.  Their tail numbers were 4088, 6308,m 6303 and 7308.

Great Picture!  Thank you Swissmustangs!

Gary Van Kauwenbergh

Guess the last is that mysterious 44-27308 sometimes mentioned (3ASR).

Martin

ORIGINAL: shooshoobaby

Wiesso - According to Davis's Book ,
the AAF converted 16 B - 29s to
Super Dumbos before end of WW II.
Mike

That's a question for Bob - see this thread post #14...

Martin

According to my records there was a 44-27308
 
Herb Harper

Okay - -
   I have a list of twenty-five conversions, including the nebulous 44-27308:
44-27308 - 
44-27312 * Not converted per IARC
44-61671 - Lloyd list but not in "Active in 1951 IARC m/f
44-62190
44-62194
44-62210
44-69957
44-69971
44-70089
44-70101
44-70117
44-40119
44-70131
44-84030
44-84034
44-84078
44-84084
44-84086
44-84088
44-84096
44-84112
44-86259
44-86303
44-86308
44-86355
44-87644
44-87665
44-87761 * not converted per IARC
 
Total of twenty five conversion confirmed by IARC
Bob Mann
 
 
 

Bob Mann

RE: the 7308 tail number for one of the four SB-29s in Flight D of the 11 Air Rescue Squadron on Guam.   That is the number I have on my note from my talk with dad last weekend.  He seemed pretty clear about it, but he only knew them by the last four digits.  - Gary

I talked to my dad a third time, and he repeated all for numbers again.  4088, 6308, 6303 and 7308.  His memory is pretty sharp.  I'd bet my next paycheck on 7308. - Gary

As per my last post, 44-27308 seems to fit the bill
 
Bob Mann

Bob Mann

Gentlemen
I am an aviation writer and historian from the UK. I am currently finishing a book on the history of aviation in BERMUDA. The SB-29 was based at Kindley Field (replacing the SB-17) with the RESCUE FLIGHT from early 1952. Four SB-29 were collected from Tinker AFB. The RESCUE FLIGHT was re-named the 29th ARS. I have found four serial numbers from Bermudian sources.
44-70104 was current January 1955. (not on your list)
44-70131 was current July 1954
44-70137 was current July 1954 and February 1956 (not on your list)
44-87644 was current July 1954

Of course, there were probably more SB-29s in Bermuda as aircraft were rotated for maintenance.
If anyone has more information about the 29th ARS then I would love to hear from you.
tom(at)singfield.freeserve.co.uk      .......replace the (at) with @
Tom Singfield

Hi Tom,
thank you for posting.
I'm very interested in your findings. Is it possible to get information about your 'Bermudian sources'? Especially I'm looking for photos.
Will look for docs concerning 29ARS.
Martin

I flew 5 different tail numbers from Okinawa during Korea.  Believe that there were only 16 total, for 2nd,3rd, and 5th Ars Groups.